Posted June 21, 2011
While it might seem a little late in the day to thank those who bravely stepped forward to resist the rioters and vandals who ran wild after Game 7 last Wednesday, we just came across a video which has inspired us to add our voice to the chorus of gratitude.
Our location just a few blocks from Rogers Arena makes it convenient for anyone attending events, on Wednesday night, but it also put us at the epicentre of the rioting last week. A car was burned just metres from our door and others were burned in an adjacent parking lot.
On the night of the riot, some windows were broken in the Starbucks which is in our building. We recently came across a video of the culprit not only breaking the windows but also of brave souls stopping the vandal in his tracks and standing in front of the crowd to prevent further damage. What amazed us was that our staff identified the heroes as hotel guests!
We were frankly overwhelmed that our guests would put themselves in the line of fire like that to protect the premises. We’d like to thank them specifically and offer our thanks to everyone else who bravely stood in front of the rioters and prevented even more damage from being done that night.
We’d also like to thank the members of our staff who came back to the Hotel and patrolled the front until the early hours to prevent any further damage to the hotel. Considering the amount of damage done to our neighbour The Bay and others, we feel very lucky to have escaped more and we’re certain that it’s a direct result of the bravery shown by our guests and staff on the night.
The outpouring of good works and the civic spirit which has been shown has gone a long way toward healing the Wednesday’s wounds. We’d encourage all residents to take the time to look at images from the riots on the many sites which have sprung up to see if they can identify the culprits. This is the best way to help the Police in their investigations.
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