They never got to go home. We must never forget.

An apartment block with ivy stretching across and up a sunbathed wall under a blue sky morning. A water fountain. A lost kitten poster nearby. Bicycles parked. It was a serene atmosphere on the morning of Sept. 24, 2010 in Munich as I strolled along, taking photographs. 

It wasn't like this on Sept. 5-6, 1972 at Connollystrasse 31, in the Munich 1972 Olympic Village.

This is where the world of sport forever changed. This is where Palestinian terrorists, calling their group Black September, took Israeli athletes and coaches hostage. The 11 innocents were eventually killed in what became known as the Munich Massacre.  

Perhaps the biggest tragedy was that the ugly incident was preventable. In fact, a psychologist advising Munich 1972 organizers, Dr. Georg Sieber, submitted a list of 26 potential security scenarios, according to Sports Illustrated's Aug. 26, 2002 edition. One of Sieber's scenarios came true.

The psychologist had submitted to organizers Situation 21, which comprised the following particulars: At 5:00 one morning, a dozen armed Palestinians would scale the perimeter fence of the Village. They would invade the building that housed the Israeli delegation, kill a hostage or two ("To enforce discipline," Sieber says today), then demand the release of prisoners held in Israeli jails and a plane to fly to some Arab capital. Even if the Palestinians failed to liberate their comrades, Sieber predicted, they would "turn the Games into a political demonstration" and would be "prepared to die.... On no account can they be expected to surrender."

Organizers wanted to have "Carefree Games" as they intended to welcome the world back to Germany. They were hoping to put behind them the ugly past of World War II. So Sieber's Scenario 21 was shelved. Denied. Ignored.

With security tossed aside, the Olympics became one big party. Mimes, jugglers, bands and Waldi, the dachshund mascot, gamboled through the Village, while uncredentialed interlopers slipped easily past its gates. After late-night runs to the Hofbräuhaus, why would virile young athletes bother to detour to an official entrance when they could scale a chain-link fence only 6 1/2 feet high? The Olys learned to look the other way. A police inspector supervising security in the Village eventually cut back nighttime patrols because, as he put it, "at night nothing happens."

New information this year reveals that Neo-Nazis aided the terrorists and that German authorities were warned that something was going to happen. It never should have happened.

I was only two-years-old at the time. Since 2006, I have covered two Winter Olympics, two Summer Olympics, a Pan American Games and a Commonwealth Games. I have often criticized the apparent overwhelming spending waste on Olympic security. Security is absolutely necessary, but is absolute security necessary? How much is too much? I always wonder, if the fundamentals are followed, can the same goal of a safe and secure Games still be achieved for half the price? In 1972, German authorities simply didn't take care of Basic Security 101: The terrorists, wearing tracksuits, jumped a fence that was inadequately patrolled, along with bona fide athletes, including Canadians.  

The incident unfolded before the eyes of the world and it came to a horrible conclusion.

ABC's Jim McKay delivered the grim news to viewers, in one of the most dramatic moments in sports broadcasting: "There were 11 hostages," he said. "Two were killed in their rooms, yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport, tonight. They're all gone."

Their names are still there. Inscribed on a plaque, in Hebrew and German, above "Ehre Ihrem Andenken" (Honor to their memory): David Berger, Seew Friedman, Josef Gutfreund, Elieser Halfin, Josef Romano, Amizur Shapira, Kehat Shorr, Mark Slavin, Andre Spitzer, Jaakow Springer, Mosche Weinberger. 

They went to Munich to compete in peace. They never got to go home. We must never forget. 

From tent city to the Village?

Occupy Vancouver's next rally, on Nov. 12 at 1:30 p.m., is a pro-housing march after a noontime speech by University of British Columbia Urban Studies chair Elvin Wyly on "the Vancouver housing shortage (and) overpriced condos" and a 1 p.m. speech by Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver mayoralty candidate and City Hall Watch-er Randy Helten on how campaign finance and corporate influence have tainted city hall.

