Vancouver was a great place

Vancouver was a great place to live in, in the 50s and 60s, but by the 70s it started becoming a "world class" dump and we could hardly wait to get the hell out.

My wife hasn't been back since 1980 and I since 88, when I had to deliver something, but could hardly wait to fill up my truck and get out.

Ed Deak.

Vancouver-who is it for?

For years now i've said Vancouver is a great place if you are rich and dumb. That way the glaring problems won't be obvious to you- cause you're dumb.

But for the rest of us who either live in Van. or have to go into Van, it usually is a nightmare.

Yesterday it took me over an hour and a half to get to UBC. This trip is now twice as long since the introduction of the Canada Line and the discontinuation of our great express bus service into town....some Olympic legacy for us. And of course the transit is nowhere as frequent as in Toronto or Montreal.

And of course there is the housing. If you can't afford a condo costing over half a million downtown or a house at around a million dollars, where are you to live? i don't know.
All i know is that there is a rally tomorrow calling for affordable housing on the anniversary of the Olympics:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=182091821829602
and of course an Olympic village tent city will be set up starting on Feb 26:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128026813914395

Of course if you are living in a condo downtown costing 100's of thousands of dollars and riding your very expensive bike in the bike lane to a trendy restaurant and somehow think you are living a "green and sustainable lifestyle"-you're not going to be caring about this are you?

It seems to me that

It seems to me that Vancouver has an insecurity problem and is always gazing at it's navel. Remember years ago when Sally Fields asked the question at the Oscars "Do you really like me?". As a young person I lived there off and on but when the novelty wore off I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

south....Don't knock the

south....Don't knock the high housing costs, they're the result of "wealth creating foreign investment", welcomed and drooled over by economists and politicians.

They haven't figured it out yet that foreign investment in the inflation of a country's money supply and a perennial debt the country has to pay forever.

We sold our brand new house in Vancouver, in 1979 for $65,000. Then Hong Kong money started pouring in and a year later the new owners sold it for $138,000.

Now, according to the news, the "investors" from communist China are buying up White Rock.

So, why would anybody invade Canada, when they can come in a buy the country, welcomed by the government who want to spend $16. billion on fighter jets?

For what ? To fly in fancy formations, doing aerobatics to welcome the invaders ?

Ed Deak, Big Lake.

hey Ed.....

I actually do know that foreign investments is one of the reasons for the ridiculous high cost of housing In Van.

Somehow i don't think knowing this will be much help to those who will be living at the Olympic Village tent city 'cause Vancouver has reneged on it's Olympic promises for affordable housing there.
They will be too busy trying to keep warm and feed themselves.

Thanks for your comments though Ed-interesting as always.

The "Walker"

Why is the tyee boosting Vancouver's fifth-rate urban planners?

Why is the tyee boosting Vancouver's fifth-rate urban planners? You don't think the two local rags do a good enough job?

Where, one wonders, is all this 'vision' they give themselves credit for?

The only thing sustainable about the Lower Mainland is the rate at which overpriced, barrier-full condos and co-ops continue to fail!

Downtown is now a series of wet, moldy chasms darkly shadowed by increasingly leaky highrises that are, according to Mayor Robertson, about a third empty! Swarming by street people at local bus stops after dark has made theatre attendance pretty much a nightmare. Kits is now so overcrowded with once-illegal 'eco-density' rooms masquerading as apartments that complaints about noise and barbeques and an excess of pets and cars, cars, cars everywhere has rendered the old hood unlivable. We won't even discuss the homeless population and the junkies in various states of undress in all weather in search of a vein.

How can these characters even hold themselves out as experts at anything in view of so many easily-avoided travesties? The meaningless awards and accolades they give themselves are as laughable as the Georgies for leaky condos!

These are the questions you should be asking - along with why so many condo buyers at the Olympic Village / Millennium Water are paying high-priced lawyers to escape the miserable transaction? Why is that? Are they concerned about maintaining all these experimental 'green' technologies, maybe, or the braindead-inspired mix of property interests guaranteeing the place will be a litigation nightmare for years and years to come?

Planners?

Not in Vancouver unless one is wilfully blind.

Vancouver 'planners' - unworthy of the title - have a LOT to answer for, in my view.

