Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Eye Opener


David;

My wife's employer is shutting down the office for two weeks during the Olympic event because customers are afraid to drive to town; afraid to find parking and are now canceling appointments en mass.

This means the practice will be closed and the 6 employees including the owner will not be paid wages, yet rent is still due and bills must be paid.


This means our family will not have holidays this year, nor will we be able to afford such niceties as swimming lessons for the children.

Our family are not the only ones affected.

So when those many politicians take taxpayer paid for tickets to watch a taxpayer paid for event, think of the thousands of taxpayers who have been negatively affected by the games.

Does VANOC have a conscience at all; does Furlong give a damn? Does Gordo?

4 comments:

Norm Farrell said...

Don't worry reader. Your discomfort over the Olympic shutdown will pass. As the flame makes its way toward Vancouver, your national pride will swell and you will get into the Olympic spirit.

It's OK to have a bit of positive anxiety but IOC boss Jacques Rogge is expecting "absolutely magnificent" Games. And, of course we trust Mr. Rogge without reservation. He and the other IOC altruists would never mislead anyone.

Premier Gordon Campell and VANOC head John Furlong took to the skies yesterday for a bird's-eye reconnaissance tour of Cypress Mountain. Dear Leader was reassured by what he saw and he blessed the workers, saying they were using the very best wood and straw to build the ski runs.

Reader, you will maintain memories of this fine event. After all, you will be paying for it for years and years. Take that news in good spirits (80 proof suggested).

Anonymous said...

David, this person is the tip of the iceberg. If you look at downtown Vancouver it os a very busy place.All of that economic activity is about to grind to a halt for no good reason. As a trucker I make my living by moving cargo around the Lower Mainland. Every time a road or bridge is closed because of an accident the amount of work that I get done suffers.

One month of these road closures and bridge closures and lane closures might be enough to put some truckers out of business. The company that I haul for has warned the drivers that orders for Feb. are way down. So between the economic downturn and the olympdicks some of the trucks that are at the bottom of the seniority list will not work next month.
ICBC WCB Truck Payments are fixed costs. As the saying goes " wheels that dont turn dont earn"

If a few people loose their jobs Im sure that the spirit of the games will be enough to help them get by.

I believe.
13

esspee said...

Don't you think that for every person affected negatively, it'll be balanced by another who's going to have a positive outcome? Surely tourist based businesses will see an increase in people out spending money at what I would think is a very slow time of the year. Maybe I'm naive?

Anonymous said...

I once owned and operated a tourist oriented store in the downtown core for 22 years. I opened the store in 1983 and there was great hopes for Expo 86, as it was sold as a goldmine for downtown merchants.

Well we got shafted in 1986 - the tourists came, saw Expo 86, and went home. Sales at our business, as well as my neighbours, were down considerably as the locals did not come to town to shop, but the tourists did not shop either!

At least the Olympics are only 2 to 3 weeks long; Expo 86 was over 6 months!

Other than the hotels, bars, and cafés, I'll wager much lower receipts for merchants during the 2 week sport fest!