Where will that pro-housing march go?

The Occupy Vancouver website doesn't show the route, but I'm going to guess: could this be the day that Occupy Vancouver meets the Olympic Village?

The Olympic Village, which went into receivership on Nov. 17, 2010, is now known as the Village on False Creek and remains the most controversial luxury housing development in Canada. The Olympic Village's lender once was a division of Fortress Investment Group, the debt-laden, Wall Street hedge fund that, through a subsidiary, foreclosed on victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

According to the fifth point of a six-point motion passed at the Nov. 10 general assembly (see below), Occupy Vancouver members would like to move to the Village, into the portion of units that were originally to be set aside as non-market, social housing. The inventory of 252 was halved when Vision Vancouver decided to give unionized first responders, teachers and nurses first dibs. Residents of the other half of the so-called affordable units have been burdened by a confusing and costly utilities regime run by a company with ties to Vision Vancouver.

In 2008, a different OV -- the Olympic Village -- changed the course of Vancouver politics and enabled Vision Vancouver to win election to Cambie and 12th.

It can be argued that Occupy Vancouver, though leaderless, has become the dominant force of the Nov. 19, 2011 civic election, dictating how both Vision Vancouver and the NPA have campaigned.

If Occupy Vancouver visits the Olympic Village, will that cause Vancouverites to ask more questions about the billion-dollar bailout, such as how much it's really costing taxpayers and could the money have been better spent on housing the homeless?

RESULTS OF TENT CITY NEGOTIATION WORKGROUP
Passed by General Assembly, Nov 10, 2011

That if BC Housing, Judy Graves, or any representative of any housing
agencies come to Occupy Vancouver to offer housing options to those on
site, that members of this tent city collectively, and in solidarity
with one another and the movement, negotiate as a block for housing
with the following, or other, stipulations.

1) That those receiving housing from the tent city at occupy Vancouver
be housed in the same vicinity as each other, and ideally, the same
building, to maintain the vital community that has grown here, and
continue the movement in accessible, local, social space.
2) That those housed continue to maintain collective bargaining rights
in dealing with building managers and non-profit housing providers
regarding tenancy rights issues once housing has been provided. This
is to ensure adequate and appropriate housing options for those with
families, pets, or other ‘barriers,’ and to avoid slumlords,
infestations, and restrictive conditions preventing guests.
3) That BC Housing or some other entity provide daily transportation
funds or provide a shuttle bus between the new housing and the
Vancouver Art Gallery, to ensure accessibility within the Occupy
Vancouver movement.
4) That the encampment at the Vancouver Art Gallery continue, in order
to, amongst other things, allow those who have not yet been provided
permanent housing an interim safe, warm, and dry space to sleep and to
connect with housing agencies to secure housing.
5) That this housing be at the site of the promised, but lost, social
and affordable housing at the Olympic Village.
6) Before a final decision is reached, it would be brought to the
General Assembly for approval.

Three years later, more questions than answers

October 14 is an ominous day for the history of the City of Vancouver.

Vancouver city council voted unanimously in a closed-door meeting on that day in 2008 for a $100 million bailout of Olympic Village developer Millennium. Financier Fortress Credit Corporation, an arm of a Wall Street hedge fund, walked away from the deal in the wake of $65 million in cost overruns and the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Fortress exploited a loophole in the deal in which Vancouver city hall agreed to fund the project if Millennium faltered.



When Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason broke the story on Nov. 6, 2008, it was the turning point in the civic election. Ex-NDP MLA Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver party swept to power over Coun. Peter Ladner and the NPA. Robertson became the Olympic mayor and is seen in the photo above giving the key to the Olympic Village to Millennium owners/brothers Shahram Malekyazdi and Peter Malek at the public opening on May 15, 2010.

