An affluent island getaway where Obamas enjoy $12M mansion faces a housing crisis so bad it is 'threatening public safety'

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13564481/Marthas-Vineyard-faces-dangerous-housing-shortage-crisis.html

Whenever there is a big movie production around the world, there is no problem bringing in the trailers & tents... Temporary housing units are brought into remote construction sites & other work camps.   

Perhaps when such a wealthy area was built, the planners & builders thought that robots would replace the workers someday. Well, this is still suppose to be a human world with some robots. Not a robotic world in which AI will determine how much of humanity will be reduced.

Canada's population forecast to reach 63 million, as people over 85 set to triple

 https://www.nsnews.com/national-news/canadas-population-forecast-to-reach-63-million-as-people-over-85-set-to-triple-9128539

Yet, the BC part of Canada still wants to have short trains, narrow bridges & stumpy buildings, when compared to what Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane & Perth allow. Vancouver & BC have been under a multigenerational restrictive agenda. AKA, a slow growth initiative, which has no effect on Calgary & Seattle. Thus, anyone can see the much larger urban scale of those & many other cities are allowed to be.  

https://climateinstitute.ca/impacts-building-infrastructure-yesterday-s-climate Any modern country needs a good network of roads, but an equally good network of passenger & freight trains. 

Of course Canada has been very slow to create a high-speed intercity train system.

https://climateinstitute.ca/news/albertas-renewable-energy-restrictions-will-throttle-a-booming-industry-and-drive-away-investment The transition from oil & gas should have been done over a few generations, instead of trying to push it though in under a few decades.

https://climateinstitute.ca/clean-growth/

23 Switzerland's can fit into BC, yet BC still doesn't have the population of one Ch.

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

Saturday, June 22, 2024

Germany's autobahn bridges falling apart

 https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-autobahn-bridges-falling-apart/a-69439952


"German Transport Minister Volker Wissing is hammering out a plan that would speed up the expansion of the Autobahn network, and that would include over 140 Autobahn projects across the country, 66 of those in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state.

The plan, however, has been extremely contentious among political parties and various German states. The Green Party wants solar panels installed along new Autobahn lines, and the draft also foresees better bike paths along routes.

Meanwhile, in the past few weeks, climate activists from the Last Generation group have been staging protests in the German capital Berlin, even gluing themselves to roads to block traffic.

The group is calling for the establishment of a citizen's assembly to tackle climate change. They say it should discuss "how the use of fossil fuels can be ended in a socially just manner by 2030." 

The group's other demands include a speed limit on motorways and an even lower-cost flat-rate tickets for public transport." https://www.dw.com/en/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-german-autobahn/a-41487136

Friday, June 21, 2024

Vancouver International Airport and YVR Station

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-international-airport-yvr-summer-2024 

It really gets to be quite frustrating when Vancouver & BC keeps opting for the smaller or half-assed version of things. The YVR-Canada-Line is a good case in point. Its sad & pathetic that Vancouver must have shorter trains & smaller underground stations than Seattle & Edmonton & several other cities. Yet, longer trains helps to efficiently more more people around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YVR-Airport_station

Even the elevated sections need to have long, level segments to allow for longer stations.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-international-airport-yvr-land-use-changes-runways



https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain-Canada+Line 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=YVR-Canada+Line

The BC SkyTrain

Even though there were apparent budget limits through the years, the first 2 SkyTrain lines still should have been designed with a provision to have at least 152.5 m long stations. The SkyTrain-Canada+Line should have been designed to ultimately have 160 m long stations.

Instead, the first 2 BC+SkyTrain lines only have 80 m stations & the joke that the Canada Line is, only has a 50 m limit.

https://www.railforthevalley.com/category/skytrain-and-the-canada-line


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=North+Shore-Metrotown+SkyTrain+Line

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


The sale of ICBC head office

 https://www.nsnews.com/economy-law-politics/rob-shaw-ebys-rationale-for-sale-of-icbc-head-office-stretches-credulity-9105337

This area should have been planned to be a proper transit, commercial & mixed housing development, decades ago. A SkyTrain and bus-bridge should have crossed the inlet decades ago, but that would have improved regional transportation.