Future threat

It's an interesting, vital debate, made even more so by the proposed mega-casino for the BC Place area. If any one development poses a serious threat to urban core health and vitality it's a mega-casino that will result in huge social costs, the need for increased policing and the other sundry, shady elements that inevitably come with this Vegas-style gambling dens. If Vancouver is serious about combating its gang & organized crime problems, a mega-casino is not the solution, that's for sure!

I'd like to hear what the two planners think about this looming threat.

better?

we got the Canada Line and a closed street on Granville
that is good
but the traffic is still HORRENDOUS
marring everything
views is all that's left

maybe The Tyee could provide translation for parts 2/3

"an acknowledgment, even embrace, of the creative possibilities of post-industrial urbanism"

"a place that nurtures creativity, embraces change, and provides an urban environment that is vital, enterprising but also supportive of a diversity of people and socio-economic conditions"

As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug

George Orwell
--Politics and the English Language

I couldn't tell from the photo with the $5 cups of coffee which one was the rabble-rouser. I am familiar with these rabble-rousers though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcomandante_Marcos

Bah!

This is a slightly interesting article, but its many, many flaws make it somewhat less than compelling

1. Anthropomorphism.

(etc.)

I really get tired of this kind of nonsense. Cities are not individuals, and this sort of follderol is nothing short of stupid and utterly make-believe. These kinds of characteristizations do not apply to cities, or anything like that. They are nothing more than metaphorical empty blather created by journalists, fantasy writers, and their ilk.

2. Too much make-believe.

The article is simply overflowing with manufactured claims that are not only utterly beyond being provable, but are simply claims of myopic and rather blindered opinion. Sure, that's fine if stated as such. But in this instance they are presented as though they were some kind of factual data. Enough already. These guys just have too much belief in their own manufactured perceptions as representative of some kind of factual entity.

3. Bullshit.

No, No, and No! The key lesson "we" took from the fucking Olympics is that we the People, i.e., the majority of us that pay the real taxes, walk the streets, breathe the pollution, pay the salaries of the sociopathic politicians, and don't have the leisure time to dwell on daydream idiot fantasies of anthropomorphisizing a friggin' city, etc., are ultimately powerless, and have next to no say in what happens to the city of Vancouver -- excepting the fact that we foot the bill.

4. More anthropomorphism and bullshit.

This kind of magical thinking-based rhetoric is so, so, so tiresome. We, the People, are what invent and create "The world, and the economy," and it is up to us to determine whether or not such things are a benefit, or a disaster. And currently, "The world, and the economy," as manufactured by those in control is an unmitigated disaster simply because they are the kinds of folks who buy into and believe the kind of anthropomorphic fantasy horseshit layered in this article.

Let's give credit where

Let's give credit where credit is due.

To our economists and "conservative" politicians, who have known it for a long time, and have been working hard at jamming more and more people into the smallest areas, forcibly depopulating the rural areas, for the sake of "economic efficiency" and the GDP.

When people are jammed into tiny city cubbyholes, they can't do anything for themselves and have to rely for every bite, and survival need, on the mercy of the multinational corporate mafia, which the economists and governments can then report as "growth" and "GDP"

What we poor peasants in the boondocks grow, and build, means nothing, because we only buy a few seeds and materials.

Because we've developed the highest degree of "self sufficiency", words that give economists foaming at the mouth, and rolling on the floor convulsions, we live very well on very little and, as an artist, I'm giving away thousands of dollars worth of paintings etc. to friends and good causes, as donations, but they don't appear as GDP, which means that we're parasites in the wealth creating system.

I mean creating wealth to the corporations who control humanity, which all that counts

Some 14 schools will be closed in the Pr George district alone, on account of depopulation, but that'll jack up the GDP and everything will be OK, because the uprooted people will have to buy everything they now grow.

Fantastic system of wealth creating collectivization, even the communists never figured out.

Ed Deak.

ina word

No. It made living here more expensive. It artificially inflated housing values. It took hundreds of millions from a few million people and gave it to a few thousand people. It turned the city into a police state where the police abused the very citizens who pay them. It further marginalized the less fortunate, the mentally challenged , the people who could least afford it. But on the upside it did make a bunch of liberals rich.

Thought-provoking... as expected

Wonderfully thoughtful dialogue! I need time to ponder the essential ideas advanced in your exchange. Lance's description of Vancouver as a young city, comparing the city to an adolescent, resonates and provides some context for how we might frame our thoughts about future direction.

