Bruce Constantineau
Sun

VANCOUVER – The design of 2010 Olympic medals unveiled today feature contemporary aboriginal artworks and are undulating rather than flat – both firsts in Games history.

The medals are based on two master works of an orca whale and raven by Canadian aboriginal artist Corrine Hunt.

Each medal will have a unique hand-cropped section of the abstract art and a silk scarf printed with the master artwork will be presented to medal-winning Olympians and Paralympians.

Official metals supplier Teck Resources provided 2.05 kg of gold, 1,950 kg of silver and 903 kg of copper to produce more than 1,000 medals to be awarded at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The medals were produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

Residents, shop owners point out that there are a lot of factors — such as hills — that affect access to areas

Doug Ward
Sun

Olympic street closures look straightforward when sketched out on a map.

They get complicated once the needs of the people who live and work there are considered.

Just ask Wilfred Vacheresse, who lives with his family on Midlothian Avenue, near the Vancouver Olympic Centre/Vancouver Paralympic Centre at Hillcrest Park, which will house the curling events.

A long stretch of Midlothian will be behind a security perimeter and closed to traffic from Feb.1 to March 2.

“On paper, road closures look easy,” said Vacheresse. “But in terms of access for residents, there’s a lot of subtleties involved.”

Initially, Olympic parking officials told Vacheresse that his family members could access their house from the back.

But Vacheresse’s 16-year-old daughter Danielle is blind due to complications from a brain tumour. The rear of Vacheresse’s property slopes down, making access from the back very difficult for his daughter, who uses a wheelchair.

“The Olympic planners originally saw this area as a place they could close off because on a map everything is two-dimensional. They hadn’t appreciated that there is a big hill here.”

The dilemma of rear access for the Vacheresse family was resolved once Olympic officials decided to issue permits to residents on Midlothian to drive and park on their street adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Park during the Olympic period.

But Vacheresse is worried about how the medical supplies for his daughter will continue to be delivered twice weekly to the house by courier companies.

He also wonders how the closures will affect nurses who help his daughter and some seniors on Midlothian with Alzheimer’s disease.

Not that Vacheresse wishes the Olympics would go away. His daughter has actually benefited from Olympic dollars. The sidewalks around Hillcrest Park are now wheelchair-accessible, making it far easier for her to wheel over to Main Street or to visit nearby friends.

Dr. Wei Lee, another Midlothian resident, said she can live with the closure so long as she has a permit to park on the street. “I hope they allow us to drive back and forth to work. I’m okay if they give us a pass. I need to get to the hospital in Burnaby.”

Lee is confident that people who want to visit her will be able to gain access from behind her home.

“We are trying to cooperate with the Olympics. We have nothing against the Olympics. I’m sure the Olympics will make the rules reasonable to go back and forth.”

There’s more angst downtown on Abbott Street, where parking will be prohibited between Expo Boulevard and Keefer Street. Here the issue is economics.

“They are closing this entire block for parking, which is a significant issue for us,” said Klay Kaulbach, owner of the du Jour clothing boutique.

“There won’t be parking for our Vancouver clients.”

Nikki Nguyen, a makeup artist at Ignite on Abbott Street, said: “We are concerned about whether we are going to lose business — definitely. Most of our clients live in the area but they do drive here.”

Ben Stevenson, a clerk at the Crossroads Liquor Store on Abbott Street, said: “I don’t imagine there should be any less business than there is now. If anything, there should be more.”

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

Damian Inwood
Province

Vancouver 2010 officials unveiled its “life as unusual” transportation plan Wednesday, including details of road closures, parking restrictions and expanded transit.

It also includes a vehicle checkpoint being placed on the Sea-to-Sky Highway from Feb. 11 to 28.

“We expect 150,000 spectator movements on a daily basis in the area around False Creek,” said Terry Wright, 2010’s head of Olympic services.

The area includes B.C. Place, GM Place, the 2010 Athletes’ Village and the two city live sites.

