Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2454
FROM THE ATHLETE'S CENTRE TO THE SLIDING CENTRE, WE INSPECT THE WHISTLER OLYMPIC VENUES


This is part 2 of our current series with a focus on the 2010-related activities in Whistler:

  • A process is now underway to select final names for the VANOC venues, a process supervised for VANOC by David Guscott, the executive vice-president of Corporate Strategy and Government Relations for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). It's a complex process that involves officials of VANOC, Whistler, IOC, some companies and the Squamish and Lil'Wat aboriginal bands. It's said to be a long, complex process, "with a lot of people who have to sign off on it." Some will have specific names only when they are Olympic facilities, and the names will then change once the Games are over, indicating there are corporate sponsorships involved. Olympics and Paralympic Games have to be "marketing clean," and that includes facility names. Even General Motors Place in Vancouver, where the medal ice hockey games are to be played, will be renamed for the Games, even though GM is a sponsor of the 2010 Olympics. In some cases, facilities within each site will also be named. For example each of the three stadia at the Whistler Nordic Centre will be named, to help with wayfinding, among other things.

  • VANOC CEO John Furlong says much of the accommodation crunch for VANOC in the Whistler area has now been resolved. "We're way past the hurdle we had a few months ago," he says. "The media issue has been resolved, most of the partners accommodations have been resolved. We basically need to have every room, so that we have the highest level of availability for any one of the people [who are putting on the Games, or reporting on them] who want to come here. It's going well. We're in a pretty good place -- we've already passed the commitments we gave to the IOC, but now we are adding on to that because more people want to come that we thought would want to... we need to press on to get every room we can into the plan."

    WHISTLER OLYMPIC VILLAGE ATHLETES CENTRE
  • A VANOC timetable indicates that if it is able to award a general contractor to build the High Performance Athletes Centre at core of the Whistler Olympic Village on time by mid-August, it is expecting construction work to begin in the first week of September. It has called a site meeting for proponents for tomorrow -- where it will be talking about such things as the project's scope, the status of back-fill materials, concrete supply, nearby construction, dovetailing operations with other aspects of the Olympic Village construction, and cash allowances.

    The C$19-million building -- VANOC's component is C$16 million, plus some funds from Whistler for a gymnasium -- uses a system of insulated concrete wall panels that are pre-cast. VANOC has contracted a company called Surespan Structures of Duncan, on Vancouver Island, a subsidiary of the Surespan Group headquartered in Vancouver -- for the design, fabrication, delivery and erection of the wall panels.

    The contractor is expected to have an electrician stationed at the Duncan plant to ensure the walls work with the electrical plans before they are cast. The panels are planned to be erected in the last three weeks of November, with the rest of the work expected to take place on those panels until late January, when the rest of the remaining construction program begins. Only the main construction program is on the critical path, according to the schedule.
    VANOC's timetable predicted the work involving the main aspects of the LEED standard, to which it is being built, finalized starting in late June and taking about a month to complete. Occupancy of the building is scheduled by July 25, 2008, so that it can be used for test events during the 2008/2009 winter.

    WHISTLER OLYMPIC VILLAGE
  • The area that will eventually be the Village, which is designed to serve 3,050 athletes and their support teams, is a large, flat, groomed location with roads and utilities roughed in. However, plans are fully developed, with Whistler-style duplexes and four-plexes ready to be erected. Within sight of the Whistler Olympic Village's construction clearing is an ancient cliff composed of distinctive hexagonal basalt columns; Village construction executives expect that basalt-like designs are likely to be one of the Village's themes. To the east of the Village are major BC Hydro power lines and towers. VANOC has no plans to do anything with them to improve the view during the 2010 Games, however, Village construction managers feel they won't be particularly noticeable from a pedestrian view because of the way housing will be constructed and arrayed along the eastern edge of the Village. There is also a large, open-pit gravel operation that's exterior terraces are visible from the Village on the northern exposure, but managers say the operation is not in use during the winter, and expect the terraces to be covered in a blanket of snow during the Games.

    WHISTLER ALPINE CREEKSIDE
  • The BC government has cleared the way for providing its half of the cost of VANOC's upgrading work on the venue, which VANOC expects to cost just over C$27.6 million.
    According to the BC government's contribution agreement -- signed in March by the minister in charge of the province's Olympic aspects, Colin Hansen, and by VANOC's corporate secretary, Dorothy Byrne, and just made public -- the BC government was to pay VANOC up to C$13.86 million in three staged payments, depending on the flow of VANOC's invoices and supporting documentation: up to C$7.67 million for work completed up to the end of the BC government's fiscal year, last March 31; by the end of last June, up to C$5 million more, plus any amounts still to be recovered under the March 31 payment regime; and the balance of C$1.9 million when the certificate of completion is issued by the contractors now working on the site.

    A spokesman for the BC Olympics Secretariat says the payments have been made in full to date, and the certificate is expected to be issued "by the fall," but she wouldn't be more specific than that. There's no word yet on the status of the federal government's share, C$13.77 million.

    The venue, too, is expected to be ready by winter for the public and test events. The construction work will be finished in September, with testing and commissioning in October, and ready to ski, assuming it's cold enough, from November 1st.

    Rod MacLeod, VANOC's project manager for Creekside' venue construction, also adds that there are two snow tunnels, one under the men's course and one under the women's course.

    "The intention," he says, "is either for the racing coming up between now and the Olympics, or in the venue's legacy mode afterwards, you can have the skiing public use everything that's here, and have the racers use the area as well."

    One of the tunnels began life about seven years ago, but built with volunteer labour. "It was barely adequate for what it was used for, certainly not Olympic calibre," says MacLeod, "but at the end of our construction, there will be two Olympic, World-Cup level, ski tunnels."

    MacLeod also says VANOC hopes to be able to modify the existing chairlift to be able to add some quad chairs -- removing some of the gondolas and putting the chairs in their place -- which will allow Paralympic sit skiers to ride up the hill with their equipment without assistance. "Basically, the engineers have looked at it, they tried some stuff last spring after the mountain closed for the season, and they'll come back this winter. They'll get people who are disabled to try to ride it, to make sure it's going to work. But that's the goal, to have those types of skiers be self-sufficient."

    MacLeod also says the new snowmaking system that VANOC has installed will extend the mountain's season both earlier and later. "That's part of the legacy as well," he says. "The whole tourism infrastructure of the resort [Whistler] is going to be improved."

    WHISTLER NORDIC CENTRE
  • The project manager of the C$119.7 million venue's construction, Doug Ewing, expects the facility -- where 35% of the Olympic medals, and 50% of the Paralympic medals, will be awarded by the end of the 2010 Games -- should be open to the public this winter, following two years of work in the Callaghan Valley. The events connected with biathlon, ski jumping, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined are to be played out at the Centre.
    About 15% of the 260-hectare (531 acre) site has been affected by the work. The long concrete form of the biathlon stadium target area, with its two-metre-wide eyebrow snow shield, a half-roof, to protect snow from piling up in front of the targets during the competitions, has been poured and is awaiting finishing with wood, so that targets, between 4.5 centimetres and 11 centimetres wide, and adjacent "lead catchers" can be mounted on it, and to catch ricochets from the concrete backstop. Not far from it, a Whistler-themed technical building, made of laminated wood beams to support the roof, is framed and roofed, but still open to the elements. "It's one of dozens of structures that are coming out of the ground right now," Ewing says. Max Saenger, VANOC's biathlon manager, says, "We'll be installing a fully electronic, state-of-the-art, medal target system that will be put in later in the fall. It has computer sensors to mark where the hits are when the athletes are shooting."

    The three adjacent stadiums, which will hold about 12,000 spectators each, are under construction now, along with the wastewater treatment plant and the day lodge, which will be used as the basis for the resort aspects of the facility after the 2010 Games are finished (temporary bleachers means that of the 12,000, 4,000 seats in each stadium will be temporary. "The Nordic Centre is about being out and in the landscape," he adds.

    There is a walk of about 15 to 20 minutes for spectators and, later, others, to connect the biathlon area to the ski-hill areas. There are about 15 kilometres of trails for the cross-country skiing and biathlon competitions, within the one square kilometre (about 250 acres) that takes in the venue at the Centre. More recreational trails, each as wide as a two-lane road, outside of the square kilometre are about to start construction and are also to be finished by winter. There will be about 50 kilometres (31 miles) of trails by the time the project is completed.

    The cross-country section of the Nordic centre is expected to be the main money-maker for the Centre after the 2010 Games are done and the Whistler Legacy Trust takes over its operation. VANOC's executive vice-president of Sport, Paralympic Games and Venue Management, Cathy Priestner, says, "That's where we have the day lodge, and that's where we'll run the [community] programs out of. There's a lot of spill-over from the trails, the range, and it will be part of the business operation beyond the competitions. The technical building near the shooting range is mainly for competitions."

    The one aspect of the Whistler Nordic Centre that seems to have VANOC hesitating is the ski jump section. The two jumps are, theoretically, temporary. But VANOC has put a great deal of money and work into creating the area for them -- about 80,000 cubic metres (2.8 million cubic feet) of granite was removed last year to create the slopes to the right configuration -- and whenever questions are asked about the timetable for removing them, which should be in place by now if it was going to be done, all of the senior VANOC officials we spoke to, without exception, demurred or changed the subject.

    At this point, it seems unlikely VANOC will spend any money to take the superstructure of the two jumps, the K-125 and the K-95, apart -- it is held together by bolts, with the pieces lifted into place by a 375-tonne crane. The last of three shipments of superstructure parts is due to make its trek from the Greater Vancouver area the first week of August.

    Will they be removed, and the ground reconditioned? "No, not necessarily... It's not a matter of us taking them out," says Priestner. "The decision we made was to not unveil the development aspect of the program, and the future use of the jumps is really yet to be determined... What we don't have up here are the development jumps." Those would be necessary to get beginners interested in the sport. The Alberta government has recently invested millions to upgrade the Calgary facilities, including its development ski-jump program. What remains for BC after the Olympics are two professional-grade ski jumps, with slopes of about 38.5 degrees, making them, beside double black-diamond runs, in essence, for professionals only. As Priestner puts it, "There's the ability to keep the jumps. If there's ever the desire to run a World Cup, that's possible, or it's possible that it could be for other uses that are being reviewed right now. The sort of Zip-trekky things you might be able to do with them." The [newly formed] Whistler Legacy Society, she says, is just starting to get into looking at what might be done with them after the Games, to see how they might contribute to the revenues, if not the surpluses, of the legacy facility.

    All that's for the future, although not far in the future. The first skiers are due to start using the WNC in January. Right now, equipment is yo-yo-ing up the grades to continue work on the jumps, which will only be used in the winter. Trees removed from the ground cover, along with other shrubbery, was turned into compost, the rock was used in a number of areas for trail making. VANOC's manager of ski jumping, John Heilig, says the WNC is the only set of jumps in the world where there is a refrigeration unit buried under the landing area to keep the slope, which is a sheet of ice when it's in use, frozen.

    "That's a real innovation," he says. There are also going to be permanent video-based distance-measuring systems in place, and an in-run grooming system. "There are lots of things here that are state of the art for ski jumping in the world," he adds.

    About 650 Olympic athletes and about 150 Paralympic are expected to train and compete at the Centre each day the Games are underway. Between this winter and the 2010 Games, there will be three test events on the site. Underground power is now being installed at the site.

    WHISTLER SLIDING CENTRE
  • Although delayed by record snow falls in the area that forced VANOC to clear snow before it could start its construction season, according to Jan Jansen, the Director of Whistler Outdoor Venues, says the 1.4 kilometre track, build from the bottom uphill, will be ready for use this winter. The entire project has a budget of C$104.9 million, making it more than twice as expensive as first budgeted. All 368 footings and bout two-thirds of the track has now been completed, with the superstructure already in place for the rest of it, and the seven venue buildings are also under construction at the base. "We've completed 17 of the 23 sections of the concrete work on the track," says Jansen. "But the job isn't done once the concrete is done. There's a lot of other activity going on, such as the weather protection system [for the track] going into place, installations such as the lights and awings, insulation -- we've got pipes that need to be insulated under the track. The most advanced buildings are the refrigeration buildings, which feeds the 100 kilometres of pipe in the track, and the ammonia plant has been constructed inside that building." Lehto expects the concrete work to be done by September 11. The buildings will be complete the end of October. We'll be ready to make ice in mid-to-late November." The track has to be within three millimetres over a one-metre length at any point to meet specifications, since any roughness translates directly into unhappy sliders.

    The director of the Whistler Sliding Centre, Craig Lehto, says 24 medals will be awarded to events held at the sliding centre. He says that of all the venues, it's most important to have this one opened as early as possible because each track in the world is different, and being open early allows the Canadian team in particular to train on it. "It's going to be a challenging project for the athletes."


    RESOURCES
    Nigel Bester, President
    Mark Smith, Vice President

    Surespan Structures Ltd.
    3721 Drinkwater Road
    Duncan, BC V9L 6P2

    Toll Free: 1.800.748.8177
    Phone: 1.250.748.8888
    Fax: 1.250.746.8011
    <surespan@surespanstructures.com>


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 31, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2453


    VANOC'S ACCOMMODATIONS DEPARTMENT BEGINS ASSIGNING HOTEL ROOMS

  • VANOC has begun the process of assigning hotel rooms to corporate sponsors, part of its Accommodations program. It has also begun working on acquiring sponsorships for its Torch Relays, a program that's not included in the standard sponsorship agreements.

    LOOSE LIPS SINKS APC PLANS TO RAID EMERSON'S OFFICE
  • A small group of Vancouver-based activists calling themselves the Anti-Poverty Committee were prevented this morning by security from raiding the city's constituency offices of David Emerson, the minister in charge of the Canadian government's aspects of the 2010 Olympics. One of the activists, David Cunningham, says, "We had informed several media institutions that this action would be happening. Unfortunately, they got too close to the target and, I believe, tipped our hand." Cunningham says the next raid is unlikely to include advance information to media. Since the point of the APC's raids is to gain publicity for the group and its cause, it's unlikely the decision will include all media. The APC continues to allege VANOC failed to keep its promises about construction of social housing, despite the fact the group knows its incorrect.

    FLY FISHING CONFESSION CATCHES EXEC VEEP OFF GUARD
  • The things one learns as one rides a construction bus with VANOC executives: VANOC's executive vice-president of Sport, Paralympic Games and Venue Management, Cathy Priestner, says she loves fly fishing. Even her colleague Dave Cobb, VANOC's executive vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, said "What?!" when he heard that.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 31, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2452
    TIME BEGINNING TO PRESS ON VANOC FOR DECISION ON INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER-EQUIPMENT SPONSOR


    One of the problems with VANOC being somewhat ahead of the typical schedule for Winter Olympics in some aspects of its operations is that some international sponsors of Olympic Games are not yet ready to negotiate a new package deal of the 2010 and 2010 Olympics and Paralympics.

    That's in part because they're distracted by preparations and activations involving previous packages, such as the 2008 Beijing Games that will open a year from now. Negotiations with international sponsors -- such as Lenovo, Panasonic, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak and others -- are handled by the International Olympic Committee through its The Olympic Partners (TOP) program.

    VANOC is getting increasingly concerned about the length of time Lenovo is taking to decide whether the China-owned personal computer company will agree to sponsor the hefty computer requirements of the 2010 Games. "The computer side is really causing us concern. Lenovo should have made a decision by now, in our opinion," says Dave Cobb, VANOC's executive vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications.

    The company, which bought some of IBM's personal computer manufacturing business in New York several years ago, had claimed it would make a decision about the 2010/2012 package the IOC is offering within six months after the 2006 Torino Games, it's first involvement with winter games, completed in March, 2006, and VANOC CEO John Furlong expected late last year it would make the decision by the end of the calendar year. There's still no confirmation yet on what Lenovo is going to do, according to Cobb and, he notes, time is pressing.

    VANOC's timetable calls for computer technology to be "locked down" this year because of the amount of testing and pre-Games test events it has to support, and it's been forced to already start purchasing some of its computer requirements this year with cash, when it would prefer to use value-in-kind. "We'd prefer not to buy any at all. Purchases are relatively small so far, but it's going to really cost us soon," he says.

    Cobb confirms that ManuLife, the American-based life-insurance giant that became a worldwide Olympic sponsor as a result of its merger with another insurance company, John Hancock, in 2004, will not be supporting the 2010 Games. John Hancock had supported the Olympics since 1993. The company does business as Manulife Financial in Canada.

    Johnson & Johnson, which provides personal health products and which sponsored the Canadian team in the recent PanAm Games, says it will make a decision on whether to support the 2010 Games shortly, but notes that the Torino Winter Games was its first Olympics and its assessment of that experience is only just nearing completion.

    The roll-over of international sponsors in the TOP program, says Cobb, "is late for us, but it's not necessarily late for them. It's still two-and-a-half years until our Games. In any other type of sponsorship, it would be very early to renew. Usually you do it in the last year of the agreement, but because we need computers now, the delay is affecting us. So we need them to be quicker than they may like to be."

    VANOC is also waiting to hear whether Panasonic and Kodak, which provides medical-health technological support for athletes, will renew their sponsorships. "We still have a little bit of time there, and the same with Panasonic, but it's getting closer."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 31, 2007

  • Monday, July 30, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2451
    NORTEL PLANNING IS UNDERWAY FOR HOW IT WILL KNIT TOGETHER THE BELL COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK AT THE 2010 GAMES


    Planning is underway at Nortel Networks, the company the 2010 Games and its telecommunications sponsor, Bell Canada, are using to knit together the thousands of devices, digital and analogue, that will be providing voice, video, data and broadcast services to VANOC's computer network leading up to and during the 2010 Games.

    The grand plan for the network, which will extend to all 16 competition venues, plus support venues -- two data centers, two major media centers, two main athlete villages, two main ceremonial sites, the headquarters of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) -- is to be the first such network to be completely based on Internet protocols.

    For example, Nortel, an official VANOC supplier sponsor, understands there will 10,000 VoIP phones -- phones that use the Internet to work -- 7,000 mobile phones, 40,000 wired and wireless Ethernet ports for computer hook-up, an estimated 192,000 timing, distance and scoring events that will need to be captured and transmitted, plus thousands of applications that will be tracking these instantaneous sporting results, with surges of data being transmitted at any given time around the clock. The 2010 Olympics and Paralympics will be the first such Games to use VoIP exclusively for all event locations. It allows for the ability to provide a single phone number that can be used seamlessly by "traditional" handsets and computers, desktop or laptops.

    Andy Platten, VANOC's vice president of technical infrastructure, provided a good example of the extremes in bandwidth demand the network must meet: Picture 100 photographers lined up at the finish line for a downhill ski race. "They'll have their digital cameras," he says, "and they'll hold their fingers down on those cameras, taking 10 pictures in a single second, with each picture being 15 [megabytes] in size. Those photos will have to be transmitted back to their editing areas so that within minutes they can be up on the Internet." The network is being designed to deal with those kind of data surges.

    VANOC says the network architecture will be "locked down" this year, and when the Games data processing center opens at VANOC's headquarters next year, each operational scenario will begin to be tested in the lab before it's put in use. Testing and re-testing will continue throughout the set-up of venues, including dry runs by sports organizations.

    During the Games, each venue will have a "technical triage team" standing by for emergencies in the same the way medical personnel are stand by for athletic injuries. Each major computer routing switch on the network will have a fail-safe standby, where data will be automatically rerouted if there's a failure and, in the case of a catastrophic failure, competition sites on the Games network will also be designed to operate in a self-sustaining mode.

    "The Olympic and Paralympic Games require one of the most risk adverse networks ever deployed anywhere in the world, and right up until the moment the Games begin, it'll also rank as one of the most rigorously tested with absolutely zero tolerance for failure," says Dean Frohwerk, Nortel's chief architect for the 2010 Winter Games converged network infrastructure.

    As the Games approach, approximately 90,000 individuals -- made up of the people putting on the Games, also known as the Olympic family, as well as the media, athletes, officials and volunteers -- will arrive prepared to go to work.

    Each will be provided with what Platten calls "a pick list" of services. "When they turn up, they've got one sole source of supply for commercially priced services that they're going to need."

    Voice service -- including VoIP and cellular services with push to talk -- will be provided to roughly 15,000 users across the Games venues. Networking services will include Wi-Fi and fixed-line access to the Internet and Wi-Fi and fixed-line access to specific services that can be purchased.

    "We can sell an Ethernet Virtual LAN service," says Platten, "so the Reuter's [news agency] staff, for example, could say, 'We need a 10-Mg Ethernet service between our office in the main press center and these venues, and these are the characteristics it needs.' -- and we'll deliver it to them off our converged infrastructure."

    Platten says one of the challenges is device security. "We're obviously a very high-profile event. We worry about two primary areas. One is disruption: someone trying to stop the Games or make a statement. And the other is someone trying to get access to information that they shouldn't have, and that could include changing event results or gaining access to privacy-related information."

    For most of 2009, after the winter test events at the venues, says Platten, "is the finalization of logistics -- how many switches in which venues, how are we going to deploy, how are we going to operate, and really teeing it up for the deployment phase, which starts in earnest probably in October or November of 2009. And then we put the Games on."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 30, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2450


    VANCOUVER MAKES DEAL WITH BELL OVER 2010-RELATED FIBRE-OPTICS NETWORK

  • The City of Vancouver has agreed to allow VANOC's telecommunications sponsor, Bell Canada, to use city-owned street conduits, or dig them, for its 2010-related fibre-optics network over the next 20 years for free, in exchange for giving the City access to some of the fibre-optic cable's capacity for its own uses. The agreement is for a total of 19.6 kilometres, most of which is for the 2010 Games. The net result is that, among other things, Bell doesn't have to pay its corporate rival, Telus, roughly C$18,000 a year in duct-usage, plus set-up fees and maintenance-access fees. The coverage area includes a seven-kilometre hook-up running from Main Street and 5th Avenue, across from the Vancouver Olympic Village, to VANOC's headquarters in east Vancouver near Boundary and First Avenue, and a 1.2 kilometre line running from the City's emergency communications building on Hastings to VANOC headquarters [see BACKGROUND, below, for some other service areas]. Kevin Bowers, the city's director of Information Technology, notes that under the terms of the agreement, "Bell would provide to the City the right to use its optical fibre, as well as installation services and ongoing repair and maintenance, at no cost to the City. The market value of the optical fibre and installation services is estimated at C$344,000 (C$18 per metre). This agreement will provide to the City fibre along some routes where the City has no ducts. Constructing new ducts costs from C$20,000 to C$35,000 per city block, so the use of Bell fibre along routes where the City does not have ducts provides savings to the city." Staff estimates the conduit construction savings from this agreement at C$580,000. The deal isn't exclusive, so Bell is required to install its system so additional cables can be added to its ducts in the future. The Bell fibre-optic network now being installed connects VANOC with all of its venues in Richmond, Whistler, West Vancouver and Vancouver.

    COSTS OF VANOC DEMONSTRATIONS PUSHES POLICE SECURITY BUDGET A LITTLE
  • Vancouver City police reports, after the first three months of operations in the 2007/2008 budget year, that it expects to be "over budget" by C$140,000 in one area of its operations due to additional security costs connected with Olympic demonstrations. To put that in perspective, its statutory overtime expenses are expected to be "over budget" a little more than twice that amount. The police department is under budget in other areas, though. Overall, the department expects to have a fiscal year-end surplus of C$430,000 by next March 31, assuming the rest of the year goes as expected. The information is contained in a city budget review of the city's first fiscal quarter. Olympic-related demonstrations were generally noisy but peaceful until a group of activists began making incursions to Olympic-related public events early this year, damaging the Olympic countdown clock and stealing the Olympic flag from a city hall flagpole.

    SCOTSMAN STUDIES SKELETON-SLED FRICTION FOR 2010 GAMES
  • A 28-year-old Scotsman who is working on a PhD on the role friction plays in the design of skeleton sleds plans to put his research into specially modified sleigh that will be ready for him to ride at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Iain Roberts, who is studying at Edinburgh University, expects to be on the New Zealand team when it comes to Vancouver for the 2010 Games, because his father was born in that country. He has been riding the small sleds face-first down sliding tracks in international competition for the past three years, but has been using a generic sleigh. He told the Edinburgh Scotsman newspaper, "I'm currently looking at whether there are changes in friction between the sleigh and the ice when it's in motion. I've already spent a lot of time in wind tunnels to work out the best aerodynamic position to lie in, and I'll be travelling to Germany later this year to practise on an ice track... The best sleigh you can use is one tailored to your exact needs and, as medals are won and lost by a fraction of a second, it could give me the advantage I need to win an Olympic medal. It's similar to the process used by Formula 1 [racing] teams when they're developing new cars, although on a much smaller scale." The newspaper also quotes his University supervisor, Dr Jane Blackford, as saying, "Iain is on track with his research. He's been looking into the level of friction between the sleigh and the ice and that data will be logged as part of the project. He's now going to be putting sensors on the sleigh, which will hopefully show how it moves and reacts on the track when he goes to practice in Germany later this year. This kind of research is very unusual, and he has a team of expert engineers behind him."

    BACKGROUND

    Here are some of the 2010-related duct-work for fibre-optic lines to be used by Bell for its high-speed communications links:

  • Service to southeast False Creek to service City facilities at the 2010 Olympic Village, including the new C$30-million community centre and the City-owned neighbourhood energy utility that provides heat to the Village;

  • A 4.8 kilometre line to service the new Hillcrest Olympic curling venue;

  • A short hop to connect the Pacific Coliseum, a 2010 skating venue, to lines on adjacent Renfrew Street;

  • A 1.4 kilometre line from roughly the Cambie Bridge to the main entrance of the Olympic Village;

  • Additional fibre capacity to the downtown core providing capacity for service to sites
    in the downtown core including "existing and future city-owned buildings" and service to the city's main Olympic Live Site;





    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 30, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2449
    VANCOUVER STARTS OLYMPIC-RELATED "PILOT PROJECT" CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM WITH C$100,000 SEED MONEY


    Vancouver City Council has unanimously decided to spend up to C$100,000 between now and March 31 on developing an Olympic and Paralympic sponsorship program designed to bring in money and value-in-kind (VIK) to use on supporting the city's part of the Olympics.

    The Olympic initiative, which is being called a pilot project, is said to be part of an overall sponsorship strategy for the city. The concept of such a strategy has been discussed periodically at the city for more than a decade, but until now has been generally dormant. Staff suggest that Olympic pilot project, which they began developing in March, could be used to refine the overall, wider, city sponsorship policy.

    Council's authorized Vancouver city manager Judy Rogers, who the city has appointed as a director of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), and Dave Rudberg, the city's general manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operations, "to enter into such consulting and sponsorship agreements necessary to secure cash and in-kind sponsorships from Olympic and Paralympic sponsors generally in support of the City's Olympic and Paralympic initiatives."

    The money council hopes to generate through its sponsorship program will go into an Olympic and Paralympic Sponsorship Reserve, which it also created as part of the sponsorship program process, to pay for the expenses of the program.

    But since that reserve is initially empty and there are always costs associated with generating sponsorship funding, council agreed that staff could take the seed money for the project out of the city's Strategic Initiatives Fund. Any net -- assuming there is some -- will not be returned to the SI fund, but will instead be made available for council to spend as it sees fit at some point in the future.

    It's the first major financial investment the City has been able to make in the city-side operations of the Olympics. Although it has an Olympics manager and a small office and staff for him, it failed to fund a reserve during the last budget that staff hoped would include C$5 million per year for four years for such initiatives. Since then, the Olympic manager's operations budget has been funding limited projects, which Rudberg has publicly said has been making him nervous.