The Olympics did not make

The Olympics did not make Vancouver a better place. The Olympics was just a redistribution of wealth in the wrong direction but Vancouver was well on its way to the dumpster even without the Olympics.

Vancouver has simply acquired too many assholes while selling itself off to the highest bidder. There are now so many assholes in Vancouver that the asshole factor is the predominant theme of life in Vancouver. Wether it's asshole real estate speculators or assholes in Mercedes running over pedestrians in the crosswalk, we cannot escape the assholes in Vancouver. The assholes are actually displacing the civilized citizens of Vancouver who are not involved in asshole activities like:

- Flipping condos
- Organized crime
- Being a beneficiary of Provincial Government corruption
- Grow-ops and meth labs
- Pump and dump schemes on the TSX
- Pillaging money from China and buying real estate in Vancouver

Legitimate jobs in Vancouver don't pay enough to live in Vancouver and if you have an honest job you are probably going to have to leave and be replaced by an asshole. It's sad to leave but Vancouver is literally being run over by thoughtless self-interested assholes in their expensive European cars.

It's The Best Place on Earth for Assholes. Creative class please pack your bags.

Road.....You've just

Road.....You've just described a "world class" city, citizens should be proud of.

Especially when the Hang Seng stock racketeers take over the Vancouver Stock rackets, that will really start the wealth creating capital flowing. Just ask Stevie. He'll tell you how wonderful that will be.

I can remember the lousy times before Vancouver was on the map and we bought our first house for $6,000. with $500 down and $45 a month. When one breadwinner per family was enough and when the children went home there was a parent in the house.

Who the hell would want to go back to them there miserable times, before Vancouver was discovered by real wealth creators?

Ed Deak.

World class but not classy

Ed, that is the question - how does one address urban planning in a city where the standard of living is falling for most of its citizens despite the fact the city thinks it's "world class". Jobs have left the city because of the real estate bubble. It's too expensive to operate a business in high-priced Vancouver and it's too difficult to attract employees who are accustomed to a higher standard of living than wasting a million dollars on a Vancouver crackshack house or crappy leaky condo.

I suspect some of the urban planners in Vancouver think there is some type of new age technology economy or something in Vancouver that's spewing out all kinds of Vancouver-made billionaires. The truth is that the two biggest businesses in Vancouver are drugs and real estate speculation. The legitimate economy in Vancouver produces average family incomes that are comparable to Saskatchewan or New Brunswick while Vancouver housing is so bubbly expensive that Vancouver is the third most unaffordable city in the world. It's a joke really.

Something radical would have to be done to make Vancouver even remotely attractive to average income earners. If you take the scenery and the warm weather away Vancouver is Edmonton with more car traffic, more crime and more long faces. The premium one must pay for the privilege of living amongst the rich ne'er-do-wells of the world in Vancouver is just not worth it if all you can afford is Kraft Dinner on your Ikea table in your moldy chipboard condo with its impending special assessment. I suspect there are quite a few people in Vancouver who are not skiing, golfing and sailing on the same day (or any day for that matter). They are also not thinking about urban planning. They are too busy being sad and wondering why they have not achieved the $350,000 a year salary that should be the minimum-wage in Vancouver, according to the housing costs.

I'm sorry

I grew up in Vancouver but left 37 years ago. I would never move back.

What gets me riled is that the powers - corporate and political - are concerned more about how to cram 2-3 million people in a small area rather than trying to figure out how to best look after the entire province.

I seethe watching the countdown to the one year anniversary of the Olympics. I don't know how much Vancouver gained, but I know my home town got nothing.

So....

So I guess we're not all rushing to buy Patriot Hearts - "Inside the Olympics that Changed a Country"??

Great comments.

One suggestion

Tax the shit out of capital gains on principal residences. Make it retroactive.

Yes, there'll be screaming, but the prices will be reasonable by the time it's all over. And... I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly? You DO care what rich people think?

Matt

"Good, cheap street food is essential to nurturing the street life of the city and we need hundreds of carts like even Portland has."

That comes at a cost. Our city has some of the cheapest restaurant food on the planet - well the so-called civilized part of it anyway - and letting street food vendors set up anywhere will actually do some harm to the wide variety of ethnic and other foods we have in every single block here.