City manager Penny Ballem said that a “know before you go” TravelSmart program will be launched from Oct. 19.

“The goal is to reduce vehicle traffic by 30 per cent, which is about 26,000 vehicles,” she said. “We will have new cycling networks and bike parking in and around the venues.”

She said the two most challenging days were the opening and closing ceremonies on Feb. 12 and Feb. 28.

Wright said in answer to repeated questions, Olympic organizers wanted to stress that:

• No passes are required for downtown Vancouver.

• North Shore crossings and other bridges will be open.

• Olympic lanes will be for accredited vehicles, transit buses and emergency vehicles only from Feb. 4 to Mar. 1.

• Pedestrian corridors will run from noon to midnight, from Feb. 12 to 28. Cross streets will be open and bicycles and pedicabs permitted.

• Highways 1 and 99 will be open during the Games. No permits will be needed on Sea-to-Sky north of Squamish during off-peak hours.

• Phased road closures will start Jan. 1 and run to Mar. 1.

• Parking/stopping restrictions are from Feb. 4 to Mar. 1.

• Temporary truck routes will run Feb. 1 to Mar. 21 and 24-hour deliveries will be allowed Feb. 1 to 28.

Road closures:

Nov. 1, seawall and 1st Avenue at False Creek closes around Olympic Village.

Jan. 4, Abbott Street closure near GM Place.

Jan. 15, Quebec Street closure at Olympic Village.

Jan. 24, Renfrew Street closure a Pacific Coliseum.

Jan. 27, Road closures around Canada Place.

Jan. 29, Expo and Pacific Boulevard closures.

Feb. 1, Midlothian St. closes at Vancouver Olympic Centre at Hillcrest.

Feb. 4, Olympic lanes and stopping/ parking restrictions come into effect.

Feb. 5, Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts close.

Feb. 12, Pedestrian corridors run from noon to midnight.

SkyTrain will have 48 extra cars and a capacity of 14,300 people per hour, running from 5:15 a.m. to 1:15 a.m.

Canada Line will handle 5,400 passengers an hour from 4:50 a.m. to 2:15 a.m.

The new Olympic line streetcar can carry 1,500 people per hour in each direction, running from 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Transit wil have 180 extra buses. NightBus service will run for 24 hours on select routes and on other routes, the last bus leaves downtown at 3 a.m.

There will be 30 extra HandyDart buses running from 6 a.m. to midnight. People can book up to seven days in advance.

SeaBus will run a third SeaBus from Feb. 8 to 28, handling 2,400 people per hour from 6 a.m. to 2:15 a.m.

West Coast Express will run extra services from 5:30 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. from Feb 12 to 28. There will be three extra trips each weekday, five inbound and four outbound trips on Saturdays, and four inbound and three outbound trips on Sundays.

Waterfront Station will be open and no security checks are required to take transit.

Parts of 900 and 1000 block on Cordova will be temporary loading zones for public.

Provincial transportation officials say that in the event of a major mudslide or rockslide blocks the Sea-to-Sky Highway, there’s a plan for B.C. Ferries to carry Olympic vehicles and passengers docking at Darrell Bay, just outside Squamish.

The Sea-to-Sky Highway road check will be in a highway pull-out where non-permitted vehicles will be stopped and there will be a turnaround area where traffic can be routed back to the highway.

The city is also strengthening Granville Bridge and council will decide later in the year whether it will be included in the truck routes.

SPECIFIC OLYMPIC VENUE CLOSURES INCLUDE:

Olympic Family Hotel at the Westin Bayshore: There will be no parking on Bayshore Drive, Coal Harbour Quay and parts of Cardero and Nicola Streets.

Canada Hockey Place: Access to Costco off Beatty is being maintained. A pedestrian corridor will be in effect on Beatty between Smithe and Dunsmuir from noon to midnight Feb 12 to 28.

GM Place and B.C. Place: Expo and Pacific Boulevard will be closed for the whole Olympics.