Surfing At $HIT-PIPE

 https://mpora.com/surfing/fancy-surfing-SHIT-PIPE-yep-real-place

https://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Shit-Pipe

https://www.boardriding.com/spots/shit-pipe

https://www.surfline.com/surf-report/shitpipe/5842041f4e65fad6a7708900?view=table

In the Vancouver and BC context, its as if there is some kind of a Mind Virus that turns things into a $HIT-BOX boondoggle. Its like cities in backwards BC are affected by some kind of a PIPE-DREAM mentality. 

BC Ferries efficiently connecting Vancouver and Nanaimo, Victoria and Delta

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-transit-summer

All 4 cities should have been much better connected by now.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-ferries-outdoor-pet-areas-tsawwassen-swartz-bay-route

Of course there wasn't any serious long term planning for the YVR C+Line to connect the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal with the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal.

Indeed, unlike the Montreal Metro & the Toronto Subway being designed to have 152.5 m or 500 foot long stations, the Canada+Line was only designed to have 50 m stations. The ridiculously short sighted YVR Canada-Line should have been designed to have 160 m long stations & provide a high capacity connection between West_Vancouver and Delta. Eight 20 m coaches sure would have made for a nice long train, instead of the 50 m joke that is the Canada Line.

There should have been an LRT connection between provincial Victoria & backwater Nanaimo by now. Something like the Coast_Tram or especially the CTrain.

Another LRT line connecting Victoria with the Swartz_Bay_ferry_terminal should have been in place for several years already. 

Of course a train connecting the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal to the YVR-Canada-Line would make too much sense, thus it's been ignored for so long.

Mor regular connections between the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal and the Departure_Bay_ferry_terminal would greatly improve things.

There is just something about backwards BC that causes it to be so slow & half-assed about getting things done.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain-Canada+Line

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=North+Shore-Metrotown+SkyTrain+Line

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=YVR-Canada+Line

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

Coaches and Railcars

 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP_89

Formation
  • Line 4: 6 cars per trainset
  • Line 6: 5 cars per trainset
Capacity
  • CC: 720 passengers, 242 seats
  • CA: 722 passengers, 210 seats
Train length
  • 5-car sets: 75 m (246 ft 1 in)
  • 6-car sets: 90 m (295 ft 3 in)
Car length15 m (49 ft 3 in)
Width2.45 m (8 ft 0 in)
Height3.47 m (11 ft 5 in)
Doors3 pairs per side, per car

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP_89#Future_transfers

Tunnel Stations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel#Cut-and-cover

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Michel_station_(Paris_M%C3%A9tro)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cit%C3%A9_station#Platforms

The C+Line between Vancouver & Richmond has to be one of the best examples of inept rapid transit planning in the world.

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

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_Link_tunnel#Stations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_construction#Enlargement 


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-canada-line-rebuilding

The very small scale Canada Line was only built with 50 m tunnel stations when they should have been at least 3 times as long. It was deliberately designed to be so small that it can't even accommodate 4-5 car trains. It can only be expanded from a 2 car joke of a train upto a 2.5 car train.

https://globalnews.ca/news/5778392/canada-line-10-year-anniversary


"We paid a Rolls-Royce price for a Volkswagen system," said Stephen Rees, a transportation critic and a B.C. Green Party candidate in the spring provincial election.

"The problem with this system is it can't be expanded easily. The stations are short, there's long sections of single track, and both of those limit the amount of additional capacity you could add in the future," Rees told CBC News Monday." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-line-opening-draws-long-lineups-1.799296

Metro Vancouver exec-salary pushback

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-exec-salary-pushback

Such a high level salary & the inept & shortsighted Metro-Vancouver planning methodology continues. Regardless of the outrageous pay, it's difficult to bring people into BC to actually implement proper planning & development standards. There is so much red tape & double dutch B$ that has been overlapped throughout the decades & generations.

