It's not regulatory, Frances,

"And, although it's a different regulatory issue -- sidewalk cafes! Where were those places people could pause from time to time, sit at a table with a beer or coffee and watch the show go by?"

It's greed. There isn't the space in the city - the City wants all its streets and sidewalks for utilities and people-moving, while private owners want all the space to earn income by building giant buildings. Apart from portions of Granville Mall and your aforementioned Yaletown on the railway docks, there's no place to put a sidewalk cafe.

You can't mandate or de-regulate a sidewalk cafe into existence - they're traditionally moneylosers that need other things like liquor licences or tax breaks to keep them open. The only other way to encourage cafes would be to encourage a different kind of economic culture by taxing the shit out of business property capital gains and stale capital while continuing the current thinking of reducing business income taxes - effectively making it uneconomic to own expensive business property while making it profitable to operate a business.

This would need to be handled carefully - and you can bet there would be a billion complaints fromt he scoundrels in power that our pension funds would all disappear, but hey! Business is always telling us people that we have to get used to change (meaning penury) so perhaps we could put the shoe on the other foot and tell business to get used to change as well....

4. House the homeless

Or has that already been tried?

Ah yes, Vancouver

the future suburb of Surrey.

Great Ideas

These are great ideas. And while our elites will laugh and call them absurd, they are in fact completely reasonable and have been done around the world. We could--should--have free transit, everywhere. It makes SO much sense. But that would mean moving away from the car (read:oil) culture. Which the majority of citizens support. Our elites, not so much...

Great article from one of BC's great journalists. Always good to see Ms. Bula on the Tyee.

several good ideas (and one bad habit!)

First off, I completely agree about Vancouver's lack of quality street food. There should be more variety. And the issue of hygiene is a bit non-starter. Singapore manages to offer an amazing variety of street food from and food courts in a very clean and sanitary environment (the slightly authoritarian governmental regime might have something to do with this, but anyway...)

Secondly, I agree that Vancouver needs more sidewalk cafes. It is not like this is a revolutionary notion; even countries like Morocco and Guatemala manage to allow cafes that spill into the streets and public squares. However, sidewalk cafes usually work best in places where streets are completely pedestrianized (not too much fun to sit and sip coffee in exhaust fumes) and people can simply choose to amble up. Which means we need pedestrianized streets, not streets that might be closed for some events. They need to be permanently closed.

And this leads into the other issue (which I believe is a bad habit): the issue of driving into downtown in general. I must admit was kind of sad to hear Frances on the CBC gloating about how easy it was to find parking downtown since so many people were taking transit.

Frances, many of us already take transit on every occasion, as we have chosen to try and live our lives without cars. In my view we should be supporting transit riders more and discouraging drivers, at least in the downtown core. The prediction that we will all "snap back like a rubber band to our previous habits" can end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy if we let it.

The funny thing is that I remember Frances writing about her trip this past summer to France. I am willing to bet she never drove once in central Paris, but took transit, taxis or walked. That is what people do in vibrant, world-class cities. Yet it seems all the people who go abroad and enjoy visiting world-class cities come back to Vancouver and just reflexively jump into their car. How will Vancouver ever become a great city if even the people who have 'seen the light' keep driving as soon as they come 'back to reality'?

Otherwise, good list. Keep this going, please!

#1 Revolutionary New Idea - BC is ok, even in the winter

Sadly, many locals on the other side of the province didn't get this and chose to show their disdain for the Olympics by flying to Mexico instead. This is a counter-productive attitude at best.

Yes indeed, bring on the transit. For longer trips in Europe, you can actually load your car onto a train and then sit back and enjoy your ride. Why is rail travel a disappearing act in BC, save for a few wealthy tourists? Why, in a rural area with high gas prices, does our local bus run twice a day on a midday schedule completely useless for students and workers and spends 4 hrs idling in the industrial park (!)?

More outdoor markets! In Europe again, these are fixed year-round pedestrian-only zones alive with buskers and artists. Granville Island is good and so is Lonsdale Quay but what are other cities doing to support local farmers and entrepenuers?