Vancouver Olympic (curling) Centre at Hillcrest: From Feb 12 to 28, Midlothian Avenue, Ontario Street between 28th and 33rd Avenues, Peveril Avenue between Ontario and Dinmont Avenue, and Dinmont Avenue between Midlothian Avenue and Peveril Avenue will all be closed.

Pacific Coliseum: During the Games Renfrew Street between Hastings and McGill will be closed to public vehicles. Pedestrian access to Renfrew Street will be limited to the west sidewalk. Olympic lanes will be on curb lanes on Hastings Street from Boundary to Richards Street.

University of B.C.: There will be graduated road closures around Thunderbird Arena.

Lot B1 and Osborne Centre parking lots will be closed and parking will be restricted on East Mall between 16th Avenue and Agronomy Road and at Wesbrook Mall at the bus stop.

Richmond Oval: River Road between Hollybridge Way will be closed Feb. 2 to Mar. 1.

River Road from Hollybridge Way to Cambie Street will be open to local traffic only.

Richmond Dyke Trail will be closed from No. 2 Road to Hollybridge Way from Feb. 4 to 27.

Cypress Mountain: From Feb. 1 to Mar. 8, Vancouver 2010 will have exclusive use of Cypress Provincial Park. There will be no spectator or public parking. Deer Ridge and StoneCliff residents will have full access to their homes.

Trucks: Deliveries will be permitted downtown round the clock but are recommended from midnight to 6 a.m., alternately frome 6 a.m. to noon.

Temporary truck routes will be in place from Feb.1 to Mar. 21. They will run on Hastings Street from Main to Burrard Streets, Nelson Street from Burrard Street to Cambie Bridge and Smithe Street from Cambie Bridge to Burrard Street.

Dangerous goods will be allowed midnight to 6 a.m. from Jan. 26 to Mar. 4.

Olympic Departure Hubs: Spectators going to Cypress Mountain will get buses from SFU Burnaby, Capilano University and Lonsdale Quay.

Those going to Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Sliding Centre will get buses from BCIT in Burnaby and Lonsdale Quay and those going to Whistler Creekside wil go from Langara College.

© copyright (c) CNS Olympics

 

Sun

VANCOUVER – Vanoc will start closing streets around the Lower Mainland as early as Nov. 1 as it starts to secure sites and install screening stations ahead of the 2010 Olympic Games.

But Vanoc officials insist it has been working with businesses to ensure they can access their shops and won’t suffer economic fallout from the closures.

A section of Quebec Street between First and Second avenues and a portion of Stanley Park around Olympic Village will be the first to be closed. A series of other closures will occur in January.

Vanoc has released a website today to allow residents to see where the closures will occur.

Meanwhile, Olympic Games spectators and residents are urged to “know before they go” to work or any Olympic events to ensure they have enough time to get there.

Vanoc is encouraging spectators to get to an event two or three hours in advance so they can get screened and in their seats before the event starts.

Spectators will be able to book their bus tickets in November.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Canadian economist calls for new regulations and higher interest rates

Peter O’Neil
Province

Canadian Bill White says he feels a sense of vindication, rather than joy, over his rock-star status in the world of economic forecasting that has come courtesy of his frighteningly prophetic warnings before the 2008 global meltdown.

White, whose folksy explanations of his theories are spiced with quotes from the Bible, Mark Twain and the Peanuts comic strip, is now invited to share his views with the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

White, pointing to the proliferation of beggars on European streets, said he was appalled when someone recently suggested he might be happy to have been proven right.

“I think the only sense one feels is one of vindication,” said White, 66, who grew up in Kenora in northwestern Ontario.

“Many people thought we were crazy for a long period of time, and we weren’t.”

White’s late-in-life celebrity status began after his retirement last year from his senior economist role at the Bank for International Settlements, an obscure international institution in Switzerland that acts as an advisory body for the world’s central banks.

For more than a decade, White’s was a lone voice among the tiny world of powerful individuals who set interest-rate policies for their respective countries.