    In any event, city staff say they will start the pilot project immediately, "allow staff to move quickly to capture any and all opportunities in this limited window of opportunity." As one Christina Medland, the Project Manager of the city's Civic Sponsorship Initiative, puts it, timing is critical for Olympic sponsorship activities.

    "The 2010 Games are fast approaching," she notes, "and if we are to be successful in obtaining sponsorships, there is a limited window of opportunity. Confirmed sponsors for 2010 are already making plans for marketing activities to promote their affiliation. Many of our partners already have sponsorship policies and have fully developed strategies for the Games. These same partners have either secured or are in active negotiations with potential sponsors to leverage this unique opportunity." She hopes the city will be able to sign its initial sponsorship agreements by next March.

    Medland also notes that the City's sponsorship program has to align with its obligations to the Olympics through its Host City contract, which means, "Our market from which to draw on for sponsorship consists only of the official sponsors" of the 2010 Games, which are set up through VANOC and the International Olympic Committee. VANOC has 24 national-level sponsors, and expects to double that by Games time.

    The main opportunities the City has available under its Olympic program are the look and feel of the Games, the various Olympic-related legacies -- such as the capital construction program for two east-Vancouver arenas, the Pacific Coliseum and the Hillcrest curling rink -- as well as the Live site plaza in downtown Vancouver and various celebrations connected with it, and all the support or ancillary activities connected with them. "Some projects are part of the City's deliverables as Host City; others would enhance the Games and would not be possible without investment from the
    corporate community," notes Medland.

    Part of the cost of the program is to hire a consulting firm to determine the value of the city's "sponsorship opportunities." As Medland points out, "Setting a sponsorship fee too high can result in no offers, but setting the fee too low is poor stewardship of publicly funded activities or assets, which can also set a precedent." Once the assessor finished, the city would package its sponsorship assets, and begin confidential negotiations with potential sponsors.

    Vancouver councilor Heather Deal says she hopes that one possible aspect of the negotiations might be that sponsors offer to help pay for social housing. Rudberg says it has a list of possible requirements under the program, but that could be included. He said that his office has had "one preliminary inquiry" about such a possibility. He also said the City is "exploring" the concept of allowing building-sized wraps with Olympic or Paralympic themes to them.

    BACKGROUND

    Here is a list of the City's (COV) "guiding principles" in dealing with its Olympic-related sponsorship program:

    1. Sponsorship opportunities should align City of Vancouver operations and reflect City of Vancouver visions and values.

    2. Priorities of the City of Vancouver will be enhanced through sponsorships.

    3. Priorities should be compatible with COV 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Strategic Planning Principles.

    4. Sponsorship will allow for creativity and innovation in City programs, services and events.

    5. Sponsorship will assist in the development of new funding and alternative resources to enhance City of Vancouver services.

    6. Public benefits will be maximized through use of 2010 sponsorship revenue and resources.

    7. 2010 sponsorship opportunities will be treated as extraordinary

    8. Sponsorship opportunities shall not in any way invoke or influence the City's business.

    9. Current and future core services and programs should not rely on sponsorship revenue for operation.

    10. Sponsorship opportunities must present a good business case, demonstrating a balance between the costs and benefits of entering into a sponsorship agreement.

    11. The City of Vancouver will be selective in their solicitation of sponsorship, seeking out fewer, bigger, quality sponsorship opportunities.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 30, 2007

  • Saturday, July 28, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2497

    VANCOUVER BEGINS PROCESS OF BUYING UNIQUE OLYMPIC VILLAGE ENERGY HEAT PUMP
  • The City of Vancouver is asking internationally for companies that think they can supply North America's first raw-sewage heat-recovery pump for the Vancouver Olympic Village to contact its purchasing office with a completed expression-of-interest form by September 11. Even though its civic workers are on strike, the City intends to develop a short-list of qualified companies between September 12 and the 28th, and then provide them with a detailed request for proposals to install the pump under the Cambie Bridge on the north side of First Avenue, to the west of the Village. The liquid-to-liquid pump will use filtered wastewater, which averages about 20 degrees Celsius in the summer and about 15 degrees in the winter, and, through a vapour-compression system, boost the heat to temperatures above 65 degrees and ranging up to 80 degrees during the winter. That's quite a bit higher than typical heat pumps. The heat will be transferred by the pump to a closed-loop piping system that runs along the streets through the Olympic Village, and eventually through the neighbourhood that will be built out to surround it, supplying hot water for space-heating and domestic hot-water systems in the Village buildings. A natural-gas boiler will be used to back up the system, and provide additional heat during cold winter days. Although the pump will primarily be used for heating, city officials want the system to have sufficient flexibility that it could be used for cooling at some point in the future. According to the pump requirements, the City wants it to output between 2,500 and 2,600 kilowatts. The city needs to order the pump by the last week in November, and have the detailed design plants completed for the pump by January 8, so the design can be co-ordinated with the energy centre control station also to be located under the bridge. The pump itself needs to be installed and in operation by May 1, 2009. The City and the Village developer are required to hand over the buildings to VANOC by November 1, 2009.

    WASHINGTON, BC TO TEST NEW DRIVERS' LICENSES IN JANUARY TO SPEED UP 2010 VISITS
  • A Washington State-based pilot project designed to test high-tech driver's licenses that will allow their holders to bypass passport requirements set to be implemented the summer before the 2010 Olympics is due to start in January. The province of BC, which has been urging the United States Department of Homeland Security to adopt such a document, is expected to issue similar documents -- as soon as Homeland Security and the Canadian government give their approvals to the concept. The Alberta government is also hoping to introduce a similar measure about a year from now; Arizona is also proposing a similar approach. The licences are expected to incorporate tiny transmitters that broadcast a digital identification number to a border-based scanner that, in turn, is linked to a computer database. The Washington licenses also incorporate bar codes. An applicant's face is checked using a biometric scanner against the features of existing licence holders to reduce duplication and fraud. The success of the pilot project could have a marked impact on the number of Americans who drive to Vancouver for the 2010 Games, since obtaining passports for an American family could add several hundred dollars to the price of such a visit. Passports are now required for those flying between the countries, under the implementation schedule of the American-based Western Hemisphere and Travel Initiative.

    QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT -- EXAGGERATED EXPECTATIONS
  • "...I also think we nurture exaggerated expectations of an event that, for all its years in planning, is over in days. We are encouraged to believe in a great civic 'legacy' from the Games -- wrongly in my view. Why should we expect a sporting event to be a panacea for social ills? If we can't build houses for poor people on our own, why should we expect bobsledders and speed skaters to do it for us? VANOC has enough to do getting this show on the road -- and we can only hope it really does have things in hand, and that there is not some deep seismic fault within it, about to rupture. There have been some odd departures of key personnel, and the fact the "contingency" fund is already exhausted is a little nerve-wracking. I don't doubt there'll be further financial bombshells. Just wait until we discover precisely how much security is really going to cost. But we're in too deep now. And the chorus of negativity about the Games is becoming a little tiresome. It's time to quit the caterwauling and rest our faith in VANOC to do our city, the province and the whole of Canada proud by putting on an event to remember. I confess, even I've grown quite fond of that quirky little mascot." -- Alan Ferguson, writing today in The Province newspaper in Vancouver.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 28, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2496
    BC OLYMPICS SECRETARIAT TO OPEN SMALL BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS PAVILION IN VANCOUVER FOR 2010 GAMES STARTING NEXT APRIL


    The BC Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat, the BC government agency supervising BC's responsibilities for the 2010 Games, has acquired two areas, each about 280 square metres (3,000 square feet) on the Plaza Level at Robson Square in the downtown business core of Vancouver for a 2010 business pavilion.

    The Secretariat, which is a section of the BC Economic Development Ministry, plans to use the two spaces, which are connected by a narrow hallway, to promote British Columbia's businesses, communities and programs for business development, business investment, export trade, increased international profile, tourism and the attraction of economic immigrants in the lead-up and during the 2010 Winter Games. "These facilities will play a critical role in creating an international business image for the Province as the world comes to British Columbia for the 2010 Games," according to a government document discussing the spaces.

    Primarily used for business-to-business functions, the Secretariat expects users to include BC firms and industry associations, international business delegations, 2010 sponsors and buyers, potential investors, potential economic immigrants, the international media, communities and regional governments, tourism organizations as well as the general public.

    The first of the two spaces is to be the BC Showcase Hall. It's a 244 square metres (2,625 sq. ft.) area, located at the north-east corner of Robson Square's Lower Plaza. The Secretariat expects that it will house most of the technology and show components being demonstrated in connection with the 2010 Games. In addition to including an overall Asia Pacific marketing theme, a Secretariat document says "the space will tell the story of British Columbia, its place as Canada's Pacific Gateway, and will impress upon visitors that British Columbia is a world leader in innovation, creativity, sustainability, advanced technology and livability. Design elements and multimedia presentations will encompass all regions of the province."

    The Secretariat expects to develop various types of display and multimedia presentations for BC Showcase, but flexibility will be built into it, it says, to allow industry or community multimedia content to be occasionally now and then using the display systems. Overall, it is expected that visitors to this space would be able to spend up to 30 minutes viewing the regular displays in this space.

    The second of the two spaces will be the slightly smaller Hosting space at 216 square metres (2,320 sq. ft.). Located at the south-east corner of Robson Square's lower plaza, it is expected to be used mostly for business-to-business networking, corporate hosting and government or business protocol events. The space is expected to be used for presentations and receptions, as an informal hosting area or as a formal dining area. The Secretariat is going to build a catering kitchen -- it will be issuing a contract for the work later. The area will mostly be open space, but will have two primary areas for multimedia presentations. It's also expected it could be used as a small, temporary trade show-type display area for promoting BC communities and industry sectors.

    The Secretariat says the two areas could also be used for one large event at the same time, along with the existing 2010 Commerce Centre offices across the Plaza, and on the covered Plaza itself.

    The BC Showcase and Hosting spaces are expected to be completed by the end of the BC government's fiscal year, next March 31, and will be open for use from April through 2010 "and beyond."

    An initial design concept for both areas has been developed, and the Secretariat is now starting to work on implementing it. Construction of the interior including walls, floors, lighting, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, food services and similar components is to be managed through the Accommodation and Real Estate Services department of the government's Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services. It'll all be the subject of separate contracts.

    The first contract in connection with the development of the space that the Secretariat is offering is for a contractor to produce and install the interior display-system components that have been as designed, as well as the multimedia content and audiovisual material which has yet to be developed and produced. The design drawings for the display systems have been developed for the Secretariat by Orca Creative Group Inc of Woodinville, Washington State, after opening an office in Vancouvert last year and winning an RFP last February.

    Orca Creative has been involved with the Olympics for a while now. It's president, Robert Boyd, is a member of a business development committee that advises Washington State governor, Christine Gregoire, and her 2010 Task Force, as Orca has offices in Washington State and Portland, Oregon. Boyd, who is a Canadian, sees the Olympics as the jumping-off point for long-term relationships in Vancouver. He's calculated that his company can feasibly land C$20 million in contracts just from 2010 Olympics jobs.

    The Secretariat is planning to hold a proponents' meeting on September 6 at the location.

    RESOURCES

    Robert Boyd
    President
    Orca Creative Group
    211-2323 Quebec St.
    Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 4S7
    Phone: 604.675.9030
    Toll-Free: 1.800.877.1789
    Fax: 604-675-9032
    E-mail: info@orcacreative.com
    Web: www.orcacreative.com


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 28, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2495
    OLYMPIC SECURITY UNIT APPEALING TO PUBLIC TO PROVIDE IT WITH ACCOMMODATION FOR WHISTLER-AREA OFFICERS DURING GAMES


    The police service in charge of security at the 2010 Winter Games, unable to obtain temporary housing during the Games through the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), is now appealing to the public for help.

    For security reasons, the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (VISU) says it can't reveal how much accommodation -- and related travel and food services -- it requires during three separate specific periods, but simply says it's "significant." It's also launched its own home-hunting operation from now until the end of 2009.

    VISU says it needs the temporary accommodation in Whistler, Squamish, and Pemberton a few weeks before 2010 Games, during the entire Games period in February and March, 2010, and for a few weeks following the Games. The units would be occupied by RCMP officers or "or other government personnel as designated by the RCMP."

    It would prefer the accommodations to be standard hotel rooms, but that it's quite willing to consider bed-and-breakfast establishments, rooms in condominiums, townhouses, chalets, apartments or lodges along the Sea to Sky corridor from Squamish to Pemberton.

    The requirement for the rooms starts January 11 and, until February 8, 2010, it increases, with about 25% of the requirement occurring during this time. The requirement peaks rapidly from February 9 as the Games get under way on the 12th, and drops off rapidly at their end, February 28, 2010, with approximately 70% of its need during this time. During the Paralympics, the requirement, from March 1, 2010 to March 25th, 2010, is relatively stable and represents about 5% of the total requirement.

    The locations it would consider to be primary are any property within a 10 kilometre diameter zone centred on Blackcomb Lodge in Whistler Village. Secondary locations would be any property outside the zone, but no further north than Pemberton, and no further south than Squamish.

    That's the territory, however, that VANOC has been scouring for the past three years as it tries to lock in every possible room for its own accommodation needs to house representatives of sponsors, sports federations, the media and other members of its so-called Olympic Family.

    VISU is quite willing to have up several officers share a room, but in those cases it has minimum requirements for the bathroom, according to documents connected with the call for help. "The minimum facilities for bathrooms must consist of: a. one full bath per two occupants b. one full bath and one powder room (toilet and sink) for three occupants c. two full baths for four occupants d. two full baths and powder room for five occupants, etc."

    It also has requirements for funishings in the rooms: For instance, beds: "The following types of beds are acceptable: a. A regular bed with a twin or larger standard mattress b. A Murphy bed with a standard mattress c. A full-size bunk bed with a standard mattress.... Hide-a-bed or equivalents do not qualify... All qualified beds, must be equipped with pillows, blankets, bedspreads, sheets and pillowcases, or duvet coverings... In addition to qualified beds, the units must contain a desk or table, chairs, dresser, reading lamps, a clock radio and a colour television."

    There are also minimum conditions for housekeeping and cleaning, if the rooms are hotel-like.

    RESOURCES

    If you're interested in providing accommodation to VISU, contact:

    Kelly Meikle
    Vancouver 2010 ISU
    657 West 37th Ave. Vancouver, BC V5Z 1K6 Canada
    Phone: 604.247.8403
    Fax: 604-247-8481
    E-Mail: Meikle@rcmp-grc.gc.ca>


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 28, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2494

    VANOC TO BUY 20 COMPUTER SERVERS
  • VANOC is back in the market for more off-the-shelf computers. Its latest call for quotes, just issued, is for 20 desktop tower computers running the Windows XP operating system, to be used as servers, and it wants them and 20 of its standard request for a specific flat-panel type of 17-inch display screens delivered to its east-Vancouver headquarters by September 15. This brings to 81 the number of computers, and 62 the number of monitors, that VANOC has ordered from the marketplace since July 24, although most of the previous orders -- there was one issued just a week ago -- have been standard desktop models, not towers. VANOC is in the process of building its Integration Lab and Primary Data Centre. The lab is used for testing VANOC's computer technology and the Data Centre is to be one of its core processing locations. All of VANOC's requests for computers have been similar: the machines they're buying have core duo processors with at least one gigabyte of memory installed, with the ability to expand up to four gigs each, and all have 80-gig hard drives. Some additional tweaks to the latest order is that VANOC is also ordering seven storage batteries with eight connectors apiece and four industrial-strength media converters -- their used for changing digital transmissions from fibre optic line to electrical lines and vice-versa. Like the orders over the last month, this latest request is also accompanied by VANOC's request that potential vendors fill out questionnaires about a growing number of things that are of social interest to VANOC: management, verification and business integrity -- management and business methods that "assesses and mitigates any negative social, economic and environmental impacts of operations"; environmental performances and practices; contributions to a "sustainable marketplace"; aboriginal participation in the business; corporate support for "people with disabilities", "inner-city residents, such as youth-at-risk, women, long-term unemployed and visible minorities"; sport and "healthy living"; and "leadership practices" that would help VANOC through "efforts to advance innovation, trade and investment in the sustainability sector."

    2010 OLYMPIC VILLAGE HOSTEL TO HAVE RETAIL SPACE
  • A bit more information about the Whistler Olympic Village Hostel that was approved for development by the municipality: there's to be a transit stop about half a block away and across the street from the Athlete's Lodge and VANOC's High-Performance Centre once they're built. As well, the Hostel is expected to provide a shuttle service. There will also be about 210 square metres (2,250 square feet) set aside in the building for commercial retail frontage. There's also to be continuous cover along the front of the building, part of the design, that will work like an awning for pedestrians. The four-storey building, which will have 54 units that can accommodate up to four people each during the Games, is slated to be used for a hostel following them. The hostel lodge is to be built under the supervision of the Whistler 2020 Corporation, and is located in the Whistler Olympic Village, about a block to the northeast of the High Performance Centre and Olympic Athlete's Lodge, which VANOC is constructing. It's been designed by resort architect Ray Letkeman, the principal of Ray Letkeman Architects of Vancouver.

    VANOC SPORTS THERAPIST AND PARTNER SELL WHISTLER BUSINESS TO HEALTH CHAIN
  • The Vancouver Sun newspaper reports that Whistler-based sports therapists Susie Mortensen, 49 -- who is VANOC's alpine-venue therapy manager -- and her partner, 39-year-old Marilyn Hellier have sold their Whistler Physiotherapy Group to a Calgary-based chain, LifeMark Health. Hellier is a director of physiotherapy for the Canadian Snowboard Federation and a therapist for both the Canadian and BC freestyle ski associations. The pair told reporter Michael Kane, however, they'll remain working at their offices, with LifeMark able to help them expand services and operations. LifeMark, which provides rehabilitation services and patient-care products, also operates 62 other clinics in Canada, including seven in BC, in Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey, Langley, Esquimalt, Kelowna and Prince George. CEO Craig Gattinger is quoted by Kane as saying, "Certainly 2010 was a bit of an intriguing factor, but the main factor for us as we are building this company is people and the kinds of services they deliver to patients." He added that LifeMark was heavily involved in the Calgary Winter Games in 1988, and Gattinger said the excitement and activity generated by the 2010 Games will help with recruitment and retention.

    RESOURCES
    Raymond Letkeman
    Raymond Letkeman Architect Inc
    970 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2W7
    Phone: 604.669.3339
    Fax: 604-669-5651
    E-mail: <ray@rlai.com>


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 28, 2007
  • Friday, July 27, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2448
    THE 2010 GAMES RUNS REQUIREMENTS UP 1,675 FLAGPOLES TO SEE WHO WANTS TO SUPPLY THE GAMES OVERLAY REQUIREMENTS


    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has outlined its overlay requirements for about 60 of its venues and is asking companies who feel they are qualified to supply the requirements to show their interest by October 12.

    The overlay is all of the materials and equipment VANOC needs to make the locations look and work as venues, and includes such things as temporary seating for spectators. VANOC will shortlist the companies and provide more detailed requests for proposals.

    The requirements are significant and varied, and it's expected that a number of companies will be asked to supply the equipment, most of it in late 2009 or early 2010, to urban and mountain venues. The venues in the cities of Vancouver and Richmond are the urban locations. Mountain venues are those in Whistler, the Callaghan Valley, 15 kilometers south of Whistler and Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver.

    The work packages include:

  • 1,988 trailers (modular construction) and storage containers from eight feet to 12 feet wide, and 16 to 60 feet long, new or looking like it, that can be used for office space, dormitories, kitchens, washrooms, showers, storage, equipment lock-up, first aid, water storage and laundry. They have to be able to bear snow loads. Many will be used for up to six months. The packages include their installation and removal.

  • 115,800 tents and canopies with a range of types with spans up to 50 metres (165 feet) and level floors, with stairs, access ramps, emergency and ambient lighting, most will need electrical or fuel heating, many of them will be used for up to six months.

  • Seating and related scaffolding for up to 8,000 seats at a time, for a total of 55,350 for use for about 45 days, and scaffolding for use up to three months that can handle TV camera platforms, extensive secondary power, technology and cable transfer systems, commentator positions, grandstand elements, elevator, decking boards, stairs/vomitories, face cladding, lighting, video, audio, look and signage and guardrails when required.

  • 210 kilometres of various types of fencing for crowd control, security and perimeters. The types include snow, panel, bicycle barricade and chain link -- some with razor wire along the top -- and jersey barricade.

  • 1,657 portable toilets -- 175 of them with wheelchair access -- and 64 washroom trailers -- 39 of them for executives -- with insulation and heaters as necessary, along with all the installation, cleaning, pumping, maintenance and removal.

  • More than 112,000 HVAC air conditioning systems, new or looking it, to heat temporary spaces to a minimum temperature of 15 C considering temporary space insulating properties and expected winter temperatures in the Vancouver, Cypress Mountain and Whistler regions. The package includes engineering studies prior to installation, as well as maintenance and operation.

  • 20,000 square metres (215,000 square feet) of internal build out -- This includes work to install partitions, ceilings, sub-floors, carpeting, plumbing, cable management systems, painting, carpentry, metal work, electrical work, HVAC installations, fire protection systems, concrete work, brick work, and demolition work. The type of work is expected to include such things as simple interpreter's booth, VIP lounges and athletes dressing rooms with showers and washrooms.

  • 30,360 square metres (327,000 square feet) of internal tent build out, which is similar to that needed for the building build-out.

  • 113,360 square metres (1.2 million square feet) of carpeting and other exhibition equipment that includes office walls and ceilings, as well as staging with accessibility ramps, pipe and ropes, drapes.

  • Landscape architecture (will be needed as early as July, 2009 in the mountain areas) for 128,000 square metres (1.4 million square feet) of lands that includes paving, gravelling of parking lots, creating access roads, constructing walkways and sidewalks, landscaping, preparing areas for various types of installations, dealing with water and sewer connections and drainage, installing culverts for various uses, tree planting and removal, plus remediation work after the Games, but no design or engineering work.

  • Broadcast lighting and site lighting for spectators at nine major competition venues and another seven with field-of-play lighting - for indoor, outdoor, daytime and nighttime, on ice or snow and during winter weather conditions, fixtures, ballasts, control consoles, signalling cables, rigging and safety devices.

  • Turf protection for outdoor, pedestrian, vehicles, modular, for use in winter conditions. For pedestrian use, between 10,000 and 20,000 square metres (108,000 to 215,000 square feet).

  • Rigging / trusses to lift, suspend, anchor, guide, span, support or attach items such as score boards, cameras, pageantry, lighting, audio, cabling and signage to existing structures or temporary free-standing structures. Equipment needed will include aircraft cable, shackles, turfers, tensioners, aluminium truss sections, fabric slings and straps, guide wires, motorized or hand winches, poles, tools and similar hardware.

  • 1,675 regular fibreglas flagpoles, and 148 grandstand flagpoles, between 25 and 35 feet long that can stand on their own without guywires or ballasts in the ground, with manual halyard systems that have anti-theft devices on them

    All of the packages have an urban and mountain component, and VANOC says its goal is to have one supplier for each of the two locations per package. The packages also come with installation and removal deadlines.

    VANOC wants suppliers to consider its social goals of sustainability, aboriginal and involvement of people from specific low-income areas in Vancouver.

    BACKGROUND

    What are the venues involved? Here's a partial list:

  • UBC Winter Sports Centre in Vancouver
  • Whistler Sliding Centre
  • Whistler Creekside
  • Whistler Nordic Centre
  • Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver
  • General Motors Place in Vancouver
  • The Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver
  • The Hillcrest Curling complex in Vancouver
  • Richmond Oval complex
  • Three training venues, including two new arenas in east Vancouver
  • All of the Olympic & Paralympic Family hotels in the urban and mountain areas
  • B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver
  • The celebration sites in Whistler
  • The main media broadcast and centre in Vancouver
  • The Olympic & Paralympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler
  • The Main Distribution Centres in Vancouver and Whistler
  • The ceremony rehearsal area which hasn't yet been chosen
  • Customer Service Call Centres in both Whistler and Vancouver
  • The park-&-ride locations in various places
  • Bus Depots, vehicle compounds, vehicle and bus locations in various areas
  • Warehouses in Vancouver and Whistler
  • And other locations that have yet to be identified by VANOC.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 27, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2447
    BC, CANADIAN GOVERNMENTS SECRETLY SIGN DEAL TO SPLIT SECURITY OVER-RUN COSTS 50/50


    The Canadian and BC governments secretly reached an agreement last December to evenly split the costs of any over-run to the C$175 million budget for security of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

    The RCMP said yesterday, in response to the release of some internal documents obtained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, that it couldn't provide security coverage for the Olympics for the original budget of C$175 million, but that it wasn't yet ready to report on what the revised costs would be because it was still working on its business plan. It said, for instance, that the original coverage contemplated about 20 sites, but that VANOC's requirements had now grown to nearly 100 locations.

    However, the 2010 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Security Cost-Sharing Memorandum of Agreement -- signed December 8, 2006 by the federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Stockwell Day, and the BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, David Morhart -- sets up a six-person Security Committee of federal and provincial bureaucrats, co-chaired by one from each government, to oversee the business aspects of security for the Games. That was in place by January 8. Although the deal was signed last December, it's retroactive to 2004.

    "Each party hereby commits to contribute 50% of the difference between an Amended Operating Budget and the operating budget, initial or amended, that was in effect on the day immediately preceding that Amended Operating Budget," says a key clause in the 21-page deal. The agreement does not set a cap on the additional costs, but the agreement confirms that the BC and Canadian Treasury Boards must approved whatever funds are requested under the deal. These Boards are the Cabinet committees responsible for budget and management matters.

    The agreement is specifically set up to bypass the standard 20-year deal the BC government has with the RCMP to fund routine policing costs. That arrangement, known as the Provincial Police Service Agreement, was signed in 1992 and expires in 2012.

    The agreement also sets up a process in which the Security Committee receives regular reports from the RCMP on changes to the scope of securing the 2010 Games and, as the agreement calls them, "incremental costs" that are over the initial funding of C$175 million to which the two sides agreed during the bidding phase of the Games. Under the process, incremental costs are "integrated" into the initial operating budget to produce what it calls "an amended operating budget."

    The RCMP, under the agreement, are to report at least quarterly with a briefing document on costs and coverage requirements. That means the Security Committee would have had at least two such briefings since the deal was signed. From January 1, 2010 to March 31, 2010 -- during the time when the Games will be underway -- such briefings are to occur monthly.

    However, the agreement instructs the RCMP "as soon as it is reasonably foreseeable" that it feels the initial C$175 million isn't going to be enough to deal with the security costs, it has to immediately report that to the Security Committee, along with an amended operating budget and, "the rationale for the proposed increase, and a detailed description of the policing and security activities or services intended to be funded through the proposed increase."

    It's up to the Security Committee to authorize the increases, but if it does, then a funding request goes to the respective Treasury Boards for approval, but the money won't be released to the RCMP until both governments have signed off on the additional costs.

    Although the agreement says that the RCMP will be instructed to do its best to provide information to the Security Committee about any questions it has for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), VANOC is specifically not a signatory to the agreement, nor is it represented on the Security Committee.

    The agreement allows the Security Committee to decide for itself which geographical areas will be covered by the agreement. These Games Security Coverage Areas are locations, such as venues, that are identified by VANOC and the RCMP as needing security services. It also allows the Security Committee to decide what costs should be included in the 50/50 split. Either government, under the deal, can appoint an independent auditor, including the auditor-general of either Canada or BC, to go over the Committee's books if need be. Assets acquired under the arrangement are also to be used as needed by the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit, which is led by the RCMP, and are to be divided as equally as possible between the BC and Canadian governments after the Games are over.

