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Originally Posted by djh
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Huh.
My memory of the time during Philip Owen's mayoralty was that the public and the media were calling Vancouver "No Fun City".
From what I remember, he oversaw the passing of several bylaws that prevented very common activities, including alcohol, and I think there were a few events that he prevented from happening (possibly the car race?).
I think from memory he was popular with older, established upper-middle class, more conservative voters, and hated by the younger, more liberal residents.
I wasn't around for his earlier mayoral stints, just the last one, so I'm interested to hear what he did that makes people now remember him as "one of the better mayors" - unless that's a damning indictment of the quality of the other mayors.
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To be fair he didn't technically end the car race, but organizers did go to the city for help while he was still in office and they did nothing. Ditto for the fireworks, (who barely survived after finding another sponsor at the last minute), did nothing as the PNE was ripped apart to the mere shadow of past glories (that they've never recovered from), disaster of a drug policy that has cost the city dearly, turned down a proposed concert in Stanley Park, didn't support a destination resort/casino/convention centre/marina that would have been a landmark in the city and livened up the sometimes sleepy downtown, and what most on here don't know is it was under his watch the city starting going to war against bar and restaurant owners. He also allowed the rezoning on commercial zones in downtown that sparked the stagnation and then cannibalization of commercial properties in Vancouver which brought upon its resortification etc etc etc
Other than that he was great.
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