Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Crime Rampage

Last night, 2 young drug dealers were shot to death in their silver Mercedes at 70th & Granville. A few days ago a high-end mobster was shot to death in front of his home in the prestigious Shaughnessy neighbourhood. This makes 10 people murdered in some sort of ongoing war in the past 2.5 weeks.

On today's 3pm CKNW news broadcast, Mayor Sam Sullivan was quoted as saying, "At least Vancouver doesn't have crime as bad as Detroit."

Oh my, isn't that wonderful. This will make me feel sooooooo much safer when I go out for a walk and bullets are whizzing by! Now that Paul Martin has retired, the "Mr. Dithers" moniker is free and Sam Sullivan seems like a prime candidate for it!

Late Update: Sullivan's office called into CKNW to correct the quote. He didn't say Detroit, he said Chicago. Whoooh, that makes it so much better. Not!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

did he seriously say that? pelalusa my friend, you just helped me write another page of the neverending Vision attack ads....

Robert W. said...

I detest the perpetual victim mentality that Vision and COPE stand for but I may very well have to abstain during the next election if Sullivan is running for the NPA.

Anonymous said...

P, the Mayor has responded on his website and publicly to the scourge of gang violence. It's not a simple issue as you know. Adding more cops is not the only solution. And while we might think it's an oversimplification, Sam is right, we are not nearly as bad as Detroit, which had nearly 400 murders last year.

Robert W. said...

Dear Anon #2: You're in deep, deep denial. Defend Mr. Dithers all you want with endless rhetoric about "it not being a simple issue", but then take some responsibility when more innocent victims turn up at the morgue.

Anonymous said...

P, I've since found out that CKNW, where you heard this erroneous "not as bad as Detroit" comment, changed the story yesterday afternoon. Sam did NOT say anything about us not being as bad as Detroit. Check with NW, or listen to the 3:30 or 4pm report on the archives. It's unfortunate that NW got the story wrong (just like when the Globe claimed Sam said 'the strike was not his priority,' which was bullshit), but no point in you propogating this inaccuracy.

Anon #2

Robert W. said...

I do believe in accuracy and take your comment seriously. So I've written both the CKNW newsroom and Jon McComb to get the facts.

Please note that McComb stated quite clearly that he received a call from city hall correcting the earlier quote, saying that it was Chicago, not Detroit, that Sullivan was speaking of.

But you claim that neither the first quote nor the subsequent phone call occurred. As I said, I am checking on this ...