He warned with increasing alarm that the world was heading toward a cliff.

Among those who dismissed White’s concerns were Alan Greenspan, the once-revered chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, and current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.

Today, while fingers of blame are pointed at Greenspan for his blind faith in deregulated markets, White is viewed by many as a prophet.

And his advice remains that, in addition to calling for tougher regulations for the financial industry, central bankers must be willing to raise interest rates forcefully to help shake out speculative excesses in areas such as housing and stock prices.

Financial Times chief economic commentator Martin Wolf said some private-sector economists were also issuing warnings before the crash.

What made White “remarkable” was that he was an insider, courageously challenging the views of central bankers who were effectively his bosses.

“Bill was conducting criticisms of monetary policy really from within the temple,” Wolf said.

The Financial Times cites his views regularly, while Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine recently published an interview headlined: “The Man Nobody Wanted To Hear.”

And the financial website Breakingviews.com listed White among a group of “undersung heroes of the credit crisis.”

White was just a few months past his first birthday when his father was killed by enemy fire during the allied advance in northern France.

When he was nine, his mother died of cancer, so he was taken in by his aunt and uncle. Four years later, his aunt died of cancer.

But White said his uncle had a powerful influence. He always told me: “You’ve gotta get your ticket in life.”

Ticket meant a solid education.

White, after getting his doctorate at the University of Manchester, worked four years at the Bank of England before starting 22 years at the Bank of Canada.

While in Ottawa, White began studying Japan’s economic collapse during the 1990s that was blamed on deregulation and rampant speculation that led to wildly overpriced commercial real estate.

White took his concerns about Japan with him in 1995 when he was hired as senior economic adviser at BIS in Switzerland.

From then until the 2008 meltdown, he issued annual reports which, with increasing alarm, looked at the growth of “imbalances” such as unsustainably high house prices, free-falling personal savings rates, stock market excesses, trade imbalances between exporting giants such as China and insatiable consumer nations such as the U.S., and the growing use of obscure, high-risk investment schemes.

While he argued in favour of tighter regulatory controls and still does, he also said regulations simply aren’t enough to contain the testosterone-fuelled drive within the financial community to maximize returns despite huge risks.

White said central banks had to look beyond their traditional role of keeping inflation in check.

He argued central bankers should be prepared to set sharply higher rates even if there was no inflation threat, to dampen speculative excesses.

His most dramatic challenge to prevailing wisdom took place in 2004 at an annual gathering of central bankers and the world’s top academic and private-sector economists at a resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

He firmly told his audience their thinking needed to shift.

There was a hush in the room as Greenspan stood to speak, noting that the Fed that very year had increased rates by 300 basis points, or three percentage points, but still failed to cool an overheated stock market.

“We know, of course, that if we raise rates 1,000 basis points we can knock down any asset bubble. We will also knock down the economy,” Greenspan said dismissively.

But White kept plugging away and, by BIS’s 2007 report, punches were no longer being pulled.

While he began his introduction by remarking on the booming, low-inflation economy around the world, he then went on at great length to describe all the risks — including plunging savings rates in the U.S., rising housing prices, and the corresponding euphoria over a sense of soaring personal health that led to more risky borrowing and spending.

“The concern is that this might all reverse,” White wrote a year before the meltdown.

Today, as White sips on a glass of Bordeaux at his favourite brasserie near his modest two-star hotel, he expresses some guarded optimism that regulators and central bankers have learned their lessons.

But he describes numerous problems in the global economy, including the ongoing problem of excess supply and weak demand. He said auto-sector bailouts and cash-for-clunkers policies do nothing to help countries begin producing products people actually need.

He predicts a return to economic growth that will be “significantly less than a lot of people are used to,” and said the real challenge will rest with central bankers’ willingness to consider a more proactive commitment to act more aggressively against speculative bubbles.

He acknowledged the mountains of uncertainty surrounding his unproven theories, and the warnings that his prescription could lead to disastrous deflation.