Not even a month after Robertson was sworn-in, he proclaimed after a Jan. 9, 2009 technical briefing that taxpayers were "on the hook" for the $1.1 billion athletes' village. Premier Gordon Campbell and his B.C. Liberals amended the Vancouver Charter to allow the city to borrow without a referendum. The village was refinanced and opened in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Post-Games sales were so dismal that Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties was petitioned into receivership on Nov. 17, 2010 because of a $740 million debt. Ernst and Young took over and rebranded Millennium Water as The Village on False Creek for its February 2011 relaunch. The controversy is bound to be on voters' minds as the Nov. 19 civic election approaches.

City manager Penny Ballem gleefully showed off a list of properties in an April 8, 2011 presentation that Millennium agreed to give the city. She claimed the city would recover between $56 million and $70 million but end up with a projected $48 million loss once all condos were sold in the next couple of years.

Lo and behold, filings from the Land Title Office that I obtained show that Ballem signed a form on Feb. 2, 2011 to discharge Millennium from a mortgage that was worth $1 billion on Sept. 14, 2010. See my Vancouver Courier story here.

A debenture signed Oct. 14, 2008 -- the same day as the $100 million secret bailout -- shows Millennium admits that it was really "on-the-hook" for $1 billion.

"The Grantors (Millennium Development, Millennium Properties, et al) jointly and severally make the agreements set out in this debenture and jointly and severally acknowledge themselves liable to and promise to pay to or to the order of the city, ON DEMAND, the principal sum of one billion ($1,000,000,000) dollars at such place as the city may designate by notice in writing to the grantors and to pay interest on the principal sum outstanding from time to time… at the rate of 20% per annum both before and after demand, default and judgement."

Millennium English Bay Properties was among the seven arms of Millennium listed as a grantor on the debenture. Millennium EBP is also a partner in the Alexandra condo tower under construction at Davie and Bidwell. It is to contain 49 rental suites, as per Mayor Gregor Robertson's controversial Short Term Incentives for Rental program intended to increase rental housing in the city. Here is a critical look at STIR by the West End Neighbours, who are opposed to Alexandra.

Neither Ballem nor Millennium's Malekyazdi responded to repeated requests for an interview.

The questions remain.

Could the City of Vancouver have negotiated for or seized more of Millennium's assets, so as to avoid leaving taxpayers with a loss on the Olympic Village?

Did Millennium's commitment to build politically motivated rental apartments in the Alexandra tower cause city hall to go soft on Millennium in the 2011 election year?

See the Land Title Office documents for yourself.

Premier Christy Clark plans to introduce an auditor general for municipalities. Here's hoping that the Olympic Village mess is the first matter examined by the watchdog.

BB1700884_2010-09-14_1billion

BB1742182 Release Van

Does this mean we can call Ballem "Nickel"?

Penny Ballem is not just Vancouver's $313,577-a-year city manager, but she's also the star of a five-part series of technical briefings on the terminally troubled Olympic Village. Her nickname might as well be "Not for Attribution Senior City Staffer." I'm guessing she'll appear for a curtain call. Part six, anyone?

On April 12, Ballem conducted the post-briefing news conference after her not-for-attribution performance for the media in a second floor meeting room. Coun. Geoff Meggs was in the room, but Mayor Gregor Robertson was not. Robertson also was conveniently off in Burnaby on April 8 for a Metro Vancouver board meeting and didn't want to take a five-minute break to give a cursory comment on a speakerphone. Instead he left the duties to Meggs (who some have called the real mayor).

The April 12 meeting was called in reaction to Gary Mason's Globe and Mail column estimating the loss to taxpayers for the Village to be $230 million. Ballem insists it is just $48 million. She also downplayed Millennium's original $200 million deal for the land. She said it was "aspirational" but never assumed by the accountants. Now the land costs $27 million. Millennium put a $29 million deposit on the land, but the remaining $171 million isn't counted as a loss.