    In order to minimize costs, it says, the governments "will make every reasonable effort to ensure that VANOC considers and includes the RCMP's plans for policing and security operations and services for the protection of the Games Security Coverage Areas in VANOC's plans" to provide resources and equipment.

    The agreement also says that while the RCMP should use its personnel as best possible under the BC - Canada master agreement, it can develop what the agreement calls "secondment agreements" for additional personnel for planning, preparing and providing policing and security arrangements. Those agreements have to be in place by January 30, 2008. That gives both governments time to incorporate the costs of the arrangements into their budgeting process for the upcoming fiscal year.

    BACKGROUND
    =========+
    Here are the basic police and security agencies which are providing resources and services and which are covered by the new agreement between the BC and Canadian governments to provide security for the 2010 Winter Games:

  • The RCMP;
  • The West Vancouver Police Department;
  • The West Vancouver Bylaw Enforcement;
  • The Vancouver Police Department;
  • The Vancouver Bylaw Enforcement;
  • The Richmond RCMP;
  • The Richmond Municipal Bylaw Enforcement;
  • The Whistler RCMP;
  • The Whistler Bylaw Enforcement;
  • The Canadian Security Intelligence Service;
  • The Canadian Armed Forces;
  • Any federal or provincial public servant; and
  • Any other federal, provincial or municipal agency such as:
    -- The E-Comm Emergency Communications for Southern British Columbia Incorporated;
    -- The City of Vancouver;
    -- The Resort Municipality of Whistler;
    -- The Municipality of West Vancouver; or
    -- The City of Richmond.

    ---

    Some examples of costs the two governments foresee being included in the agreement for the original C$175 million:

    DIRECT COSTS
  • Personnel
  • Transportation & Telecommunications
  • Information
  • Professional & Special Services
  • Rentals
  • Purchased Repair & Maintenance
  • Utilities, Materials, & Supplies
  • Machinery & Equipment for Asset Acquisitions (< $10,000)
  • Subsidies & Payments
  • Construction & Acquisition of Machines & Equipment (>$10,000)

    INDIRECT COSTS
  • Employee Benefits


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 27, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2446
    PART 1 OF A SERIES ON WHISTLER AND 2010: SCHEDULES, STUDIES, PLANNING, WORKSHOPS, ROADWORK AND DYNAMITE


    We've been focusing on exploring what's going on with Whistler and the 2010 Games this week, and here are some of the things we've learned (Part 1):

  • VANOC and the resort municipality of Whistler are now in the early stages of integrating their master schedules with those of the other. By October, VANOC, Whistler Olympic and municipal officials will be hard at work on collecting and exchanging high-level information with various organizations in the area and particularly dealing with such topics as planning and operational concepts for transportation, venue openings, pre-Games operations, ticketing, volunteerism, snow-clearing, garbage removal and security. There are about 130 main items that staff expect to deliver to the community, but at the moment, they're still working on the interlinks. Each one will have its main activities and jobs, and this fall they should have begun resolving issues involving financial planning and staffing for each, whether by paid staff, consultants, contractors or volunteers. Each will also have its own risk assessment.

  • The first version of Whistler's operational delivery plans are expected to be completed by September 30. The municipality is also in the process of hiring a manager who will specialize in dealing with 2010 communications and community relations that involve municipal planning. It's a process which, as far as officials go, is expected to begin involving the community at various levels by that point, and is expected to last until February. By the following October, these high-level plans should be sufficiently approved to be expanded into details that are much closer to the ground, and by January of 2009, there should be a fair amount of public information about how the Games will affect Whistler, and how organizations within the area and VANOC can help with pre-Games and run-time business issues. Roughly between September and November of 2009, officials hope to have completed Games-time details. There should be plenty of information for Whistler's population to know specific schedules, maps, security-access points during Games-time, and where to find that information.

  • A second transportation study of Whistler area, by Bunt Consulting, is underway.

  • The Whistler Chamber of Commerce is to help work on a number of business aspects. For instance, a commercial-space matching service is expected to be launched shortly. It's a database to match the potential supply of commercial space in Whistler with the demand for commercial space from organizations associated with the 2010 Winter Games. Chamber president Louise Lundy estimates that, already, Olympic-related organizations have contacted it, adding, "At least 80 of these organizations have expressed interest in exploring commercial space in Whistler." It also notes that, during the Torino Olympics, some storefronts were dark because "some groups reserve more space than required." And, Lundy adds, that the database might also be used vet those interested in renting space, to reduce prospect of ambush-marketing by firms competing with 2010 sponsors.

  • The Whistler Chamber is also working on a "test-event opportunities plan" that is being readied for publication with the aid of Tourism Whistler in the fourth quarter of this year, so that the business community has a better idea of what to expect as test and training events are held at Olympic venues before the Games occur. The first version of a business opportunities guide is to be released in September or October, while a "business readiness guide" is scheduled to be prepared in connection with the Games and published in the fourth quarter of 2009. It's also working, in conjunction with Tourism Whistler, a "guest service strategy" that it hopes to have in place for the 2010 Games that is used by companies throughout Whistler. Whistler's Bob Macpherson, the general manager of Community Living, is also considering ways of supporting the families of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and coaches, and expects to be working with the Canadian Olympic Committee on aspects of this.

  • The Whistler Chamber is looking for business people to join a new volunteer group called the Whistler Business Ambassadors. Lumby notes that the people in the group "are expected to network with foreign delegations, help out with any questions and to promote local business opportunities. The group will be notified on an as-needed basis and the time commitment for each 'ambassador' will vary depending on the type of visit." The Chamber is also looking for people who speak languages in addition to English to help with delegate communication.

  • Tourism Whistler is also planning to support the cultural aspects of the Games, with the first, relatively small, part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad to take place in Greater Vancouver, Whistler, West Vancouver and Richmond, in February. But there are also cultural events that will be taking place at Whistler's various live sites that will be in operation shortly before and during the Games. It's also planning workshops for 65 tour operators this year, and it intends to work with an international sponsor of the 2010 Games, Visa, on marketing and Olympic logo usage for which Visa has rights. It also hopes to provide background video and film footage -- known in the trade as "b-roll" -- for TV sports and news broadcasters, hosting media familiarization tours -- known as 'fams' in the trade, and working on kiosks designed for use throughout Whistler during Games time. And, since the municipality is hosting most of the Paralympics Games in March, 2010, it also intends to have an accessibility guide readied that will rank businesses on how accessible they are for people with disabilities.

  • Several business-oriented workshops dealing with the Olympics are in the works, besides those offered by the 2010 Commerce Centre of the BC government. These include how to deal with VANOC's brand-protection program from a business point of view, and how the sales of official 2010 merchandise is to work. Bill Malone, who was originally brought to BC to help explain to businesses how a Winter Olympics works for business in June, 2006, is expected to be back this coming September for another workshop. Malone is the Executive Director of the Park City Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitor Bureau, in Utah, near Salt Lake City. He also served on the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee Board of Trustees from 1999 through 2002. This October, the Chamber is also planning an Expert Panel discussion.

  • The BC Ministry of Transportation expects to be working on Highway 99, between Function Junction, which is the area where the road to the Whistler Nordic Centre meets it, and Whistler, in 2008 and 2009. The area also incorporates the intersection of the new Whistler Olympic Athletes Village. Plans are expected to be publicized in the last part of this year. Paving and bridge construction for the highway into the Callaghan Valley and the Whistler Nordic Centre by a contractor for the Highways Ministry is underway now, with some initial black-topping of one lane already laid down. An old logging road, since upgraded, is currently being used by crews to get into and out of the Nordic Centre. That road, which is still gravel, will later be used for security and VIP access to the Centre.

  • The RCMP, which is in charge of security at the 2010 Winter Games, has been doing some testing at the Whistler venues, with the assistance of VANOC. Last week, for instance, VANOC buried several bundles of sticks of dynamite in random locations around the perimeter of the Whistler Nordic Centre. The RCMP squad assigned to find them got them all. Similar things happened at the other venues. Don't worry, nobody was in harms way: all the dynamite was dud.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 27, 2007
  • Wednesday, July 25, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2445
    EIGHT ARTS GROUPS SHARE C$1 MILLION IN OLYMPIC-RELATED FUNDING PROGRAM'S FIRST AWARDS


    Eight BC organizations will share $1 million following the first round of funding from the Olympic-related Arts Partners in Creative Development (APCD).

    It's a new investment program launched in March to "support the creation and development of original work that will represent the artistic excellence and diverse cultures of British Columbia." APCD is an initiative set up by VANOC, the BC government, the City of Vancouver, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Vancouver Foundation and 2010 Legacies Now. The project is administered by 2010 Legacies Now.

    The B.C. organizations, selected by a jury, that are receiving the funding are:

    -- Dance Victoria Society, Victoria, C$167,000, for a work created by choreographer Crystal Pite that is expected to be developed and shown in Victoria, Vancouver and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 2008 and 2009.

    -- Lulu Performing Arts Society, Gabriola Island, $44,000, "The Elements", described as "a dialogue between technology and the natural world through sound composition, installation work, digital media and performance art" by "five world-renowned composers and video artists."

    -- Magnetic North Festival Theatre Society, Vancouver, working with an ad hoc consortium of 11 Vancouver and Victoria theatre companies, $155,000, "Hive 2", "New works to be commissioned for this collaborative event will include: visual art, musical compositions, performance art, and 10 site-specific theatre installations, all designed for performance within an interactive social environment."

    -- Only Animal Theatre Society, Vancouver, working with Whistler and Alberta Theatre Projects, C$100,000, "creating Canada’s first theatre of ice and snow before their premiere in Calgary in 2009, a production in Vancouver and Whistler in 2010, and further touring."

    -- Presentation House Theatre, North Vancouver, $175,000, "The Edward Curtis Project will commission Métis playwright Marie Clements and photojournalist Rita Leistner to create and develop a theatrical performance and photographic installation piece based on the controversial life and photographic legacy of Edward Curtis, who created the North American Indian Project, an encyclopedia of images from more than 100 Aboriginal tribes."

    -- Bill Reid Foundation, Vancouver, C$200,000, A number of artists are to be commissioned "to create works for a group exhibition to be developed in collaboration with Northwest Coast Aboriginal communities."

    -- Geist Foundation, Vancouver, C$53,800, Six artists are "to develop six new works for the Geist Memory Project. The artists will explore aspects of memory, place and imagination as reflected in their cultural backgrounds and artistic sensibilities, as well as their unique sense of 'home' and the 'New World.' "

    -- Okanagan Artists Alternative, Kelowna, C$106,920, "BC media artists Dana Claxton, Jayce Salloum and Henry Tsang to create works that reflect on challenging social and political topics in Canada and abroad. The work of these three contemporary artists will be exhibited to local, regional, national and international audiences when the Alternator Gallery hosts the Independent Media Arts Alliance national conference in 2008."

    Arts and cultural organizations, if they're eligible under the program, can apply for up to 90% of a proposed project's development or commissioning costs, up to C$300,000. [Editor's note: we reported yesterday in item #2443 that only four organizations had been approved; the source was incorrect.]



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 25, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2444


    VANOC TO EXPAND ITS OBSERVER PROGRAM
  • Now that Sochi, Russia, has been chosen to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the Beijing Summer Games is on the horizon, VANOC has begun the process of expanding its formal Observer program, so that Sochi and others can get official accreditation to obtain operational information about a Winter Olympics. It is expected to shortly hire a coordinator for the program to deal with the Sochi Olympic Organizing Committees, as well as future bidding and candidate cities, "and other professional organizing committees." The coordinator is expected to deal with all visits to VANOC from the time they start their job until the end of the Games, and be a liaison within VANOC's various functions or department in dealing with observers, and helping with VANOC's participation in observer programs at other multi-sport games, such as the Beijing Games. They'll also be in charge of providing hospitality and logistical help to visiting observers, such as setting up accommodations and transportation, as well as looking after venue tours for them. They'll also be in charge of setting up the observer seminars in Vancouver in the last quarter of 2009, and dealing with observers during Games time. And yes, besides proficiency in English and French, which are the main languages of Canada and the IOC, fluency in Russian is expected to be an asset for the person who ends up in the job later this year.

    VANOC SPONSOR VISA DETAILS CREDIT-CARD STATS DURING LAST THREE OLYMPICS
  • Visa, which is one of the international sponsors of the 2010 Olympics, has offered some statistics about the changes in buying that occur as a result of it being the only credit card that will be accepted at Olympic-related locations. In Sydney, Australia, it says it generated US$40 million in marketing value for Australia over the four years prior to the Games, from 1997 to 2000, with a 7% increase in tourism. During the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games, sales on Visa payment cards increased 30% over the same period in 2001, but there was a 23% jump over the previous month when the Games began. Visa transactions in Greece in August 2004 during the Athens Summer Olympics increased by 55% year-over-year with an average transaction value of €86.25 (US$103.50), an increase of 44% compared with the equivalent figure for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. At the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Italy last year, it says the average transaction at Visa's automated teller machines was 35% higher than in Athens, and 95% higher than in Salt Lake City.

    COMOX VALLEY SPIRIT COMMITTEE TOURS OLYMPIC PROGRAMS IN VANCOUVER
  • One of the more active Spirit of BC Committees in the province, from Comox on Vancouver Island, says a nine-person group of committee members were in Vancouver recently to tour several Olympic-related facilities and for meetings. "We held various meetings at the 2010 Commerce Centre, had a tour of their facility, learned more about their plans during the 2010 Games and how our community can engage in that massive effort," Marilyn Tevington, member of the Comox Valley Spirit of BC Community Committee, reports. The group met with 2010 Legacies Now, and met at VANOC's headquarters building with the executive of the aboriginal secretariat working with VANOC. "We had a productive meeting with the Four Host Nations executive director Tweanee Joseph," said Melinda Knox, K'omoks aboriginal band manager, who joined the delegation. "The Four Host Nations are working on some incredible projects around 2010 that profile business and cultural aspects of B.C.'s First Nations people."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 25, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2443


    ONLY HANDFUL OF APPLICANTS APPROVED IN FIRST ROUND OF OLYMPIC PARTNERS ARTS FUNDING
  • The awards jury working with 2010 Legacies Now is reported to have approved only eight of the 73 applications it received in the first round of an Olympic-related program called Arts Partners in Creative Development, designed to help developing British Columbian artistic organizations. The names of the four applicants approved and the amounts they are to receive under the program have not yet been released. The arts partners are to provide a total of C$6.5 million over 2007, 2008 and 2009, include VANOC, which is putting C$500,000 into the pool during that time, an equivalent amount from the City of Vancouver, C$1 million from the Vancouver Foundation, and C$1.5 million each from 2010 Legacies Now, the BC government and the Canada Council for the Arts, which is allied with the Canadian government. The first deadline for applicants to apply for the first round of funding was May 15. Of the 73 applications, 44 of them were from Vancouver. The second deadline for a round of funding this year is October 15. The funding, according to the page of criteria available, is only open to professional arts organizations and museums or aboriginal arts and cultural groups, not individuals, and they had to be in operation for at least two years before applying, with a history of presentations and performances.

    CALL FOR SOUND SYSTEMS AT WHISTLER NORDIC CENTRE BY VANOC
  • VANOC is looking for companies to propose how they would install the public-announcement system in its Whistler Nordic Centre venue in the Callaghan Valley. There are several areas to be covered by the system, depending on the sport involved. The weather-protected system -- with warranties on that for up to 15 years -- will be quite loud; the specifications call for it to deliver quality music and speech at 96 decibels. For the biathlon and the cross-country sections of the Centre, coverage is needed right across the stadium area for athletes and spectators -- that's about 15,000 square metres (162,000 square feet). VANOC wants the control system to be digital signal processing. The control console and playback system will be in a specific, fixed location. The big loudspeakers will be mounted on lighting poles. For ski-jumping, there are two coverage areas for the sound system. One is the spectator area at the outrun, which is on the skier's left. It's about 5,000 square metres (about 54,000 square feet), while the second is a ski play area for recreational use after the Games. It's about 10,000 square metres (about 108,000 square feet). There are also a couple of small, indoor areas that need announcement speakers in the ski-jumping area: the two start houses, the two trainer's platforms and in two rooms of the judge's tower. VANOC also needs all the documentation that comes with the systems, as well as the warranties, and a training session on how to use the equipment. Companies have until August 9 to fill out the proposal application.

    CONTRACTORS OFFERED OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD FIRST PART OF WHISTLER OLYMPIC VILLAGE
  • Only days after Whistler council approved the first batch of housing at the 2010 Olympic Village, the municipality's development company, Whistler 2020 Development Corporation has begun looking for general contractors to build them. The three projects are a 40-unit townhouse project of about 6,600 square metres (71,000 sq.ft.); a 55-unit, four-storey apartment building, wood frame, slab on grade, of about 2,740 sq.m. (29,500 sq.ft.); and a 50-room hostel building of similar construction, about 2,100 sq.m. (23,000 sq.ft.). August 8 is the deadline for submitting corporate resumes. A short-list will be developed to chose the companies that will receive the bid documents.

    RESOURCES

    The previous story we wrote about the Whistler village development:
    'Calgary firm to build Whistler sewage plant that will heat Olympic Village; First batch of Olympic Village homes in Whistler approved'
    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2423; Published on Tuesday, July 17, 2007]



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 25, 2007

  • Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2445
    EIGHT ARTS GROUPS SHARE C$1 MILLION IN OLYMPIC-RELATED FUNDING PROGRAM'S FIRST AWARDS


    Eight BC organizations will share $1 million following the first round of funding from the Olympic-related Arts Partners in Creative Development (APCD).

    It's a new investment program launched in March to "support the creation and development of original work that will represent the artistic excellence and diverse cultures of British Columbia." APCD is an initiative set up by VANOC, the BC government, the City of Vancouver, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Vancouver Foundation and 2010 Legacies Now. The project is administered by 2010 Legacies Now.

    The B.C. organizations, selected by a jury, that are receiving the funding are:

    -- Dance Victoria Society, Victoria, C$167,000, for a work created by choreographer Crystal Pite that is expected to be developed and shown in Victoria, Vancouver and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 2008 and 2009.

    -- Lulu Performing Arts Society, Gabriola Island, $44,000, "The Elements", described as "a dialogue between technology and the natural world through sound composition, installation work, digital media and performance art" by "five world-renowned composers and video artists."

    -- Magnetic North Festival Theatre Society, Vancouver, working with an ad hoc consortium of 11 Vancouver and Victoria theatre companies, $155,000, "Hive 2", "New works to be commissioned for this collaborative event will include: visual art, musical compositions, performance art, and 10 site-specific theatre installations, all designed for performance within an interactive social environment."

    -- Only Animal Theatre Society, Vancouver, working with Whistler and Alberta Theatre Projects, C$100,000, "creating Canada’s first theatre of ice and snow before their premiere in Calgary in 2009, a production in Vancouver and Whistler in 2010, and further touring."

    -- Presentation House Theatre, North Vancouver, $175,000, "The Edward Curtis Project will commission Métis playwright Marie Clements and photojournalist Rita Leistner to create and develop a theatrical performance and photographic installation piece based on the controversial life and photographic legacy of Edward Curtis, who created the North American Indian Project, an encyclopedia of images from more than 100 Aboriginal tribes."

    -- Bill Reid Foundation, Vancouver, C$200,000, A number of artists are to be commissioned "to create works for a group exhibition to be developed in collaboration with Northwest Coast Aboriginal communities."

    -- Geist Foundation, Vancouver, C$53,800, Six artists are "to develop six new works for the Geist Memory Project. The artists will explore aspects of memory, place and imagination as reflected in their cultural backgrounds and artistic sensibilities, as well as their unique sense of 'home' and the 'New World.' "

    -- Okanagan Artists Alternative, Kelowna, C$106,920, "BC media artists Dana Claxton, Jayce Salloum and Henry Tsang to create works that reflect on challenging social and political topics in Canada and abroad. The work of these three contemporary artists will be exhibited to local, regional, national and international audiences when the Alternator Gallery hosts the Independent Media Arts Alliance national conference in 2008."

    Arts and cultural organizations, if they're eligible under the program, can apply for up to 90% of a proposed project's development or commissioning costs, up to C$300,000. [Editor's note: we reported yesterday in item #2443 that only four organizations had been approved; the source was incorrect.]


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 25, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2444

    VANOC TO EXPAND ITS OBSERVER PROGRAM
  • Now that Sochi, Russia, has been chosen to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the Beijing Summer Games is on the horizon, VANOC has begun the process of expanding its formal Observer program, so that Sochi and others can get official accreditation to obtain operational information about a Winter Olympics. It is expected to shortly hire a coordinator for the program to deal with the Sochi Olympic Organizing Committees, as well as future bidding and candidate cities, "and other professional organizing committees." The coordinator is expected to deal with all visits to VANOC from the time they start their job until the end of the Games, and be a liaison within VANOC's various functions or department in dealing with observers, and helping with VANOC's participation in observer programs at other multi-sport games, such as the Beijing Games. They'll also be in charge of providing hospitality and logistical help to visiting observers, such as setting up accommodations and transportation, as well as looking after venue tours for them. They'll also be in charge of setting up the observer seminars in Vancouver in the last quarter of 2009, and dealing with observers during Games time. And yes, besides proficiency in English and French, which are the main languages of Canada and the IOC, fluency in Russian is expected to be an asset for the person who ends up in the job later this year.

    VANOC SPONSOR VISA DETAILS CREDIT-CARD STATS DURING LAST THREE OLYMPICS
  • Visa, which is one of the international sponsors of the 2010 Olympics, has offered some statistics about the changes in buying that occur as a result of it being the only credit card that will be accepted at Olympic-related locations. In Sydney, Australia, it says it generated US$40 million in marketing value for Australia over the four years prior to the Games, from 1997 to 2000, with a 7% increase in tourism. During the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games, sales on Visa payment cards increased 30% over the same period in 2001, but there was a 23% jump over the previous month when the Games began. Visa transactions in Greece in August 2004 during the Athens Summer Olympics increased by 55% year-over-year with an average transaction value of €86.25 (US$103.50), an increase of 44% compared with the equivalent figure for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. At the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Italy last year, it says the average transaction at Visa's automated teller machines was 35% higher than in Athens, and 95% higher than in Salt Lake City.

    COMOX VALLEY SPIRIT COMMITTEE TOURS OLYMPIC PROGRAMS IN VANCOUVER
  • One of the more active Spirit of BC Committees in the province, from Comox on Vancouver Island, says a nine-person group of committee members were in Vancouver recently to tour several Olympic-related facilities and for meetings. "We held various meetings at the 2010 Commerce Centre, had a tour of their facility, learned more about their plans during the 2010 Games and how our community can engage in that massive effort," Marilyn Tevington, member of the Comox Valley Spirit of BC Community Committee, reports. The group met with 2010 Legacies Now, and met at VANOC's headquarters building with the executive of the aboriginal secretariat working with VANOC. "We had a productive meeting with the Four Host Nations executive director Tweanee Joseph," said Melinda Knox, K'omoks aboriginal band manager, who joined the delegation. "The Four Host Nations are working on some incredible projects around 2010 that profile business and cultural aspects of B.C.'s First Nations people."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 25, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2443

    ONLY HANDFUL OF APPLICANTS APPROVED IN FIRST ROUND OF OLYMPIC PARTNERS ARTS FUNDING
  • The awards jury working with 2010 Legacies Now is reported to have approved only eight of the 73 applications it received in the first round of an Olympic-related program called Arts Partners in Creative Development, designed to help developing British Columbian artistic organizations. The names of the four applicants approved and the amounts they are to receive under the program have not yet been released. The arts partners are to provide a total of C$6.5 million over 2007, 2008 and 2009, include VANOC, which is putting C$500,000 into the pool during that time, an equivalent amount from the City of Vancouver, C$1 million from the Vancouver Foundation, and C$1.5 million each from 2010 Legacies Now, the BC government and the Canada Council for the Arts, which is allied with the Canadian government. The first deadline for applicants to apply for the first round of funding was May 15. Of the 73 applications, 44 of them were from Vancouver. The second deadline for a round of funding this year is October 15. The funding, according to the page of criteria available, is only open to professional arts organizations and museums or aboriginal arts and cultural groups, not individuals, and they had to be in operation for at least two years before applying, with a history of presentations and performances.

    CALL FOR SOUND SYSTEMS AT WHISTLER NORDIC CENTRE BY VANOC
  • VANOC is looking for companies to propose how they would install the public-announcement system in its Whistler Nordic Centre venue in the Callaghan Valley. There are several areas to be covered by the system, depending on the sport involved. The weather-protected system -- with warranties on that for up to 15 years -- will be quite loud; the specifications call for it to deliver quality music and speech at 96 decibels. For the biathlon and the cross-country sections of the Centre, coverage is needed right across the stadium area for athletes and spectators -- that's about 15,000 square metres (162,000 square feet). VANOC wants the control system to be digital signal processing. The control console and playback system will be in a specific, fixed location. The big loudspeakers will be mounted on lighting poles. For ski-jumping, there are two coverage areas for the sound system. One is the spectator area at the outrun, which is on the skier's left. It's about 5,000 square metres (about 54,000 square feet), while the second is a ski play area for recreational use after the Games. It's about 10,000 square metres (about 108,000 square feet). There are also a couple of small, indoor areas that need announcement speakers in the ski-jumping area: the two start houses, the two trainer's platforms and in two rooms of the judge's tower. VANOC also needs all the documentation that comes with the systems, as well as the warranties, and a training session on how to use the equipment. Companies have until August 9 to fill out the proposal application.

    CONTRACTORS OFFERED OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD FIRST PART OF WHISTLER OLYMPIC VILLAGE
  • Only days after Whistler council approved the first batch of housing at the 2010 Olympic Village, the municipality's development company, Whistler 2020 Development Corporation has begun looking for general contractors to build them. The three projects are a 40-unit townhouse project of about 6,600 square metres (71,000 sq.ft.); a 55-unit, four-storey apartment building, wood frame, slab on grade, of about 2,740 sq.m. (29,500 sq.ft.); and a 50-room hostel building of similar construction, about 2,100 sq.m. (23,000 sq.ft.). August 8 is the deadline for submitting corporate resumes. A short-list will be developed to chose the companies that will receive the bid documents.

    RESOURCES

    The previous story we wrote about the Whistler village development:
    'Calgary firm to build Whistler sewage plant that will heat Olympic Village; First batch of Olympic Village homes in Whistler approved'
    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2423; Published on Tuesday, July 17, 2007]


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 25, 2007
  • Tuesday, July 24, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |MOGULS| #2442

    RICHMOND MUNICIPAL WORKERS TO VOTE ON APPROVED PACT

    Richmond's municipal workers have reached a tentative agreement, but the details won't be released until after its employees vote on the package later this week, so it's not yet known if the term takes it beyond the 2010 Games. If approved, the deal ensures that city staff, which have been instrumental in coordinating and developing a number of events connected with the 2010 Olympics, and supervises the construction of the huge sports complex that will house the 2010 long-track speedskating oval, will stay on the job. Richmond is not in the Greater Vancouver Regional District's labour bargaining group, which is supervising the talks that led the the strike of inside and outside civic workers in Vancouver and North Vancouver District. Meanwhile, in Vancouver this morning, strikers attempted to block access to the 2010 curling venue work site briefly, but were turned away by the contractor, Stuart Olson Constructors. A company staffer handed out an injunction order from the BC Labor Relations Board prohibiting CUPE Local 15 members from blocking workers from entering the site at Gates 1 and 2.

