I was hoping that this site would provide some fun ideas and events that weren't on the olympic sponsorship advertising guide. Instead I found a bunch of pouting and misery. This isn't a guide it's just a bunch of un-happy human beings boo-hooing and snot blowing because they don't get paid to complain about how aweful their insignificant lives really are.  

Wow. The Wall Street Journal actually put together a better "Non-Vanoc" Olympic guide than you. Seriously, straight.com should be ashamed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870433590457449769018850110...  

This is the most excellent project, I encourage everyone to participate!  

I don't believe there is any boohooing in this bunch. I find it refreshing that there are groups interested in maintaining the fact that Vancouver, and Canada as a whole, is, well, not a whole. The Olympics and Vanoc have done their best to present images, or rather, an image, of a homogeneous national subjectivity. With the tourism industry's constant erasure of significant historical sites and facts, so much of the complexity of this city is lost and the political will to recognize and provide solutions for uncomfortable situations is also lost, or at least glossed over superficially. I would like to conclude that many of these people within this project I know personally, and I have also contributed sites of interest, so indeed, I am biased. But they are very thoughtful, articulate and most importantly invested in their city. Critique is the highest form of optimism because it requires people that are actually working toward a better situation for the City, one where dissent is understood as a necessary aspect of democracy and is well respected.  

Why would visitors to Vancouver care about the pepper spraying of protesters?

Why would visitors to the Olympics care about any of the city's problems? They are here to enjoy the games and the atmosphere around the games.

Why not point out the spot of every murder? Why not point of the spot of every MVA?

 

Kits Girl:
Hmm, the only hotel the Wall Street Journal recommends is the Pan Pacific with "nightly rates from US$2,725 to $11,930, plus tax" according to the article. Not exactly the kind of non-Vanoc Olympic guide that most people are looking for.  

Fan22: It seems to me that you are underestimating the wide spread concern that many visitors are expressing about the Winter Olympics. Denial of basic human rights and excessive pollution were huge issues surrounding the Beijing Olympics- two items that were discussed heavily by media, athletes and observers alike. A perverse amount of money spent on security and no clear solution for homelessness are two aspects of these Games which this project is bringing to light. Think of the map as a forum for discussion, not unlike the comment column in the Straight.  

When in Disneyland do you stay after dark to see the rats? Smell the garbage?

Think about your next vacation and think about what you want to see and do. If you are going to Seattle are you going to want to go to all the rundown areas? Are you going cry foul when all the city brochures point to the Space Needle, Pikes, etc, etc ???

What is wrong with you people?  

Check out this link for videos on ongoing Olympic events put on by the people of Vancouver!


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SNAP2010 is Vancouver’s Olympic story. It is a behind the scenes look at the Games through the eyes of the people of Vancouver and their elected leaders. Take a look and you will see that — for Vancouver — the Olympics are about a lot more than sports. Check back daily for your ticket to the exclusive City of Vancouver Olympic Games experience.
 

I would love to meet you fan22... you must believe in television. Please stay tuned to this station after the bills come in. Imagine this picture: your taxes are raised, jobs are lost and services are cut to pay for your big snow cone in the sky.  

fan22 sort of has a point: the folks who are here for the Olympics (just like folks who visit Disneyland for a vacation) are not usually the type to know or care about issues like human rights. They won't bother to seek out brochures which aren't made by hotel chains or VANOC. So this site and its message will probably not reach them.

Be that as it may, I think the project still has value in its attempt to show the world the Real Vancouver, and also as a reminder to Vancouverites that the Real Vancouver still exists, even if it's heavily made up and wearing cheap perfume.

I hope it sticks around after the games are over!  

Worth mentioning here that the international media is also looking behind the curtain in Vancouver and spotting the dark side. The New York Times did a downtown eastside photo essay http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/02/04/sports/olympics/20100205-EAS... , and the Manchester Guardian and even Cairo News took pokes at skid row as well. Why shouldn't people that actually live in this town point out that everything isn't sky blue and white and big happy red mittens? As Joe Keithley so aptly put it, thought we already had the authoritarian Olympics at Beijing.  

I actually looked at this map and there is some decent information, yet when you allow it to filter out everything except Olympic Impact, it is filled with mis-truths and opinions.

And to Blo, when you go on a holiday, do you worry about how much money the workers make? Cost of housing?

-Absolutely not! Olympic Impact section of this map is mostly opinion all to lean towards how evil the Olympics are. Allegedly.

ie. Full-screen
IOC tries to KO Aussie olympic spirit (Aussies put up trademarked flag - not actual country Flag and IOC has issue with it - again how is this affecting anyone, really?) - non-issue.

Trademark infringement is not a human rights issue. It is a legal issue. So pizza places that steal the trademarked symbol or first aid companies that use the name are all to blame.


Its not that I do not care about Human Rights, its that I can see the good and what the Olympics could bring to Vancouver. Have people forgot so soon what Expo 86 did for tourism in BC? Of course they have.