More outdoor recreation in schools! I can't complain there; we have a class skating day and a school ski day but what about city kids? No money? Why not fire the school trustees and involve the parents more? Trustees don't need field trips; children do. Considering that most of our budget is used to fund healthcare for an aging population, we would be wise to invest in PREVENTATIVE healthcare for a change.

What can Vancouver Learn from the Olympics?

Perhaps Vancouverites can learn that BC doesn't stop at the lower mainland............

Stage an Olympics every year with taxpayer money!

Stop navel gazing and look at the rest of the province!

How about the ordinary citizen?

All the above suggestions are aimed at the well-to-do part of our population, and tourists, who can afford to amble around downtown, spending a lot of money.

Sure close the streets and stop those pesky workers from commuting to work, and make it difficult for cars coming off the highway to disperse to wherever they are going.

Yup, let us make the city a playground for the idle rich!

Post Olympic Vancouver

Perhaps the MOA could help set up a satellite in the downtown to showcase native work. There is a carving house on Granville Island that is under utilized, but it resembles a holding cell, so that may be off putting for carvers.
Better street food would be nice, but that often leads to more litter, so that needs to be thought out.
Transit issues are in the hands of the funding situation, which may never be resolved.

I'm with freebear.

A lot of money was sucked out of the area beyond Hope and will be for years to come. Just so Vancouver could learn a few lessons?

Have a pep rally once a year!

Rah, Rah drink some beer and ......

What a great city!

5.6.and 7.

After Zalm's no.4 comment, which I agree with, here are three more, post-O suggestions (keeping in mind that the Olympics are not yet over--and I encourage everyone to buy a ticket to one of the Paralympic events, because they need our support, they are cheap tickets, and the events are every bit as exciting as the ones we just watched):

5. Organize a winter "Nuit Blanche" as they have in Paris, Montreal, Toronto--an all-night arts party--for late October, when it is still warm enough in the evening, but dark enough.

6. Encourage the innovative, temporary use of abandoned, shuttered, and for lease buildings for art installations (which might not require high insurance premiums if the installations are only viewable from the street, such as the ones on Hastings and Seymour streets this February).

7. Remember the talk about rebuilding or adapting the Robson Square area as a public square? I recall some creative suggestions posted in The Tyee last year. Given the success of this focal point over the past weeks, and the rebuilt ice rink, we need to get creative about the rest of the space, including expanding the VAG into the courtyard on Georgia, and using the blank white Sears wall as a video projection screen.

How about

Allowing temporary patios during stree-closure parties? For instance, retail establishments would be allowed to establish a perimeter out to a certain distance in front of their establishments, based on some ideal standard? Or, they could set up temporary BBQ's or other such serving tables outside, extending their effective serving area? I think that this reprieve from endless regualtion would be a nice little bonus to these small-medium businesses and would increase the overall party and bring in people from out of town more regularly.

Combine this with "Party zone" exceptions for alcoholic beverage consumption, like on the Vegas strip, etc... though that is excessively optimistic for my silly, silly hometown...

Art! Day and Night, All Year Round!

Great article Francis. And I'm totally with you mjscox. The best way to invigorate the City is to enable it's creatives to inhabit each corner of the city and bring unexpected spaces alive.

Street and art festivals are a proven way of doing this. The key though is to encourage the big and the small. Nuit Blanche works because it's full participation - restaurants, large venues, small venues, galleries, streets, etc, all involved. It isn't one thing it's many things and so the whole City comes alive in different ways depending where you are.

Bringing this kind of energy via art in the downtown and in various neighbourhood (as the public dreams society does) would enliven Vancouver, & give its citizens MANY reasons to poke around town throughout the year, in the knowledge that the beautiful and entertaining are everywhere if you simply look.

Better Transit, Not Freeways -

The Olympics were to some degree transit oriented in the City of Vancouver, but across the region the effect was automobile dependent sprawl. take a look around, $1 billion for the Sea-to-Sky widening; which runs parallel to a rail line. The $3.1 billion Port Mann / Hwy 1 freeway expansion proceeding during the 'greenest games'. The South Fraser Freeway contracts about to be signed, unless people get active and demand the money be re-allocated to transit.