    VANOC TO BUY 24 DESKTOP COMPUTERS AND MONITORS
  • The International Olympic Committee has not yet been able to renew its computer sponsorship with Lenovo, the Chinese-owned computer company which has a sponsorship until the Beijing Games in 2008. As a result, VANOC is in the market for 24 desktop computers and accompanying 17" flat-panel monitors. The new computers are pretty much standard fare -- dual core chips running at speeds of at least two gigahertz, with 80 gig hard drives and a gig of memory -- but VANOC is also specifying some security features. They include a Trusted Platform Module, a specific type of chip that ensures that the computer can be identified when it connects with VANOC's highly secure networks, and that its software and hardware haven't been modified. It also wants included various other types of industry-standard, computer-management software. Companies only have until July 31 to provide their quotes.

    VANCOUVER OKAYS C$220,000 TO TEAR DOWN OLD POLICE DOG KENNELS
  • The City of Vancouver, which promised VANOC that it would provide a levelled property for its use during the 2010 Olympics outside of the Olympic Village, has given the go-ahead to pay C$220,000 to demolish the police dog-squad's operations building, a concrete structure, on the west side of the site. The city has been using the property, located at 301 West 1st Avenue, for various things since the 1930s. The money is to come from the City's Property Endowment Fund. By the end, only the old Sawtooth Building, a heritage structure, will remain.

    RESOURCES

    A photo from the Journal of Commerce showing trucks rumbling though a work gate to VANOC's Hillcrest Curling site before the injunction was handed out to picketing civic workers:
    www.journalofcommerce.com/images/archivesid/23769/80.jpg


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 24, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2441
    CITY OF VANCOUVER APPROVES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF WORK ON THE 2010 OLYMPIC VILLAGE


    The City of Vancouver has awarded a major Olympic Village road reconstruction contract for C$21.8 million, authorized another C$1 million to be spent on the Olympic Village public amenities package, approved two more Village condo projects and advanced the Village's unique energy utility.

    The City, in a series of decisions made without debate at today's council meeting, approved BelPacific Excavating & Shoring Limited Partnership of the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby as the main contractor that will reconstruct First Avenue from Wylie Street, near the Cambie Bridge, to Quebec Street, where the main gate of the Olympic Village will be located.

    The avenue, which roughly parallels the False Creek shoreline, marks the southern boundary of the Olympic Village itself, which will eventually be the core of a much large residential neighbourhood running the length of First Avenue's rebuilding, northward. On the south side of First Avenue, a large area, known as the South East False Creek private lands, are undergoing redevelopment into additional residential complexes by various developers, as a result of the Olympic Village development.

    The award includes work by BelPacific to mobilize, demobilize, build the road works, and then supply and install water, sanitary and storm sewers, as well as provide district heating, lighting, and electrical and telecommunications infrastructure. There's $1 million worth of work to allow BC Hydro to put its overhead power wires underground, and another C$535,400 worth of work to allow Telus to do the same with its telecommunications lines, and yet another C$325,400 of ductwork for the city for various other service lines. The City expects to get repaid for this work by the utilities, although it has not yet concluded negotiations with any of them. On the other hand, the City has also approved C$668,542 for BC Hydro to pay it for relocating the power lines in the first place. There's no mention of a similar payment for Telus.

    BelPacific won the contract after bidding against Pedre Contractors and JJM Construction. BelPacific has some expertise already in connection with the energy ductwork. In June, 2006, the city approved a tendered contract to BelPacific for C$1.3 million, to supply and install the NEU's distribution pipes, since they had to be in the ground before the buildings began going up in the Village.

    Meanwhile, the city has also hired Sandwell Engineering -- and a host of subcontractors -- for C$1.4 million to get the Village's unique energy utility, driven primarily by heat collected from the temperature differential of major sewer lines passing by the Village designed to the point where construction tenders can be issued by February.

    The project's surface buildings are expected to be built beneath the Cambie Street bridge, and commissioned by May 2009. VANOC is to take over the Village to house athletes and their support staff for the 2010 Games on November 1, 2009.

    The use of sewage-based waste-heat recovery, combined with a new municipal sewage pump station, buried pipelines and transfer stations, will be the first such application of its kind in North America, and the utility that runs it will be operated by the city. The heat will be used for hot water and space heating within the apartment buildings of the Village and the later neighbourhood. The project also includes natural gas boilers for backup and supplemental heat, that would be used only "on the coldest days of the year."

    Council also agreed to spend another C$1 million from its dwindling surplus first identified in a pro-forma made public late last year. Since the pro-forma was issued, it has authorized additional expenditures several times since.

    The money from the extra C$1 million is to come from the city's Property Endowment Fund, which is already borrowing money until it can be repaid in 2010 when the deal to buy the Village with Millennium Development concludes. The C$20.6 million to pay for the First Avenue road work contract is coming from the city's Southeast False Creek Financial Plan, which involves development cost levy money from throughout the city, as well as specialty DCLs from the neighbouring redevelopment, while C$2.3 million is coming from the city's Neighbourhood Energy Utility capital budget.

    Council has also approved to more development plans for residential projects in the Village itself. The first, at 1631 Ontario Street and designed by Merrick Architecture for Millennium, involves three market residential buildings with a total of 185 units.

    They are to be constructed on Parcel 10 in an eleven-storey building on the east side of the site, a nine-storey building on the west side and a five-storey building with its front on the two new Village streets, Athletes Way and Walter Hardwick Avenue.

    One level of commercial space, which is to include a drug store and other retail space, is located on the west side of the site so that it fronts along Salt Street. The entire development is on top of two levels of underground parking. These buildings will be visible from False Creek, just to the south of the new C$30 million community centre which will be the international zone during the Olympic Games.

    Archtectually, the balconies of the nine-storey building will have a distinctive wave effect build onto their front.

    The other complex that received approval today is for 1611 Manitoba Street, in the area known as Parcel 6 of the Village.

    It's also made up of three buildings: a nine-storey building available for market rates on the east portion of the property, an eight-storey building, also market-rated, on the north portion of the site for a total of 72 units, and a three-storey building with 23 units on the south portion of the site, which will have some "modest-market" rates associated with them. Commercial retail areas are located in areas that front onto Manitoba Street. There are two levels of underground parking beneath the buildings.

    The site is just southwest of the Community Centre. A plaza, plus a block of Manitoba and Salt Streets, separate it from the first complex approved. These buildings, which are also expected to be visible from the False Creek side, are much heavier looking.

    BACKGROUND

    Here are the subcontractors that will be working with Sandwell Engineering to design the Olympic Village's heating system:

  • Walter Francl Architecture Inc. (Project Architect);
  • Omni Engineering Inc. (Municipal Sewage Pump Station Design);
  • Versacon Consultants Inc. (Heat Recovery Specialist);
  • Recollective (Sustainability Specialist);
  • Brown Strachan Associated (Acoustics Specialist);
  • RDH Group (Building Envelope Specialist);
  • EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd. (Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering)
  • Pechet and Robb Studio Ltd. (Public Art Programming); and
  • Eckford and Associates Landscape Architecture Ltd. (Landscape Architect)

    --

    Here's the energy utility timeline:

  • Architectural concept design, ready for public and stakeholder meetings: October;
  • Development Permit Board review: December;
  • Construction design completed and invitation to tender documents for construction contract issued: February;
  • Council award of construction contract: April;
  • Construction: April 2008 – April 2009; and
  • Commissioning: May 2009.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 24, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2440
    "COMPREHENSIVE AND TACTICAL" TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC PLAN TO BE COMPLETED BY END OF SEPTEMBER


    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is aiming to have a "comprehensive and tactical" traffic-communication strategy in place by the end of September.

    In order to accomplish that, it's asking consulting firms to contact it by July 30 if they have a proposal to help with the work.

    The strategy is to figure out how best, and through what media, to get the word out to spectators, the public and corporate users of various types of transportation before and during the Games about traffic and transportation changes. The work has to be tailored to VANOC's budget for the plan.

    The project is being supervised by VANOC's Transportation (TAC) group and with its Communications group.

    The types of channels contemplated for distributing transportation and traffic information include "paid advertising, earned media, Internet sites", printed materials and "community engagement".

    It has stakeholders on both sides of the table: those who can help VANOC do the communications through their own marketing, such as municipal and provincial government departments, or industry associations, that normally talk about traffic issues. On the other side are the targeted markets and groups who need to know the information when it's necessary for them to know it, so they can adjust their timetables, if necessary. These would include truckers and couriers, for example. And, of course, it all has to work with VANOC's own Communication planning, and VANOC says it intends to be proactive about getting the word out.

    VANOC hasn't yet said much about the kinds of things that it intends to do to ensure that its spectators, athletes, their support staff and others in the Olympic and Paralympic families who are working on the Games can get to the venues quick, on time and with a minimum of disruption to existing traffic patterns, but there's no doubt that municipalities such as Vancouver, Richmond, West Vancouver and Whistler will give them all the help they need to get priority on the roads during Games time as well as during test events.

    In other Olympics, that has included dedicated priority lanes on streets and security escorts for Olympic buses and other vehicles, as well as other types of transportation control.

    VANOC has already commissioned baseline traffic studies in Greater Vancouver and the Whistler area, and also has reports on the highway connecting Vancouver and Whistler. It also has commissioned traffic studies in the areas surrounding its competition and non-competition venues, as well as done timing studies of how long it normally takes, for instance, a bus to move between the Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver and Cypress Bowl, one of its ski venues.

    VANOC is hoping to have the first draft of the plan written by August 24, so it can incorporate anything that needs to be added, before it's sent to the stakeholders who can help do the communications work.

    As usual, VANOC wants to ensure that its social goals -- sustainability, aboriginal employment and the like, are incorporated into the plan and proposal.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 24, 2007

  • Monday, July 23, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2439
    WEST VANCOUVER CONSIDERS FREESTYLE SKIING WORLD CUP AS 'TRAINING EVENT' FOR HOSTING 2010 WINTER GAMES


    West Vancouver staff are recommending the district municipality use the freestyle World Cup skiing event next February as a training event for the area's role in getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

    The World Cup, which is expected to attract 120 athletes representing 18 nations and need 200 volunteers, is scheduled for a week -- from February 4-10 -- at Cypress Mountain. The event marks the first time a Winter Olympic venue has been used for a World Cup event before a set of Games, and it's the first World Cup event, which is one level of competition below an Olympic Games, to be held at a venue of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. The event is not an official VANOC test event -- that's scheduled for February, 2009 at Cypress.

    The event carries a C$500,000 budget, much of it underwritten by corporate sponsors, including the name sponsor Canada Post. The host organization, the the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, is expected to be involved in "extensive VIP and sponsor-hosting events" that will occur within the District of West Vancouver.

    West Van staff say they can work with VANOC, the Squamish aboriginal band -- which is also one of the official aboriginal groups that's working with VANOC on hosting the 2010 Games -- the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, and the Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association to figure out programs, services and special events that can be held in conjunction with the event.

    Josie Chuback, West Vancouver's deputy director of Parks & Community Services, notes, "Local businesses can be directly involved, and benefit from, the event in a number of areas." These include supplying equipment, materials and services, as well as supply hospitality services and locations.

    Among those would be to figure out how the event can be worked into the area's annual WinterSong festival, find a location for the World Cup's opening ceremonies -- likely either Park Royal or Ambleside, and determine performance-space requirements at Cypress in advance of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad.

    It would also be able to figure out ways of tying in the sports events to schools, such as with ticketing programs or athletes as speakers, and work out ways to support volunteers in transportation, security, accreditation, course maintenance, dealing with fencing and banners, and with protocol components. They're expected to need meals, transportation, lift tickets and uniforms.

    Chuback expects that some financial commitment will likely need to be made by West Vancouver to take part in this, although a budget won't be prepared for council's approval until the fall as talks are still preliminary with the Association, and it's expected that much of the support required will be value-in-kind. The areas where West Vancouver might provide support include volunteer management, hosting management, receptions, arts and culture and transportation.

    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 23, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2438
    SILVER SPIDER GETS KNITWEAR DEAL FROM VANOC
  • One of the owners of Silver Spider Knitting of Toronto, Ross Millar, says the company has won approval to manufacture Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games knitwear for licensed retailers. The company, which has 25 employees and about C$2 million in annual sales, has produced branded knitted hats, toques and scarves for Reebok, Nike, Roots and VANOC's major retail sponsor, The Hudson's Bay Company. The company has 22 knitting machines for short runs; it uses a manufacturer in China to make runs of more than 1,000.

    VANOC'S MEETINGS WITH IOC, IPC IN SEPTEMBER TO USE VOLUNTEER TEAM FOR SUPPORT
  • The formal meetings of the International Olympic and Paralympic Committee meetings being hosted by VANOC in September are expected to be more extensive than previous such sessions. The sessions are scheduled for September 6 and 7. VANOC executives and staff are expected to be on hand for the sessions as usual, but so too will be a team of volunteers, who are expected to be trained in late August in various duties, including transportation, venue tours for delegates in Whistler and Vancouver, guest hosting, event registration and setup as well as tear-down, all co-ordinated by VANOC's International Client Services department. It's part of a general but slow build-up now begun by VANOC of volunteers who will be needed over the next three years to work with national Olympic and Paralympic committees from various nations that will be arriving to inspect facilities and figure out what their teams will be using locally. The volunteers, according to VANOC, "need to be familiar with the Vancouver area, and be able to deal with high-level sport and government officials from other countries and cultures." Because of VANOC's "vehicle requirements," those driving have to be at least 21 years old, even though drivers in BC can legally be younger.

    JOHNSON & JOHNSON OFFERS PLENTY OF PRODUCTS FOR CANADIAN OLYMPIC TEAM
  • Johnson & Johnson, the consumer health products company, hasn't yet reached a sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee under its The Olympic Partners program to underwrite the 2010 Winter Olympics as expected. But you might be wondering what J&J might do for the athletes of the Games if it did. The Johnson & Johnson Group of Consumer Companies in Canada -- which is Johnson & Johnson Inc. and McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division of McNeil PDI Inc. -- is sponsoring the Canadian Olympic team at the Pan American Games that are underway until July 29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Under a deal with the Canadian Olympic Committee, it's providing an on-site centre to "help treat Canadian athletes", such as providing them with Band-Aids for cuts and blisters; two substitutes for aspirin -- one uses acetaminophen to increase the body's threshold for pain, the other uses ibuprofen; medications to help them deal with the symptoms of colds; anti-diarrheal products, and anti-allergy products. It's also supplying each Canadian team member with toothbrushes; sun block, hair care products; a body wash and lotion; and mouthwash. All the products are branded. So far, J&J's international sponsorship only gives it marketing rights up to the 2008 Summer Olympics. It sponsored the Torino Winter Olympics last year as part of the same package.

    RESOURCES

    Silver Spider Knitting
    212 Supertest Rd
    Toronto, ON , M3J 2M2
    Phone: 416.663.3293
    Fax: 416-663-3387

    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 23, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2437
    THREE-AGENCY CONSORTIUM WINS VANOC CREATIVE CONTRACT FOR ADS

  • VANOC has finally awarded its agency-of-record assignment for advertising creative to a consortium calling itself The Hyphen Alliance, pushing aside the usual big agencies. The Hyphen Alliance is comprised of three smaller, independent agencies that are seen as relatively strong in their marketplace: Hyphen Communications of Vancouver, Downtown Partners of Toronto, and Blueblancrouge of Montreal. The award, which VANOC expected to make by last March when it issued the RFP in January, was the final step in a request for proposals issued by VANOC earlier this year, which resulted in a five-company shortlist for the contract, which is expected to last about three years. A separate RFP for a media-buying agency for VANOC that was issued at the same time has yet to be awarded, although word on that is expected shortly.

    NOTES FROM INTERVIEW OF VANOC'S HUMAN RESOURCES EXECUTIVE VP
  • Data that came up during an interview between VANOC's executive vice-president of Human Resources, and Vancouver Sun newspaper business reporter Derek Penner that was published today:
    -- 60% of VANOC's workforce, which is now more than 400, are from Generation X, those born to the so-called Baby Boom generation in North America after 1984;
    -- VANOC is budgeting on hiring 3,500 temporary workers, if it can't find sufficient volunteers in the last six months prior to the Games, "to handle the warehousing and logistics work to deploy all the materials needed at venues and for events," according to Penner;
    -- VANOC is hiring at the rate of two or three per day at the moment;
    -- VANOC's turnover rate is 4%;
    -- VANOC receives about 1,400 resumes per month. It uses software from its sponsor Workopolis to initially sift the resumes, then three VANOC HR staffers do phone interviews with "16 to 20" applicants per day to shorten the list;
    -- VANOC has agreements with its corporate sponsors and the governments with which it works to consider its employees for future jobs, provided it does not offer jobs to them that start before their work at the 2010 Games end;
    -- "About half" of VANOC's 1,400 paid employees are expected to be laid off when the Olympics portion of the Games ends at the end of February, 2010, while most of the rest will be laid off when the Paralympics end at the end of March, 2010. (All will receive retention bonuses if they stay until the end of their term.) The last we heard, only a skeleton staff of about 50 would remain to wrap up VANOC by the end of 2010, but Penner reports "about 100" are expected to be kept on.

    VANOC TO SUPERVISE BUS MANAGEMENT CONTRACT, AND BUS FIRMS
  • It appears that VANOC intends to contract out its management requirements for buses during the 2010 Winter Games, but whether it will be to its current ad-hoc bus contractor, Gray Line West of Vancouver, or via a separate RFP process, is not yet known. Gray Line West, one of the companies owned by the Armstrong Hospitality Group, won a standing-order contract earlier this year as the result of an RFP process, to provide VANOC with motor coaches and drivers as and when needed. VANOC is now in the process of hiring a manager of Bus Systems -- a job that's part of VANOC's Fleet Management function -- who is expected to work with a bus-management company to bus yards and depots, as well as bus operational-support facilities in Vancouver, Whistler and at near venues. The manager is also expected to create a database of bus providers, with costs, types and numbers in each provider's fleet, and negotiate contracts with bus companies, so it appears that more than one company will be called upon to supply buses. Those companies providing buses will be expected to focus on VANOC's social and sustainability goals.

    RESOURCES

    Our report on what The Hyphen Alliance is expected to do is here, in our archives report of what VANOC was looking for in an advertising agency:
    www.morgan-news.com/2010/archives/2007_01_01_Bronze.htm
    Once you get to the page, use your browser's Find function to locate "advertising agency"

    --

    For a more-detailed report on VANOC's employment structure -- including more-specific and additional details on the generational make-up of its work force, see our report in your e-mail file, which is not yet in our archives:

    'Human Resources recruitment strategies developed to evolve as Games approach'
    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2295; Published on Monday, May 7, 2007]



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 23, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2436

    VANCOUVER CIVIC WORKERS BEGIN STRIKE
  • The civic employees of the City of Vancouver went on strike today and one of the several bargaining points over which there is public disagreement is a request by the City for a three-month extension to the usual 36-month agreement. The extension takes the next contract to just beyond the end of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games; without it, bargaining for the 2010 version of the contract would occur shortly before the Games are to begin, which would give the unions involved considerably bargaining clout at the time, since they could threaten to strike while thousands of international news media are in the City for the Games. The unions, who represent 1,800 outside workers and 2,800 inside staff, have said that they oppose the extension because it would mean bargaining during a time when the Olympics expenses would affect the City's coffers and that would mean a much poorer bargaining position for them. A civic workers strike typically lasts about two months -- although the sides are quite entrenched for the time being -- and garbage piling up on the streets is expected to be first visible sign of the dispute, which is also over money and the wording of seniority clauses. Essential services, such as police and fire services, are unaffected due to BC labour laws. There has been some suggestion that permitting aspects of the 2010 venues in the city may be delayed at a time when the construction timeline is already compressed, but it's seen as likely that management would process these applications to prevent construction delays, which primarily affect the Olympic Athletes Village and aspects of the new curling rink. Both sides are currently involved in a public-relations battle as well, with Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan vowing, "I will never agree to any kind of contract to allow the city to be shut down in the middle of the Olympics." Similar staff at Richmond, where the sports complex that will house the long-track speedskating oval will be housed, are still bargaining on a new contract. Whistler is not affected.

    OBSV LOOKING FOR DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
  • Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver, the organization that provides the pool feed for TV, radio and Internet broadcasters for the 2010 Olympics, has begun looking for the person to fill one of its key jobs, the director of Finance. The person they're looking for should have at least 10 years of experience in budgeting, have an official industry designation and be ready to work in a high-pressure atmosphere for about three years. The job involves "Continuous day-to-day management of the budget, including the preparation and tracking of forecasts. Regular meetings with the department heads and other key personnel will be necessary to follow the daily changes in the project plan, and then measure and report financial and business consequences." The person will also be required to prepare "Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reports for senior management and the Board of Directors." OBSV is a wholly owned subsidiary of Olympic Broadcast Services SA, a management company owned by the International Olympic Committee. OBSV is responsible for producing and distributing "unbiased" coverage for the Games. It also provides facilities and services to international broadcasting companies who have bought the rights to broadcast the Games in their home countries.

    VANOC EXTENDS OFFER OF SHORT-TERM WAREHOUSE SUBLEASE
  • VANOC doesn't seem to be getting the kind of responses it wants for subleasing about half of its warehouse space on a temporary basis. VANOC's looking for companies who might want to take advantage of up to 18,580 square metres (200,000 square feet) of space on a short-term basis between August 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009, when it will begin needing most of that space for supplies for the Games. It originally gave prospective companies until July 20 to submit expressions of interest in the space, but has now extended that by a month. The warehouse is reportedly "first class" and in the area of the Vancouver International Airport, but is keeping the exact location a secret.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 23, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2435

    VANOC SUPPLIER OPENS PHASE 1 OF C$47 MILLION CAPITAL PLAN

  • VANOC's official wine supplier, Vincor Canada, which was purchased last year by Constellation Brands in the United States, opened a new 3,150-square metre (34,000-square-foot) warehouse and bottle shop in Niagara, Ontario on Saturday. Its the first of a two-phase capital construction program, worth about C$47 million, for the company, part of a seven-year capital expansion program that began in 2003. "This is a true show of confidence in the quality and potential of our Canadian wine business by our new owners," said Vincor president and chief executive officer Jay Wright, who began distributing VANOC-branded wines last month in BC and expected to do so this fall Ontario. "This commitment in investment and the ongoing growth of the Canadian wine industry will contribute to the long-term sustainability of our industry." The warehouse is understood to have cost C$21 million. The second part of the capital-construction program, another large building to house fermentation and storage tanks, is underway nearby.

    CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE INFLUENCED VANOC CAPITAL PLAN
  • The Daily Commercial News of Markham, Ontario, reports an interview with VANOC construction executive vice-president, Dan Doyle, in which he says the four-person industry advisory committee set up last year has had an influence on the way VANOC is building its venues. Reporter Peter Mitham quotes Doyle as saying, “They suggested other ways we might want to look at it. And in a couple of cases, it means that we've changed the way we approach it," Doyle said. "These guys are also out in the market working, and I think that is quite useful us." The volunteer committee includes Henry Wakabayashi, president and CEO of Burnaby engineering firm Pacific Liaicon and Associates, which was paid by the Canadian government to review VANOC's construction in April and May, 2006; Anibal Valente, vice-president and district manager with PCL Constructors Westcoast; Klaus Biebach, principal of Scout Consultants, who has extensive road building expertise; and Tom Johnson, vice-president, engineering and technical services with JJM Construction, and a former assistant deputy minister of transportation for he province who also has experience in land development. Mitham quotes Doyle as saying about Johnson, "He brings a real wide range of expertise as well, and is a great strategist."

    QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT -- SEFC THE 'NEXT BIG THING' IN RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE
  • "Southeast False Creek promises to become the next big thing in local real estate. Not only is it on the waterfront, with views of the city and North Shore mountains beyond, but the area has been selected as the site for the 2010 Olympic Village. There's no doubt this emerging neighbourhood on False Creek will become as vibrant as its counterpart on the north shore, with new shops, a community centre, school, parks and other neighbourhood amenities planned for the area. It's ideally located close to public transportation, and will be connected by pedestrian and cycling paths to the waterfront seawall." -- The Vancouver Sun, Homes Section, Saturday, July 21.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 23, 2007

  • Friday, July 20, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2434
    VANOC CALLS FOR ANIMATION IN A FLASH, LIKELY FOR MASCOT LAUNCH

  • VANOC late today began asking for companies that are either Canadian or have Canadian studios that experienced in video, web, TV and Flash e-mail animation if they're interested in doing some work for the 2010 organization. Those submitting qualifications by July 31 will be shortlisted, and about half a dozen firms will be given the opportunity to respond to a more detailed invitation to quote on August 8, with the work going from storyboard to animation in an "accelerated timetable." VANOC isn't saying anything about what the animation is about, but judging from the relative lack of details and given the completion timing, it's likely to do with the launch this fall of the Olympic and Paralympic mascots, which the VANOC management, Board of Directors and IOC have authorized. It's a purely coincidental situation, but the fact is that the VANOC procurement officer in charge of this particular movie project is named Michael Moore.

    BET THEY HAVEN'T HEARD ABOUT CANADA'S NEW ANTI-AMBUSH MARKETING LEGISLATION
  • Pssst -- Want to bet whether Canada, as their politicians would have it, will be the country to win the most gold medals at the 2010 Winter Games? The Canadian government and VANOC have set up the own The Podium program and are betting C$110 million -- the cost of the program -- that Canada will be at the top of the Olympics medal count at the end of the 2010 Games, and way up there in the Paralympics. So, if you don't like to bet in those leagues, there's still somebody to take that action. If you wanted to bet on Canada, for instance, it'll cost you $6 at SportsInterAction.com, a website that offers to take your money. Other prices on which country will win the most medals, according to the website's display: Germany for a $2 bet, Japan for a bet of a whopping $201, and there are 13 other countries -- US, Norway, Austria, Italy... -- with prices within that range. Sports Interaction, located in "Kahnawake Mohawk Territory," Canada, claims to be "the first online sportsbook to be fully licensed and regulated in North America" and "subject to Las Vegas-type regulation overseen by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission." The aboriginal reserve is located near Montreal and the Canada/US border runs through it. Because it straddles the border, and its aboriginal, regulatory agencies in both countries are cautious when dealing with it. Now, that's where the SportsInterAction says it is, but the website is actually owned and registered to a company called SIA Ltd, of Gibraltar, and the offices appear to be that of a holding company. SportsbookReview.com, which rates dozens of sports books like SportsInterAction, isn't all that impressed with SIA, giving it a D+ rating, which SBR says means it has these attributes "Poor, some risk to players funds. Poor customer service, etc." It says people should only gamble with sites that have an A- or better rating. [The link to the action is in RESOURCES, below.]

    DELTA'S MCMURCHY HIRED AS VANOC'S MUNICIPAL INTEGRATOR
  • A 20-year veteran of work in the parks and recreation department of Delta, a Greater Vancouver suburb, has been hired by VANOC as its manager of Municipal Integration. John McMurchy's job is to make sure the plans of municipalities in dealing with the 2010 Winter Olympics mesh with VANOC's planning -- and vice-versa.

    RESOURCES
    SportsInterAction's book on 2010 Olympics betting:
    www.sportsinteraction.com/sportsbook/index.cfm?PRID=5855&hit=1§ion=events&eventtypeid=111
    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 20, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2433
    VANOC OFFERS CONTRACT FOR BUILDING WHISTLER ATHLETE CENTRE
  • VANOC has begun looking for construction firms willing to build the organization's High Performance Athlete Centre in Whistler. The project, the core of the Whistler Olympic Village, is estimated to cost about C$21 million, including C$16 million from VANOC, according to previously available public information. VANOC's call for proposals to build the Centre closes August 10, and wants construction work to begin on August 13 (although VANOC documents say the first kick-off meeting isn't scheduled for two weeks after the contract award, indicating the proposal offer is late and the adjustments to the internal schedule weren't made before the documents were made public). In any event, VANOC wants the erection of the building's wall panels to start in the first half of November and finished that month. Substantial completion is set for September 30, 2008, and completion scheduled for one month later, unless the contractor can get it built earlier. The contractor that wins the award also has to do its best to help VANOC with this various social commitments: using aboriginal labour, a serious effort made on the environmental front during construction, strict security and criminal-records searches of all of its employees and sub-contractor staff, as well as using supplies and services from its stock of value-in-kind from various VANOC corporate sponsors.