“If you have a hard problem, you can rest assured there will be a hard solution. There’s no way around it,” he said.

“If this crisis can be said to be helpful, it will be because it has led to see there’s a real problem that needs to be dealt with.”

White’s only previous brush with fame took place in 1984, when he was photographed wearing only his jogging shorts while ironing his pants before work. It appeared in the famous “day in the life of” series of coffee table books.

Among the thousands of pictures taken that day, that scene grabbed editors — especially women — because it was considered unusual for a man of his generation to do his own ironing.

White, while shrugging off any suggestion that his loss of his parents and aunt led to his independent and contrarian streak as an economist, did acknowledge one lasting impact.

“I’ll tell you one thing — you learn to iron your own pants, among other things.”

© Copyright (c) The Province

Organizers on the hook if competitors trash their accommodations

Damian Inwood
Province

Vancouver 2010 organizers will have to pay for any damage if disgruntled athletes trash their high-end suites in the $1.2-billion Olympic village.

“If that happened, we’d have to fix them,” said 2010 construction boss Dan Doyle. “I don’t anticipate that will happen, but we’re going to be watching. When you’re put into this quality of a facility, I think you respect it.” The 1,100 units at southeast False Creek, which range in value from about $400,000 to $5 million, have had their luxury kitchen appliances and fixtures encased in eco-friendly wheatboard.

“You see we’ve taken precautions with all the kitchens and boarded them up,” said Doyle. “We have to hand the units back in the condition we got them in. Several of the teams have already been through this facility and everyone has told us these are the best Olympic facilities ever.” The U.S. men’s hockey team got a black eye in Nagano, Japan at the 1998 Olympics, when they trashed dorms in the athletes village. They caused about $3,000 damage after being knocked out in the quarterfinals.

Nejat Sarp, 2010’s village boss, said the kitchen barriers achieve two purposes.

“One, it allows the units to be turned over to the potential owners as quickly as possible,” he said. “Two, it allows wheatboard to be used as their ‘home wall.’ So what we’re saying to the teams is, ‘You can put on your flag, put on your messages, you can do whatever you like and use it for your benefit.'” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson admitted the luxury highrise buildings are “not your typical athletes village.” He was standing on a spacious, tiled balcony, complete with its own garden, attached to a $3.6-million, 2,175-square-foot suite that will be home to some lucky athletes during the 2010 Olympics.

Robertson said the village, which will be home to 2,800 athletes and officials during the Games, will be “considered the greenest new neighbourhood in North America . . . and the nicest home that any Olympic athlete will ever know.” After that, the city hopes to recoup taxpayers dollars by selling about 730 market condos.

There will also be 120 market rental apartments and 250 units of affordable rental housing.

Robertson said a recent real-estate bounce, which has seen prices in Vancouver rebound upwards by 14 per cent, is encouraging.

He said the city hopes to break even on the development, which it was forced to take over due to financing difficulties facing developer Millennium.

The Olympic Village was originally planned to be completed for $950 million, including the high-priced False Creek land it sits on.

City manager Penny Ballem said last week that the total price-tag is expected to balloon to nearly $1.2 billion in 2013.

Realtor Bob Rennie, who is marketing 737 suites at the Olympic village, said 263 have already been sold. Rennie said that on May 15, the next phase of 200 units will go on the market. Sales are expected to continue until 2013.

© Copyright (c) The Province

 

Visitors can choose from historical walking tours to water sports

Lisa Monforton
Sun

Ask anyone who’s ever visited Mexico why they love it and keep going back, and you’ll get a different answer every time: beach-hopping, sport fishing, mariachi music, mountain adventures, tequila tastings, or haggling with vendors at the flea markets. It’s often for much simpler reasons: It’s easy to get to and the price is right.

To be sure, Mexico has had its share of troubles this past year: drug wars in northern border cities, the economy taking an extended siesta and swine flu. As for the drug wars, most travellers know Mexico is a big place and that hundreds of miles and mountains separate the resort areas from the trouble spots. On the flu front, people are urged to take the usual precautions.