Or is the loss $199 million, if you take the $48 million writedown and add the $87 million for the community centre, Salt Building and parks along plus the $64 million for social housing?

Even if it's just $48 million, that's 48 billion pennies and 153 Ballems -- based on the city manager's annual pay. Sure the city has a billion-dollar Property Endowment Fund (which doesn't meet nor does it publish a list of assets and values), but that $48 million could have been used for better things if the Village had been managed properly by the succession of NPA, COPE and Vision Vancouver councils.

While the city claims to put its stock in auditor KPMG, is it not time for the BC NDP to dust off that letter former leader Carole James sent to Auditor General John Doyle in January 2009? She requested an investigation into the Village's financing. There could not be a better time than now.

The only thing that was truly achieved at the April 12 briefing was a defeat of the city hall communications department's nonsensical attempt to ban reporters from Tweeting and blogging during the briefing. They claimed media outlets complained when a certain reporter (me!) Tweeted during the April 8 briefing. I did so openly and without any restrictions. None of my colleagues objected April 12. Why would they? It's another way to report to readers. The only reason for city hall to attempt an embargo was to control the message.

Enjoy the notices of city hall technical briefings -- all five of 'em! -- and the financial information from the April 12 edition. Bonus content is a Feb. 18, 2009 statement from Mayor Gregor Robertson, patting his party on the back for cutting interest costs to $90 million.


April 12 technical briefing on the Olympic Village





Technical Briefings advisories: collect the whole set!

Statement From the Office of the Mayor

Olympics rife with professionals and prophylactics

CKNW’s Marcella Bernardo livened up an otherwise typical, mid-Games news conference with the Canadian Olympic Committee on Feb. 20 at the main press centre.

She asked Vancouver-born Marnie McBean, the triple gold medal rower from Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, about the free condoms available to athletes at the Olympic Villages.

As I said in June, not every athlete coming to the 2010 Winter Olympics will win one of the 549 gold, silver or bronze medals. But every one hoping to score can get a handful of latex.

"(Athletes are) just collecting free stuff,” said McBean, a Canadian Olympic team mentor. "I used to say it (the Olympic Games) was 16 days of free stuff. (Condoms are) out free everywhere. People just take them as a joke... People just take handfuls of them."

Some 50,000 of the rubbers are distributed freely as part of a United Nations/IOC AIDS/HIV prevention campaign.

Evidently they’re not just for athletes. On the Feb. 9 media tour, I wandered into the medical clinic at the Vancouver Olympic Village and the volunteers invited me to take a handful. Even after I took only one, they encouraged me to take more. I politely told the kind volunteers that the Games had yet to begin. Nudge-nudge, wink-wink.

McBean denied that the villages are a den of debauchery. They’re more a pressure-cooker environment, she said.

Former synchronized swimmer Sylvie Frechette, who is also working as an athlete mentor, revealed at the same news conference that Canada’s hockey team has a secret passion for ping pong.

"If you hear the ping-pong table at 9 am, it's Sidney Crosby and Shea Weber,” Frechette said.

After the shocking 5-3 Feb. 21 loss to the United States, I'm betting that coach Mike Babcock is ordering less table tennis.

You may recognize Frechette’s name. She was cheated out of a gold medal at Barcelona 1992 by a judging error, but on Dec. 15, 1993, she was awarded the medal in a ceremony at the Forum in Montreal by Canada’s senior International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound. Because of that, she was the first Canadian awarded a gold medal in Canada.

Cross-country skier Beckie Scott was the second on June 25, 2004 in Vancouver after the IOC revoked gold and silver from Russian doping cheats at Salt Lake 2002. IOC member Charmaine Crooks bestowed the medal on Scott at a Vancouver Art Gallery ceremony.

Of course, Alexandre Bilodeau was the first Canadian to win a gold medal in Canada on Feb. 14, 2010.

Frechette was inducted to the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame in 1999.