The City of Vancouver wants out of the fan-zone game.
Deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston briefed council yesterday on the findings of an internal report released Thursday on the Stanley Cup riot.
One of the key recommendations is for the city to leave the organization of fan zones, like the one the city initiated during the cup final, to the experts.
“That’s not our role,” Johnston told Mayor Gregor Robertson and council. “We don’t see ourselves hosting events of this magnitude.”
Instead, city staff would rather partner with an external company with expertise in event management.
“By midday, we knew there were more people than we were prepared for,” Johnston said.
Robertson insists the city had no choice.
“We had the recommendation from the ’94 report that if no one else steps up to organize, that the city do so. We were caught in that situation and organized the live sites,” he said. “It’s not the city’s core competency to organize large-scale events.”
Robertson admitted that the improvised game-to-game approach to the live site “tested the organization” of the planners.
Next time, he said, there will be a game plan in place well in advance of a potential extended Canucks playoff run.
“Having lived through this, we’ll approach future Stanley Cup playoffs differently,” the mayor said.
NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton said the way planners went about the live site was “a mistake.”
“It was clear those fan zones were a problem,” she said. “It was un-ticketed and not very secure.”
Also yesterday, council approved up to $ 1 million to be taken out of the city’s contingency fund to pay for outstanding riot damages — which are estimated at $ 2 million.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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