Vancouver View -- VANOC Adjusts Budget, Assorted Costs Involved in Torch Relay

VANOC CEO John Furlong says the 2010 organizers are trying to bank contingency funds for a rainy day. (ATR/B. Mackin)VANOC Retools Budget

Decreased hiring, fewer business trips and more ceremonies tickets for sale; those are some of Vancouver 2010’s plans to cut costs, increase revenue and balance the budget.

After being pushed back from the Nov. 19 release, the revised budget will be considered by the board at its Tuesday closed-door meeting. It won’t be made public until early 2009.

VANOC executives, who were already reviewing operations, spent the time planning ways to protect the organization from the global economic crisis.

Venue building is nearly done, most funding commitments are secured and ticket sales were better than expected, but CEO John Furlong said, “We know we will need to overcome challenges some point so we're working hard to bank as much contingency as possible to be ready for any eventualities.”

The May 2006-released, $1.3 billion budget included contingency fund totaling almost $80 million. That is expected to be increased in the updated budget.

To pay for the increase, VANOC proposes that cuts be made to travel and new hires. The operations budget was supposed to be funded only from tickets, souvenirs, sponsors and broadcasters, but will now include government funds. The federal government pledged $35.9 million for the opening ceremony and torch relay last February.

Rarely has a modern organizing committee had so many key sponsors -- such as General Motors – under pressure so close to Games-time.

A Host of Costs for Olympic Torch Relay Communities

Communities chosen to host midday or evening celebrations during the Vancouver 2010 torch relay must fulfill a long list of VANOC requirements, according to a report for the Coquitlam, British Columbia city council on Dec. 8.

The Vancouver suburb will host midday festivities on Feb. 11, 2010 at a site to be determined. The torch’s next stop is Vancouver for a celebration on the eve of the Games’ opening.

Parks and leisure General Manager Edie Doepker’s report said "there are budget implications” for traffic and road control, security and emergency response support, community event program costs, hospitality, entertainment and other event logistics, lunch for volunteers and public relations and advertising.

Coquitlam is seeking government grants, but the “actual budget impact” would be part of the city’s 2010 financial plan. The VANOC-required community task force must be chaired by a council member and include a VANOC regional route coordinator and representatives of co-sponsors Coca-Cola and Royal Bank of Canada and a local First Nation. In Coquitlam’s case, it’s the Kwikwetlem tribe. The task force will be introduced in early February.

Coquitlam is already planning to celebrate its French-Canadian heritage during the Games with a two-week version of its annual Festival du Bois. Village de Francophone 2010 will be at Mackin Park in Maillardville.

Torch Relay Expert Offers Hints

Weather will be the Vancouver 2010 torch relay’s biggest challenge, but a veteran organizer of the ritual won’t The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will occur daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with some 200 runners daily. (ATR/B.Mackin)discount protesters.

"It's a free country and people can protest in a peaceful fashion, I don't like to see people do it any other way,” said Diane Henry of Maxxam International. “It's not a good thing to not respect the torchbearer's moment; it's their precious moment for their lifetime."

Henry, who spoke at a Dec. 3 Vancouver Board of Trade lunch, was in charge of the Sydney 2000 relay and also worked for Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008. Now a consultant for 2010 relay co-sponsor Royal Bank of Canada, she offered a glimpse into torch relay operations.

She said approximately 200 people will run with the torch daily, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The torch will be accompanied by a convoy of vehicles, including three police cruisers, two torchbearers’ motorcoaches, two SUVs, five trucks, two buses for security and guest relations, six police motorcycles and an ambulance. The torchbearer will be escorted by two “security runners.”

VANOC Still Seeking Volunteers

More than 52,000 people have Gregor Robertson's first day as Vancouver's mayor includes meeting with VANOC directors. (Gregor Robertson)applied to volunteer at Vancouver 2010 since Feb. 12, but workforce Executive Vice President Donna Wilson isn't ready to end her campaign.

So far, 12,500 applicants have been interviewed by phone and 5,000 came to in-person sessions, vying to become part of the 25,000-person workforce. Wilson said Dec. 5, international volunteer day, that more applicants are needed in the Whistler area and more are needed who can speak languages other than English.

Graham Fraser, Canada's federal commissioner of official languages, suggested on Dec. 2 that VANOC should recruit French speakers from the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick to meet its bilingual pledges to the federal government and International Olympic Committee. Fewer than 10 percent of British Columbians speak French.

"French is the key language we're looking at, really it's a case of just ensuring the applications we have turn into real live volunteers,” Wilson said. “We'll be in a better position to know by March; right now we're feeling confident we'll be able to deliver beyond the expectations - and it is a big expectation.”

Wilson is also on the lookout for potential volunteers fluent in a variety of other languages, like Korean, Russian and Norwegian.

Wilson marked international volunteer day with 120 pre-Games volunteers at the PNE Forum.

The former hockey rink was carpeted, curtained and converted into office and meeting space for volunteer screening and training. An average 150 people come daily for interviews, six days a week. During the Games the Forum will be the uniform and accreditation center.

Mayor Robertson to Meet with VANOC

Mayor Gregor Robertson's first full day in office includes a meeting with VANOC directors.

Robertson is listed as a guest speaker on the agenda for the Dec. 9 closed-door board meeting of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee.

Vision Vancouver candidate Robertson won the Nov. 15 civic election after a campaign that revolved around a secret $80 million bailout loan by the NPA-dominated city council to Millennium, the cash-strapped developer of the Vancouver Olympic Village in False Creek.

With reporting from

Bob Mackin in Vancouver.