Shop and help downtown businesses recover from riot

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Shoppers are slowly returning to the downtown core following the Stanley Cup riot last week. There is still a lot of damage to fix but most stores and cafes are open for business.

Damage has been estimated in the $4 to $5 million range but it’s going to be some time before the exact number is known. Charles Gauthier with the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association says about 60 businesses suffered damage, and a third of those were looted.

“We’re in the process of asking those members that were affected to share the damage estimates when they become available,” he notes.

He’s urging people to come down and shop, to help those businesses recover. The association has launched a social media campaign to promote the positive aspects of the downtown. “We want people to come back downtown and get accustomed to their pattern of how they were coming here to shop.”

Only one business, the Blenz coffee shop at 475 West Georgia, remains closed.

Mayor continues to face criticism

A Vancouver city councillor says the mayor could have responded to a volatile situation before last week’s riot broke out. It comes as word police knew about an elevated threat.

NPA councillor and mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton says Gregor Robertson’s office was in charge of the entire live site event that day. She says no report ever went to council or an in-camera meeting.

She is again calling for the mayor, who’s also Police Board chair, to take responsibility. “It turns out he had a police board meeting that very same day at 1 p.m.  The situation downtown was already volatile.  There was no curiosity expressed at that police board meeting that we can tell,” she insists.

She believes police themselves did the best with the resources they had, but she wants to know why action wasn’t taken.

“What was the mayor thinking? Why was he not expressing curiosity? Why was he not finding out what was going on downtown? Where was the discussion about how many police there should be? Where was the follow up discussion about the police budget?”

Robertson, though, says there were meetings held to plan the live sites. He maintains the city was not aware of the handful of vandals that came downtown with weapons. He says he now wants to allow the review to take place, before making any conclusions. 

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