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Vancouver makes cuts while buying 2010 tickets
Even while it faces a $60-million budget shortfall, the City of Vancouver snatched up more than $300,000 worth of tickets to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.
Some say the mayor should ask for a refund.
"There's no doubt in my mind the city should not be spending that kind of money on Olympic tickets given the economic situation that we're in," Ian Robertson, a member of the Vancouver Park Board, told CTV News on Monday.
The board is contemplating shutting down two city landmarks -- the Stanley Park children's farmyard and the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park - because of the city's budget woes. Fees for city services are also going up and hours at community centres are being reduced.
A report from city staff says there would be no problem for the city to return the tickets to the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) to re-sell.
Councillor Geoff Meggs said Monday that the city has tried to keep costs down to a minimum but the city also has an official responsibility to host visiting dignitaries.
"If we go to their cities, we're usually afforded the same hospitality," he said.
Meggs said if there are any surplus tickets, there will be an attempt to get some of the money back.
"We've told staff to make sure they don't send out tickets for the sake of getting rid of them."
Visiting the West End Community Centre on Monday, Helmuth Faulkner, said it's clear to him what the city should do.
"Sell them back for whatever the face value was and recoup that money."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart.
Nov 25, 2009 | 12:28 PM ET
let me guess - the children's farmyard and Blodel won't be closed until after the olympics - so these foreign dignitaries won't notice that the City spent all our money on their comp. tickets? Great! When the olympics leave, the locals will lose all of their local attractions and places to go! Why isn't VANOC giving the tickets to foreign diginitaries? Why does the city have to pay for them? and why weren't they budgeted for already? Obviously the city got to enjoy Beijing 2008 and are looking forward to London 2012 and that is why it is a priority to ensure we have tickets to give! Someone at the city might miss out on a complimentary trip to the UK and Europe and we can't have that! Even if it means we lose 2 of our attractions!
Nov 23, 2009 | 10:55 PM ET
How many tickets did the city purchase with $300K? If the tickets were $200, as is the price for a top level ticket to a women's hockey semi-final game, that's 1500 tickets. Assuming there is one staff to one dignitary, are there 750 dignitaries coming? One solution would be to keep the bare minimum number of tickets needed to support appropriate visiting dignitaries vs all visiting dignitaries. Another variation is to sell back all the high priced premium events and keep the lesser priced tickets for visiting dignitaries. Even if $150K was recouped, that would help.
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