Where else but at Hawker's delight (4127 Main St.) could I get a plate of Asian street food for $4.25 - $5.50 and a seat out of the perpetual rain to eat it on? Only a block away from Crave where I can get yam fries and caribou salad at ruinous prices, if I so desire?

The restaurant business is probably the one that most closely conforms to Adam Smith's 'cold hand of the marketplace' so beloved of drunk conservatives. Street food is not about feeding people cheaper - people have to learn how we've already made our choices, and how to make the best of it. Those who go into the food court at the mall every lunch hour and line up for the plate of fried botulism without alteration, deserve every load of waste this city can throw at them for their lack of thoughtfulness. Step out and learn about the great food that already exists in your city, and get to know the people who prepare and serve it to you.

And Lance

"Ever noticed how many rules we have for what we can't do, as if we are not adults capable of making reasonable decisions for ourselves?"

We can't. This is a whole city full of people who are from somewhere else. I and my father are two of the very few people I know who were born here.

So nobody here has a sense of place or history. In that sense, we are more the awkward teenager, just as you sensed. But we're psychopathic too. The very lack of ties to this city makes everyone who shows up here feel free to break away from the strictures that bound them in the other places they'd come from - places with more history in three neighbourhoods than this whole city has between the mountains and the ocean.

Even with our excessive regulation, people find ways to encroach on their neighbour's enjoyment of their own city by building monumentally tall buildings with no reasonable purpose or aesthetic sensibility; or building houses that encroach on their neighbours' yards; or ruining community celebrations such as Regatta, Sea Festival, Fireworks, Canada Day, Sand Castle, and countless other gatherings with drunken fights and bigoted arguing and assault; driving anywhere one wants at any speed one wants in any size vehicle one wants, without regard for the safety or enjoyment of others on the roads or responsibility to the rest of the world; and insist that no fun can be had in the city unless its amplified, excessively loud, and accompanied by crowds of screaming drunken sots.

There's been a little too much emphasis placed on exercising one's "rights" to do exactly as one pleases without thought for one's neighbours or community, for us to make do with a whole lot less regulation than we have now. And if you doubt my word, just look over at the Kevin Falcon article on Tyee - where he managed to get rid of ...what.... 1800 genuine regulations over three years, out of the 205,000 that govern our daily life.

Hell, if Kevin Falcon can't do it (Mr. China-style autocrat himself) who are you to question that?

In other words

What the two of you have confirmed is that by spending $9 billion on an Olympic party, that we're too juvenile to enjoy the celebrations of life in a responsible way, and we've no education or class to discover our shortcomings and deal with them.

I can accept that. I've been saying it for years. Ed Deak's been saying it for a lot longer.

Road Lice

Re: World class but not classy

I wanna nominate your comment for "best comment" but Mr. Beers seems to have excluded that option.

To add one little thing to this "best place of the best province in Canada", why is it that, in this vibrant city, why are more and more working age people finding it necessary to go to the tar sands to make a half decent wage?

Tarsands or bust

Rick, I am occasionally in Fort McMurray and there are indeed a surprisingly large number of Vancouverites there. Vancouverites are the new Newfies of the tarsands. Vancouver is making tarsand refugees out of its own citizens. Fort McMurray is not exactly the sparkling seaside jewel that Vancouver is and the Vancouverites are wondering how they ended up there.

The Vancouver refugees invariably feel bad because they failed to achieve a successful career in Vancouver. They have self-doubts about their own abilities. Many have academic and technical qualifications literally flying out their butt, yet they did not manage to land even a half-decent job in Vancouver. Like many people in Vancouver they were working well below their qualifications, their Vancouver apartment kept getting smaller and smaller and they eventually gave up golfing, sailing and skiing on the same day and they fled before they ended up competing against a Filipino worker for a career at Vancouver Tim Horton's donut gulag.

The tarsand refugees shouldn't feel bad. It's not their fault things did not work out in Vancouver. Vancouver is just a resort community for the rich and their low-paid servants. Vancouver is not a place to go for career development any more than West Palm Beach is.

The irony is that tarsand oil is now being burned in Vancouver cars. As motorists achieve total victory over Vancouver and Vancouver becomes the City of a Billion Cars, a pipeline from Fort McMurray to Vancouver will have to be built to fuel all the car traffic in Vancouver. The Vancouver tarsand refugees in Fort McMurray will be able to laugh at people living in Vancouver, who will have worse air quality than people in Fort McMurray and even worse jobs, serving crullers to the rich and polishing the Mercedes of the rich, for $8 an hour, with no benefits.

