Monday, September 29, 2025

Philadelphia

 https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1nttdgy/center_city_philadelphia 

Philadelphia used to have stumpy restrictions almost as severe as Vancouver.

Big cuts are coming to Vancouver City Hall

 https://vancouversun.com/news/big-cuts-coming-to-vancouver-city-hall-is-it-the-cost-saving-efficiency-ken-sim-promised 

While cutting out some of the fat from the budget can be good, Vancouver is still decades behind with its infrastructure. Most other cities have been able to plan and build on a larger scale, simply because they don't have the backwards Vancouver mentality to hinder them. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/False_Creek%2C_Vancouver_%282025%29.jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Liveability_Index#2025 

Vancouver Park Board to consider extended beach hours around summer solstice

 https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/legalize-sunsets-vancouver-park-board-to-consider-extended-beach-hours-around-summer-solstice/ 

Vancouver is such a strange and backwards provincial city.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/no-fun-city-calls-to-extend-hours-at-vancouver-beaches/

For a city that claims that it doesn't have a NO FUN CITY (NFC) vibe, it occasionally keep emerging. 

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/06/25/vancouver-police-english-bay-beach-sweeps-questions/ 

Fortunately, the mind virus that is Vancouver hasn't caught on with most cities around the world.

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/people-escorted-off-vancouver-beaches-2024-9130597 

It's one thing if some people living close to the beach don't want to hear drinking parties going on until 2 or 3 AM. However, reasonably behaved people should be able to enjoy summer sunsets from a beach vantage point. Summer goes by too quickly in BC, so the best time to enjoy the beach is during the summer. 

To think that there used to be a Vancouver Sea Festival. Fortunately, Vancouver was unable to get Seattle to give up on its Seafairhttps://www.seafair.org/what-is-seafair

Vancouver was never able to waterdown the Calgary_Stampedehttps://www.calgarystampede.com 

Vancouver should be making it easier to have summer festivals, not more difficult.

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouvers-african-descent-festival-shutters-amid-dispute-over-city-imposed-costs 

Hopefully, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) will never be accepted in proper cities around the world.

https://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/unpermitted-african-descent-festival-aug-2025.aspx 

https://vancouversbestplaces.com/events-calendar/festivals-and-events/african-descent-festival  


Fortunately, the Caribana Festival is far away from backwards Vancouver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribana#Economics_and_impact May it never be watered down or cancelled by anything like the Vancouver Mind Virus. The VMV is so horrible, don't let it take over your city.

SF and Sydney...

 https://publish.reddit.com/embed?url=https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1ntjh3p/san_francisco_usa 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/San_Francisco_Downtown_Aerial%2C_August_2025.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/San_Francisco_skyline_from_Marin_Headlands.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/San_Francisco_and_SFO_Aerial_2018.jpg/960px-San_Francisco_and_SFO_Aerial_2018.jpg , 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Sydney
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Sydney%28from_air%29_V2.jpg   
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Portjackson.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Sydney_02_11_2008.JPG


SF is just as scenic as Sydney. They allow taller buildings, longer trains and wider bridges than backwater Vancouver. Unfortunatly, backwards Vancouver keeps going in the opposite direction, despite more people wanting to move to SW BC. 

The longstanding argument is that since Vancouver is in a scenic setting, every excuse should be used to scale back or water down the urban prescience. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/False_Creek%2C_Vancouver_%282025%29.jpg 

Fortunately, this watered down approach hasn't made it to Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, SF, LA and Seattle. Thus, all of them are able to have taller buildings, longer trains and wider bridges. The Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) or the Backwards Vancouver Mentality (BVM) is an intertwined horrible concept. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Vancouver_Skyline_and_Mountains.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Shore_Mountains Even the San_Gabriel_Mountains are allowed to be taller than the ones near Vancouver.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Los_Angeles_with_Mount_Baldy.jpg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_San_Antonio 10,064 ft (3,068 m)   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lions_(peaks)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Mountain_(North_Shore_Mountains)

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

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

Will the Tribune East Tower in Chicago ever be built?

 https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1nsu0xw/will_tribune_east_tower_chicago_be_built 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_East_Tower 1,442 ft (439.5 m) 113 floors. 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_Tower 1925

A 463-foot-tall (141 m), 36-floor building. Today, it's just another old Chicago size stump, but in if it was in Vancouver, it would still be an impressively tall tower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_Tower#Architecture 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/06/tribune-tower-100-years-chicago-magnificent-mile Even a centuray later, this would be one of the tallest office towers in backwater BC. 

https://buildingsdb.com/IL/chicago/chicago-tribune-tower/

Vancouver Art Gallery picks Canadian architects for new building

 https://www.straight.com/arts/vancouver-art-gallery-picks-canadian-architects-for-new-building 

For some reason, things take a long time to get done in backwards Vancouver. From the design and the construction, the project shouldn't take any more than a few years.

