Some had warned that the current crop of Vancouver civic politicians lack common sense… or maybe, that was a lack of business sense.

An interesting thought was presented by a former city councilor today: “why is VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee) not addressing the big headache on the horizon”. Former Vancouver councilor, Alan Herbert called up a friend wondering why VANOC, nor our elected officials had given a moment’s thought to an upcoming headache.

The issue?

The closing down of city streets as a result of security concerns during the 2010 olympics.

Vancouver sees the province’s former finance minister, Carole Taylor in court today, courtesy of affected business owners along the rapid transit route along Cambie Street. These poor sods, saw the disruption of street closures, sidewalk closures, detour of traffic, lack of parking, noise and many other inconveniences to their business efforts.

Can you imagine what will happen to those businesses already struggling on the many kilometers of roads that is scheduled for closure during the olympics?

How will customers reach them? No vehicular traffic on some of the city’s major streets. Remember, this isn’t a complete pedestrian nor bicycle friendly city yet.

How will these businesses be serviced? What becomes of the delivery of goods and removal of refuse…

Does the city have an economic plan in place for this event? Apparently not. Calls to the City’s Engineering department led to nowhere.

If the City thinks the class action lawsuit by suffering businesses along Cambie Street is a minor inconvenience, one wonders what the scenario is when a similar closure is multiplied many times.

So what is our city Council and VANOC doing?