Post-Industrial City

Supporting Vancouver’s aspiration to become an international centre through tourism and real estate finance is becoming an economic burden to the province as well as psychologically draining to the residents of the province outside of city of Vancouver.

If Vancouver were truly the driver of the BC economy our political class and media preoccupation with Vancouver’s well being could be forgiven. However, given that this is not the case, this preoccupation is distracting from the real problems in the province with respect to our overall declining standard of living as reflected in the lack of quality employment opportunities, declining quality of health care, access to education and training, and declining general well being of the general population.

As the Canadian population continues to grow perhaps it is time for a discussion on how well served we are as people by our current political structures and alignments.

RickW is correct, if one were to do the research one would find those employed declining forestry industry either went to the tar sands or stayed in BC for the construction the boom, and now with the decline in construction they are on there way to work in the tar sands or related Alberta projects.

Relax!

I think that the key to Vancouver continuing to evolve is the relaxation of the regulations. People need a an opportunity to find creative outlets in their interaction with the city. Over regulation is a problem throughout many municipalities across the Province, a hangover from our Imperial British past. A little bit of chaos is not a bad thing. Let people demonstrate their responsibility and creativity.

A quick heads up-Tofino does not have a bylaw that restricts franchises, although the Official Community Plan does discourage their operation.

Road Lice ...

You describe the Campbell Liberals dream to a tee.

Personally it does not feel

Personally it does not feel like we even had the Olympics. One would have to look hard to find evidence we did.

Talk about feelings

Kindness and helping out others is a real taboo in Vancouver and is something the Liberals help create, the 2010 spirit. Heartless and cold no where close to the real gold.
"Kick em when their down" gets them closer to the ground and easier to bury that way. And freedom of the press dosen't come cheap.

just imagine what can be done without regulations

You could slaughter a hundred dogs in the most horrific manner,you can even get your neighbors involved if your into that. You could have a track built that is deemed deadly and that kills a young athlete and then get a medal for holding the event.

How lucky can you get?

Funny to read all these comments; I predicted Vancouvers (Bancoofers) future when Expo 86 invaded us, but the media told everyone how great the attention was and how much we all would benefit!

Yeah right, I can no longer afford to live there, so thanks a lot!

Note to the Editor, Part Deux

I most strongly second RickW's comment, to wit:

Punditry is fine when it actually says something and means something, and especially when it touches on the real realities that the majority of the real people deal with, but when it's just vainglory and seemingly self-promoting piffle ... meh.

Uncertainty allows Creativity

It's true about the sometimes obsessive city regulations, and although I find some rules to be very useful, I know that in order to build a creative future and a city that is truly alive and not dead, there needs to be openness and less control of some aspects of city life. Planning is safe, but too much planning closes the door to a truly lively city. I say, let's keep our solid ground for the useful rules, and let's open a door for a more creative future that will add to Vancouver the touch of flavour it needs.

Very nourishing exchange, looking forward for more!

kudos to the TYEE

What other news media outlet allows such vibrant comments from its readers.

I found the comment discussion by TYEE readers valuable and it indicates to me that the conversation about the future of a city lies not just in the hands of the elitist or expert but in the vast experiences of its citizens.

Thanks to everyone for their comments you made this article worth the time I invested in reading it.

Now for my two bits.

Perhaps in the grand scheme of our planet's human history Vancouver is young but to use a planning template or cookie cutter approach to 'modernization and density' as an excuse for creativity ignores the reality of a city's diversity.

Jacobs says, "...in real life only diverse surroundings have the practical power of inducing a natural, continuing flow of life and use."

Only host cities of the Olympics dwell on their impacts. These Games have had their 15 minutes of fame. The rest of the sane world, like the majority of residents of the city, couldn't name two gold medal winners and perhaps may not even know where the 2010 Games were held. Do you know where the 2002 Games were held?

Despite the best attempts by communication strategists, the disinformation experts of Olympic pretense, only a handful of the paid and unpaid Olympic faithful made it out to the one year after hangover. It makes you wonder why TV networks who have purchased the rights to future Games broadcasts had all tight shots of the "crowd".

