(This story and its headline have been changed for clarification since it was first posted Sept. 6.)
The bill so far to city taxpayers for the riot-ruined Stanley Cup fan zone is $1,968,613.
City council approved withdrawing $1 million from its rainy day fund Sept.
6. Half the cost was already absorbed by existing departmental budgets, said a staff report.
The report said $466,804 in extra costs are directly related to the June 15 riot, including $163,250 for additional officers (not including the cost of ongoing investigations), $145,000 for damage to police assets and $92,750 in damaged items, including fences, portable toilets and TV screens.
The city spent $608,009 on the fan zone, all but $22,458 was during the seven-game Stanley Cup final. Police overtime costs during the final ate up
$741,529 of the total $893,800 playoff bill. The policing bill was almost $250,000 more than the city's original estimate.
The city has still not disclosed contracts with suppliers. One of them was Brand Live Group, which was hired to manage the site just two days before the final began June 1.
A Vancouver Police department internal review said there could be as many as five lawsuits filed against the force.
The city invited representatives of the Vancouver Sun and Province, CBC, CTV, Global and CKNW to a roundtable on riot-related media issues, but all declined to participate.
Many stakeholders commented that media participation in future discussions could enhance a sense of community responsibility and potentially help to set expectations for behaviour at sport events, said the city report.
Tuesdays meeting will be the first chance for the public to weigh in.
The report said June 15 was the 11th major sports riot in Canada in 78 years and eighth to happen during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Recommendations to avoid a repeat included improving communications, clarifying emergency operations decision making, developing a code of fan conduct at sporting events and enhancing the use of closed circuit video to monitor crowds.
Too much booze, violent sports and highly visible police can fuel riotous behaviour, according to a University of B.C. nursing professor and doctoral student in a report prepared for city manager Penny Ballem.
The report by Dr. Joy Johnson and Emily Jenkins said 16-to-24 year old males are more likely to riot because of a desire to witness physical aggression, their recent involvement in physical fights and consumption of alcohol.
Watching a physical altercation is emotionally stimulating and can promote violent behaviour amongst observers, the report said. Young men (compared to women or older men) are more likely to indicate they attend hockey games in order to witness violent behaviour.
The report said the presence of police may unintentionally fuel riotous behaviour when viewed as oppositional or combative, so plain-clothing may be helpful for police in crowds.
Crowding and lack of easy exit points increases stimulation which can lead to crowd violence.
The report recommended limiting access to helpful and encouraging team members promote fair play and the spirit of the game.
The internal civic review did not, however, mention the citys biggest pre-Stanley Cup crowd control failure at the David Lam Park Olympic live site on Feb. 16, 2010. A concert barricade collapsed as Alexisonfire entered the stage. Nineteen people were injured and nine hospitalized.
Minutes of daily Games-time meetings held by top civic officials said nobody knew the maximum capacity of the live site and neither did anyone know where to find the key to the locked emergency exits.