    2010 LEGACIES NOW TO SET UP TOURISM-ACCESSIBLITY ID PROGRAM...
  • 2010 Legacies Now of Vancouver, the non-profit society spun off by the BC government to work on a number of social goals in connection the 2010 Winter Games, is planning to launch a tourism-industry support program dealing with accessibility as early as November. The idea behind "Measuring Up," as the program is called, is to set up a ratings system for tourism-related businesses so that people who have disabilities can tell from the outside of the business, or from the business's marketing material, how accessible it is. This all ties in with being supportive of issues of accessibility and 2010 Paralympic Games. The structure of the program -- how it collects the information from the businesses, how it ranks the data, and how the project works day-to-day and year-to-year, is still to be developed, and related collateral, including workbooks for businesses, as well as the ranking symbols and how they can be displayed by businesses, will be needed. As a result, 2010 Legacies Now is looking for a contractor to do all that support work. "Supporting and complementing this effort," according to 2010 Legacies Now, "will be initiatives to review, update and expand sensitivity training; engage in market-research activities; and to research, produce and keep current a product guide to assist businesses [to] source equipment and services that could be utilized to improve physical access." There will also be a second phase, a community-audit section, to the project, but they're not going to deal with that right now. The closing date for applying to do the program work and provide a proposal on how the work would be done is July 26. 2010 Legacies Now notes the idea is, "to leverage the 2010 Winter Games as a catalyst for demonstrating BC's commitment and leadership towards assisting communities become accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities, and others." There's a C$35,000 budget for the first phase of the work, which has to be completed by the end of October.

    ... AND BEEF UP THE IDENTITY OF ITS SPORTFIT PROGRAM
  • 2010 Legacies Now is also asking for quotes from image-creation firms to rename its SportFit program. And it's willing to pay up to C$15,000 for that work, which needs to be completed by the first weekend in September, when the new school year is just getting underway in BC, with the job wrapped up by the end of September. SportFit was developed to helping young people "discover sport and physical activity based on their own physical capabilities and personal preferences." According to 2010 Legacies Now, it wants to to shift the focus of the program emphasize "unstructured sport and simple physical activity that can be incorporated into every day life." So the program name should "incorporate language that reflects physical activity, healthy living and sport while capturing the themes of dreams, inspiration and ambition." They want three options for the names, along with three slogans or tag lines, each in English and French, then figure out how to incorporate them into the program's existing look-and-feel. If you're interested, there are some proposal forms to fill out by July 25. If you've got the job, they expect to notify you by July 27, there will be a briefing meeting on July 31, when the project begins, and 2010 Legacies Now staffers will want the creative presented the week of August 20.

    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 20, 2007

  • Thursday, July 19, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2432
    VANOC BOARD BRIEFED ON GAMES-TIME PLANNING
  • VANOC's Board of Directors received its first major briefing on the progress being made by two executive vice-presidents on the planning being done for when the Games are actually running. The two, Sport's Cathy Priestner and Services & Ceremonies's Terry Wright, are still at what VANOC CEO John Furlong called "the 5,000- to 10,000-foot level" in the work, which has been occupying them for several months. "A year from now, we'll be at 1,000 feet, and then we'll be right down the ground," Furlong adds. He expects VANOC to release a detailed look at the plans in August, along with some scenarios to show why it's necessary. He says the point of the work is to ensure "we have perfection at the point of contact in as many locations and in as many things that we do as we possibly can." Games-time planning looks at all 51 VANOC functions and what they'll be doing day to day during the Games. Furlong notes that the number of venues -- competition and non-competition -- that VANOC will be dealing with is "70 to 80." The planning takes into consideration what happens at the "front of the house, in the house and at the back of the house" for each venue for a particular event. Furlong says that while it's complex, "it's to help the organization be prepared for every eventuality." Priestner says she and Wright are trying to get the "structure, the processes and the teams" of the Games-time planning in place by the end of the year. "A lot of our energy has been going into getting that process together."

    THE CANADIAN INDIAN AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT HANDS OUT OLYMPIC-RELATED GRANTS
  • Indian and Northern Affairs, a department of the Canadian government, today disclosed that it gave a C$120,000 grant to VANOC on March 21 as a "contribution to economic development." We've asked both bureaucracies why, but so far haven't heard. It also gave a C$50,000 grant to the First Host First Nations Society last December 19. The FHFNS represents the four aboriginal groups officially working with VANOC. The include the Lil'Wat near Pemberton and Whistler, the Musqueam in Vancouver, the Squamish tribe from West Vancouver to Whistler and the Tsleil-Waututh tribe on the North Shore of Vancouver. The money was to help cover the costs of the 2010 Aboriginal Summit Conference held last February 1 and 2 in Vancouver, which was also officially sponsored by the Canadian and British Columbian governments, among others, but was focused on aboriginal issues. The Canadian department also gave 2010 Legacies Now a grant of C$80,000 on February 15 from the Office of the Federal Interlocutor. That would be Jim Prentice, and it's his job to work with "Métis, non-status Indian and urban aboriginal organizations, as well as with provincial governments, to find practical ways to improve" the lives of these people. 2010 Legacies Now spokesman Karen McDonald says the money was to help the non-profit society work "with the Greater Vancouver Urban Aboriginal Strategy and VANOC to organize and deliver two events to engage the urban aboriginal population." The first was a Olympic-opportunities workshop on March 15 for Greater Vancouver natives that involved about 50 people, similar to a number of workshops conducted around the province for business. In this case, the subjects covered volunteering and employment, procurement, cultural involvement and taking part in sports. The second, McDonald says, was "to celebrate the spirit of 2010, and the joy of sport and the enthusiasm of youth." They did this with sporting demonstrations, playing games and doing similar types of activities, having a barbeque as well as serving "traditional" food, storytelling, entertainment. There were also various information and display booths, some "aboriginal athlete role models", and "an opportunity to showcase local artisans, performers and businesses." It was held March 24 and, she says, attracted more than 500 participants.

    CALLAGHAN VALLEY CROSS-COUNTRY COACH HAPPY WITH SUMMER-GLACIER TRAINING
  • The new head coach of the equally new Callaghan Valley Training Centre (CVTC), which will work out of the 2010 Olympic venue, says the first cross-country skiing glacier camp at Haig, in the Rocky Mountains near Canmore, Alberta, was successful. Amy Caldwell, who was hired in May and who now lives in Squamish, reports, "Athletes were able to train from 18 to 26 hours during the six-day period, and got in some quality technique, and agility training as well. Monitoring was a high priority for this camp due to the high altitude, and the athletes responded well to daily heart rate and lactate monitoring." The Whistler Nordic Centre, now under construction by VANOC, is due to be completed by this winter and open in December. Other camps in which the coach, who has 12 years of experience, primarily in working with American Olympic athletes, is expected to be involved in coaching: the Smithers Camp in August and the Snow Camp in November. The cross country technical building at the Nordic Centre is expected to eventually be the home base for the CVTC. The snow season at the Nordic Centre normally extends from November to June. A longer snow season is available within a short distance of the venue if further development in those areas takes place, according to the CVTC. A low-level glacier suitable for cross country skiing during the summer months is further up the valley, but right now, the glacier can only be reached by helicopter.

    RESOURCES

    A photograph of the skiing on the glacier by cross-country Canada...
    www.fasterskier.com/images/upload/070717-111105-Haig2.jpg

    And a picture of the camp itself:
    www.fasterskier.com/images/upload/070717-111105-Haig1.jpg


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 19, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2431
    DOYLE CONFIRMS CURLING RINK, ATHLETES CENTRE WILL BOTH REMAIN WITHIN BUSINESS PLAN BUDGET


    The executive vice-president of Capital Construction for VANOC, Dan Doyle, says that while he's still satisfied the new C$38 million curling rink venue will stay just within budget, even though the value of the contracts, now 90% confirmed, is expected to eat into the project's contingency.

    However, he's keeping regular watch on the project. "I've just looked at that one. It's one I have to watch on a day-to-day basis, but, no, we're not [going over budget]."

    Doyle also says that, as far as VANOC is concerned, its contribution totalling C$16 million to the Whistler Athletes Centre, at the core of the Whistler Olympic Village, will also stay within budget, though he notes that the Resort Municipality of Whistler has increased its funding for the project in connection with the Centre's gymnasium.

    Doyle also says he feels comfortable that VANOC will be able to take over the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Athletes Village on time in December, 2009, despite the amount of construction work that's yet to be done.

    He says he has a good reason for feeling that things will be okay. "You should understand the framework of why I feel comfortable. Every two weeks, all the [venue] project managers come in [to VANOC headquarters in Vancouver]. We have a meeting, and I go through all the details of those things -- I ask, where are you at, what are the problems, what's changed from last time. That's what gives me the confidence. It's all about setting up a system where you continually check." Doyle says his management style is "pick the right people -- and I've got that here -- and then have the right reporting structure coming in. The third thing is: let those people do their jobs. That's so important; they are there every day, and they can make the right decisions. They know the parameters: on time, and on budget. The first week I arrived [at VANOC], I sat down with them and told them there are two things you've got to do for me: You have to be on time and on budget, and the venues have to be spectacular at the end of the day. That's what they're doing."

    He agrees than VANOC has developed a reputation of being a grinder in negotiations with contractors, but he adds, "Grinder is an interesting term. My philosophy has always been that if a contractor doesn't make a profit, it won't be around to help me next time. I've always thought they should make a profit. But that doesn't mean we don't sit down and negotiate hard. We aren't putting anybody out of business. Any agreement we come to, is an agreement. The contract has, after all, said 'Yes', and there are lots of other customers out there that he can go to. So I don't think I'm the grinder."

    Doyle notes that VANOC will be the first winter organizing committee in Olympic history to have built almost all of its venues before the prior Summer Olympics, a concept that he credits to the early development work of fellow executive vice-president Terry Wright, who is now in charge of corporate services and ceremonies for the Games.



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 19, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2430
    RICHMOND SURPLUS BYPASSING OLYMPIC-RELATED SPENDING
  • Richmond's Finance Director Jerry Chong is recommending that city council's Finance Committee ignore more C$1.3 million worth of requests for Olympic-related spending from various departments, and use the city's 2006 surplus of just over C$3 million for other projects. The city's Heritage & Cultural division had asked for C$819,150 of the surplus to help pay for public art around the sports complex now under construction in Richmond. The money would fund completion of a pedestrian bridge, a water works project, the plaza, concept design for a sculpture in the lobby, as well as design and the initial construction of what's known as the "water-sky viewpoint" to ensure it's in place by 2010. Richmond's Olympic Business Office had asked for C$240,000, the Recreation Administration had asked for C$25,000 to help defray marketing, workshop and event costs of the Richmond Spirit of BC Committee, which helps to tie in the 2010 Games with tourism and other business aspects of the area, and Richmond's Roads Division had asked for C$250,000 to pay for painting the prominent #2 Road Bridge, which is not far from the Olympics oval building. But staff say there are other priorities for the windfall, such as a C$366,401 request from the Corporate Administration department for "staff recruitment, retention and development."

    CANADIAN OLYMPICS CO-ORDINATION OFFICE SWITCHES HANDS
  • The Canadian government has quietly transferred "control and supervision" of its 2010 Olympics Secretariat office to the National Health and Welfare department. It had been previously controlled by the Department of the Secretary of State. The transfer took place last April 30.

    IPC SETS AUGUST 23 AS INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC DAY FOR 2007
  • August 23 is International Paralympic Day, according to the International Paralympic Committee in Bonn, Germany. There's to be a ceremony in front of the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin, to mark the occasion in that country. The events are being sponsored by the IPC's sponsors, Otto Bock healthcare, Samsung electronics, Deutsche Telekom AG and Allianz SE insurance.

    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 19, 2007

  • Wednesday, July 18, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2429
    LANSCAPE ART AND DESIGN FOR OLYMPIC OVAL
    TO BE GIVEN RICHMOND COUNCIL NEXT WEEK
  • The public will get its first briefing about the artistic concepts for the landscaping outside the sports complex that is to house the 2010 Olympic long-track speedskating oval when Richmond city council meets next Monday. The main concepts of the art project involve a series of specific areas connected by "The Stroll", a walkway which ties the building's entrance to the dyke trail system, the new High Street and the surrounding urban area, once it's in place. The main people behind the design, which is part of the landscaping of the building, are Chris Phillips, of Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg Landscape Architects of Vancouver, and American landscape artist Janet Echelman, who lives in Maine but works out of New York. The design involves three main areas on The Stroll: an area with the nickname of Legacy Plaza, which is outside of the building's main entrance and ties in with the new High Street that connects it with parking and pedestrian drop-off. That's where the specific items of public art sculpture connected with the building will be found. The second area is nicknamed Riverside. It's to be a "major festival space that connects the oval with the water. It is to have a plaza and a large lawn with amphitheater, with a path to the Fraser River's Middle Arm dyke trail. The third area is a large pond, nicknamed Waterworks, that is part of the storm-water processing system for the complex, which the designers hope will be the major public attraction outside of the building. It is designed to connect the complex with Riverside, High Street and the housing development nearby, currently nicknamed Parcel 6. Plants are to be chosen for "amenity, aesthetics, ecology and low maintenance." There are other improvements planned for the future in the area, according to Richmond officials. These include dyke resurfacing on the Middle Arm trail alongside the Oval's site, an intertidal marsh section of the complex's western open-space plan, an improvement of the Hollybridge Canal corridor east of the building, and an "experiential walk environmental and interpretive concept" for the area.

    POOLE, RECOVERING FROM SURGERY, TAKES PART IN BOARD MEETING BY PHONE
  • VANOC Board chairman Jack Poole was still recovering from pancreatic-cancer surgery during today's bimonthly Board meeting, but he participated in the meeting for a time via teleconferencing set up by VANOC corporate telecommunications sponsor, Bell Canada. Board Member Rusty Goepel, a nominee of the BC Government, was elected by the Board Members to be the Chair for the meeting.

    LAST VANOC BOARD MEETING EXPECTED TO BE HELD IN NOVEMBER, 2010
  • VANOC says it expects its last board meeting will be held on November 17, 2010. The organization has posted a list of tentative Board and Board committee meetings between now and 2010. The 2010 Games finish in March, 2010, and the organization will swiftly lay off all but about 50 people, keeping the skeleton staff on to sell off or otherwise dispose of VANOC's assets and hold auctions of equipment, deal with financial issues and exchanges between itself, governments and the IOC, and prepare final reports on the Games for the IOC and its knowledge-transfer program. VANOC's schedule shows the Board of Directors meeting four times following the end of the Games: once each in May, July, September and the final meeting in November. It's Finance Committee, which meets monthly, is expected to meet eight times following the Games, with its last session November 8, a week before the last Board meeting. The Board's Audit committee will meet twice following the end of the Games, on June 7 and its final meeting on October 4, 2010. The Board's Sustainability & Human Resources Committee, Governance & Ethics Committee and Sport & Sport Legacy Committee all meet as necessary, with no fixed dates.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 18, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Sports| #2428
    BC SPORTS HALL OF FAME STILL WONDERING IF IT WILL GO OR STAY AT STADIUM DURING 2010 GAMES


    The executive director of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum clarifies that no decision has yet been made by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) about whether it will stay in BC Place during the 2010 Games.

    But Sue Griffin would really like to know for sure, as soon as possible. "You know what? I'd love to know yesterday."

    And, she adds, "there's been a whole lot of speculation we're going to move out. Right now, we've had no indication, whatsoever, that we're going to be moving.... we'd love to stay in place."

    One of the key issues for the Museum if it stayed, however, would be access to it while it's inside what is expected to be extremely tight security around the building during the Olympics. And that would mean cost issues and effects on Museum revenues at the same time.

    The Sports Hall of Fame & Museum (SHFM) exhibit and programming occupies 1,850 square metres (20,000 square feet) of the Stadium along a part of its perimeter, a section which could be used by VANOC itself, or for the operations of a VANOC corporate sponsor during the exclusive-use period when VANOC is in full occupation of the 60,000-seat stadium. It will be used every day for medal ceremonies and nightly entertainment, as well as for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Griffin says the Stadium management, which is its direct landlord, has not yet said what might happen, either.

    Griffin says she's determined to keep the organization going during the hiatus if it needs to move out of the Stadium during the Games. "If we're not going to be in a position to use this space," she says, "we would need to work with other partners within the community to put up the temporary displays, and be able to continue our programming as well, because so much of what we do is targeted towards school kids." And, she says, decisions would need to be made about what parts of the collection, which covers about 100 years, goes to the temporary area, or what would be put in storage until the Museum could return.

    Griffin gave VANOC's executive team a presentation in March in which she asked them to consider using the Museum to "preserve, collect and display the legacy of the 2010 Games."

    VANOC is not expected to deal with legacy planning until the first quarter of 2008, but it has confirmed that it will work this year on creating a virtual aboriginal museum of sport, and help the BC Sport Hall of Fame create a permanent gallery to recognize aboriginal athletes.

    Meanwhile, Griffin says a final agreement is not yet in place with VANOC, but she expects that later this year the SHFM will become a countdown site for the start of the Olympics, and will also be taking a "small component of our collection" and putting it on display in the reception area of VANOC's headquarters in east Vancouver.

    Is the relatively small SHFM robust enough to be able to handle the influx of materials that VANOC could donate following the 2010 Games? Griffin answers that question this way: "The whole process is [that we are] really working together to define what that collection looks like. You can appreciate that there are a million different archives and artifacts that could be involved. We need to work with them to start to define the collection... we can start to create a living legacy now." She hopes to be able to work with VANOC in 2008 to do that.

    The City of Vancouver is expected to acquire some of the archives of the Olympics after the Games.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 18, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2427


    VANOC SPONSOR CP SQUELCHES TAKE-OVER TALK RUMOURS
  • Canadian Pacific (CP.TO; CP.N), one of VANOC's corporate sponsors, is warding off rumours that it's being courted for a takeover by Brookfield Asset Management (BAMa.TO; BAM.N), a private-equity consortium. In a formal statement CP issued today at the request of Market Regulation Services a division of the Toronto Stock Exchange, after trading halted following an 18% run-up in share value, it says, "From time to time, CP receives inquiries with respect to possible acquisitions or business combinations, and has received such inquiries more frequently recently as it continues its strong financial performance." Earlier this year, it says it received "a highly conditional inquiry from Brookfield seeking exclusive negotiations and due diligence." CP's Board of Directors "considered the inquiry to be inadequate" and "declined to enter into discussions." CP says it "is not at this time in negotiations with any party with respect to a business combination." Goldman Sachs & Company, and pension manager Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec are reportedly involved with the bid.

    BELL COMMISSIONS MUSIC VIDEO FOR 2010 PROMOTION PLAN THIS FALL
  • VANOC corporate sponsor Bell Canada has produced "an Olympic and Paralympic-inspired music video that chronicles the journey of Canada's athletes on the road to 2010." The video, part of its sponsorship activation program, includes Canadian singer Suzie McNeil and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, director Stephen Scott, composer David Pierce and two-time Olympian freestyle skier, Steve Omischl. Bell describes it as a "rock-meets-orchestra recording and music video for McNeil's song called Believe." The song, which she says is "about the power of dreams," is from her new album, Broken and Beautiful. The video began shooting yesterday, and is expected to wrap today. McNeil says, "I have always been a huge fan of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Cultural Olympiad. I want 'Believe' to help raise awareness about our athletes and motivate Canadians to support them." Bell's vice-president of Corporate and Olympic Marketing, Loring Phinney, says the music video and the music track from it are expected to be released later this year, "with a special invitation for Canadians to get involved in unique ways to support Canada's athletes." Information about that will be "released" at the same time as the video.

    CHINESE MOGULS TEAM IN WHISTLER FOR TRAINING
  • Six coaches and four athletes from the Chinese moguls program are in Whistler for extensive training. China is intending to enter its first mogul skiers into the Freestyle FIS World Cup this winter, intending to take part in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The team has been working with Canadian National Team coaches Stephen Fearing and Jim Schiman both on snow and at the Canadian team's water ramp training facility at Blackcomb Mountain.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 18, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2426
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC, RUSSIA WORKING ON OBSERVER AGREEMENT
  • The Russian Olympic Committee and VANOC staffers are working on the terms of a formal agreement that will allow Russia and the Sochi Olympic Organizing Committee to observe the back-room operations of the 2010 Olympics. VANOC signed a similar deal with Torino, Italy. The Russian city of Sochi was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics earlier this month by the IOC. The Russians will also study preparation experiences of other host cities from previous Olympic Games.

    CGA SPONSOR BUSINESS SURVEY ABOUT IMPACT OF 2010 OLYMPICS
  • The Certified General Accountants organization, headquartered in Vancouver, has hired Marktrend Research to conduct a general business-to-business survey about the effect of the 2010 Olympics on businesses in British Columbia, primarily the Greater Vancouver area. The survey is underway now. The first half of the 15-minute set of questions are about the effect, seen and expected, of the Olympics on the respondent's business, while the rest are about various BC government priorities involving things of general interest to business. It's expected that, at some point, the results of the survey will be reported in the organization's publications.

    IMAGE PACIFIC INVESTS IN HD TV RENTAL KITS FOR POTENTIAL OLYMPICS WORK
  • Vancouver-based Image Pacific, a company that rents broadcast equipment in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, says that by 2009, it will have at least two full sets -- it calls them flight packs -- of custom-made, high-definition (HD) TV equipment in time for what it expects will be a lot of work dealing with the 2010 Olympics. It's just bought its first HD flight, the first of its kind to be engineered by Sony Broadcast and Communications Solutions Group in Canada. It includes four Sony HDC-1550 multi-format HDTV cameras with four Fujinon HD lenses, including a standard, a regular wide-angle, a super-wide angle and a telephoto. The kit also contains a production switcher board, three signal processors, a broadcast server and a 42-inch liquid-crystal display screen. It expects to purchase a second kit next year. Image Central Broadcast Rentals provides standard definition and HD broadcast facilities. Both companies are owned by Image Pacific Communications.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 18, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2425
    2010 ORGANIZING TO BUY TIMING AND SCORING SYSTEM FOR NORDIC CENTRE, BUT BE USING IT FOR 2010 GAMES


    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is asking for proposals by companies to supply a fairly sophisticated scoring and timing system for the Whistler Nordic Centre, but it won't be the one used during the Winter Games.

    VANOC says the system needs to be able to deal with continental North American and national Canadian championship events to be held at the Centre in Callahan Valley near Whistler. These events will be held mostly in 2008, and the system will be put back in use for the resort that replaces the venue after the Games. The request for proposals ends August 3.

    The timing and scoring system that will be used during the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be provided by Swiss Timing, a division of Swatch. One of Swatch's brands, Omega Timing, is an international sponsor of the International Olympic Committee. VANOC expects that Swiss Timing will provide all the Games timing and scoring components, as well as the computerized interfaces for them both, for the Olympic and Paralympic Nordic Test events that are expected to take place in 2009, and for the actual Olympic and Paralympic Games in February and March 2010, but it won't be left in place. Most of its components will be removed for use at the Sochi, Russia, Games in 2014.

    VANOC says the system it wants to buy now, which it calls the "Legacy System," is expected to be run by volunteers, "many of whom will have a computer background but not necessarily all be computer specialists." The system must at least meet the needs for cross-country, biathlon and ski jumping, and be homologated or certified for competitions held by the International Ski Federation and the International Biathlon Union.
    VANOC cabling that will be installed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the fourth calendar quarter of 2008 will be designed as an “open system”, and will be "semi-permanent", to support several types of timing components and their interfaces.

    Laptops, desktop computers and printers required for the legacy timing and scoring system don't need to be provided, since they are "likely to be procured or obtained separately by VANOC on a per event basis."

    BACKGROUND

    There are actually two main systems one for the cross country and biathlon, and another for the ski jumping.

    The cross-country and biathlon timing and scoring system involves, at the start line, three digital start clocks that show the time of day, the athlete's bib number and the countdown time, with the ability to trigger either an internal or external beeper or horn. Also involved are three double-style start gates.

    At the finish line, there are three photo-electric beams that trigger when the athlete's body interrupts them, connected to a two-way radio, along with a scoreboard that can display rank, bib number, name and time for two competitors, and another for displaying four competitors.

    Other equipment includes a colour photo-finish system, 300 "active" transponders with ankle straps which the athletes wear, three transponder decoders, two outdoor and one indoor displays for the time of day that should be capable of GPS satellite reception for accuracy, six timing consoles that use Internet protocols for wired and wireless communication, eight timing buttons, six stop watches that can print out their results, four video cameras, 10 headsets for the volunteers, plus all the software to make it all work.

    The ski jumping system includes, two start-time displays that trigger a gong, four photo-electric beams for speed calculations during the run, a speedometer, two outdoor and one indoor speed displays, and a scoreboard. Also used are three wind-speed machines that can provide measurements in three dimensions, and a display that shows the results as force-and-direction maps.

    The distance of the jump is measured manually and then transmitted to the display systems, but also needed for that are four video cameras with weather-protection cases, and an industrial computer with frame-grabbing software for stop action.

    Also needed are six judges' scoring PDA-style keypads, 18 headsets for the volunteers, along with all the software to make the systems work.



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 18, 2007

  • Tuesday, July 17, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2424
    2010 SECURITY ORGANIZATION NEEDS QUARTER-MILLION IN PROJECT PLANS WRITTEN
  • VISU, the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, which is the organization created to provide security for the 2010 Olympics, is in the market for a consulting firm to provide somebody with experience to write some project-management plans. And they're willing to pay between C$100,000 and C$250,000 to get it done. Documents obtained by Morgan:News:2010 show the project manager is expected to be available for three months initially, full time, and then about three days a week for the next six months and then once per month until December 2009. There are a couple of other conditions. One is that the proposed manager (and their support team, if they have one) have to successfully pass an RCMP security check to the level of "TOP SECRET" within 30 days of getting the contract, and they have to have previously held an RCMP security clearance. They also have to have been working two years in the last decade with police or security service, either as a project-management consultant or a senior employee. They also have to have had a least a year's experience planning major events "that had a significant security component." A major event would include "the Olympics, other major national or international sporting events, or significant international conferences or meetings." VISU, led by the RCMP, includes representatives from the Vancouver Police and Canada's military.

    VANOC, NATIONAL ABORIGINAL GROUPS TO COLLABORATE ON 2010 PAVILION
  • We now have some additional details about that four-page Memorandum of Understanding signed last week in Halifax between the Four Host First Nations Secretariat, which represents the aboriginal groups formally working with VANOC, and AFN -- the Assembly of First Nations and the National Indian Brotherhood of Canada. It represents many, but not all of the aboriginal groups in Canada. The MOU, as we reported at the time, is mainly about co-operation and support by the AFN for the Secretariat's work with VANOC and the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games in general. There are some specifics, however. The co-operation includes working together on supporting the 2010 aboriginal pavilion, which needs federal and provincial funding to build in downtown Vancouver, as well as projects involving education; arts and culture, including languages; sport, youth and "healthy living"; aboriginal people with a disability; skills and training, including volunteers; "authentic indigenous" products and services; and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games, which start just over a year from now. The MOU, in an appendix, also goes into some detail about how the AFN has to get approval from VANOC for "communications materials of all kinds of any kind -- including articles, press releases, backgrounders, website materials, and newsletters -- that include references to the 2010 Winter Games." These have to be sent to VANOC in advance of publication or distribution to ensure the marketing message is consistent with VANOC's marketing plans. Nor can the AFN bandy about the Secretariat's name or logo without prior approval.

