Rally at Rennie Project Marketing Olympic reception, Feb 24th

Today I got an e-mail from Carnegie Community Action Project organizer

Wendy Pedersen saying that a small group was heading over to 51 West

Pender to picket developer ("Condo King") Bob Rennie's little party.

Rennie was having a wine and cheese reception with the mayor, select

Olympic athletes, real eastate movers and shakers ... and "DTES

leaders."

 

As far as I've been able to figure out, the only DTES leaders invited

were the die-hards he must have known would never come: Wendy Pedersen

and Jean Swanson. In fact, their invitation was apparently followed up

with a phone call from Rennie's office, advising them that the

invitation was "not transferrable;" at that time Wendy and Jean RSVP'd

in the negative.

 

Their next communication from Rennie was a note imploring that they

not picket his party, and if they agreed, he would arrange a 10-minute

meeting with Michael Ignatieff! Of course that sealed the deal; about

20 CCAP activists and others marched over with placards mocking

Rennie's marketing messages.

 

“Olympics are $6 billion marketing and branding campaign for Vancouver”

 

“Vancouver is a resort city”

 

On the DTES: “We’re running out of developable land. Either

Vancouver stops growing or we move east. The city has nowhere to grow

but East”

 

Bob Rennie - a man who makes himself rich by buying poor people's

homes out from under them and reselling them as luxury condos.

Done