Now that Vancouver has the 2010 Olympics where do we go from here ?
Who will keep an independent eye on the activities of the organising committees, sponsors, environment, contracted workers and many other aspects of the games ?
Disabled games called off in Coquitlam - Cost a concern
By Diane Strandberg The Tri-City News November 22, 2003
Charging rent for school rooms cost Coquitlam the BC Disability Sport Games next summer despite a last ditch effort by organizers to find low-cost accommodation for about 120 athletes.
Some 350 teenage and adult athletes will now have to wait until 2005 before the next games in Nanaimo, according to local organizer Andy Nord.
Last month, Coquitlam school district told organizers it would charge $38,000 for disabled athletes to camp out in classrooms at Pinetree secondary school for four nights next July.
The decision to defer the games was made by the BC Games and BC Disability Sport societies last weekend because organizers felt there was not enough time to get a business plan and other details in place for the event, which was to be held in Coquitlam July 7 to 11, 2004.
"Things came together rather late," Nord said. "I personally think they could have pulled it off."
But in a letter to The Tri-City News, he said organizers didn't find out until mid-October they would have to pay rent for billeting 120 athletes and, while plans were in the works to find cheaper accommodation (a private school and a hotel had offered good deals), by then it was too late.
School board chair Holly Butterfield said she was disappointed to learn the games had been deferred but she stood by the district's decision to charge the fees, saying they were needed to cover workers' salaries.
"Civic events can't be funded at the expense of classroom dollars," she said. "We support them but we can't carry the ball for them."
This is the first time a school district has ever charged rent, according to the mayor of Coquitlam, whose staff have already worked on the games project. "I cannot believe the school board, with its huge surplus, has decided to charge the disability games for the use of the schools," he said.
Similar concerns were expressed by Liberal MLA Richard Stewart, who called the rental charges "usurious" and said it would be cheaper to billet the students at B.C. Place Stadium. He had hoped a deal with a local private school, costing less than $1,000 or even nothing, could have been worked out.
"This is something everybody ought to be supporting," he said.