    INTRAWEST GOES TO STEAMBOAT SPRINGS FOR CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
  • Intrawest, which owns Whistler/Blackcomb, one of VANOC's venues, has a new chief marketing officer. Andy Wirth, who will carry the dual titles of executive vice president of Sales & Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer, was brought into the company in March when Intrawest bought Steamboat Ski & Resort of Colorado. Wirth will work out of Steamboat Springs, where his offices are located, but report directly to Alex Wasilov, president and chief operating officer at Intrawest. In addition to his new company-wide responsibilities, Wirth will continue to oversee the sales and marketing operations at Steamboat. The company has interests in eleven resorts at mountain destinations in North America, including Whistler Blackcomb.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 17, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2423
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    CALGARY FIRM TO BUILD WHISTLER SEWAGE PLANT THAT WILL HEAT OLYMPIC VILLAGE
  • Whistler council has awarded a C$28.6 million contract to Graham Infrastructure, a Calgary-based North American construction company, to upgrade and expand its new wastewater treatment plant before 2010, in part to accommodate the nearby Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Athletes Village. The old plant had a number of capacity and enviromental issues connected with it, not the least of which was the smell that could emanate from it from time to time. There's more to it than that, of course; Whistler intends for the Olympic Village to be the core of a much larger neighbourhood that is expected to expand and be built out to about 2020. The new, modern plant has been designed to have a strong focus on environmental protection and sustainability, going so far as to heat the control building by using warmth generated by the decomposing sewage. Still under consideration, though, is whether to use methane produced by enclosed and decommissioned landfill that is next to the Olympic Village for the plant's boilers. Graham Infrastructure has subcontracted the major electrical work to Western Pacific Enterprises of the Greater Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam, mechanical process work is to be done by Lockerbie & Hole of Edmonton, Western System Controls of Kelowna in BC's interior for the plant's instrumentation, and Whistler Welding for metal work. Construction is expected to start August 1, and be completed next year. The total cost of the upgrade project is estimated to be about C$45 million, including engineering and peripheral projects.

    FIRST BATCH OF OLYMPIC VILLAGE HOMES IN WHISTLER APPROVED
  • The first development permits for the Whistler Olympic Village's medium-density residential area around the core of the development in "Parcel A" are being issued for 40 townhomes -- a mixture of duplexes and fourplexes. They'll be used first to accommodate the athletes at the 2010 Games in Whistler, where the sliding and snow sports are congregated, and then later, primarily, for Whistler employee housing. The first of 10 applications covers a 1.9 hectare (4.7 acre) strip of land that runs along the Cheakamus River. The two-storey buildings contain homes that are expected to range from 140 to 186 square metres (1,500 to 2,000 square feet) with three or four bedrooms each. They'll be built of wood, using Hardie siding -- a material with a faux-wood finish that's manufactured by a California company from quartz, calcium silicate and cellulose -- which is generally more expensive than vinyl but less expensive that brick finishes. Some will have barrel-vault roofs. They will also be the first buildings to be incorporated into the Village's district energy system with heating generated by the upgraded sewage-treatment plant, and a new sustainable system for dealing with storm-water runoff and snow melt. The land has not yet been subdivided, but the density is expected to be fairly compact -- about 21 units per hectare (50 per acre).

    WHISTLER TO SPEND C$42,000 ON AREA ATHLETES OVER NEXT FOUR YEARS
  • Whistler is planning a four-year program to provide the BC government's Pacific Sport organization a total of C$42,000 between this year and 2010 to help support the 89 high-performance athletes in the Sea-to-Sky corridor between Whistler and Vancouver, 83% of whom live in Whistler. The athlete assistance strategy is expected to be the first of two ways Whistler hopes to help athletes in a formal sense between now and the 2010 Games. Later this year, when it does it's budgeting for the 2008/2009 fiscal year, which starts next April, it will work on an athlete sponsorship program. The current plan, however, follows on the heels of an experiment that began earlier this year when it sponsored Alpine Canada skier Michael Janyk for six months. Whistler's manager of Strategic Alliances, John Rae, notes, that the program "delivered impressions via international media, generated community pride, and strengthened the RMOW’s relationship" with the national sports organization. But it's not going to renew it because the program's costs were unpredictable because of its emphasis on pay for performance, and there wasn't any way, he suggests, to reliably predict return on investment. So, the concept is to use the structure of PacificSport, the BC government's high-performance-athlete training and service organization, to funnel the funds to the athletes. The money is expected to be used to defray costs for travel, accommodation, meals and entry fees for competitions, but PacificSport and Whistler staff are talking about a joint communications program at the moment that is expected to later include "their stories and achievements."

    BACKGROUND

    Some corporate models of athlete-support initiatives:
    -- VANOC sponsor Rona: "Growing with our Athletes"; C$4 million over five years
    -- VANOC sponsor General Motors Canada: "Making Dreams Happen"; C$1.2 million over three years
    -- Coast Hotels: up to C$10,000 available to each of 10 PacificSport athletes who are training with a national team, but are not carded by Sport Canada (and thus eligible for other help)
    -- Mercedes Benz: funds available for athletes from Greater Vancouver who are training with a national team, but who are not carded by Sport Canada
    -- Private fund: "First Fund for Gold": Provides up to C$8,000 (C$4,000 cash plus C$4,000 invested in an endowment) for athletes who are training with a national team but are not Sport Canada=carded.

    ---

    PacificSport estimates that a minimum C$1,000 per athlete per year is required to enable the person to focus on training for competition. That's why most high-performance athletes develop and manage their own fundraising programs.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 17, 2007

  • Monday, July 16, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2422
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    ALIANT ACTIVATES CANADIAN OLYMPIC TEAM SPONSORSHIP
  • Aliant, a subsidiary of VANOC's tier-1 corporate sponsor, Bell Canada, in Canada's eastern Canadian Maritime provinces, has begun activating its Olympic marketing rights through a program of tying some of its phone-marketing packages to Olympic athletes. Part of its Olympic rights allows it to officially support the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic team contenders until December 31, 2012. The program, expected to be continued in tailored form for the 2010 Olympics, will start by following four Maritime athletes -- three Olympic athletes and a Paralympic athlete who are working their way toward the Beijing Summer Games. The program, called "The Atlantic Canada Contenders: Beijing Edition", involves publishing the stories of each athlete on its website. That, it says, provides "customers with an interactive and unique window into each athlete's determined quest for a spot on the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Team. New customers who take advantage of Aliant Value Packages and existing Aliant Value Package customers will also have a chance to win a trip to visit the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games by registering at Aliant.net." Heather Tulk, Aliant's Senior Vice President of Marketing, says, "We are committed to keeping our customers informed throughout the months leading up to Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. Aliant will be a key Atlantic Canadian connection to the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Team and the athletes. We will be providing rich, interactive content about our athletes, and will keep the connection to the athletes competing in Beijing alive and strong." The Aliant Contenders were on hand for an Aliant-sponsored golf fund-raiser for them that involved "more than 140 local representatives from business, community, government and other organizations." Aliant became 2010 sponsor when its corporate parent did, but for legal reasons is also a tier-2 sponsor in its own right.

    SURREY SPIRIT COMMITTEE OPENS OFFICE
  • The Spirit of BC Committee in the Greater Vancouver municipality of Surrey has opened an office at Surrey Municipal Hall. The organization describes itself and the office as a "resource and referral center for opportunities and events related to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games." Spirit of BC is supported by 2010 Legacies Now and the Province of BC. There are about 90 Spirit committees in communities throughout British Columbia, but most of them don't have their own office. Surrey and Richmond have been mentioned by Vancouver City's Olympic staff as two other jurisdictions interested in Olympics-releated tourism and economic marketing programs for Greater Vancouver, but commitments have not yet been reached.

    TURKMENISTAN MAY FIELD FIRST WINTER OLYMPICS TEAM IN 2010
  • The Vancouver 2010 Olympics is expected to be the first set of winter games in which the country of Turkmenistan participates. A recent meeting of the State Committee for Tourism and Sports of Turkmenistan focused on the preparation of Turkmen sportsmen to the 2008 Summer Beijing Olympic Games, the 2010 Winter Games, and 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Turkmenistan was a Soviet republic until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1992, and is now an independent country located north of Iran and northwest of Afghanistan. When the country's president-for-life died last year, the country held its first multi-party presidential elections last February. The list of athletes expected to come to Vancouver has yet to be determined, based on qualifying events, according to reports.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 16, 2007

  • Friday, July 13, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2421
    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    BC GOVERNMENT GIVES VANOC GREEN LIGHT FOR NORDIC TRAIL CONSTRUCTION
  • VANOC has at last been granted approval by the BC government's environmental approval process to begin construction of the so-called legacy trails part of the Whistler Nordic Centre, and hopes to begin work later this month -- once it briefs contractors on environmental obligations. The cross-country ski trails, which average nine metres wide, are part of the Nordic resort complex that will be left in place after the 2010 Games are finished with the venue. They'll help the resort bring in revenue through their use as an attraction for skiers and hikers. VANOC had to agree to a nine-page list of environmental commitments and assurances in order to proceed with the project, which was supposed to start earlier this year, but its prepared and filed a 44-page policy document with the government outlining its rules for them during and after construction. The document about the Environmental Management Program was prepared by Enkon Environmental, as designed to be followed during construction and operation trails. The Nordic centre venue is to be completed by this winter, and it's expected most of the legacy trails will be available for use during the winter. [See RESOURCES, below.]

    VANOC CALLS FOR FORMATION MEETINGS OF WHISTLER SLIDING CENTRE CLUB
  • VANOC has begun setting up meetings of those interested in forming a Whistler Sliding Centre Track Club to work with the Whistler Sliding Centre, which is expected to be one of the venues completed by the end of this year. The Club will be the organization that works with athletes using the track. Meetings will provide information on membership benefits, athlete development programs, recreational sliding, officials' certification and supporting Team Canada. The track is expected to open early next year. The meetings, expected to last about an hour, will be held in Squamish, Pemberton and Whistler late next week and on the weekend. The Club is also expected to be involved in training the 240 officials expected to be needed for the Games.

    WHISTLER FIRM CHEERED BY SOCHI WIN OF 2014 WINTER GAMES
  • EcoSign, the Whistler consulting company that helped in the early stages of planning the upgrade work that would be necessary on VANOC's Creekside alpine skiing venue and some of the design of the Nordic facilities in the Callaghan Valley, was one of the companies that cheered when Russia's Sochi bid won the 2014 Winter Olympics. The company worked with the city to help decide whether it could host the Games. The company also worked on the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988 and the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002.


    RESOURCES

    Enkon Environmental's environmental-management program for the 2010 Nordic venue cross-country trail system, in PDF format:

    tinyurl.com/yogjdh


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 13, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2420
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    INITIATIVES PRINCE GEORGE TO WORK OUT OF 2010 COMMERCE CENTRE OFFICE
  • Initiatives Prince George, which works on the city's 2010 development strategy, among other things, will be among the new tenants with free offices for its Greater Vancouver marketing office at the provincially-funded 2010 Olympics commerce centre on Robson Square in downtown Vancouver. Initiatives Prince George estimates it will save C$22,000 per year in lease payments by moving to the new offices until after the 2010 Games concludes. The marketing office is used for business meetings involving investment in the Prince George area, among other things.

    FRENCH UTILITY SPONSORS BRITISH ATHLETES BOUND FOR 2010
  • The London Summer Olympics will be sponsored by France's stage-controlled utility company, and that means EDF, the monopoly provider of electrical power and natural gas in France, will also be able to associate itself with the British Olympic teams for next year’s summer games in Beijing and the 2010 winter games in Vancouver. EDF is the second top-tier sponsor to sign up for the London 2012 Olympics; Lloyds TSB, was the first, with banking services worth an estimated C$140 million. No value was released for the EDF sponsorship. The deal will begin immediately.

    CTV, VOLWEB REACH SPONSORSHIP DEAL
  • VolWeb, a program of 2010 Legacies Now designed to increase volunteerism, particularly in BC, in preparation for the 2010 Winter Games, has worked out a sponsorship deal with CTV, the host broadcaster of the 2010 Games. Under the arrangement, CTV is to promote volunteerism throughout British Columbia, through on-air advertising and through its community-service announcements program, In Touch Community Calendar. As well, VolWeb commercials with BCTV news personalities Bill Good and Pamela Martin are to be broadcast on the BC portion of the national network during the next two weeks.



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 13, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2419
    2010 ORGANIZATION TO HELP CREATE VIRTUAL, ACTUAL ABORIGINAL SPORT MUSEUM GALLERIES


    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has decided to become officially involved in creating a virtual aboriginal museum of sport, and help the BC Sport Hall of Fame create a permanent gallery to recognize aboriginal athletes.

    And, it says, it will contact a consulting company by next month to work with a number of organizations to help make those happen. It says it will be giving preference to aboriginal firms that apply for the work, but that won't be the sole rationale for hiring the firm.

    In the case of the Virtual Aboriginal Sport Hall of Fame and Museum, VANOC says it will work with the Aboriginal Sport Circle, Canada's national organization dealing with aboriginal sport, on the project. It hopes to enlist the support of what it calls "potential partners," such as 2010 Legacies Now, the Cowichan 2008 North American Indigenous Games Host Society, and the Four Host First Nations.

    The idea of the Internet-based Hall is "to celebrate the achievements of Canada's aboriginal sport, athletes and builders, past and present." VANOC and the Aboriginal Sport Circle are hoping to have the project set up and running by the end of the governmental fiscal year, March 31, 2008.

    2010 Legacies Now is a non-profit society spun off by the BC government to deal with allocating government and corporate grants or donations, and administration of a number of 2010-related activities. The Four Host First Nations is the name of the organization that represents the four aboriginal bands working with the 2010 Winter Olympics.

    In the case of the BC Sports Hall of Fame & Museum's 'Aboriginal Gallery': VANOC says that a number of organizations are working with the BC Sports Hall of Fame & Museum to set up the Gallery. These include VANOC, the BC government, 2010 Legacies Now, Four Host First Nations and the Aboriginal Sport & Recreation Association of BC to create a permanent gallery or exhibit space that recognizes "the unique contributions aboriginal people have made to BC's sport heritage."

    The exhibit will be housed at the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. It's has an agreement to be at BC Place Stadium, but it is expecting to be moved out of the Stadium to temporary quarters for the time VANOC has full control over the venue in late 2009 and early 2010 to use it for the Opening and Closing Olympic Ceremonies, medal ceremonies and locations for corporate pavilions. The space occupied by the Museum is expected to be used by a VANOC corporate sponsor.

    VANOC is hoping to also have the gallery completed by next spring.

    The consulting firm is expected to be working with several of VANOC's function areas: Legal, Marketing & Communications, Brand & Creative. It will also be working with partnerships and sponsorships to support the projects, and be involved in canvassing aboriginal communities for ideas on content, goals and objectives. Inuit and Metis aboriginal groups are also to be involved. VANOC also expects the consultant will use "VANOC's pre-Games Aboriginal Sport Research volunteers."

    During the course of the project, they'll be looking for exhibit and website designers and researchers.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 13, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2418
    DETAILED MONITORING OF CANADIAN MEDIA BY 2010 CONTRACTOR AIMED AT FINDING AMBUSH MARKETING, INTERNET FRAUD


    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) intends to begin detailed monitoring next February -- and for the following two years -- of all Canadian news media and the Internet for violations of its branding policy.

    Armed with new anti-ambush marketing legislation approved last month by the Canadian government, VANOC has begun the search for a company it can hire in August to do the media-monitoring work. It'll be looking for, as VANOC puts it, "improper and/or unauthorized use of trademarks, logos and word marks" of the Games.

    That would include marketing of knock-off products and marketing by legitimate companies that are trying to upstage competitive companies that have paid for sponsorship rights to use the brands and slogans.

    If the monitoring finds any, they are to be flagged: "red for high risk, yellow for medium threat etc. All cases that are rated as high risk (red) must be brought to attention of VANOC representatives immediately for processing during and outside of the Games window."

    The Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act, which was given Royal Assent June 22, prohibits ambush marketing, in which a company falsely suggests it is endorsed by the Games, and the infringement of Olympic and Paralympic words and symbols specific to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. However, the legislation allows normal news reports to use VANOC's logos and brands in the course of their reporting -- such as this story -- and it allows Olympic and Paralympic athletes who are training for the Games to say so, as well as for non-commercial uses of the brands.

    VANOC will also be looking for a wide range of Internet fraud and scams as well, such as phishing attacks, in which, for instance, e-mail messages claiming to be from the 2010 Games urge people to donate to the Games, but in ways that would allow their bank accounts to be cleaned out by crooks. The monitoring is expected to be tied in to attempts to quickly trace the crooks involved through the Internet.

    VANOC says that it expects to be looking at brand uses in Canadian daily newspapers, regional weekly papers and periodicals; radio and television stations throughout the country; text body and banners of Internet websites and blogs, as well as any visuals that accompany them; and brand misuse on billboards, street furniture and transit.

    From February 1 to August 1, 2008, it will be expecting monthly reports, with analysis, from the media-monitoring company, which will be authorized to send out cease-and-desist letters from templates designed by VANOC, on approval from VANOC brand managers, to anybody identified with violating the procedures, as well as tracking follow-up results of the letters through further media monitoring.

    Those two dates are significant. The first is the two-year-out date, and marks the start of the ramp-up in 2010 marketing, its two-year-out ceremonies and the start of its cultural-Olympiad program. The August date marks the start of the main push of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. During the Games, VANOC wants weekly reports from the media monitoring, until the end of September, 2008, when reporting will switch back to monthly until February 1, 2010, when it will return to weekly for the duration of the 2010 Winter Games. The external, intense, monitoring ends March 31, 2010, just after the Paralympic Games end.

    VANOC will return to spot-check monitoring by its legal department after that, as the organization goes through its shutdown.

    VANOC wants the monitoring company that gets the job to be able to provide a database of problems that can be accessed by VANOC officials around the clock, and which will be used to build legal cases, should they be needed. That system, it says, "must capture the offending activity, filter, prioritize, categorize and store infringing activity in a well-organized and traceable manner, using a clear and concise case-management system."

    VANOC does not have a complete list of its protected brands -- there are about 140 of them -- although it has a web page that lists its main ones, and a documnent, created a year ago, that lists more of them. [See 'VANOC's Brand FAQ', in RESOURCES, below.]

    RESOURCES

    Our report on the ambush-marketing legislation:

    'Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act made law to protect 2010 Games'
    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2391; Published on Friday, June 22, 2007]

    --

    The legislation itself:
    tinyurl.com/2bpnp4

    --

    VANOC's Brand FAQ
    www.vancouver2010.com/en/LookVancouver2010/ProtectingBrand/OlympicBrandFAQs


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 13, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2417
    DAY-LONG BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING NEXT WEDNESDAY TO HEAR SECRET REPORTS ON MASCOTS, CEREMONIES


    The Board of Directors of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) will be getting a briefing from its full management team on mascots and ceremonies when it meets starting at 8 am next Wednesday at VANOC headquarters in Vancouver.

    But the reports and the discussions of those two topics will all be in-camera -- which means none of the participants are expected to comment on the topics, even though some reports can be expected on other topics after the day-long meeting which is closed to the news media and other members of the public.

    Chairman Jack Poole expected to perform some minor administrative duties if he attends, but it's unclear he'll be well enough yet to be at the meeting. Poole underwent major abdominal surgery last weekend to remove a pancreatic tumour. If he's unable to be there, the Board will elect a temporary chair.

    The mascots-update report to the 20-person Board is expected to be led by Dave Cobb, executive vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications. Among other things, he's expected to report on the reaction by the International Olympic Committee executive to his outline at a meeting in Guatemala earlier this week of the mascot designs, the marketing plans for the mascots -- there are believed to be two, one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics -- the launch -- expected this fall -- and the marketing research behind it all.

    Cobb will also be giving several other reports to the Board, but in the open session. These include updates on the organization's ticketing strategy, still in the planning phase for a launch next year but which currently involves the technological aspects, and a report on revenues from VANOC's marketing activities, which includes sponsorship and product licensing.

    The Ceremonies report is expected to be delivered by VANOC's executive vice-president of Service Operations and Ceremonies, Terry Wright.

    Wright will also be giving the Board a report on the Culture and Education program. That report won't be in-camera, but it's expected he'll be bringing the Board up to date on the launch of the program last month and outline some of the response to VANOC's request for proposals for the first main component of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, the events to mark the two-years-until-opening day next February.

    Other in-camera reports include a briefing on a meeting of the Board's Sustainability and Human Resources Committee last Wednesday, led by the committee's chair, Jim Godfrey, who is the appointee from Whistler.

    There will also be a number of other reports in the open session of the Board:

  • Capital Construction executive vice-president Dan Doyle is to discuss the status of the venue work;

  • Executive vice-president of Sport, Cathy Preistner, and Wright are to give a joint report on the work of the Games-Time Operations Steering Committee;

  • Preistner is also expected to report on her main Sport portfolio, which involves relationships and work with the international sports federations;

  • David Guscott, executive vice-president of Corporate Strategy and Government Relations, is expected to report on a memorandum of understanding he witnessed being signed earlier this week in Nova Scotia between the four aboriginal groups with which VANOC is working and the Assembly of First Nations, a national Canadian aboriginal organization, in which the AFN pledged its support for the 2010 Games;

  • Guscott is also expected to report on the Canadian government's approval a couple of weeks ago of anti-ambush-advertising legislation;

  • There is also expected to be a joint report by committee chair Jeff Mooney, one of the City of Vancouver's nominees, and Cobb, about the work of VANOC's Strategic Communications Steering Committee.

    There are also expected to be several reports on financial matters, such as a report on the Board's Audit Committee meeting held last Wednesday by its chair, BC government director nominee Rick Turner, as the committee prepares for VANOC's fiscal year end at the end of this month, and there are expected to be reports from the Board's Finance Committee meetings that were held June 4 and last Monday. They'll be handled by another BC government board nominee, committee chair Ken Dobell.

    VANOC CEO John Furlong will be there to open the section of management reports and give an overview of them, along with a report on events at the IOC's meeting in Guatemala City earlier this week, in which Sochi, Russia, was chosen as the host city for the 2014 Winter Games.

    When the Board breaks for lunch, there's expected to be a presentation from one of the 2010 venue cities, Richmond.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 13, 2007

  • Thursday, July 12, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2416
    RFP FOR THE CIVIL WORKS AT THE FINISH AREA OF VANOC'S WHISTLER-CREEKSIDE VENUE ISSUED TODAY


    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has issued a snap request for proposals by July 23 for doing all the work necessary to complete the finish area on the relatively steep terrain of its Whistler Creekside alpine venue.

    And there will be a mandatory proponent's meeting for the work next Tuesday.

    The finish-area compound involves constructing areas and buildings for services for spectator and support operations for the Alpine Skiing Olympic and Paralympic venue. This is expected to include bleachers for 7,600 people, along with support facilities such as portable toilets, food- and service tents and various compounds.

    Also included are areas for television broadcast studios, management office space and buildings for Games work crews, along with trailers for timing and results as well as a number of similar temporary uses. The work also includes preparing the pads for the finish-area's compounds and for an access road off of Wolverine Crescent.

    Most of these temporary facilities are expected to be installed in the second and third calendar quarters of 2009.

    The contracting scheme is lengthy and complex, as VANOC also is asking the successful contractor to help it accomplish a number of social goals -- dealing with sustainability, aboriginal hiring and working with a range of value-in-kind sponsors. There are also a significant number of restrictions on contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers dealing with security and promotional silence.

    RESOURCES

    The RFP and its batch of supporting documents, drawings and plans is here:
    tinyurl.com/25zhb5


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 12, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2415
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    VANCOUVER OK'S 2010 BUSINESS PROMOTION DESPITE VEDC STAFFING ISSUES
  • Vancouver City council has approved tapping the current budget for its staff Olympic office to help pay for the city's Vancouver Economic Development Commission to work on business-related projects that would help promote the city in a number of Beijing and Vancouver Olympic ways. The approval comes despite the fact that VEDC CEO Tanja McQueen has abruptly quit, and that even before she did that, 50% of the commission's six staff jobs are vacant. McQueen, giving her final report before she leaves office today, told council that one of her staffers is working full-time on the 2010 file in working with businesses to promote the city at the BC/Canada pavilion in Beijing. She also said that the Vancouver-area municipalities of Surrey and Richmond are also interested in working with the VEDC on the projects, but haven't yet committed any funds to the ideas. The board of the VEDC, a non-profit society with directors appointed by city council, is to meet next week to appoint an interim CEO to carry out the work while they search for a permanent CEO. McQueen had only been with the VEDC since 2005. Dave Rudberg, who's office's operation budget is being tapped to help fund the work because council has yet to fund the account that's needed to pay for the bulk of pre-Olympic work, says the concept of using some of his office's budget in the hopes council will fund the reserve later makes him nervous.

    BC GOVERNMENT QUALIFIES ITS BACKING OF ANY VANOC LOSSES
  • Various interesting items turned up as we read through the BC government's Public Accounts, the official audited record of how much the government spent during the fiscal year that ended March 31:

    -- Some years ago, the BC government signed the Multi-Party Agreement that outlined what various governments would be doing for VANOC, and vice-versa. One of the items was a guarantee to the IOC to cover any financial shortfall incurred by VANOC. In this year's pubic accounts was this small note: "The guarantee should not be relied on by parties other than the IOC."

    -- Also some years ago, the BC government set aside C$600 million as its budget for spending on the 2010 Games, and the opposition has been trying to bump it off that number ever since. The amount was for specific items, however, and Olympics minister Colin Hansen has be doggedly warding off any slings and arrows that suggest the spending will be more than that. As of March 31, the province has spent a total of C$272 million. That includes C$124 million in 2007, C$8 million in 2006 and C$140 million in the previous three years. Most of that has gone to its portion of venue-construction costs.

    -- When the BC government presents the Legislature with its budget at the start of a fiscal year, the projected spending amounts are detailed down to the program level. However, spending doesn't always go according to plan, so ministries and specific offices are allowed to move budget allocations within the constraints of the total vote to accomplish the primary goals of the vote. For the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat, the office that co-ordinates all the government's activities that have to do with the Games, the total vote was just over C$153 million. There weren't any "spending variances", as additional funding is called.

    -- The C$20 million Olympic Arts Fund, which was voted C$700,000 for expenses, had no variances either. It pays for things designed to prepare the arts and cultural community to host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and its Cultural Olympiad. Spending is primarily to groups and organizations for cultural and artistic activities that will prepare them to be a part of the Cultural Olympiad for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and related administration costs.

    -- VANOC intends to buy 51 high-speed, but off-the-shelf, servers and related equipment that it wants to install in August for its Games-processing work. The bulk of the machines are 36 duel-core Intel each with two 36 gigabyte hard drives with four gig of memory similar to a HP ProLiant DL360 G5. Another 11 are the same type of machines, but with six 73-gig hard drives. It wants to take possession of the equipment by August 10, shortly after its new fiscal year begins.



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 12, 2007

  • Wednesday, July 11, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2414
    VANCOUVER TAXPAYERS ASKED TO PAY C$245,000 FROM EMPTY 2010 FUND FOR VANCOUVER PRESENCE AT BEIJING OLYMPICS


    The City of Vancouver's Olympic office is asking city council's budget committee to approve a C$245,000 package of projects connected with promoting Vancouver at the Beijing Summer Games next year. However, it's asking to spend money from a 2010-related fund that's currently empty.

