BREAKING NEWS – Vision Parks Chair Raj Hundal resigns from PNE Board
In what may come as little surprise to many objective observers of the civic shenanigans of Vision Vancouver, it appears that one of their “stars” seems to have dimmed…considerably.
In an email I obtained this morning, Vancouver Parks Chair announces his resignation from the PNE Board over a Halloween related incident in which one of his cousins, who accompanied Hundal and his family to the PNE on the evening of October 25th, got into an altercation with one of the actors from “Fright Night”, who was dressed as “a mental patient”. The said “cousin” was ejected according to what Hundal refers to as PNE policy, but Hundal, who was then a sitting director of the PNE was allowed to stay.
So I have three pertinent questions: Firstly, is Hundal trying to tell us that his cousin hit the actor because that actor appeared mentally ill? What’s ole Raj trying to tell us in his extremely clumsy email about what he and his family members think you should do if confronted by someone who is mentally ill? And secondly, why was Hundal allowed to stay? PNE policy is actually to eject “offending parties”. Was he thus provided any favoritism because he sat on the PNE Board? Finally, if Hundal has “an old-fashioned view” of the standard that should be set by public figures, why did it take him two weeks to resign from the PNE Board? Why not resign immediately if he’s such an exemplar of virtue? What a load of bull!
Release all the details Raj, not just those that suit the PR exercise. Shades of ‘The Connie Barnes Affair’ anyone?
Of course, none of this was covered by the shameless Vision fluffer Jonathan Ross, who runs Vision’s propaganda site: civicscene.ca–the most obvious and disgraceful effort at milling the news in always slanted favour of his Vision Vancouver masters. Hundal, Ross and Aaron Jasper are said to be behind many of the personal attacks against Clr. Suzanne Anton and Parks Commisioner Ian Robertson, for fear that either of them may knock off Jolly Green Gregor in the fall of 2011; particularly considering the strong chance David Chudnovsky may run as mayoral candidate for COPE. And considering their not-so-private disgruntlement with their Vision “cousins”…
Hundal’s ridiculous email appears below:
Maybe I should have titled this post, “A Fool and His Goon Are Soon Parted” Maybe this is how Vision plays, folks. Withhold all the details of the Barnes Affair; launch little Johnny Ross with his propaganda because the news for Vision starts to get bad; have Ross attack anyone legitimately critical of Vision (he referred to me as a “fat, bald motherf#$&er”); send out nonsensical “polling” with a tiny sample size about the failed Burrard Bridge experiment that continues to spew carbon, since Andrea Reimer is too busy stunningly making fun of Minister Rich Coleman for the sin of being fat.
Nice people you elected Vancouver! Class acts…
November 6, 2009
On the evening of Sunday, October 25, I went to the PNEâ?Ts Fright Night with
four other members of my extended family. At approximately 8:15, our group
went through a haunted house. On exiting the attraction, a Fright Night actor
dressed as a mental patient came close to a member of our group, as is expected
at Fright Night. While I am unclear as to what startled him, I understand that
my cousin pushed the actor away from him. A complaint of assault was then
logged by the actor with PNE security. My relative was asked to leave the
premises as per the zero tolerance policy at the PNE and he did so. The rest of
our group was allowed to remain in the theme park and we did so.
I sincerely regret the actions of my cousin. As a member of the board for the
PNE I have a duty to set a high standard of conduct for the organization. I
have an old fashion view of responsibility and while I had no role in the
incident, I am concerned that my role on the board has been compromised. To
protect the integrity of the PNE board and to eliminate any perceived conflict
of interest due to this incident, I have stepped down from my position as a
member of the board of directors for the PNE.
In closing, let me state that I have the highest personal regard for all PNE
staff and I am still very upset that this incident occured. I want to thank PNE
security for their professionalism and apologize for any confusion the
disturbance caused. In addition I want to extend my apologies to the staff
member. I hope this actor will continue to do excellent work at the PNE in the
years to come.
Raj Hundal
Park Board Commissioner
Not sure you’ll allow this post to go live Alex, but in regards to polling about the Burrard Bridge lane trial and sample size, I went to this website http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html and it calculated a recommended sample size of 384 respondents to return a poll with a 5% margin of error and a 95% confidence level for a population of 612,000 (Vancouver pop.). Given that 504 people were polled, I’d have to say that the information appears reliable.
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Of course I’ll allow your comments, Chris. The only comments I don’t allow are ones that are racist, offensive or degrading, etc. And since I know you’re a gentleman, regardless of our disagreements, your comment is most welcome here. Delighted to reply, too: That’s not a sample worth talking about, frankly. We have watered down standards considerably. In my day, we never released samples with anything less than 1000 or close to…but even if you look at the percentages, to claim, as Kevin Quinlan (the Mayor’s Press Secretary) did, that there was “overwhelming support” for the BB bike trial, is total nonsense. Even a cursory review of the stats shows that. Then again, you will defend anything related to the bike trial because, as you’ve stated before, you believe that it’s a worthwhile endeavor and you’re an admitted cycling fanatic. Hardly objective opinion, but I’m very happy to see you here. Mind, I am glad for one thing: That the trial might save any of the no more than handful of cyclists that use it per day, from being side-swiped by some insane courier or delivery delinquent. Have a good weekend, Chris and thanks very much for stopping by.
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I’m going out on a limb here, but maybe Raj Hundal wasn’t ejected from the PNE because he didn’t do anything. I know, wild idea.
