GREGOR ROBERTSON NEEDS TO RESIGN

[DavidPratt_]

THE CITY OF VANCOUVER…

NOW…KNOWN AS…”THE BIG JOKE”…

LAST NIGHT AT THE ESPYS IN LOS ANGELES…

THE HOST OF THE SHOW SETH MYERS USED VANCOUVER…AND THE STANLEY CUP RIOT AS A PUNCHLINE…IN HIS OPENING MONOLOGUE…

AS MYERS PUT IT…”IT’S AMAZING WHAT MAKES WHITE PEOPLE RIOT”…

“HOW IS THAT ICING???”

“BURN IT DOWN!!!”

THEN WITH HIS BEST CANADAIN ACCENT…MEYERS WENT ONTO SAY…

“IT WAS A CANADIAN RIOT…VERY POLITE”…

“EXCUSE ME SIR IF IT’S NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE…I’M GOING TO FLIP YOUR CAR OVER AND SET IT ON FIRE…EH”…

“LET’S REMEMBER…CLEAN UP STARTS TOMORROW AT 9 AM SHARP…WE’RE AN ANGRY MOB…WE ARE NOT ANIMALS…EH”…

MEYERS GOT SOME LAUGHS…BUT THERE WAS NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS CITY A MONTH AGO…

HARD TO BELIEVE THAT TOMORROW…IT WILL BE A MONTH THAT THE RIOT TOOK PLACE…

HARD TO BELIEVE…BECAUSE WE STILL DO NOT KNOW THE ANSWER TO…”THE” MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION…

HOW MANY POLICE DID CITY HALL PUT ON THE STREETS TO PROTECT THE 100 THOUSAND PEOPLE…THE MAYOR INVITE TO HIS PARTY???

IN FACT…GREGOR ROBERTSON CONTINUES TO REFUSE TO ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY…WHAT SO EVER…

STANDING BY HIS CLAIM…”I DIDN’T KNOW ANY DETAILS”…

WHICH LEADS US TO ONLY TWO CONCLUSIONS:

1) ROBERTSON IS INCOMPENTENT…AND SHOULD RESIGN…

2) ROBBERTSON IS LYING…AND SHOULD RESIGN…

INSTEAD TODAY…CITY HALL SPENT ALL OF IT’S TIME SELLING IT’S…”GREENEST CITY…ACTION PLAN”…

IT’S A 162 PAGE REPORT THAT WAS PUT TOGETHER BEHIND CLOSED DOORS…

A REPORT WHICH NO ONE…INCLUDING THE MAYOR…KNOWS HOW MUCH IT IS GOING TO COST…

HERE’S WHAT WE DO KNOW… THE MONEY CAN ONLY COME FROM 2 PLACES…

HIGHER TAXES…AND REDUCED SERVICES…

THANKS TO THE “BIKE LANES”…

THIS YEAR WE GOT OUR FIRST TASTE OF…HIGHER TAXES…

AND LAST MONTH OUR FIRST TASTE OF REDUCED SERVICES…IN THE FORMER OF FEWER POLICE…

WHICH LED DIRECTLY TO…”THE RIOT”…

JOHN FURLONG AND DOUG KEEFE ARE NOW LEADING THE PROVINCIAL INVESIGATION INTO THAT RIOT…

THEIR REPORT IS EXPECTED…BY THE END OF AUGUST…

WE’LL SEE THEN…WHO’S LAUGHING

PRATT OUT

[Narg CC]

Gregor is just part of the problem. Add in Jim Chu, Penny Ballem, and the rest of Vision Vancouver. Gregor is a puppet, he has no power, he does what he is told. Penny Ballem is micromanaging every aspect of the CoV, look at the fantastic results! I think Jim Chu's more or less a good chief, but he didn't get enough funding support from the CoV, and for some reason he's covering for them.

Don't expect anything brilliant to come out of Furlong's report.. he's just as much of a joke as Gregor, Ballem and Vision!

[Vpete]

that is the real David Pratt right?

I mean, look at the diction, sentence structure and incomprehensibility of it all.

The riots are not Roberston's fault. Blame the cops, blame the chief and blame CBC for encouraging thousands of people to gather in one place.

Oh yeah, taxes...

[BCReefer]

Ah Pete - was it not the Mayor who invited everyone to downtown to gather like it was the Olympics?

The question that needs to be answered is what plan did they have in place to deal with 100,000 people? I also want to know why they were surprised by the riot when EVERYONE else knew that it was just 1 idiot away from going crazy.

I didn't expect the riot was going to happen, well that is not true, I didn't believe that it could happen again. The Mayor and Police Chief are paid to look at it from all sides and have plans in place.

