No fireworks in Vancouver for New Year's Eve 2023

 https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/events-and-entertainment/no-fireworks-in-vancouver-for-new-years-eve-2023-8043481 Another fine example of the backward, watered down citie's mentality. Just because Vancouver gets a lot of rain, that shouldn't mean Vancouver has to water almost everything down, but it does. Throughout its existence, Vancouver has had a force or momentum to keep it as a provincial backwater. All through the decades & generations, Vancouver & BC keep adding red tape & so many regulations, which continue to stunt or truncate the place.

The City of Seattle unlike Vancouver, started to have a big city mindset in the early 1900s, especially by 1915. The Seattle_metropolitan_area is the largest in the Pacific_Northwest.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Seattle+space+needle+on+new+years+eve

While the Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District is the most populous in Western_Canada, the City of Calgary is still the largest in Western_Canada. Like Seattle, Calgary has a proper big city mentality. That mentality started to kick in during the 1960s.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Calgary+tower+on+new+years+eve

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=New+Year's+Eve

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC , https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver

The Tilikum Crossing in Portland vs. others

The Tilikum_Crossing is such a great bridge, that's why it's in Oregon and not in BC.

Portland's Tilikum Crossing: A Bridge for People, Not For Cars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIYPA7jyELs Its a fine example of a transit bridge that Portland, OR really needed, but might never be built in Vancouver, or anywhere else in BC.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Tilikum_Crossing_from_Ross_Island_Bridge_with_MAX.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/North_Arm_Bridge_shot_from_SkyTrain_3622.JPG

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Tilikum+Crossing+in+Portland

Office vacancy in downtown Vancouver has increased to roughly 12 per cent

 https://biv.com/article/2023/12/vancouver-offices-face-first-tenants-market-20-years

Vancouver has the shortest assortment of office towers when compared to Seattle, Calgary, Toronto & Montreal. It's been that way for several decades.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=BC

Nippon Steel-US Steel deal to boost Japan's growth potential

 https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231219_33 This is big.

https://japantoday.com/category/business/storied-us-steel-to-be-acquired-for-more-than-14-billion-by-nippon-steel

https://investors.ussteel.com/news-events/news-releases/detail/659/nippon-steel-corporation-nsc-to-acquire-u-s-steel

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel-US+Steel+deal

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel+to+acquire+U.S.+Steel

The Tokyo Blade Runner Question

 https://thegaijinghost.com/blog/omoide-yokocho-tokyo-blade-runner-question

Japanese Aesthetics in Blade Runner Movie - NOT in the Original Philip K. Dick Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUeo2X72kJc

https://japanposter.co.uk/products/blade-runner-original-release-japanese-movie-poster-1982-b3-size

https://filmschoolrejects.com/blade-runner-anxieties-today

https://slate.com/culture/2017/09/blade-runner-s-influence-on-neo-yokio-and-other-anime.html

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2017-10-06/blade-runner-unbelievable-influence-on-anime/.122391

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/02/blade-runner-the-final-cut-review

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2021/11/05/tv/blade-runner-black-lotus

https://cdsvinyljapan.com/products/4548967465433

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel-US+Steel+deal

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel+to+acquire+U.S.+Steel

Canada's passenger trains on shared tracks with freight trains

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-federal-bill-passenger-train-prioritization

By now, Canada should have had all of its major cities connected by new passenger lines so that there would be no conflict with freight trains. All the major urban areas should already have had transit+bridges wherever there was a reluctance to expand road or highway bridges.

Over 1,500 homes and a hotel in Surrey City Centre

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/13044-10392-king-george-boulevard-oviedo-towers-surrey

Since Surrey doesn't have the extreme control measures that Vancouver has, it will eventually become the largest city in BC.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC

Washington Avenue Bridge and the Tilikum Crossing vs...

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Avenue_Bridge_(Minneapolis) 2 lanes & 2 tram-train tracks, bike & walkways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_Crossing 2 tram train tracks & 2 for streetcars & buses. It's just so far beyond what's allowed in BC, especially in Greater Vancouver.

Both of these bridges should have been designed to have 2 bus & 2 bike lanes each, but that actually might help to relieve some of the congestion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skybridge_(TransLink) In spite of the regional congestion, no bus & bike lanes became part of the design. It's a fine example of inept planning in BC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Arm_Bridge No bus lanes & only 1 bike lane. 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Tilikum+Crossing

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=transit+bridges 

Boston and SF

Boston is such a ridiculously small city with an area of 48.4 sq mi (125 km²) & less than 700,000 people.