    The Beijing Summer Olympics are being held August 8 to 24 and the Paralympics are being held September 6 to 17, 2008. The BC government is setting up a pavilion in Beijing near Tiananmen Square that will open next May and operate until the end of the follow September.

    The City's general manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operations is scheduled to ask council's Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets tomorrow to approve the package, which includes:

  • C$94,000 for the salaries of eight city staff, bilingual in English and Mandarin, who would be assigned full time to the Pavilion -- six for the Olympics and two for the Paralympics. However, only one person would be at the Pavilion at any one time; they would be rotated through during the six months to gain experience for the 2010 Games in dealing with international Games issues.

    "The person would work along with other government staff at the Pavilion and would provide a conduit for information and contacts in Vancouver... Staff assigned to the Pavilion would have an opportunity to work with individuals from across Canada and the world, and would be ambassadors for the City of Vancouver. These individuals would become part of Vancouver's growing complement of staff engaged in the Olympics and Paralympics as we build up to 2010."

    The idea would be to help Vancouver understand how the Games affects the Olympic Village during its use, see how various governmental levels work with each other to provide the range of services associated with the Games, and to get background on how the Beijing's city government deals with media and broadcasting requirements of the thousands of reporters that descend on the city during the Games. The staffers would also promote the city through various means, and host a reception at the pavilion, perhaps with Whistler or Tourism Vancouver helping to foot the bill for the reception.

    The cost of the reception is in addition to this particular request.

  • C$82,000 for staff to take part in the official observer delegation that the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) will be putting together for the Beijing Games. Since a summer and a winter set of Games are run much differently, the observer contingency for both VANOC and Vancouver is going to be much smaller than the group that went to watch the Torino Winter Games a year ago.

  • C$$23,000 to pay for one city councillor to attend the Beijing 2008 Olympics and a second to attend the Paralympics "to participate in the observer program and represent Vancouver at various events." This is in addition to Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, who is also expected to attend both, but funding for the mayor's trip will come from the mayor's separate travel budget, so it's not included in this particular request.

  • C$15,000 and some logistical help to work with "local non-profit associations" to develop a Beijing 2008 Summer Games event to be held in Vancouver's Chinatown in August, 2008 when the Beijing Games launch. "The event could showcase Chinatown as well as profile Olympic and Paralympic sports."

  • C$40,000 for sundry items such as the reception, "media support" and other odds and ends. The media support has to do with Chinese television. Apparently BC broadcasters, other governments, VANOC, Tourism Vancouver and Tourism B.C are working with China Central Television (CCTV) and other Chinese media to produce programs that look at Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada as well as the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, for broadcast during the Beijing Games.

    At the beginning of May, we reported that CCTV was filming various activities in Vancouver as part of a larger documentary on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. It turns out that CCTV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which has the broadcasting rights for Canada to the 2008 Games, are proposing to develop an "Olympic-themed celebration show," recorded in Vancouver, for this September. The City's Olympic office needs some money to work on that project. "Working with CCTV offers an opportunity to showcase Vancouver to an estimated audience of 0.6 billion people in China as well as CBC's Canadian audience."

    And what about this empty fund, which is where the C$245,000 is to come from? That's the Olympic Legacy Fund, which Vancouver city council created during the budget discussions earlier this year. It was supposed to put C$5 million per year over the next four years into it to pay for projects like this.

    However, that didn't happen. Since most of the expenditures for Vancouver’s participation in the Beijing projects will mostly occur during the 2008 budget cycle, but arrangements for air flights and accommodation have to be done now, the Olympics office suggests that "interim funding of C$54,000 be provided as a loan from the existing 2007 Olympic and Paralympic Operating Budget to be repaid from the Olympic Legacy Reserve once the Reserve is funded." And if council, in its wisdom, decides not to fund the Reserve during the next budget cycle? The Olympic office says it will be back to council with "options on how to proceed."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 11, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2413
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    FHFN, AFN SIGN MOU - VANOC PLEASED
  • The group of four aboriginal bands working with VANOC, calling itself the Four Host First Nations, says it will sign a memorandum of understanding with the national native organization, the Assembly of First Nations, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, tomorrow. The MOU outlines the fact that the AFN, which is holding a national meeting in the city, will support the 2010 Winter Olympics. The signing of the MOU will be witnessed by David Guscott, VANOC's executive vice-president of Corporate Strategy and Partner Relations. Tewanee Joseph, executive director and CEO of the FHFN, says he strongly believes, "an MOU between the AFN and the FHFN is significant in building a strong relationship with other First Nations. We are working towards a common goal which is to have a successful 2010 Olympic and Paralympic games with First Nations participation." AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine says, "The AFN is committed to working with the Four Host Nations, who have already done a tremendous amount of work over the past several years. We encourage all First Nations peoples to participate -- as athletes, volunteers, exhibitors, performers or spectators. In less than three years, the eyes of the world will be upon British Columbia and Canada. The strength and diversity of First Nations cultures and traditions will be witnessed by billions. We will leave a lasting impression." The signing, according to the AFN, "formalizes [our] relationship and commitments to work in partnership to ensure [a] successful 2010 Winter Games and to develop opportunities and legacies for First Nations Peoples, particularly First Nations youth." The four aboriginal bands involved with VANOC are the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. The 2010 Games are being held on their traditional territories.

    SKI FEDERATION RACE EXECUTIVES TO INSPECT VANOC COURSES IN SEPTEMBER
  • The Chief Race Directors of the International Skiing Federation (FIS), Guenter Hujara and Atle Skaardal, are expected to arrive in Vancouver and Whistler in September to inspect VANOC's progress and help with preparations for the first World Cup-level test events. At Whistler Creekside, the planned men's course for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is known as the Dave Murray Downhill. The women's course for 2010 is known as Franz's Run. One of the key projects this summer is to widen and grade the finish area. There is to be one combined finish area for all the women's and men's events in 2010. The snowmaking system is currently being installed and the construction of the pump station has started, according to VANOC. In the upper parts of the mountain, the work began later this year because of the amount of snow -- up to four metres that fell during the past winter. An overpass for the ladies' course and a tunnel under the men's course is expected to be completed this summer.

    GERMAN SKI TUNNEL GIVEN APPROVAL IN TIME FOR 2010 GAMES
  • The newest ski tunnel in Europe is to be built near Oberhof, Germany, following a government decision. The financing for the approximately C$18.1 million project will be split between the national government and the state of Thuringia. A final decision on the details for financing the operational costs is expected shortly. And this affects the 2010 Games how, exactly? The seven meter wide and four meter high tube (23 feet by 13 feet) with a length of 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles) should be available for European athletes from the summer of 2009 to provide them with good training conditions prior to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. There are already a few such tunnels in use in the Nordic countries, and they're also popular with winter-sports tourism. The Fortum Ski Tunnel with a Biathlon shooting range in Torsby, Sweden, opened last season and is a popular training center for top athletes [for a video of what it's like to ski in a tunnel, see RESOURCES, below.] In Finland, several ski tunnels are open and a few more are planned by late 2008.

    RESOURCES

    This is a short streaming video of a skier in the Torsby tunnel.
    www.torsby.org/stjerneskolan/flashvideo/FortumSkiTunnel/tur_med_tobias.html


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 11, 2007

  • Tuesday, July 10, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2412
    Here are two more moguls we ran into today:

    EDMONTON TO GET 2010 CANADIAN OLYMPIC CURLING TRIALS, SAYS REPORT
  • Edmonton sports columnist Terry Jones reports the curling trials that will determine the Canadian teams going to the 2010 Winter Olympics and will be held in late 2009, have been awarded to Edmonton, pending negotiations on details with the Edmonton Oilers NHL team, which owns the Northlands Arena venue. It requires, reports Jones, "final negotiations with the Oilers organization in the areas of sponsor rights (beer), suite holder tickets, etc. before it's a done deal." Jones quotes the Canadian Curling Association's Warren Hansen, as claiming, "I'm of the opinion it will be the biggest event we'll have ever seen -- the biggest we may well ever see." The last major curling event held in Edmonton, the Brier, drew 280,985 ticket holders in 2005. Under the format for the competition, 16 teams are to qualify for two stages of Olympic trials. The top four teams will advance directly to Edmonton, with the other 12 going through to a pre-qualifying event "somewhere in Western Canada." The arena holds 16,800 and organizers forecast sellouts for each draw. The spectator seating expected to be available at the new curling rink when the 2010 Olympics are underway, even when VANOC adds temporary seating, is expected to be 6,000. According to Jones, "Vancouver 2010 didn't see fit to give curling a proper venue, but the sport is guaranteed to rub their face in it during the buildup to the Olympic hosting."

    VENUE CONSTRUCTION POTPOURRI FROM VANCOUVER CITY
  • Tidbits gleaned from wandering Vancouver City Hall halls: As the so-called value-engineering cuts to VANOC's Killarney Arena venue in east Vancouver hits home, some of the bleachers are being reduced or eliminated. The reduction in area is 715 square feet, out of a 33,000 square-foot building . The same goes for the Trout Lake arena, another VANOC venue, where the player's lounge is likely going to be cut, but it will depend on further decision-making. The lounge is being separately priced, and once that's done, a decision will be made whether to keep it in or take it out. Trout Lake is about two months behind schedule, with the pre-tender cost estimate expected by the end of July, and tendering now expected to take place early in September. Killarney, which, like Trout Lake, is being torn down and rebuilt, is out for tender now. Meanwhile, only some of the finishing contracts are left to tender for the new VANOC-venue curling rink; tenders for the other 90% of the work are now in, and there's no money left in the budget, and virtually all of the contingency committed. As one city staffer puts it, "If we had the luxury of playing with the timeline, getting all the information in before making decisions would be an option, but because the Olympics has a fixed date, and we have an idea of how long it takes to construct these buildings, we don't have the luxury to wait until we have all the information in to make a decision." And the reason why the C$10 million provided by VANOC to the city in May won't raise the necessary amount of money to cover the estimated C$12.3 million in costs to convert the curling venue to its post-Games configuration was because the deal was done last August, but the money wasn't transfered until May. The delay cost the city more than C$800,000 in compound interest. The decision by the City to accept the C$10 million was based on "an immediate payment" at the time the deal was done. The City is expected to ask VANOC for the missing interest.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 10, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2411
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    TOURISM, VANOC, OBSV, BROADCASTER OFFICIALS
    MEET TO PLAN TOURISM-BOOSTING PROGRAMS

  • The meetings were by invitation only and weren't otherwise announced, but media-relations staffers from tourism agencies serving BC, Vancouver, Whistler, Richmond and West Vancouver, among others, met recently with officials from VANOC and Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver (BSV) and some of the broadcast rights holders. The planning meetings in Vancouver were on how to build tourism before, during and after the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. One meeting was with The heads of TV Production and Planning for OBSV, which provides the pooled feeds for broadcasters when the Games are underway. The meeting reportedly noted several areas where each jurisdiction can work to enhance their area's exposure. They are all working on follow-ups now, including recommendation on placement and numbers of so-called 'beauty cams', which will emphasize the attractiveness of their area and can be used as backdrops for announcers and the like, and on story ideas for vignettes to be shot in their area in the next year or so, for use by broadcast-rights holders during the Games and test events.

    CANADIAN MINT PARALYMPIC COINS TO BE RELEASED TOMORROW
  • The Royal Canadian Mint will tomorrow, as expected, begin the release of about 22 million coins depicting a Paralympic event -- the first time it's made a coin commemorating the Paralympics. The 25-cent coins, with wheelchair curling depicted, will only be available at the retail outlets of two tier-1 VANOC corporate sponsors, the Royal Bank and most Petro-Canada outlets. The Mint is a tier-2 sponsor, an official supporter. The coins will also be showing up in their change as the regular Mint's distribution program works its way through they system. Those Petro-Canada gas stations will also sell wheelchair-curling sports cards, containing a painted version of the coin. The sports cards will sell for C$7.95 and will also be available as of tomorrow. VANOC will get a percentage of the revenue from the sales of the coins and cards. The Mint is also offering a first day 25-cent wheelchair curling coin for C$15.95, and a coin roll for C$16.95. Wheelchair curling is a relatively new sport, making its Paralympic debut at the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. Canada won the gold medal in the event. "Wheelchair Curling" is the first of two Paralympic circulation coins to be featured in the Mint's extensive Olympic and Paralympic coin program. The ice sledge-hockey coin will be launched in June, 2009. It will also be a 25-cent piece for circulation.

    LARGE STONE VERSION OF VANOC LOGO TO BE FLANKED BY SKI JUMPS AT NORDIC CENTRE
  • A report prepared for the International Skiing Federation (FIS) says that VANOC's Whistler Nordic Centre construction is still on schedule. The Centre will be used by VANOC for a total of 28 Olympic competitions -- 12 cross-country, three ski jumping and three nordic combined competitions -- in the Callaghan Valley. The report adds, "the two side-by-side jumping hills (HS 106 and HS140) will be flanked by a large rock statue of Illinak, the 2010 Inukshuk logo to welcome visitors." The report also says, "The first of the two so-called "super structures," made of massive steel trusses measuring ca. 24 meters in length by eight meters in width, just arrived on-site a few days ago. The second will follow later in July... Near the ski jumps, the day lodge and cross-country stadium are coming out of the ground. The stadium is shaped as a horseshoe, with the skiers in view of the spectators for more than 800 metres [2,624 feet]. The technically challenging Olympic sprint loop is entirely in view from the main stadium bleachers. The two separate, five-kilometre, competition courses are quite different in design: while the classical technique course consists of long, straight ups and down, the free technique course is more twisty and turny, with quite challenging downhills. Most of the competition trails are already finished, while work continues to shape the spectator areas, ski test areas and warm-up loops. The first competitions will include Canadian national events, with the FIS World Cup races following in the 2008/2009 season." The report also quotes a VANOC executive: "All in all, we will have 14 km of competition trails at the Nordic Venue. If needed, we could combine the Cross-Country and Biathlon courses into a single 12.5-km loop," said John Aalberg, Director of Nordic Sport at VANOC, the Vancouver Organizing Committee. "We are really pleased with the way the new courses combine the traditional Cross-Country feeling of 'skiing in the woods' with the sport's modern aspects, such as nine-meter-wide trails and spectator friendliness."

    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 10, 2007

  • Friday, July 06, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2410
    WADA SAYS SOME INTERNATIONAL WINTER AND SUMMER SPORTS FEDERATIONS NOT COMPLYING WITH WADA ANTI-DOPING RULES


    A report is being prepared for the September meeting of the World Anti-Doping Agency that is is expected to reveal that some international winter sports federations are failing to comply with WADA rules, and that -- theoretically -- could jeopardize their participation in the 2010 Games.

    WADA chairman Dick Pound, who is also a member of the board of directors of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), says, "We suspect there is substantial noncompliance by many of the international federations. If a sport or a national Olympic committee is not code compliant, the sport in particular cannot remain on the program of the Olympic Games."

    Pound didn't reveal which federations, but added that some international federations that supervise summer Olympic sports are also failing to be code-compliant. Pound says that If any of the federations still fail to comply by a WADA board meeting in November 2008, the agency will report those sports to the IOC for possible action. Any formal decision to remove a sport from the Olympics is up to the IOC, but its executive now has the power to do so at short notice for "extraordinary" reasons.

    The IOC won't lock in the events and sports programs for the 2010 Games until a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland starting November 7, making the 2010 Olympics the earliest set of Games that could be affected by the hard line. Pound said he expected all of the winter sports would be compliant by then.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2409
    PRIVATE PHILIPPINE COMPANY GETS 2010 BROADCASTING RIGHTS OVER PUBLIC CHANNELS


    The first Asian broadcasting rights for the 2010 Winter Games have been auctioned, but the value of the deal was not immediately disclosed.

    The International Olympic Committee has awarded the Philippine broadcast rights for the Olympic Games in 2008, 2010 and 2012 in the Philippines to the country's Solar Entertainment. The Games, since 1988, had been broadcast by the government-owned, with the exception of 1992.

    SABC reports that it will offer increased coverage of both sets of Olympic Games across a number of TV channels, including a commitment to air a daily highlights program for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, and more than 200 hours of live or same-day delayed coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games.

    The broadcaster will also acquire the rights to air the Games across all media platforms, such as TV, cable, satellite, Internet and mobile telephones, as well as pay satellite rights for the same period.

    Solar Entertainment, based in Makati City, has eight cable TV stations, and three primetime blocks on the Radio Philippines Network.

    IOC President Jacques Rogge said, "Our aim is to enable as many people as possible are able to enjoy the Olympic Games in the Philippines." IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrión, who led the negotiations, adds, "This agreement is great news for the Olympic Movement, for Solar Entertainment and for the people of the Philippines who are keen to see more of the Olympic Games, on television but also through new platforms."

    The IOC also said today it had awarded broadcast rights in South Africa today, but we reported that last month.

    RESOURCES
    Solar Entertainment Corp:
    www.solar-entertainment.com

    --

    Our earlier report on the South African deal:

    'South African TV and radio to broadcast 2010 Games...'
    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2390; Published on Friday, June 22, 2007]


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2408
    VANOC'S CURLINIG-AND-POOL PROJECT EATING UP CONTINGENIES, AS VANCOUVER CITY FINANCES FEELING STRAIN OF OLYMPIC SPENDING


    The new 2010 Olympic curling project and its accompanying swimming pool is three weeks behind schedule and in danger of consuming its entire budget, including the project's contingency funds, according to a report from Vancouver City staff.

    More contingency money, it says, will be needed. And, for the first time, City staff are starting to publicly worry about the financial pressures the city's Olympic construction projects are going to put on taxpayers. The city has already financed C$16.5 million more than it originally budgeted for the curling rink, the pool, and the work involved in replacing two east-end ice arenas that are to be used for VANOC practice rinks.

    Vancouver city manager Judy Rogers notes that she is still committed to the projects, adding, "It is important that they be completed, and Council needs to be fully aware that difficult funding decisions will be necessary in developing the next capital plan."

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is building the combined project, budgeted last September at C$79.1 million, but is only paying for the curling-rink portion, leaving the city to provide the C$29.9 million budgeted last year for the aquatic centre. VANOC hired Stuart Olson, a construction management firm, to do the day-to-day project management, but a construction committee made up of VANOC, city and Parks Board staffers is supervising the work.

    Stuart Olson has now received quotes on 90% of the construction work and, staff report, "While the project is still within budget, it is anticipated that construction contingencies for both the pool and curling venue are in jeopardy of being exhausted once all trade pricing has been received." VANOC has agreed to continue building the curling rink with the reduced project contingency fund -- it has other contingency funds if needed -- but the city's staff doesn't want to do that under their financing model. They say the pool's contingency fund is going to need up to another C$1.9 million in order to complete the contracting.

    VANOC is budgeting C$38 million to the construction of the Hillcrest Curling Rink, according to its Business Plan, released two months ago. It also gave the City of Vancouver a previously arranged C$10 million in April so the city could do the conversion work, instead of VANOC, scheduled for after the Games in 2010, to convert the rink from its Games design to building's long-term design. That fund, suggest staff, should be the source of the additional contingency money for the pool.

    However, city staff note that even though they expected that getting the C$10 million upfront would be able to generate enough money by 2010 to cover the cost of the conversion, budgeted at C$12.4 million, adjusted for construction inflation to 2010, it likely won't be enough. Working drawings for the conversion are expected to be completed by about October, which should help refine the conversion budgeting.

    However, they now expect that fund to generate only C$11.5 million by April, 2010, even if the pool contingency portion that's proposed for removal isn't spent. And that, staff say, means looking at the city's 2009-2011 capital plan for the C$900,000 shortfall, just for the conversion alone. Under city policies, capital plans have to approved by referendum, usually held at the same time as city council elections. (The City earlier this month decided to use about C$15 million of that unapproved capital plan to cover the cost of repairing the Expo Dock, adjacent to the Olympic Village, before the Games open.)

    VANOC's money is from its capital fund of money supplied 50/50 by the BC and Canadian governments, with Vancouver and its semi-independent Parks Board contributing the rest. The curling rink was combined with the new aquatic centre so the two buildings could swap the considerable amount of heat and cooling each needs, and to reduce the overall cost of construction for both by simultaneous construction contracting.

    The curling rink, which hosts the Olympic curling and wheelchair curling during the Paralympic Games, is scheduled to be completed in October 2008, and the aquatic centre is now expected to be ready for use by April, 2009.



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2407
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    POOLE'S PANCREATIC SURGERY YESTERDAY OFFERS GOOD PROGNOSIS
  • VANOC's board chairman, Jack Poole, underwent pancreatic surgery in Vancouver yesterday, and it went well, according to reports, with a good prognosis. The head of pancreatic surgery at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Charles Scudamore, says, "Over the course of four hours, our surgical team removed an isolated malignant tumour from the pancreas that showed no signs of having spread. After the full removal of the tumour, we also took several measures to ensure a healthy digestive system over the long term. Jack is a strong and healthy patient who handled the surgery very well. He will remain in hospital for a time, and will then follow a prescribed recovery program supervised by his medical team." Pancreatic cancer can be controlled only if it is found before it has spread and if it can be removed by surgery. Poole only informed VANOC last week that he had the disease, and wouldn't be able to travel this week to Guatemala City for meetings with the IOC executive.

    VANOC ABOVE 80% OF SPONSORSHIP REVENUE TARGET
  • VANOC says it has raised C$615 million -- more than 80% -- of its sponsorship target of C$760 million. The organizing committee has signed a total of 23 Canadian sponsors. VANOC's licensing and merchandising program has also signed deals with 23 Canadian companies to produce branded products, with more expected to be inked this year.

    VANCOUVER'S PNE TO OFFER OLYMPIC HOST-CITY PAVILION
  • There will be an Olympics host-city pavilion at this year's Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), which attracts thousands of people from around the Greater Vancouver area to east Vancouver for the last two weeks in August. The City of Vancouver, from now until September, will be asking its citizens -- and anybody else with an Internet connection -- how it should focus its 2010 celebrations. Dave Rudberg, the City's general manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operations, has set up a simple on-line survey (using WebMonkey) to ask some basic questions. He wants to know what sorts of events might interest people -- such as concerts, theatre, family activities, cultural items, workshops on Olympic and Paralympic events. He also wants to know where people think celebrations should take place -- the basic choice is downtown or near where a person lives -- and, he says, he welcomes other ideas as well. A open house has been set up for tomorrow, hosted by the Hastings North Business Improvement Association in east Vancouver to collect opinion face-to-face, and there are expected to be similar kiosks set up in the city over the next couple of months. As well, notes Rudberg, "The team will be at the PNE fair from August 18 to September 3, at the host-city pavilion. This community consultation process will culminate with an ideas fair in the fall."

    RESOURCES

    The web address of the City of Vancouver Olympic celebrations survey:
    www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=br_2bjImLXcMLFVJPQm8nIzg_3d_3d



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2406
    IOC HOPING TO HAVE INTERNATIONAL DISCUSSION ABOUT OLYMPIC VALUES AS VANOC FINALIZES GAMES PREPARATIONS


    The International Olympic Committee hopes to have a major international discussion about the values of the Olympic Games underway from about July 1, 2009 until early that October.

    Those dates mark the first IOC Congress of the 21st century -- and the first since the Internet became a major social force. The Congress is a gathering of the Olympic movement.

    IOC president Jacques Rogge said today in Guatemala City, where the IOC is meeting after choosing Sochi, Russia, as the host of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, that the actual Congress sessions have been scheduled for October 3-5 in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

    The public discussion of Olympic values will come as British Columbia, and to a lesser extent, Canada, is expected to be subjected to a lot of promotion for the impending 2010 Winter Games, and there will be several major conferences organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) that year as well.

    The Congress is expected to bring together about 1,000 people representing the IOC's regular, honorary and honour members; representatives of the international sports federations, the national Olympic Committees from countries around the world, their athletes; athlete support staff -- coaches, doctors and medical staff; referees, judges and technical officials; organizing committees for the Olympic Games, such as VANOC; the IOC's Olympic sponsors; and the media. The various stages of the Olympic Congress run from July 1 2007 until the end of 2009. The meetings in Copenhagen will mark the culmination of this process.

    "Even if the Olympic Congress is primarily for the Olympic family," says Rogge, "we need to take the pulse using the modern methods available to us, and in particular open up to the public. After generating the public commentary, the IOC's Editorial Committee is to then choose "the most relevant contributions for inclusion in the Congress proceedings."

    The discussion, according to Rogge, is, in general, the role of the Olympic movement in societies around the world. There will be five themes -- the athletes, the Olympic Games, the structure of the Olympic movement, Olympism and youth and the effects of "the digital revolution". The discussions and debates are to be focused on the success of the Olympic Games, Olympic values, the social and professional life of athletes during and after high-level sports participation, good governance, ethics of the world of sport, youth and modern communication forms.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2405
    VANCOUVER EXPECTED TO APPROVE FIVE OLYMPIC VILLAGE CONDOS ON TUESDAY


    Vancouver City Council is expected to approve the final plans for several condominium towers and related buildings in the 2010 Olympic Village when council meets Tuesday afternoon, so construction can begin.

    The approvals, known as the Form of Development, involve two main parcels of land in the village, where cranes began going up last week. They are both on the edges of the Village, one on the western side, the other on the southern side. The buildings are being supervised by Millennium Development False Creek, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company that has agreed to buy the Village land in 2010, when the Games finish with the apartments for athletes and officials.

    The western site, known as Parcel 3, involves two residential buildings that will be available after the 2010 Games for market sale. These include an eleven-storey building on the west quarter, and a seven-storey building on the northeast portion of the site. They total of 122 apartment units.

    On the southeast part of the site is to rise a five-storey condo building with 48 units, which will be restricted to modest-income market rents, according to previously approved City policies. All of the buildings are over two levels of underground parking. The development incorporates green roofs on each of the buildings, with "intensive accessible green roofs" on the upper terrace roof levels, and "inaccessible extensive green roofs" on the top roof levels of each building.

    Designed by Merrick Architecture, they are in the area that is the western half of the block located between two new streets: Athlete's Way on the north and Walter Hardwick Avenue on the south, in the 1600 block of Columbia on the west. The area, in essence, is just to the southwest of the little bay that's the main waterfront feature of the Village's waterfront, and just east of where the proposed elementary school is to be built.

    The southern location, the block at the corner of West 1st Avenue and Ontario Street, just the east of the signature Salt Building, a heritage structure, involves the construction of three buildings on Parcel 9 designed by GBL Architects Group.

    There is a 13-storey market residential building totalling 106 units to be built on the east side of the site. On its western side will rise two mixed-use buildings: a six-storey modest-market rental building on the southwest portion with 50 units, and a seven-storey, non-market building with 68 units for seniors on the northwest portion.

    They'll all be built over one level of commercial space that includes a major grocery store and a series of retail units. Beneath them are two levels of underground parking. "The development incorporates green roofs on each of the buildings, with a combination of intensive accessible, and extensive inaccessible roofs on all of the buildings, along with solar panels on the roof of the non-market building," according to city officials.

    All of the buildings of the Village are due to be acquired temporarily by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) on November 1, 2009, and returned to the developer by March 31, 2010.

    RESOURCES

    A map of the Olympic Village development plan, showing the parcel locations:
    vancouver.ca/commsvcs/southeast/devapps/overview.htm


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007

  • Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2410
    WADA SAYS SOME INTERNATIONAL WINTER AND SUMMER SPORTS FEDERATIONS NOT COMPLYING WITH WADA ANTI-DOPING RULES


    A report is being prepared for the September meeting of the World Anti-Doping Agency that is is expected to reveal that some international winter sports federations are failing to comply with WADA rules, and that -- theoretically -- could jeopardize their participation in the 2010 Games.