The economic slump, however, is actually working to the advantage of Canadians when it comes to finding bargains in the world’s seventh most popular tourist destination.

But, now more than ever, say Mexican tourism officials, this is the year to find deals. Here’s a snapshot of some popular destinations along the Pacific coast.

MAZATLAN

If you’re looking for a Mexican destination that offers a myriad of things to do, Mazatlan is a good option.

Like other resort destinations, the city boasts beaches, water sports and all the associated sun and surf activities. But visitors can also fill their days with history, tours, shopping and eco-adventures.

Hours can be spent checking out historical sites, statues and monuments across the city.

A walking tour of the centre of the town, the “historic zone,” is an ideal way to understand the background of this vacation destination.

Other can’t-miss locales include the aquarium, featuring a shark tank; sport fishing tours; a stop at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception; and, a visit to the second tallest lighthouse in the world.

The nightlife in Mazatlan is, well, let’s say robust. One of the best places to sample a Pacifico is at Joe’s Oyster Bar. This hopping spot is right on the beach and a favourite of those looking for a lively evening.

CABO SAN LUCAS

Cabo San Lucas’ reputation precedes it as party central on the Mexico’s Pacific Coast. The fact that the buzzing town at the tip of the Baja peninsula is only about 20 years old as a sun-seeker’s destination might have something to do with it. Or because one of its nightclub owners is Sammy Hagar (former lead singer of Van Halen), who owns the Cabo Wabo Cantina at the centre of the nocturnal action.

But it takes little effort to scratch beneath the surface of Cabo’s tourist trappings to discover there’s much more to this picturesque desert-meets-sea town.

You can easily choose to avoid the crowd whose mission it is to see how many tequila shots can be downed on a two-hour sunset party cruise on one of the many boats bobbing on the inky blue waters near the downtown marina.

The main attraction is Cabo’s nature-made keyhole rock arch called Los Arcos and Playa del Amor (Lover’s Beach), though it might be tough to find much privacy there. Beneath the water around the Baja peninsula, there live some 800 species of fish. On the surface, it’s a playground for sport fishing, whale-watching, scuba diving, parasailing and kayaking.

The entire area of the southern Baja is called Los Cabos, which includes the more extroverted Cabo San Lucas conjoined by a 30-kilometre stretch of resorts, golf courses and shops known as the “corridor.”

At the east cape, you’ll find Cabos’s much quieter sister city, San Jose del Cabo, with a more colonial flavour, family-owned restaurants and boutiques and dozens of art galleries.

This stretch, where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet, is popular for its natural beauty, abundant marine life — which also include dolphins, sea lions and whales — and 350 days a year of sunshine. It’s also known as a luxe getaway for celebrities because of its proximity to California.

In recent years, Cabo San Lucas has evolved into a more accessible destination for the average traveller, says Margie Gostyla, who represents a number of resort properties.

What’s popping up are a variety of all-inclusive hotels which include the Riu Palace, Melia and Dreams resorts. At least a half a dozen additional resort/residential/golf developments are underway, most of them set to open by November or in early 2010. Acting on the tough year Mexico has had, the 30-plus hotels and resorts in the area have launched the “Los Cabos a la Carte” promotion until the end of the year. Travellers will find a menu of money-saving options like fourth nights free, complementary spa treatments and kids deals, golf and spa packages.

For details on resorts, activities, golf, weddings and more go to to visitloscabos.travel

IXTAPA-ZIHUATANEJO

The twin seaside beach resorts of Ixtapa-Zihuatnejo offer a more laid-back pace than many other Mexican resorts, and because of their differing personalities, it’s evolved into a destination with a charming duality.

Ixtapa, (pronounced eesh-tah-pa) a planned resort community, was created in the ’70s with a marina at the north end. A small cluster of hotels can be found here, as well as the 18-hole Marina Golf Course surrounded by boutiques and shops.