"Boston is the second smallest major U.S. city in terms of land area after San Francisco that has 47 square miles." https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/86dd4b02-a7f3-499e-874e-53b7e8be4770#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20With%20a%20land%20area%20of,up%20the%20Commonwealth%20of%20Massachusetts.

However, the Greater_Boston Area has around 8.5 million people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Boundaries

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-12844541/Just-cup-tea-Boston-celebrates-250-years-taxes-brew-sparked-revolution-JANE-KNIGHT-seeks-citys-best-cuppa-digesting-nuggets-history-way.html

San_Francisco is slightly smaller than Boston in land area, but it has around 81% of a million people. However, the San_Francisco_Bay_Area has around 9 million people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Boundaries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tallest_buildings_in_San_Francisco , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tallest_buildings_in_Boston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Transportation , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston#Transportation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge 10 lanes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_P._Zakim_Bunker_Hill_Memorial_Bridge 10 lanes

Some urban parks by size

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_parks_by_size

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Bay_(San_Diego)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_San_Francisco

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Park,_Houston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Park_(New_Orleans)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balboa_Park_(San_Diego)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Harbor_Shoreline_Park Oakland, Cal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Park Chicago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Cortlandt_Park NYC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Long_Metropolitan_Park Austin, TX

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assiniboine_Park Winnipeg, Manitoba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushy_Park London, UK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Park SF, California 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Park,_Western_Australia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park Vancouver, BC  https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-park-board-abolition-reactions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park

Transit Malls

The transit_mall is a great concept, but there is always the potential for improvement.

Nicollet_Avenue in Minneapolis, was never wide like Woodward_Ave_in_Detroit. https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/erry-2018/04/57da31c03d/woodward_avenue_detroit.html

Back in the day, there just wasn't any reason to have Nicollet_Avenue to be as wide as Canal_Street,_New_Orleans or Market_Street_(San_Francisco).

However, Nicollet_Mall should have had 2 passing lanes, instead of only two lanes. Whenever a bus breaks down or there is some emergency, half of the Nicollet_Mall can easily get blocked up.

Fortunately, Portland,_Oregon decided not to follow the Minneapolis and Vancouver, BC examples. MAX_and_bus_side-by-side_on_Portland_Mall, this is so much better than funneling everything into just 2 lanes. The Portland_Transit_Mall remains as one of the best transit corridor examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Transit_Mall#Renovation_and_rebuilding

Granville_Street in downtown Vancouver used to be 6 lanes wide. While the initial concept of the Granville_Mall was a good idea, cramming everything into only 2 lanes became another quintessential Vancouver example of bottleneck & congestive planning. It's all part of the narrow-minded BC mentality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Mall,_Vancouver Of course right at some crucial blocks, the 2 lane segments provide great spots for congestion, all by design. Whenever a bus breaks down or there is some emergency, there isn't a passing lane. Thus, one side of the street remains blocked until the bus can be towed away. Of course it was considered to be a wise decision to have so many bus routes funneled through such a narrow corridor & then remain stubborn about improving the situation.

Reducing the downtown section of Granville_Street from 6 lanes to 4 would have allowed passing lanes for busses & the sidewalks could have still been widened. Plus, it would have been so much easier for emergency vehicles to get through as well. Unfortunately, Metro_Vancouver is all about creating congestion & inefficiency.

If one side of the street has a bus breakdown & the other side has some emergency requiring a bus to remain parked, there isn't an extra couple of lanes for emergency vehicles to pass on some blocks of Granville_Street. Again, it was deemed essential & appropriate to have such a bottleneck on what is suppose to be a high volume bus corridor.