    WADA chairman Dick Pound, who is also a member of the board of directors of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), says, "We suspect there is substantial noncompliance by many of the international federations. If a sport or a national Olympic committee is not code compliant, the sport in particular cannot remain on the program of the Olympic Games."

    Pound didn't reveal which federations, but added that some international federations that supervise summer Olympic sports are also failing to be code-compliant. Pound says that If any of the federations still fail to comply by a WADA board meeting in November 2008, the agency will report those sports to the IOC for possible action. Any formal decision to remove a sport from the Olympics is up to the IOC, but its executive now has the power to do so at short notice for "extraordinary" reasons.

    The IOC won't lock in the events and sports programs for the 2010 Games until a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland starting November 7, making the 2010 Olympics the earliest set of Games that could be affected by the hard line. Pound said he expected all of the winter sports would be compliant by then.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2409
    PRIVATE PHILIPPINE COMPANY GETS 2010 BROADCASTING RIGHTS OVER PUBLIC CHANNELS


    The first Asian broadcasting rights for the 2010 Winter Games have been auctioned, but the value of the deal was not immediately disclosed.

    The International Olympic Committee has awarded the Philippine broadcast rights for the Olympic Games in 2008, 2010 and 2012 in the Philippines to the country's Solar Entertainment. The Games, since 1988, had been broadcast by the government-owned, with the exception of 1992.

    SABC reports that it will offer increased coverage of both sets of Olympic Games across a number of TV channels, including a commitment to air a daily highlights program for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, and more than 200 hours of live or same-day delayed coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games.

    The broadcaster will also acquire the rights to air the Games across all media platforms, such as TV, cable, satellite, Internet and mobile telephones, as well as pay satellite rights for the same period.

    Solar Entertainment, based in Makati City, has eight cable TV stations, and three primetime blocks on the Radio Philippines Network.

    IOC President Jacques Rogge said, "Our aim is to enable as many people as possible are able to enjoy the Olympic Games in the Philippines." IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrión, who led the negotiations, adds, "This agreement is great news for the Olympic Movement, for Solar Entertainment and for the people of the Philippines who are keen to see more of the Olympic Games, on television but also through new platforms."

    The IOC also said today it had awarded broadcast rights in South Africa today, but we reported that last month.

    RESOURCES
    Solar Entertainment Corp:
    www.solar-entertainment.com

    --

    Our earlier report on the South African deal:

    'South African TV and radio to broadcast 2010 Games...'
    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2390; Published on Friday, June 22, 2007]


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2408
    VANOC'S CURLINIG-AND-POOL PROJECT EATING UP CONTINGENIES, AS VANCOUVER CITY FINANCES FEELING STRAIN OF OLYMPIC SPENDING


    The new 2010 Olympic curling project and its accompanying swimming pool is three weeks behind schedule and in danger of consuming its entire budget, including the project's contingency funds, according to a report from Vancouver City staff.

    More contingency money, it says, will be needed. And, for the first time, City staff are starting to publicly worry about the financial pressures the city's Olympic construction projects are going to put on taxpayers. The city has already financed C$16.5 million more than it originally budgeted for the curling rink, the pool, and the work involved in replacing two east-end ice arenas that are to be used for VANOC practice rinks.

    Vancouver city manager Judy Rogers notes that she is still committed to the projects, adding, "It is important that they be completed, and Council needs to be fully aware that difficult funding decisions will be necessary in developing the next capital plan."

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is building the combined project, budgeted last September at C$79.1 million, but is only paying for the curling-rink portion, leaving the city to provide the C$29.9 million budgeted last year for the aquatic centre. VANOC hired Stuart Olson, a construction management firm, to do the day-to-day project management, but a construction committee made up of VANOC, city and Parks Board staffers is supervising the work.

    Stuart Olson has now received quotes on 90% of the construction work and, staff report, "While the project is still within budget, it is anticipated that construction contingencies for both the pool and curling venue are in jeopardy of being exhausted once all trade pricing has been received." VANOC has agreed to continue building the curling rink with the reduced project contingency fund -- it has other contingency funds if needed -- but the city's staff doesn't want to do that under their financing model. They say the pool's contingency fund is going to need up to another C$1.9 million in order to complete the contracting.

    VANOC is budgeting C$38 million to the construction of the Hillcrest Curling Rink, according to its Business Plan, released two months ago. It also gave the City of Vancouver a previously arranged C$10 million in April so the city could do the conversion work, instead of VANOC, scheduled for after the Games in 2010, to convert the rink from its Games design to building's long-term design. That fund, suggest staff, should be the source of the additional contingency money for the pool.

    However, city staff note that even though they expected that getting the C$10 million upfront would be able to generate enough money by 2010 to cover the cost of the conversion, budgeted at C$12.4 million, adjusted for construction inflation to 2010, it likely won't be enough. Working drawings for the conversion are expected to be completed by about October, which should help refine the conversion budgeting.

    However, they now expect that fund to generate only C$11.5 million by April, 2010, even if the pool contingency portion that's proposed for removal isn't spent. And that, staff say, means looking at the city's 2009-2011 capital plan for the C$900,000 shortfall, just for the conversion alone. Under city policies, capital plans have to approved by referendum, usually held at the same time as city council elections. (The City earlier this month decided to use about C$15 million of that unapproved capital plan to cover the cost of repairing the Expo Dock, adjacent to the Olympic Village, before the Games open.)

    VANOC's money is from its capital fund of money supplied 50/50 by the BC and Canadian governments, with Vancouver and its semi-independent Parks Board contributing the rest. The curling rink was combined with the new aquatic centre so the two buildings could swap the considerable amount of heat and cooling each needs, and to reduce the overall cost of construction for both by simultaneous construction contracting.

    The curling rink, which hosts the Olympic curling and wheelchair curling during the Paralympic Games, is scheduled to be completed in October 2008, and the aquatic centre is now expected to be ready for use by April, 2009.



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2407
    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    POOLE'S PANCREATIC SURGERY YESTERDAY OFFERS GOOD PROGNOSIS
  • VANOC's board chairman, Jack Poole, underwent pancreatic surgery in Vancouver yesterday, and it went well, according to reports, with a good prognosis. The head of pancreatic surgery at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Charles Scudamore, says, "Over the course of four hours, our surgical team removed an isolated malignant tumour from the pancreas that showed no signs of having spread. After the full removal of the tumour, we also took several measures to ensure a healthy digestive system over the long term. Jack is a strong and healthy patient who handled the surgery very well. He will remain in hospital for a time, and will then follow a prescribed recovery program supervised by his medical team." Pancreatic cancer can be controlled only if it is found before it has spread and if it can be removed by surgery. Poole only informed VANOC last week that he had the disease, and wouldn't be able to travel this week to Guatemala City for meetings with the IOC executive.

    VANOC ABOVE 80% OF SPONSORSHIP REVENUE TARGET
  • VANOC says it has raised C$615 million -- more than 80% -- of its sponsorship target of C$760 million. The organizing committee has signed a total of 23 Canadian sponsors. VANOC's licensing and merchandising program has also signed deals with 23 Canadian companies to produce branded products, with more expected to be inked this year.

    VANCOUVER'S PNE TO OFFER OLYMPIC HOST-CITY PAVILION
  • There will be an Olympics host-city pavilion at this year's Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), which attracts thousands of people from around the Greater Vancouver area to east Vancouver for the last two weeks in August. The City of Vancouver, from now until September, will be asking its citizens -- and anybody else with an Internet connection -- how it should focus its 2010 celebrations. Dave Rudberg, the City's general manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operations, has set up a simple on-line survey (using WebMonkey) to ask some basic questions. He wants to know what sorts of events might interest people -- such as concerts, theatre, family activities, cultural items, workshops on Olympic and Paralympic events. He also wants to know where people think celebrations should take place -- the basic choice is downtown or near where a person lives -- and, he says, he welcomes other ideas as well. A open house has been set up for tomorrow, hosted by the Hastings North Business Improvement Association in east Vancouver to collect opinion face-to-face, and there are expected to be similar kiosks set up in the city over the next couple of months. As well, notes Rudberg, "The team will be at the PNE fair from August 18 to September 3, at the host-city pavilion. This community consultation process will culminate with an ideas fair in the fall."

    RESOURCES

    The web address of the City of Vancouver Olympic celebrations survey:
    www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=br_2bjImLXcMLFVJPQm8nIzg_3d_3d



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2406
    IOC HOPING TO HAVE INTERNATIONAL DISCUSSION ABOUT OLYMPIC VALUES AS VANOC FINALIZES GAMES PREPARATIONS


    The International Olympic Committee hopes to have a major international discussion about the values of the Olympic Games underway from about July 1, 2009 until early that October.

    Those dates mark the first IOC Congress of the 21st century -- and the first since the Internet became a major social force. The Congress is a gathering of the Olympic movement.

    IOC president Jacques Rogge said today in Guatemala City, where the IOC is meeting after choosing Sochi, Russia, as the host of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, that the actual Congress sessions have been scheduled for October 3-5 in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

    The public discussion of Olympic values will come as British Columbia, and to a lesser extent, Canada, is expected to be subjected to a lot of promotion for the impending 2010 Winter Games, and there will be several major conferences organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) that year as well.

    The Congress is expected to bring together about 1,000 people representing the IOC's regular, honorary and honour members; representatives of the international sports federations, the national Olympic Committees from countries around the world, their athletes; athlete support staff -- coaches, doctors and medical staff; referees, judges and technical officials; organizing committees for the Olympic Games, such as VANOC; the IOC's Olympic sponsors; and the media. The various stages of the Olympic Congress run from July 1 2007 until the end of 2009. The meetings in Copenhagen will mark the culmination of this process.

    "Even if the Olympic Congress is primarily for the Olympic family," says Rogge, "we need to take the pulse using the modern methods available to us, and in particular open up to the public. After generating the public commentary, the IOC's Editorial Committee is to then choose "the most relevant contributions for inclusion in the Congress proceedings."

    The discussion, according to Rogge, is, in general, the role of the Olympic movement in societies around the world. There will be five themes -- the athletes, the Olympic Games, the structure of the Olympic movement, Olympism and youth and the effects of "the digital revolution". The discussions and debates are to be focused on the success of the Olympic Games, Olympic values, the social and professional life of athletes during and after high-level sports participation, good governance, ethics of the world of sport, youth and modern communication forms.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2405
    VANCOUVER EXPECTED TO APPROVE FIVE OLYMPIC VILLAGE CONDOS ON TUESDAY


    Vancouver City Council is expected to approve the final plans for several condominium towers and related buildings in the 2010 Olympic Village when council meets Tuesday afternoon, so construction can begin.

    The approvals, known as the Form of Development, involve two main parcels of land in the village, where cranes began going up last week. They are both on the edges of the Village, one on the western side, the other on the southern side. The buildings are being supervised by Millennium Development False Creek, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company that has agreed to buy the Village land in 2010, when the Games finish with the apartments for athletes and officials.

    The western site, known as Parcel 3, involves two residential buildings that will be available after the 2010 Games for market sale. These include an eleven-storey building on the west quarter, and a seven-storey building on the northeast portion of the site. They total of 122 apartment units.

    On the southeast part of the site is to rise a five-storey condo building with 48 units, which will be restricted to modest-income market rents, according to previously approved City policies. All of the buildings are over two levels of underground parking. The development incorporates green roofs on each of the buildings, with "intensive accessible green roofs" on the upper terrace roof levels, and "inaccessible extensive green roofs" on the top roof levels of each building.

    Designed by Merrick Architecture, they are in the area that is the western half of the block located between two new streets: Athlete's Way on the north and Walter Hardwick Avenue on the south, in the 1600 block of Columbia on the west. The area, in essence, is just to the southwest of the little bay that's the main waterfront feature of the Village's waterfront, and just east of where the proposed elementary school is to be built.

    The southern location, the block at the corner of West 1st Avenue and Ontario Street, just the east of the signature Salt Building, a heritage structure, involves the construction of three buildings on Parcel 9 designed by GBL Architects Group.

    There is a 13-storey market residential building totalling 106 units to be built on the east side of the site. On its western side will rise two mixed-use buildings: a six-storey modest-market rental building on the southwest portion with 50 units, and a seven-storey, non-market building with 68 units for seniors on the northwest portion.

    They'll all be built over one level of commercial space that includes a major grocery store and a series of retail units. Beneath them are two levels of underground parking. "The development incorporates green roofs on each of the buildings, with a combination of intensive accessible, and extensive inaccessible roofs on all of the buildings, along with solar panels on the roof of the non-market building," according to city officials.

    All of the buildings of the Village are due to be acquired temporarily by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) on November 1, 2009, and returned to the developer by March 31, 2010.

    RESOURCES

    A map of the Olympic Village development plan, showing the parcel locations:
    vancouver.ca/commsvcs/southeast/devapps/overview.htm


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 6, 2007

  • Thursday, July 05, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2404
    HERE'S AN OVERVIEW LOOK AT HOW AND WHEN THE C$14.2 MILLION BUDGET FOR THE WHISTLER MEDALS PLAZA IS EXPECTED TO BE SPENT


    Three options for the development of the C$14.2 million main plaza that will be used by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) for medal and other ceremonies during the 2010 Games are expected to be presented to a Whistler task force July 12.

    The plaza will attract an expected 8,000 people each day for the medals ceremonies during the Games -- the design target is 5,000 standing and 3,000 seated. And it appears planners are considering that C$14.2 million as seed money, that commercial space leases may generate revenue to support a number of public buildings and public uses of the site.

    Construction, under the latest time line, isn't expected to start until the second calendar quarter of next year. The task force includes representatives of the three levels of government, VANOC, Whistler's development arm -- Whistler 2010 Corporation -- the Whistler Arts Council, the Whistler Museum and the Whistler Sustainability Centre, Bing Thom Architects, Phillips Farevaag Smallenburg Landscape Architects.

    Whistler is using the 2010 Games as an incentive to develop a plan for the long-term development and use of the land. The concept is to develop the site for use as an Olympics Live Site, making it eligible for BC government grants, and a medals plaza during the 2010 Games, making it eligible for VANOC funding through its capital construction program, then as an "interactive visitor and community amenity for arts, culture and recreation" over the long term, after the Games have finished.

    Here's how the budget for the project is currently funded: C$5 million is due to come from the Canadian government for the live site, C$4.2 is being committed by VANOC and C$5 million from Whistler's resort proceeds from the provincially collected hotel tax. When the BC government approved an additional four percentage points of the 10% tax would go to resorts like Whistler, it ruled that the money was discretionary for tourism development capital or program costs, but it can't be spent on the 2010 Games, per se, which means the money can only be used for specific parts of the Plaza. The hotel-tax additional funding generates about C$7 million a year.

  • The concepts (in random order):
    -- The Olympic Ribbon -- "Large poles supporting a deconstructed roof form that protects a ribbon of ice that meanders across the site";
    -- The Olympic Meadow -- "Small-scale commercial development along a stroll, an observation tower at the entry point to the site, a large roof structure covering a generous ice sheet, and a large open green that could provide a park-like setting in the Village during the summer, and a place for temporary ice skating when winter weather allows."
    -- The Olympic Terraces -- "Terracing along the stroll and... integrated play features to encourage passers-by to casually enjoy the site. Buildings in this plan are transparent structures located along the stroll as well as the northwest property line of the site."

    According to the timeline:

  • A public meeting to look at three alternative concepts for the design and theme of the plaza that is expected to be held in early August;

  • All three concepts are to be reviewed by the Whistler Advisory Design Panel, the Advisory Planning Commission the public, and council to figure out the preferred concept.

  • The preferred-concept recommendation goes to council for approval at its October 14 meeting.

  • The construction prep and documentation phase is from about November to next February'

  • Tendering, procurement, contract negotiations from about February to next April;

  • Construction should start next May and continue to September, 2009.

  • VANOC will have use of it from about the end of construction to May 2010, when removal of Games-related overlay should be completed.

  • From May, 2010 the plaza area will be converted to its long-term legacy use.

    Here's what else we've learned about the project, which is to be built on what's known as Lots 1&9 in Whistler:

  • These are the last developable sites in the Village. Lot 1 is for commercial uses and
    Lot 9 is for community use. They'll be part of a Whistler-wide program of live sites during the 2010 Games, that includes Village Square, Mountain Square, Skier's Plaza, Millennium Place and hotel lobbies. Because it will be part of the VANOC venue system Lots 1&9, however they're developed, will be fenced and secured during the Games. That means the events, while free, will be ticketed.

  • The site is to function as a Live Site in the morning, probably connected with other Live Sites locally and around the province, and as a medals-ceremony plaza for VANOC starting in the early afternoon. There may be a stage required for major acts, but VANOC hasn't yet decided on that.

  • The project has three phases: planning and design, construction preparation and tendering, then construction and commissioning.

  • It looks like half the C$14.2 million budget will be eaten up by cost escalation, soft costs, design contingencies, construction contingencies and "a reasonable reserve fund." That leaves only about C$7.1 million to actually build the plaza. However, planners have been told "this does not include buildings or a covered area, which will have to be funded through other sources." That, however, is what the Arts Council, Museum and Sustainability Centre would like to see. C$4.8 million is for pre-Games work; C$2.3 million is slotted for post-Games conversion to the legacy design -- in 2007 dollars. Inflation is expected to eat into that by 10% on funds spent before the Games and 29% for post-Games spending.

  • The project is able to draw hotel-tax money from the BC government. If commercial operations are included in the final design, Whistler could "potentially borrow against future investment in the commercial development zoned for the site." Apparently, lease revenue from the commercial space, assuming it was fully developed, could pay for itself and "leverage an additional investment
    of approximately C$9 million dollars in development on the site." As a result, Whistler staff are considering how they might get neighbouring commercial areas to connect with the location. Current zoning in the area allows for up to 2,500 square metres (27,000 square feet) of commercial space. Whistler council isn't currently interested in increasing that, but might consider both lots as one unit, so that commercial could be located conveniently on them. They're thinking small businesses -- "incubator stores" or "pocket stores" are the catch phrases, with a "market feel."

  • The management firm Grant Thornton has done a study for the area that provides "audience requirements for attracting or supporting various types or classes of entertainers."

  • Whistler wants the plaza to be "different from what we already have", that much of the plaza should be covered. There's a "strong desire" to have some sort of informal skating rink area during the winter, but not a hockey sheet with glass and boards, and which could have other uses during the summer. Some sort of amphitheater area should also be included, as well as lighting -- though considered expensive -- and public art.

  • Whistler, Capilano College in North Vancouver and Vancouver City College have been involved in a feasibility study about where a hospitality or culinary school could work there, and they're now talking to industry about supporting it. Apparently there's consideration during the design about incorporating "international houses, Austria PassivHaus, and BC Hydro House."

  • VANOC preliminary space requirements: a 650 square-metre stage for medals and performances, 2,700 sq.m for back-stage operations including room for trucks; 1,250 sq.m for security and queing. (That's 7,000 square feet for the stage, 29,000 sq.ft for back-of-house and 13,500 for security.)



    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 5, 2007



    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2403


    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    WHISTLER ATHLETES CENTRE COSTS RISE BY C$5 MILLION
  • The budget for the high-performance athletes centre at the core of the 2010 Whistler Olympic Village has increased by C$5 million. If we're doing the math right -- and it's hard to pin this particular number down -- that brings the budget from the C$16 million that's in the VANOC Business Plan released a couple of months ago to C$21 million. That's more than the C$19 million projected in the Whistler Village business plan 13 months ago. VANOC told Whistler Council that it would be contributing an additional C$3.5 million to the project and council agreed, with two dissenting, to provide C$1.65 million in additional funds. Of Whistler's portion, C$1 million is for additional costs to the gymnasium portion, which council had earlier agreed to expand for its own reasons, and the remaining C$650,000 is for landscaping costs. Whistler's component is to be borrowed as part of its construction loan for the whole athlete village, and repaid over five years by the hotel tax, pending BC government agreement. At least, that seems to be the drift, but financing additional Olympic costs by Vancouver and Whistler is getting extremely creative these days, as we've documented on several occasions. The centre, one of the legacy projects of the Games, was discussed during meeting council held in camera this week, and the municipal government is continuing to keep a staff report about the issue out of the public record apparently because, according to a spokesman, "some of the report materials destined for an in-camera meeting, have sensitive information about third-party contracts." The centre is key to the post-Games viability of the Whistler Sliding Centre and, to a lesser extent, the Whistler Nordic Centre, but it's not covered in the trust set up to operate those two facilities.

    IOC, ORGANIZING COMMITTEES URGED TO INCREASE OLYMPIC BRAND CONTROL
  • The chair of the IOC's co-ordination commission for the Torino Winter Olympic Games recommends in his final report, just made public, that more must be done to control the brand image of the Olympic Games. Jean-Claude Killy, whose committee supervised the operations of the Torino franchise for the IOC, says, "The Olympic Games brand carries the values of Olympism, as well as the principles and attributes that the public associates with it. The IOC has conducted numerous studies on this subject. They point not only to the positive image of the Games, but also to the diversity of values that they represent. The image of the Games thus becomes confused. From a practical point of view, it is difficult to expect all the stakeholders to act consistently in terms of communication: in their campaigns, sponsors will use the attributes that suit their own needs, as will the OCOGs [Games organizing committees]. Generally speaking, everyone respects the Olympic values. The problem at the moment is that they provide too many options in terms of communication." Killy urged future organizing committees, such as VANOC,"to integrate these values fully into their vision, mission and products -- sport, ceremonies, torch relay, cultural program and entertainment. In their slogans, advertisements and communication activities, they will of course add elements from their own context... This would also enable the OCOGs to give a firm meaning to their initiatives and to create projects that are both global and local in nature." The report, prepared by each Olympic Games committee, summarizes lessons learned by the outgoing organizers.

    JEANS DAY FOR VANOC IN GUATEMALA CITY
  • VANOC CEO John Furlong just said last Thursday in an off-hand comment to a gaggle of reporters that he dislikes traveling. He had another reason for doing so earlier this week. His luggage -- and that of his executive vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb -- was lost in transit to Guatemala City. Which is why he and Cobb were in sport shirts and blue jeans when they briefed the IOC's executive board about the ticketing plans they have for the 2010 Games. They received approval of those plans and how technology will be involved to put people in those seats, despite shifts in fan enthusiasm for attending when a country wins or loses as it makes its way toward medal rounds, but approval of pricing plans will be part of a separate briefing later. They also briefed the IOC in the closed-door session about the status of its accommodation plans for those working or corporately supporting the 2010 Games. The casual attire had no effect on the IOC executives; they all travel a lot. Besides, some of the London Olympic organizing committee, which was also due to brief the IOC executive, ended up in Acapulco, Mexico, instead of Guatemala City, leaving their briefing to the only British representative who made it: its communications director.

    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 5, 2007

  • Wednesday, July 04, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2402
    SOCHI WINS 2014 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES IN A CLOSE VOTE


    The city of Sochi, Russia, has been elected as the host city for the 2014 Winter Games, which means its representatives will be closely monitoring the planning of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC).

    The announcement was made a few minutes ago by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge in Guatemala City, where the IOC members are meeting. It's in the process now of signing the Host City contract and paying a deposit of US$1 million. It was the second defeat in a row for both Salzburg, Austria, and PyeongChang, South Korea. Vancouver defeated PyeongChang by just two votes in 2003, exactly four years ago this week.

    Sochi defeated Pyeongchang after Salzburg was eliminated in the first round of secret voting today by the IOC members.

    The concept of the Sochi 2014 Bid Committee is to unite the resources of the city of Sochi, the Krasnodar region and the Russian nation to develop in Sochi a sports and resort infrastructure, in a sustainable, inclusive, environmentally responsible manner.

    The Sochi 2014 Games will provide a new city of winter sport in Russia. Part of its legacy is to establish Russia’s first international-quality training and competition facilities for alpine skiing, sliding sports and ski jumping.

    The Sochi Olympic Park will be located on the Black Sea coast in an area designated for significant development. It will include all ice venues, the Olympic Stadium, the Main Media Centre, and the main Olympic Village. The mountain venues will be 50 kilometres away from the coastal cluster and are located in the mountain region of Krasnaya Polyana, or “Red Meadow”. The mountain venues are clustered within a single valley.

    Besides fielding a major monitoring contingent during the 2010 Games, just as VANOC did during the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Sochi is also expected to be allotted a promotion slot in VANOC's Closing Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies in February and March, 2010.

    RESOURCES

    The location of Sochi, Russia, on the Black Sea:
    tinyurl.com/yqkwfc


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 4, 2007

    Tuesday, July 03, 2007

    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2401


    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    THREE-WAY TALKS ABOUT VANOC SKATING TEST EVENTS STALL OVER BROADCAST DEAL
  • Vancouver Sun reporter Jeff Lee, in Guatemala to report on the selection of the 2014 Winter Olympics host city, writes that negotiations between the head of the International Skating Union (ISU), Canada's host broadcaster for the 2010 Games CTV and VANOC over test events in 2008 and 2009 aren't moving much. ISU president Octavio Cinquanta, who also sits on the commission that oversees the IOC's 2010 franchise, has been trying to sell a C$16-million package of 50 skating related events over four years to CTV on the understanding it will pay for the production of the first year's events, and the feed from other countries for the other three years. The anchor events of that package are world championships in figure skating and long-track speed-skating, and a World Cup event in short-track speed-skating that will be VANOC test events. Lee quotes Cinquanta as sayig, "I kept offering. I offered that we would put up the prize money, and we would donate about $250,000 to the sports federations. I told the CTV they could keep the advertising," he said. "All we wanted them to do was to pay for the television production, and that was for only one of the four years. The other years they would get the signal from the other countries that host the other events." And, Cinquanta notes, it's similar to deals offered previous Olympic organizing committees. However, Lee also quotes CTV president Rick Brace as saying he wanted to broadcast the three Vancouver events, but not the rest, and would consider a deal if Cinquanta was willing to unhook them from the package. "From the terms and conditions the ISU was offering, we couldn't make it work. From a financial point of view it was too expensive" Lee reports Brace as saying. "I am not hopeful of anything. It's clearly up to Octavio to separate the test events from the rest of the package." VANOC CEO John Furlong, who is also in Guatemala City, is optimistic a deal can be reached over the next few months, according to Lee.

    BCE BOUGHT BY ONTARIO TEACHERS PENSION-PLAN CONSORTIUM
  • BCE -- the holding company for VANOC lead sponsor Bell Canada and the 2010 host broadcaster, CTV -- chose over the weekend to be purchased by an investor group that includes Teachers Private Capital (an arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board), Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners. It's an all-cash deal in which the consortium is to pay US$40.13 per share. That's a 40% premium over the value of the shares before the bidding war began, but it values the company at 7.8 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the last 12 months. In an effort to stop another round of bidding, the pension-plan deal reportedly includes a breakup penalty of US$751 million if BCE takes another offer.

    VINCOR CANADA SHUFFLED IN CONSTELLATION ORG CHART REARRANGEMENT
  • There's been another change in senior executives in the head office of Constellation Brands, the huge company, based in Fairport, New York, that owns VANOC's wine-merchant sponsor, Vincor Canada. When the last shuffle took place, in February, Vincor Canada president Jay Wright continued to report to Constellation's president chief operating officer, Robert Sands. Today, Robert Sands has taken over the CEO job held by his brother, Richard, 56, who will remain as the company's chairman. With Rob as CEO of the entire company, the CEO of Constellation Brands US, Jose Fernandez, has been promoted to the newly created position of CEO for Constellation Wines North America. Wright now reports to Fernandez. Last February's shuffle occured the day before Wright was in Vancouver to announces his company's line of wines with 2010 Olympic logos. Today's shuffle occurs as Vicor is preparing to roll out the wines this weekend.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on July 3, 2007


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