Look at where Campbell's priorities lie:

Total Provincial Roadway Expenditures $860 million
Total Provincial Transit Plan $173 million
Gateway Program – Lower Mainland $128 million
Oil and Gas Roads Improvement Program $51 million
Cycling Infrastructure $3 million
Sidewalk Program $0
(The word 'sidewalk' does not appear in the document)

Roads to transit and cycling ratio 4.8:1

Roads to cycling ratio 287:1

Roads to sidewalk ratio Infinite

Transit (Province Wide) to Gateway ratio 1.4:1

Source: Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure 2010/11 2012/13 Service Plan ‘Transportation Investments’ table P 30
http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2010/sp/pdf/ministry/trans.pdf

But the budget crunch provides an opportunity to stop this destructive freeway spending. See
http://www.livableregion.ca/blog/blogs/index.php/2010/03/01/post_olympic_budget_crunch_may_benefit_e

Regulations

Like operating a simple live music venue or receiving a latenight liquor license, street food and street culture in general is up against over regulation and general 'lameness' from the puritanical and prohibitive CoV and health board. Other citie are not like this. Vancouver is overrun by too many busy-body inspectors.

There is also a vocal minority of repeat whiners who feel they have the right to complain about noise and street culture, despite choosing to live in the heart of the city.

According to another news source, the city registered 157 noise complaints during the Olympics - how many of these were the same person complaining multiple times a day?

Cities outside Vancouvers pollution ?

No where does anyone sell Burnaby as a city worthy of a residence or business. Why is that ?
Quality of green space,local parks and fresh air that abound in Burnaby are ignored in total.
Mind you cultural life [European] is 100% ignored in the Burnaby Council,in favour of peon promotions by the reigning autocrat aka mayor Corrigan.

The Modern ...

said:

There is no absolute or god (so-called) -given reason why cities, even major cities, must be overly loud and noisy. To label people who prefer their residential cities to have reasonable noise levels whiners is just pointlessly dismissive and belittling. And it certainly doesn't further the argument. And for that matter, of course they have the right to complain, you goofy. They are part of the democratic process, and the city is under their jurisdiction. Or have you forgotten that?

And while street food vendors and whatall may have some kind of kitchy cosmoplitan groovieness attached to them, well, are they necessary? Do they improve the quality of life for the actual city residents -- as opposed to tourists? What sort of undeniable, non-compromised value to they bring to the city?

In Through The Out Door

I and many Vancouverites were pleasantly surprised at how all the citizens could peacefully gather for street parties and events, that didn't turn into self-destructive riots. The Olympics proved that Vancouver ought to work on its social 'software' rather than hardware. That means that the people who run this city and authorize events ought to realize that rules have to be loosened up so that city culture can ferment on its own. Within reason, allow street life to flourish.

I agree with John Greg above who is simply asking for reasonable crowd and party behaviour. Ultimately, Vancouver is not New Orleans, NYC, London or HK. We shouldn't try to mimic other cities that have different histories. After all, Vancouver is not exactly a city of great culture and certainly can never be as edgy or vibrant as others. Instead, city bureaucrats should relax some rules and see what occurs. I'd say that the way Montreal regulates its clubs and restaurants is the way Vancouver should aim for.

As far as another First Nations museum, I would examine the two versions of Canada which are like parallel universes. There's Canada of the past: First Nations, Anglo and French cultures which founded this country. Then there's the rest of the immigrants who helped build this country and hold a key role in the present and future. Today's Vancouver is so estranged from Quebec and First Nations that it's accurate to say these two cultures are irrelevant to most people's daily lives. Almost all immigrants in Vancouver have no empathy for First Nations and as much respect for the French language as the Quebecers have for English.

Vancouver is a small city caught between competing desires to remain small or grow into a big city. So it has all the worst characteristics of a big city without many of the benefits: sudden building density without interesting architecture; poorly coordinated public transport; mediocre road development that fails to recognize that cars are a necessary part of living in the Lower Mainland; and a suffocating political correctness that's more suitable for a hippie commune than a bustling big city.

But, all of this is just part of the evolution of a society and city- a work in progress.