Monday, October 5, 2009

Meet Mayor Gregor Robertson

the Mayor of Vancouver, that is

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That's his honour Mayor Gregor in the white shirt with the "R" protruding from his healthy head of hair. He is the one most responsible for the green initiatives in Vancouver, such as taking away one lane of the Burrard Bridge from the Cars. He is an avid cyclist and today he is ribbon cutting murals which are located on one of the city's bicycle routes

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Today they are unveiling 4 murals with a ribbon cutting ceremony at each of the four locations. Of course I was not travelling on a bicycle of the pedalling kind and I am sure to be scorned if I used a gas guzzling machine so I only got to see two dedications

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I wasn't sure what time they were going to arrive so I had been waiting for nearly an hour. Then a gaggle of bicyclists silently converged on the area accompanied by our bicycling Mayor.

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(Richard Tetrault the artist, is on the right in the green T-shirt)

He had been working on the mural for weeks using hydraulic lifts (www.eastsidemurals.com) .

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While Richard was explaining the painting process and how they had to prepare the walls I walked about snapping a few pictures of the crowd

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Soon the dedication speeches were over and it was time to cut the ribbon

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(Mayor Gregor Robertson cuts the ribbon)

Beside the Mayor (white shirt), on his right is the artist, Richard Tetrault. I have no idea who the others are BUT, Mrs Bobskoot is the one on the right .

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With the ribbon cut and lying on the ground it was time to move on to the last stop

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I caught a glimpse of the Mayor leaving aboard his bicycle

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Soon he was under his own pedal power and slowly made his way down the street and out of sight. Of course, we were also invited to the see the last mural at the Russian Hall where they had entertainment and a healthly supply of nurishment and beverages

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(The Russian Hall, Campbell Avenue, Vancouver, BC)

Here they had murals painted on 3 walls

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The selection of images for the mural are decided upon by a committee in consultation with the building owner(s)

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(West & South facing murals)

Here's part of the mural on the north wall

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Here's the Mayor doing the ribbon cutting at the Russian Hall, with prominent members of the Russian Community

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Our daughter and grand-daughter were also there watching the festivities

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(Tami, daughter & Natashia, grand-daughter)

5 comments:

  1. I thought Canadian officials were known as "the honourable" when they got elected. Perhaps in a town with a muriel dedicated to Maxim Gorki he should be called comrade? And what's with the absence of babes in bikinis? I know one tart comment will be coming from East Goshen as soon as he wakes up.

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  2. Hi Bob,

    Its nice your mayor supports projects to pretty the place up, our last 2 mayors here come from the Chicago school of mayoring (I've invented a new word) and are still in jail lol


    Cheers,

    Dave..

    PS. My dungeon is available to you anytime Bob.

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  3. Dear Bobskoot and Esteemed Colleagues:

    What a wonderful blod today, Bob. It is environmentally conscious and shows the city's leadership out mixing with the crowd on a mild fall afternoon -- celebrating art. It just doesn't get any better than that!

    Thank you for making this effort on our behalf.

    And I can't see that anyone would be in a position to criticize you for showing up on a scooter, when the artist used a mechanized unit to do the paintings.

    Your daughter and granddaughter are both as cute as all get out.

    I hope you don't mind that I mentioned your profesional grade photography in my blog today?

    And anyone with an eye for tarts just needs to go to Twisted Roads this afternoon, to see the photo lesson I gave Conch.

    Fondest regards,
    Jack • reep • Toad
    Twisted Roads

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  4. Bob, great coverage of this event. As you know, I love murals and public art in our towns.

    Glad your family could join in the fun -:) How did Mrs. Bobskoot happen to be holding up one end of the ribbon?

    Chuck

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  5. Great murals and great pictures. It's good to see some communities actually promoting healthy things like bicycling. There needs to be more progressive thinking in the world.
    Your wife, I guess, hobnobs with royalty.

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