There are no towering complexes along the three-kilometre long Playa del Palmar, a wide expanse of golden sand, but rather low-rise resorts.

A few kilometres away in pretty Zihuatanejo (zee-wah-tan-EH-ho), tucked along the Zihuatanejo Bay, stroll along the Paseo del Pescador, the Fisherman’s Walk, at a decidedly more unhurried pace. Fishermen will be hauling in their catches of the day, and many of the locally owned restaurants will serve up just caught mahi-mahi, shrimp or lobster.

More information at ixtapa.net.

PUERTO VALLARTA

It’s tough for any tourist city to cling to its authenticity, but Puerto Vallarta, a city of 350,000 people, manages to keep its Spanish roots piquant enough for the masses. The love story that put Puerto Vallarta on the world’s tourist map involved Hollywood movie icons Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. As the oft-told story goes, Burton was working on John Huston’s steamy film Night of the Iguana on the edge of town in the early ’60s.

Married to other people at the time, the pair had their own torrid affair going on. Burton bought Taylor a house (now a museum, restaurant and bed and breakfast: www.casakimberley.com), and they continued to visit PV regularly.

It gave Puerto Vallarta, once a much slower paced fishing and silver mining town along Banderas Bay, a certain sheen and cachet.

Though, it’s not the kind of destination that feels the need to reinvent itself every five years to keep the tourists coming, it’s certainly not stuck in the ’60s. As its sun-seeking visitors have evolved so has the city, but not so much as to lose its “Old Mexico” flavour. PV keeps one foot firmly planted in the past architecturally and culturally and the other preserving its heritage, wildlife and rugged mountain terrain.

A number of resorts have been participating in efforts to preserve the Olive Ridley sea turtles by collecting the eggs that are deposited along the shore from July to December. (Go to vallartanature.org for participating hotels.) Guests are invited to help out in this non-commercial tour, by either collecting the eggs or releasing them back into the sea.

Getting around PV is easy on city buses, that will take you north from Nuevo Vallarta, into Old Town and beyond to Mismaloya, where Night of the Iguana was filmed. It’s also a short walk from here where you can get to Mama Lucia’s handmade tequila factory. Tours, tastings and a boutique where you can buy the family’s specialty tequilas, are open to the public every day except Sunday.

Away from the beach, venture into the jungles of the Sierra Madre mountains for more hard-core eco-adventures like zip-lining through the trees, and trail riding on ATVs or bikes. Outfitters such as vallarta-adventures.com, one of the most popular companies, has more than a dozen sea and land day trips, plus tours into some of Mexico’s beautiful little mountain villages with colourful, sun-washed churches and bustling art, craft and food markets.\

DID YOU KNOW?

Cabo San Lucas

• Cabo is considered the marlin fishing capital of the world, and home to the annual Bisbee Black & Blue Jackpot Marlin Tournament every October. Hundreds

of sport fishermen come from around the world to compete for more than $4 million in prizes.

• Lover’s Beach is on the Sea of Cortez side of the peninsula while Divorce Beach fronts the Pacific.

• The Baja is the third-largest peninsula in the world. The Sea

of Cortez separates it from the rest of the country.

• There are 10 championship golf courses in Los Cabos, three designed by Jack Nicklaus. Several more are set to open in 2010.

• Cabo San Lucas is home to La Fabrica de Vidrio Soplado (Blown Glass Factory) where 35 artisans daily turn locally recycled glass into works of art. It’s open to the public daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Puerto Vallarta

• Puerto Vallarta is in the Mexican state Jalisco, also where the town of Tequila is located, and where tequila was first created.

• You’re bound to see a real live iguana while visiting Puerto Vallarta (or anywhere in Mexico for that matter) so you should know a little about them: They have three eyes, two penises and do not perspire, no matter how hot it gets.

• From Dec. 1 to 12 each year, people from the city and as far away

as 16 km, march in a procession

carrying lit candles to The Church of our Lady of Guadelupe, the centrepiece and heart of Old town Puerto Vallarta. It’s known as the Procession of the Virgin of Guadelupe.