Not enough BIG ferries, short trains, narrow bridges are all part of the backwards BC mentality. Even to get local people to improve things, they will find a series of Gordian_Knots (GN) and a perpetual Jonbar_Hinge (JH).


ICBC's existing Lonsdale headquarters office building to be demolished for new affordable housing development

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/icbc-lonsdale-headquarters-redevelopment-housing-151-west-esplanade-north-vancouver

This building should have been designed to have 5-10 office floors, with a provision for a 40-50 story residential tower above it. Now it will likely just be replaced with another BC stump building.

Vancouver councillors call for 100,000 trees to be planted to ward off extreme heat

 https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/06/12/vancouver-tree-planting-extreme-heat-prevention/

Such a sad & pathetic joke, hardly any warmth in SW BC this spring. Nevermind June not having any 30C days, the month isn't even expected to have more than 2 days of being at least 25C.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/vancouver/v6c/june-weather/53286?year=2024

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Crappy Vancouver Weather for June

 https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/weather/british-columbia/vancouver No days are expeted to get above 20C for the next 2 weeks.

Cold at night & cool during the day.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/14-day-weather-trend/british-columbia/vancouver?from7day=1

While a lot of places around the world are in summer mode, Vancouver is stuck with spring like days & fall nights.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weather/forecasts/summer-takes-a-vacation-as-the-gloomy-chill-snow-return-to-british-columbia-vancouver

From a late May perspective, some people thought that summer would start with the arrival of June. Now it looks like June is mostly just going to be a cooler month for SW BC.

https://www.cheknews.ca/forecasters-warn-b-c-to-prepare-for-hot-summer-forecast-outlook-1207108/

https://weather.gc.ca/data/wxoimages/wocanmap0_e.jpg , https://weather.gc.ca/canada_e.html



A Rapid Transit Line to the North Shore

 https://www.railforthevalley.com/latest-news/zweisystem/a-letter-to-north-shore-mayors 

Fortunately, most real cities around the world aren't affected by anything like the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV). Thus, they are able to have at least one major regional train or commuter line directly extend from their downtown (CBD) and cross a river or inlet... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth)#Railway_bridge:_2005 WA

https://www.wsp.com/en-us/projects/i-90-track-bridge Seattle, WA.

Unfortunatly, a YVR-Canada-Line to Park Royal and the ferry terminal would make too much sense in backwards BC.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=North+Shore-Metrotown+SkyTrain+Line

Thursday, June 6, 2024

How the Coming Population Collapse Will Change Society Forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZORu7EkpyM

Population control and reduction was the goal for some of those in world management. However, a new trend might very well be taking shape.

The median strip of a highway with a train line

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_strip#Railway_use

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Transperth_B-series_train_on_the_Mandurah_Line_in_Como%2C_Western_Australia%2C_March_2022_05.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Mitchell_Freeway_112_N_Gwelup_Karrinyup_Rd.jpg

An 8 lane section of freeway, but with 2 sets of tracks in the middle. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Mitchell_Freeway_147_N_Walter_morning_peak.jpg Once again, Perth, WA gets it right and BC gets it wrong.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/fraser-valley-highway1 Instead of building an 8-10 lane freeway with at least 2 tracks in the middle, BC takes the half-assed approach, again. 

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/05/23/langley-hwy-1-summer-expansion Just like not desiging the Canada Line stations or any of the other SkyTrain stations, to not be able to accomodate 8-10 car trains, BC keeps dropping the ball.

People just don't understand that there has been a multigenerational agenda to hold BC back. Keep everything small & backwards. If BC had been allowed to really grow back in the 1960s & 70s, that would have meant more non-white people moving into a thriving region. Then even more restrictions were established in the 1980s & 90s, as the city councils & provincial government was predominantly of European ancestry. The British colonial mentality went right through the 20th century. Thus, it took a long time for BC to really accept international diversity. You have to build up the infrastructure for everyone, instead of refusing to do so.

Despite there being more diversity in various parts of BC over the past few decades, so many of the restrictions have remained. Vancouver has been trapped in a gordian knot of restrictions that hold it back. Victoria is nowhere as big as Quebec City, Winnipeg or especially Edmonton. 