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Transit+Mall

Seattle Plans to Extend and Upgrade its Third Avenue Transit Mall

 https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/06/19/seattle-plans-to-extend-and-upgrade-third-avenue-transit-mall-in-2024/

Should it become Vancouverized like the 2 lane Granville Mall bottleneck?

https://downtownseattle.org/advocacy-initiatives/third-avenue-vision/

If the 4 lanes are reduced to 3, the sidewalks can be widened & Seattle can still have a bus corridor that's wider than the one in Vancouver.

https://cdn.downtownseattle.org/files/advocacy/dsa-third-avenue-vision-booklet.pdf

https://downtownseattle.org/2019/01/third-avenue-vision-moves-forward/

https://downtownseattle.org/advocacy/transportation-access/

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Seattle

Montreal bike lanes

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM5NmJyXEeM

Montreal BRT vs. Vancouver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT#Future_plans

https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-bus-projects/pie-ix-brt

An express bus route is already good, but BRT is even better.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/new-design-puts-rem-bus-rapid-transit-corridor-on-montreal-transit-map

https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal/montreals-new-pie-ix-rapid-transit-route-is-finally-opening-heres-where-you-can-go Slow to being implamented, but not as slow as Vancouver, BC. 

https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/article/21286422/greater-montreals-pieix-brt-begins-operations

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pieix-rapid-bus-transit-inaugurated-1.6639291 Unlike Montreal, the Vancouver approach is quite a sad joke. Unless Vancouver improves its bridges or at least allows some bus bridges to be built, it will remain as the quintessential example of what not to do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal#Transportation

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BRT

The new Île aux Tourtes Bridge in Montreal

"The new two-span bridge, with three lanes in each direction, a shoulder wide enough for buses and a multipurpose path for pedestrians and cyclists, will be built just to the north of the current bridge..." https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/construction-is-underway-on-the-new-ile-aux-tourtes-bridge

It's always nice to see when another city doesn't Vancouverize its bridges. 

https://globalnews.ca/news/10163545/construction-new-ile-aux-tourtes-bridge-ahead-of-schedule/

At least the old ...Tourtes_Bridge was designed to have 6 lanes, but the new bridge will be able to accomodate 8 lanes. Thus, the 4th lane each way will be for buses & potentially other HOV.  Unlike in Vancouver, no 4th lane each way is allowed, even though that would allow for better efficiency with express bus & BRT. Apparently in Vancouver, its better to cram everything into inept & narrow bridges. Indeed, Vancouver is the epitome of bottleneck planning.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/off-island-residents-fed-up-as-work-on-ile-aux-tourtes-continues-1.6681316

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal#Transportation

Shoreline, Washington

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoreline,_Washington , https://www.shorelinewa.gov

A lot of places are experiencing growing pains, because some regions are more popular than others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_County,_Washington

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Shoreline

tesla's-new-facility-in vancouver bc

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/tesla-vancouver-new-facility-950-raymur-avenue

translink-r6-scott-road-rapidbus-launch-date-2024

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-r6-scott-road-rapidbus-launch-date-2024

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BRT

Maple Ridge-bus-rapid-transit

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/maple-ridge-bus-rapid-transit-brt-support

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BRT

Urban Data intersection

UDi is a counterpart to UTP.  

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/2023/12/urban-tech-portal.html

The BC part of Canada has so much potential, but there is all sorts of red tape, B$ & various restrictions. These restrictions & limitations haven't been adopted in Alberta, Ontario & Quebec. Thus, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto & Montreal are able to operate on a much larger scale than what is permitted in Vancouver & Victoria or BC in general. 

SFU-Burnaby-gondola-pushback-from neighbourhood

 https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/12/04/sfu-burnaby-gondola-pushback-neighbourhood/

The Portland_Aerial_Tram goes over some houses, but no one from BC could stop it. Of course not, because Portland is part of Oregon, not BC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram

It has left some people with a bad taste in their mouth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram#Objections_from_underlying_neighborhoods

What if you are on the toilet when the_Tram passes over? So while Oregon has been able to do some things that BC wont allow, the urban gondola-tram remains as a point of contention.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=SFU+gondola

https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland

us-federal-government-vancouver-seattle-high-speed-rail-funding-proposal

  https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/us-federal-government-vancouver-seattle-high-speed-rail-funding-proposal

BC transit-oriented-development-legislation-and Vancouver-view-cones

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-transit-oriented-development-legislation-vancouver-view-cones

There has been a multigenerational plan to hold BC back in almost every way possible. Some just don't want more people moving into BC, so the infrastructure is symbolically kept small when compared to what's allowed in Alberta, Ontario & Québec.

There is also a general half-assed slow approach in BC, which hasn't caught on with Alberta, Ontario & Québec.

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/us-federal-government-vancouver-seattle-high-speed-rail-funding-proposal

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC

surrey-langley-skytrain-station-names

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-langley-skytrain-expo-line-station-names