• Puerto Vallarta is on the same latitude as Hawaii.

• Just outside of PV is Punta Mita and the Four Seasons Pacifico golf course, which boasts the world’s only golf green located on a natural island.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

‘I cannot . . . sit back and say it’s not my problem’

Cheryl Chan
Province

Thirty years ago, Ron Josephson fought for the rights of oppressed black communities in apartheid South Africa.

Now a commercial barrister in Vancouver, he’s taken a two-month sabbatical to harness his energies to a different cause: ending homelessness in Vancouver.

“I don’t have any answers, but I can tell you I cannot do nothing,” said Josephson. “I cannot live this most wonderful life in one of the best cities in the world and sit back and say it’s not my problem.”

Along with a crew of dedicated volunteers, Josephson has launched Gratitude Week, set to start Thanksgiving Monday, which aims to provide a means for average citizens who want to do their part.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in Vancouver who doesn’t want to make a difference to end homelessness,” said Josephson. “They just don’t know how.”

From Tuesday to Friday, booths will be set up at the Vancouver Art Gallery plaza, which will also host lunch-hour keynote speakers (including housing minister Rich Coleman and Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson) and public forums on homelessness and mental health.

On Wednesday, university and college students will stage a street collection to raise awareness and donations for Gratitude Week.

Through the “Give a dollar, give a damn!” campaign, Josephson hopes to raise $1 million. Proceeds will go to the renovation of the 23-unit Pender Hotel and 97-room Gastown Hotel. Donations have already started pouring in via the website at www.gratitudeweek.org, thanks to strong word-of-mouth awareness and an effective viral marketing campaign.

© Copyright (c) The Province

 

Sharing the same birthday or hometown with a salesperson makes consumers more likely to buy or to buy more than they initially intended

Shannon Proudfoot
Sun

If your waitress happens to mention her birthday is the same day as yours, or you discover that a clothing store clerk grew up your hometown, chances are you’ll order an extra beer or buy that second pair of jeans.

New Canadian research shows that when consumers share “incidental” traits like a birthday, name or hometown with a salesperson, they’re more likely to open their wallets.

“Those incidental similarities can actually shape the situation in terms of your desire to buy and associate with the product or company, your attitude toward the product,” says Darren Dahl, a marketing professor at the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business.

“It overflows onto the purchase experience — even though, rationally, it really shouldn’t.”

The reason is that we’re hardwired to seek social connections with other people, he says, and even though these small similarities have nothing to do with the product or situation at hand, they make us more open to persuasion.

And these connections aren’t as rare as they seem: Previous research shows that the chance that two people share the same birthday is better than 50 per cent in a group as small as 23 people, the researchers write in the paper, published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.

Companies seem already to understand this.

Employees at Disney theme parks and Hilton Hotels wear name tags emblazoned with their hometowns, the researchers note, and many fitness centres display detailed biographies of their personal trainers, right down to the high school they attended.

Last winter, Dahl says, he left the equipment rental centre at the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort unreasonably pleased with the unremarkable service he’d received from an employee whose hometown of Sydney, Australia — where Dahl had just spent three months of a sabbatical year — was printed on his name tag.

“Because we’d had this little moment, I was a lot happier when I left,” he says, laughing. “You discount it because you don’t want those things to influence you: ‘Oh, come on! That has nothing to do with my decision!'”

Whistler Blackcomb has been displaying hometowns on name tags of its international staff for more than 20 years, says Dave Brownlie, president and chief operating officer.

“It does create those connections, which ultimately make a difference in how people enjoy your resort,” he says.

But there’s also a risk to building these little connections with consumers, Dahl says.

“The flip side is that it raises the stakes,” he says.

“When you do this as a tactic, if the person does something wrong in the sales situation, they’re judged much harsher than if someone else had done something wrong. It’s a double-edged sword.”

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