John Furlong's book, I doubt he even wrote it, is an example of disinformation at its best. And if Furlong actually did write the book what time did he have to do it as he is still on the Olympic dole finishing up massaging the books and creating yet another budget to fit the expenditures and losses.
(Actually Furlong is being paid with dollars that should be going to amateur sports in this province).

Watch the recent Fifth Estate broadcast of the luge athlete's death and cover-up, perhaps even negligence, that VANOC, the luge federation and the IOC played in the circumstances that led up to Nodar Kumaritashvili's death.

If anything exemplifies the deceit our governments and VANOC have displayed over the 7 years leading up to the 2010 Games its the death of this unfortunate young man.

What legacy!

If anything should be an example of how not to create a lasting legacy its the incredible attention given by a province's resources to a 16 circus that came to town, took the rubes for all they had, and moved on to do the same to another city blinded by the hype and deceit.

A one time event, unaffordable to the many, never leaves a memorable legacy except for those who over the time of organizing became millionaires. Let's celebrate the small achievements made by residents everyday that make living here a better place. The Olympics did not! How much more evidence is needed! We should not be framing a city's future on this poor excuse for creativity and diversity.

Legacy!

More like Idiocy; maybe years from now when looked back upon? or at the next olympics in Canada?

Urban Thinkers?

Or urbane bloggers?

Why do transit planners not take the bus to work?

Because they can afford not to!

The die is cast

Even making allowances for the healthy share of crackpots who post comments, the feedback suggests quite clearly that many, many people are truly over Vancouver.

Lance and David and the Tyee deserve credit for initiating this discussion. But my own take is that the die is cast and the train has long since left the station. Vancouver never had a chance.

My grim assessment is this:
Vancouver is a dowdy little town in a soggy climate lacking a critical mass in almost any measure you might care to make (except vistas on a clear day and Asian restaurants) by which measure it compares quite favourably.

Vancouver was built far too late to hope for any character. The metropolitan area is too far flung and its population growth clawed after by too many third rate suburban cities too amount to anything. Its real estate is cripplingly expensive for the people who live here. It has little of value culturally, architecturally. It lacks a vibrant cafe culture or even a decent transportation system. It is stunningly uninteresting as a place to walk.

And, worst of all, I don't believe this can be changed in any significant way. I flee this city for San Francisco, Portland, New York, Boston, or Paris any chance I can get. It is the city in which I earn a paycheque; nothing more.

Sorry for being so gloomy but, having traveled fairly extensively, I really find Vancouver a dull, dull place with a miserable climate, economically distressed citizens, terrible cafes (possibly the worst I have seen in any major city) drab architecture and, to be frank, some of the most slovenly people around.

A few more shabby food trucks, less red tape, etc. can't hurt but the big picture just isn't going to change.

Oddly, David and Lance (and the Tyee), in holding this debate, are seemingly largely in agreement in as much as they are openly admitting that the status quo is an unmitigated failure. However, they seem to believe, unlike me, that Vancouver can be improved in a significant way by a bit of regulatory loosening and a sprinkle of wonder dust.

I think the die is cast.

This city really is a sad, sorry little dump. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But if you didn't know that, you really haven't gotten outta town much lately...

Je ne sais quoi

Interesting comment JDRC about "built too late". San Francisco and Portland are basically of an age with Vancouver, no? (Yes SF has its Spanish colonial former life but aside from the name I would argue that that chapter has had a minor influence on the character of the modern-day city.) So what is the missing spark?

I find the street-food brouhaha amusing. In other countries it just happens. Here we have to legislate it and blog it into being. The whole "movement" leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The fact that is even identified and labelled as such speaks volumes about its artificiality. And in that regard I include the whole pan-North American, hipster-driven trend; I'm not just picking on poor old Vancouver.

On real estate: I'm not convinced that this is the killer either. A problem, to be sure, but is it the reason why Vancouver doesn't measure up? I was recently in Barcelona. I doubt anyone who has been there would argue that it isn't one of the world's leading "character" cities. But if you want a place of your own, you'd better be prepared to lay out an average of 450K Euros (that's *Euros* my friends, not C$) for a 2-bedroom house. And Spain is not a land of low unemployment and high salaries. Maybe it is because Europeans don't feel entitled to standalone housing in the way that we do?