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VANCOUVER Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has two lingeringmemories of the Stanley Cup Riot in the hours after drunk hooliganslaid waste to his downtown. One is of walking through deserted streets over broken glass, pastlooted shops and around burnt-out cars, the pungent smell of teargas still lingering in the air. He wondered how his city coulddescend into such hell, and all over a hockey game especiallywhen just a year before it had been the toast of the world for itspeaceful hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The other was formed a few hours later as dawn broke. Citizensunexpectedly reclaimed their shattered downtown armed with brooms,dustpans, bags and black felt markers. They swept and cleaned andleft messages of hope on an impromptu shrine created from theplywood boarding covering broken plate-glass windows. In a matter of hours, Robertson had seen Vancouverites go fromtheir worst to their finest. As the anniversary of the Stanley Cup Riot approaches, Robertsonsaid he still can't ignore the first memory, but he prefers tofocus on the second. And he believes the riot has had a strangelycathartic effect, a recognition that while a city's downtown canturn into a combat zone in the blink of an eye, we know now whattriggers such behaviour and can avoid trouble before it hits. "I think, even for Vancouverites, it shattered the myth thatthis is some perfect Lotus Land city. Vancouver is a big city now,with real-world problems, and we need to be proactive and stridentin protecting what we have here, and that's what we did,"Robertson said. In the year after the riot there has been much accounting of thedamage done, both physically and psychologically. Whenalcohol-fuelled hooligans packed into cramped outdoor street venuesand rioted over the team's Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins on June15, 2011, they began an evening of mayhem for which the final tallyis not yet known. But so far, we know this: after mounting an unprecedented publicidentification campaign that even included seizing media images,police have so far recommended 592 charges against 200 rioters,including the overarching and serious charge of participating in ariot. As of a few days ago, Crown counsel has approved 276 chargesagainst 104 people, and a small handful have entered guilty pleas. Police say at least 112 businesses were looted or vandalized. Somebusinesses were so trashed they required months of reconstruction. At least 122 vehicles were damaged or destroyed, a third of whichbelonged to police. At least $3.4 million in damage was recorded, and police have spentanother $2 million on overtime in the operation of its specialIntegrated Riot Investigation Team. The in-kind cost of policedepartments contributing to that team is more than $8 million. Last year's riot happened almost exactly 17 years after the 1994riot, which saw cars and stores vandalized and clashes with policeafter 70,000 people gathered downtown following the Canucks' lossto the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The 2011 riot sparked a lot of soul-searching and no less than fourreviews, including an independent investigation by former NovaScotia deputy attorney-general Doug Keefe and former VancouverOlympic committee boss John Furlong. There also were reviews by thecity and two for the police department, including one by OttawaPolice Services, and an internal review by the fire department. The examinations all stopped short of a formal inquiry largely,city manager Penny Ballem said, because such a process could haveresulted in "swinging the pendulum too far." The citywould have risked going back to its "no-fun" label, shesaid. What came out of all this was a clear understanding that the cityand its partners miscalculated the potential for violence when morethan 150,000 people responded to the call to come downtown tocelebrate. There were other operational failures in key places,such as the inability to stop the influx of alcohol and SkyTrain'scontributing factor in dropping thousands of people into a crowdedarea. "I think although we had five reviews of this they were allvery practical and we were really able to think about where we havegaps in our practice that we needed to buff up a bit," shesaid. As a result of the chaos, at least in Vancouver, public events arenow much more scrutinized and regimented. The city created a"City Large Events Oversight Committee" that now reviewsall aspects of any public event of significance. Regional policeagencies, with Transit Police at the core, also created a regionallarge-event policing strategy that requires police departments tocontribute officers to any enforcement action. "The big lesson we learned is that we can't do this byourselves," said Insp. Rick McKillican, the operations chieffor Transit Police. "We have to co-operate with others andshare knowledge and information." The propensity for alcohol to fuel violence is no longeroverlooked; the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority began a bingedrinking education program, and the Canucks began a public campaignusing key players to instil pride in the city. Last year's Grey Cup was the first major test of CLEOC and the factit went off without a hitch is held up as validation of the city'snew principles, Ballem said. But the changes also mean smaller community events are put under amicroscope. As is the case whenever a traumatic event takes place,there is potential for bureaucratic over-reaction. "I do have some concerns that these changes are having acollateral effect on the small festivals that are heavily dependentupon volunteers," said Coun. Geoff Meggs. He cited the case ofCar-Free Vancouver, a non-profit group that annually organizes thetemporary closure of several streets to promote community events. Maddy Kipling, the chairwoman of Car-Free Vancouver, said sheunderstands the city's need to be vigilant, but believes the newpost-riot rules have become a bureaucratic headache. For the firsttime in seven years of uneventful planning, many members of herboard have had to book days off work to complete the new raft ofpaperwork the city wants before it will issue a permit. "They gave us a numerous-page, really in-depth emergency planand it really looked like something for a largeuber-conference," she said. "We've had to writemany-paged safety plans of the demographics and everything. This isa community festival filled with children and their mothers andfathers and seniors. It is not like a beer-guzzling sportsevent." But Peter Judd, Vancouver's chief engineer, said it's only prudentto expect organizers of any event that affects traffic orneighbourhoods or that involves the provision of alcohol toknow their level of risk and have plans for traffic management andsecurity. The city isn't about to put the hundreds of block partyapplications it gets every year under a microscope, but publicevents that affect major thoroughfares or business districts mustundergo some risk assessment, he said. Robertson understands Kipling's concerns and said the city is stillin "the learning phase." "It's been a year of developing new approaches and somegrowing pains are inevitable. We will see this settle down so thatwe don't impact smaller groups and organizations. But we do need totake precautions and make sure that events are well-planned,"he said. Patrick Condon, a University of B.C. professor specializing inlivable environments, said it's likely city bureaucracy willover-react in an effort to prevent another riot. But he doesn'tthink it will approach a "Homeland Security mentality." "Were an incident like this to happen again, citizens would beright to be entirely outraged at the incapacity of the city, thepolice, the mayor and the council to learn from theirmistakes," Condon said. For his part, Robertson believes the city and his administrationalready have learned that lesson. "I believe Vancouver is more mature and self-aware comingthrough (this) series of huge events, from the riot to thegroundswell of public support that came right after that andcompletely countered the chaos of June 15," he said. "Itis an important part of our history that we came through gracefullydespite the challenges." Twitter.com/sunciviclee. 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