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Instead of going out on a limb, a partisan limb, why don’t you answer the questions I posted? Nah, that would take courage and honesty. Okay, answer one…if Raj is such an exemplar of virtue, why did it take two weeks to resign? Let me help you: Because, just like with ‘The Connie Barnes Affair’ the public were about to find out. Who is Raj’s cousin? What does he do for a living? Has he had problems with the law before? Did he shove him or punch him? How ’bout instead of polluting my site with feeble, partisan bromide, you come here with some truth? Hm? Don’t forget that Gregor Robertson announced his candidacy in my column; received HUGE accolades from me throughout the campaign (he earned them) and the Vision team ran a superb campaign, aided by the public’s disgust with three years of Sam. I am the ONLY member of the media who can legitimately claim that I gave them a chance and they failed as they hit the ground running. But answer the questions about this Raj resignation, which, BTW he should be commended for…it was the appropriate thing to do. But his email was clumsy and far too general, delivering more questions than any answers.
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Re-reading what I wrote, I can’t see anything that partisan in it. All we have to go on is what the man wrote in his email, that’s it. The rest is conjecture and suspicion. It may very well be that he hacked the guy with an axe while his cousin laughed and took the fall for him, but there remains the possibility that what he wrote was true or close to it, that his cousin pushed an actor and was ejected from the PNE. I assume that if it was a serious attack the police would have been called, though maybe the PNE prefer to deal with it in house, who knows. Isn’t there some way to search for police incidents?
I really don’t understand why you are so quick to go on the offensive, Mr. Tsakumis. How can I answer the questions you posted? I have no idea. None. I have no idea why it took Mr. Hundal two weeks to resign. I also have no idea who his cousin is, what his occupation is, or if he’s had trouble with the law. Posing those questions to me doesn’t even make sense.
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You are either being disingenuous or are incredibly naive: NO ONE would resign unless there was something beyond a misunderstanding. Period. I’ve been in plenty of street fights (when I was unendingly stupid and much younger). You do not flip out when attending a fright night. For Christ’s sake, you know the object of the evening is to be scared etc. The questions I’ve answered make PERFECT sense against the backdrop of the vagueness that Raj offered in his email. Let’s see if this goes anywhere, but the lack of media attention only shows me that to accommodate their own left wing bias, they are content to allow stories to die. That’s the state of the media today, and it is a systemic problem. Add that to letting Gordon Campbell get away with all sorts of political scandals, almost unscathed, for fear of lawsuits (which their producers and editors should laugh at) and you have a lapdog mentality that cannot be cured. But I refuse to be muzzled because I firmly believe in being in the business of providing the public a right to know. It’s why I recommend the blogs I do. The seek the truth. Well…some have the occasional off day, too.
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Logistics: Is there an RSS feed for your blog?
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No, Brenton there is no RSS feed. Please check back any time you feel you’d like to have a read.
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“Then again, you will defend anything related to the bike trial because, as you’ve stated before, you believe that it’s a worthwhile endeavor and you’re an admitted cycling fanatic”
Fanatic? I guess that’s better than fascist old chum.
However, if the trial was negatively impacting cycling in Vancouver overall, I wouldn’t support it. More interested in the big picture than isolated instances. Having done some modicum of research into what makes it easier for people to cycle safely however, the support from all quarters, including a majority of drivers surveyed, comes as no surprise to me.
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Chris, you’re making some huge leaps in logic that don’t make sense, however, let’s see what happens to the 3:1 Vision over NPA independent vote from the westside next election…you have mistaken the spin on the numbers with actual support. Driving down the Burrard Bridge is now a hazard for drivers, Chris. It’s too narrow for the traffic. Nevermind what Penny Ballem gets some stooge to write in the final report. You cannot survive as a driver in perpetuity like that. I’m still, and forever will remain, an advocate of an appropriate cycling and pedestrian bridge along side the BB–period. THAT, and only that, will encourage people to walk. Who wants to suck up any fumes, hey? But separate access would work beautifully. I’ve spent countless days, hours on end on each of those days, counting the cyclists: Less than fifty…sometimes a dozen over a period of many hours. It’s ridiculous. Another walkway/cycling path makes sense. What exists now is nothing but pandering to those of you in the Vision base that came out in droves for Jolly Green Gregor, who, let me break the news to you, will NOT have an easy time getting re-elected. But more on that theory later…
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Prior to Expo 86, a new Cambie bridge deck was built off site, then floated into place and exchanged with the older deck. The bridge was closed for just 3 months while this took place. The Cambie bridge works well for transit, pedestrians, cyclists AND cars.
There is no reason at all why the Burrard Bridge couldn’t be refurbished in the same way right now. We need the lane capacity to remain as it WAS for the future growth around False Creek.
Gregor Robertson should be ashamed of himself. He needs to learn he was elected for all of the people and not just his cycling buddies. All of the people includes those that DRIVE CARS TOO.
Thanks for the link to that site Alex, I’m going to keep watching how much pollution the so-called greenest action team is truly responsible for. What a bunch of lying hypocrites Vision Vancouver are.
I wonder if this Chris guy is getting paid any money from the city’s communications budget for the Burrard Bridge?? He certainly finds a lot of time to troll the internet and post on any site that writes anything on the bridge. It makes me wonder if he needs to get a job, or if that is his job.
The cyclists in this city are pathetic and selfish end of story.
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hmmmmmmm.
really scraping the bottom of the barrel
with that story.
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Hey “Nunga”, you’re not Koori tribe are you? They have a nasty habit of chewing on a particular leaf that causes violent hallucinations.
This story is still percolating. Stay tuned. Your friends with Vision Vancouver, would be better served by having you not post anonymously and making stupid statements. It just makes him look that much deeper in the hot water which he immerses himself.
It’s already too late.
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Raj Hundal is a joke! Why is this guy even elected? Vision Vancouver wanted a brown guy. That’s great, at least they could have gotten one with a brain.
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