[Vpete]

The Mayor is required to know what is going on. For sure but he is also advised by a slew of people and he has to trust that the underlings are capable. If he proves to have a bunch of useless underlings then yeah turf him.

In this case the VPD who had a freaking report from the last hockey related riot and didn't even use it let alone change strategy is the target. If the Mayor's people told them to be prepared and they were not then it's a bigger cluster-f*ck.

I just don't think taking the top guy down when there were plenty of mistakes made along the way works. If all the mistakes point to the Robertson and his people being clueless then can his ass. However, just canning him for being the top guy is not reason enough IMO.

[Robert]

No vpete, as far as I know it was up to the city to hand over the budget to add more than the usual police needed and it was declined. I have no problem with the mayor doing what he did to have a party ( I mean how long has it been we've wanted to boot kick the "no fun city"), however, he should have read the old report and given the proper budget for extra cops.

[DavidPratt_]

that is the real David Pratt right?

The riots are not Roberston's fault. Blame the cops, blame the chief and blame CBC for encouraging thousands of people to gather in one place.

Oh yeah, taxes...

EXCUSE ME? THE RIOTS WERE NOT GREGOR 'LET'S HAVE A PARTY AND DO ZERO PLANNING AND NOT FUND ANY TYPE OF POLICE SECURITY THAT WOULD HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE' ROBERTSON???

GIVE YOUR HEAD A SHAKE.

CLOWN.

DP

[ClamRussel]

The riots are not Roberston's fault. Blame the cops, blame the chief and blame CBC for encouraging thousands of people to gather in one place.

The CBC??? It was Gregor Robertson who encouraged this "party". He's the guy who put up all the screens and made it happen. He's also the guy who cut funding for security and instead thought it was better to upgrade the screens instead. He deserves the blame he's getting. From what I heard, the rule of thumb when it comes to large gatherings is 1,000 cops per every 100,000 civilians....estimates are there were only about 400 cops on the ground that night. What bugs me is this hot potato game Gregor is playing w/ the police and no one will take any responsibility or explain what really happened. Deny, deny, deny.

[LotusBlossom]

Have talked to former cops, was on the Bill Good show (live in studio as a guest) about the riot the day after it happened and the consensus is putting the blame squarely on Gregor and Vision. Lack of funding to provide the proper security are all on the shoulders of the city council.

There were families present and with the lack of the security that should have been there to man the big crowd, they were put in a dangerous situation.

Sorry, his nice smile, good looks and charm aren't going to weasel him out of this one.

I don't always agree with everything Pratt says, but this is pretty bang on.

[Vanchopski]

Ah Pratt. Banging the same tired old drum as always. Who's the real joke...a so-called journalist who was canned from his job for cheating, or a successful businessman and now mayor of a major city who is trying to make Vancouver into a better city? Pretty obvious if you ask me. But really, can't judge Pratt too harshly. He's just trying to keep his current job by pandering to the angry-white-male-with-oversized-pickup demographic. Too bad for him that In order to do so he has to make himself look like an ignorant schmuck.

[Robert]

Well sorry but I can't agree with too much of that post.

So what's wrong with pick-ups? Without trucks you have no home, no kitchen and you'd be dicing you're tomatos on concrete.

Show respect to us white pick up truck up owners, we are only making your life more enjoyable.

[Vanchopski]

What's with the thin skin Robert? You missed my point. Which was that there is an identifiable group of people, typically white males who like to drive Dodge Rams etc (and I never said there was anything wrong with that so chill) that Pratt is trying to stir up with his endless whining about the mayor, bike lanes etc because he knows it gets him easy points. I've been in my car downtown when Pratt was on the radio saying that bike activists were #%^ing up traffic right then and guess what...they weren't. In other words he was lying. He's pretty careless with the truth which makes him not very believable. He has yet to learn how that works.

And I actually like listening to Pratt when he talks about sports. I just think he should give up trying to be a political commentator because he's not very good at it.

[hist]

Hornby street is a damned mess since the bike lane went in. It's almost impossible to get around down in the Georgia/Dunsmuir/Pender/Hastings area.

[LotusBlossom]

Hmm the empty bike lanes, in a city that rains 3/4 of the year...

I'm all for finding better alternative forms of transit to help the environment, but when they aren't being used, and are causing congestion of cars idling in the core, where is the benefit? Get rid of them and give them a strip of street like they do in Toronto. Most that use the bike lanes are couriers anyway and for the most part have done fine without them in the past.

[Robert]

What's with the thin skin Robert?

IT hasn't had any sun yet. Eventually it'll brown and leather up some then all will be fine.