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<\/p>\nCoun. Pete Fry, a member of Vancouver\u2019s Green Party, voted against the extension, saying the motion\u2019s passage in a special meeting the day after it was posted publicly didn\u2019t allow sufficient time for consultation with stakeholders.<\/p>\n
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Fry said the estimated price tag of the extension has meanwhile risen to $4.75 million, up from an original projection of $3.5 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an expensive undertaking. We\u2019re talking somewhere in the neighbourhood of like $100,000 a day to keep this pedestrian plaza going through to Labour Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fry said the pedestrian zone has been \u201chugely successful\u201d during the tournament, but once FIFA and its fans have packed up and left, it won\u2019t have the same draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the big challenges for Granville Street has been the sort of overwhelming proliferation of bars and nightclubs to the exclusion of a lot of other things, and what it\u2019s meant is that there\u2019s a lot less daytime activity,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n
While the city has long intended to look at how it could pedestrianize the street, \u201ca lot of intentional work\u201d must underpin the potential plan, he said.<\/p>\n
While FIFA has not left a mark as extensive as that of the 2010 Olympics, which brought major infrastructure projects to Vancouver and region, Fry said the tournament has shown the city can play on a world-class stage.<\/p>\n
For now, the street is lined with extended patios and soccer-themed decorations.<\/p>\n
Sim wasn\u2019t available for an interview on Monday but issued a statement saying the World Cup demonstrated what is possible when vibrant people-first spaces are created.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the tournament, Granville Street became one of the busiest and most energetic places in Canada, supporting local businesses, while creating an incredible experience for residents and visitors alike,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The mayor said last week that the extension of the pedestrian zone would allow the city to gather more data for its \u201clong-term vision\u201d for Granville Street.<\/p>\n
While buildup to the tournament featured talk of the hosting price tag of up to $729 million, those concerns receded for many as the world\u2019s biggest sporting event got underway.<\/p>\n
The tournament has given Vancouver a series of memorable moments, from the revelry of Australian fans who swamped the city for its first match, to Canada\u2019s six-goal rout of Qatar that set up the national team to progress to the knockout stages.<\/p>\n
There were also massive marches of Canadian supporters to BC Place, while the makeover of Vancouver\u2019s Science World dome as a soccer ball gave the tournament an iconic symbol that was broadcast the world over.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s 2-1 loss to Switzerland dashed Vancouver\u2019s hopes of hosting the home team in the knockout rounds, while the Swiss have since made the city their de facto home base.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s round-of-16 match against Colombia will be Switzerland\u2019s third consecutive appearance at BC Place, as well as FIFA\u2019s final outing in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Team Canada jerseys are never far from sight among fans who continue to take in matches along Granville Street and at the official FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE grounds in East Vancouver, drawing tens of thousands on busy days.<\/p>\n
Surrey, B.C., resident Lynn Sloan grew up in Vancouver and returned to Granville Street, her teenage stomping grounds, to take in the festivities on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun to be down here, and they\u2019ve tried with little things,\u201d she said of the decorations, including a large soccer ball made of tinsel garlands.<\/p>\n
Yet she felt underwhelmed by the display. \u201cI just feel like there could be more flags, more atmosphere down here. A little bit more activation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As for the ultimate legacy of the World Cup? Fry said his answer depends on whether Vancouver can retain its Major League Soccer team, the Whitecaps \u2014 which are at risk of being sold to an American buyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a bit bittersweet if we ended up losing the \u2018Caps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2027.<\/p>\n
Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coun. Pete Fry, a member of Vancouver\u2019s Green Party, voted against the extension, saying the motion\u2019s passage in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-785691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}