The one card left, is that someday Canada might have to say that it has to keep people out, because it's good for the environment. Meanwhile, several other countries with less land area are able to properly build up the infrastructure of their cities. 

Surrey like Burnaby, isn't under the excessive Vancouver restrictions, so they will have taller buildings & some wider highways. Unfortunately, not longer trains, but that must eventually be changed. Short trains & narrow bridges has been a strong symbolic way of BC refusing to build up proper size infrastructure. Then Vancouver, NW & Victoria keep trying to hold back their growth.

Seattle vs. Vancouver, BC Weather

You get cold, damp crappy fall & winter weather in both cities, simple as that. 

http://www.seattle.climatemps.com/vs/vancouver.php


"Vancouver’s annual average rainfall is 57.3 inches (1455 mm), while it’s 39.3 inches (998 mm) in Seattle.

It means 168 days of rain in Vancouver in an average year, and 150 days of rain in Seattle."

https://www.globe-gazers.com/vancouver-vs-seattle



Another revision for the Safeway redevelopment size at Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain Station

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780-east-broadway-vancouver-safeway-commercial-broadway-station-redevelopment-may-2024-design

Big metropolitan areas around the world have a lot of diversity. For most of Vancouver's history, it was just another British colonial outpost & backwarter. Hence, the short trains, narrow bridges and small buildings. Vancouver & the greater region are just starting to become a major urban area. BC has less people than Switzerland & Canada has less than 1% of the world's population.

The KEEP THEM OUT mentality & agenda has been firmly entrenched for generations. 

Perth & Brisbane gave up on being provincial backwaters decades ago. Melbourne & Sydney were never stunted by anything like Vancouverization or the backwater BC mentality. Even Adelaide is emerging as a fine state capital, instead of just being like another provincial backwater.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-housing-supply-act-update-spring-2024

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-fraser-valley-home-sale-statistics-may-2024

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-housing-starts-construction-worker-productivity

The Sun Belt region of the USA

Its difficult to grasp the Sun_Belt from a SW BC perspective.

https://www.thoughtco.com/sun-belt-in-united-states-1435569

Unlike mild BC, the Sun_Belt wasn't ever under the overlapping restrictions & limitations that holds BC back.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Sun-Belt As long as there is proper planning for growth, popular regions can become very densely populated.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/moving-south-sun-belt-housing-economy/675010/

The irony is that while cold & damp BC will likely never run out of water, so many people keep moving to the much dryer Sun Belt.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2022/05/26/florida-other-sunbelt-states-grow-as-cities-like-new-york-and-chicago-decline If one has the money or the desier to avoid the winters in Chicago & NYC, they will.

https://vlp.cah.ucf.edu/popups/sunbelt.html

Perth, WA

Perth is in a similar climate to that of Miami or San Diego. So far away from cold, damp Vancouver, BC.

Edmonton Oilers gearing up for Stanley Cup final against Florida Panthers

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-oilers-gearing-up-for-stanley-cup-final-against-florida-panthers-1.7222766

One would have to go far back into modern history to see a time when Edmonton was just another Canadian provincial backwater. 

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers/latest-news/oilers-break-multiple-nhl-records-with-win

It's been since at least the early 1960s that Edmonton knew it wasn't going be be just another northern backwater town like Prince-George. Indeed, PG has yet to reach 100K, while the Edmonton_Metropolitan_Region has 1.5 million people.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10542696/edmonton-oilers-fans-playoffs-2024/

Of course Edmonton has very cold winters, in contrast to mild Victoria. Yet, Edmonton is a growing mighty northern capital, while temperate Victoria remains as stunted BC provincial backwater.

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/edmonton-oilers-matthew-tkachuk-nhl-stanley-cup-showdown


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

Saturday, June 1, 2024

Hot summer temps starting next week in B.C.

 https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/05/31/bc-preparing-for-heat-wave-next-week Seems almost like a sad joke, because it's been cold & damp in Vancouver for most of the spring. An attempt of a hot summer always goes by so quickly. Then it's back to half the year of more cold & damp depressing weather.