Vancouver buildings over 152.4 meters or 500 feet

It took a very long time for Vancouver to have its first building permitted to rise over 500 feet in height. 

152.4 meters = 500 feet and 150 meters = 492.12 feet 

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=1

 https://www.straight.com/article-371138/vancouver/city-approves-new-policy-taller-buildings-downtown-vancouver While there are some taller resedential towers, Vancouver still has no office tower with at least a 40th floor. Portland,_Oregon has 2. Perth, WA has 2 office towers with at least 50 floors. The_Bow tower in Calgary has 60 floors, when you count all the levels. The Columbia_Center in Seattle has 80 floors in total. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Cityscape

450 feet is equal to about 137.16 meters and that was the height restriction imposed on Vancouver for most of its restrictive, red-tape history. 

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

The powers that be tried their damndest to not allow most Vancouver buildings to be taller than the Smith_TowerCommerce_Court_North and the Los_Angeles_City_Hall until after the year 2000. Of course in 2025 those buildings are like stumps now, but would still be tall by small Vancouver standards.

https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=6965 , https://www.smithtower.com/about/ 

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=27&searchname=timeline

https://beautifulwashington.com/images/sky-view-observatory/sky-view-observatory-at-columbia-center-9.jpg

https://beautifulwashington.com/king-county/attractions/seattle/448-sky-view-observatory.html  

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/heres-a-cheap-way-to-view-seattles-skyline-coffee-at-the-starbucks-on-the-40th-floor-of-the-columbia-tower The 40th floor of an 80 story building, when you count the mechanical or plant floors as well. Perhaps some day strict Vancouver might permit an office building to have a 40th floor. 

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=1&status=15

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Tallest_under_construction_or_proposed 


stumps and towers

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Burnaby

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

Unlike Brooklyn merging into NYC, Burnaby has remained independent of strict Vancouver.

Brooklyn, NY

 https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1nsyaux/brooklyn/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Brooklyn#Tallest_buildings

While stubborn Vancouver only allows 2 buildings to be taller than the tallest in Bellevue,_Washington and nothing to rival the tallest in Vaughan, Ontario, Burnaby will. 

Unlike Vancouver, Burnaby wants to even rival the tallest in Brooklyn

Brooklyn used to be an independent city, but it eventually became part of NYC.

Friday, September 26, 2025

The TRUTH About LA's Downfall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwxqW0IBUgg 

Unfortunatly, red tape and overlapping B$ regulations can hinder any city.

Los Angeles - What It's Really Like Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSF9Ab3z1yU

THE TRUTH ABOUT LOS ANGELES TODAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ecECQ8gsw

Despite its various problems, L.A. continues to be an international draw for people.

L.A. will always have better year round weather than rainy Vancouver or Seattle.

Toronto Royal York Hotel vs. The Hotel Vancouver

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

When you live in stumpy Vancouver for several decades, its always amazing to see how much wider the buildings are allowed to be in other cities.

https://torontopics.me/2016/08/29/fairmont-royal-york-hotel

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Toronto_-_ON_-_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York#Location "Opened on 11 June 1929, the Châteauesque-styled building is 124 metres (407 ft) tall, and contains 28 floors."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Royal_York#Design 1363 rooms

 https://www.thefairmontroyalyork.com , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmont_Hotels_%26_Resorts#Properties

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

"Opened in May 1939, the Châteauesque-styled building is considered one of Canada's grand railway hotels. The hotel stands 112.47-metre-tall (369.0 ft), and contains 17 floors."

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/The_Fairmont_Hotel_Vancouver_%2842914562450%29.jpg Had the entier block been reseverd for future hotel space, a 65 story tower could have eventually been built, beside the first phase. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Hotel_vanc_2007.jpg/960px-Hotel_vanc_2007.jpg However, some people might not have liked an extension of the HV to become the tallest building in the city again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Vancouver#Design

https://www.straight.com/living/experience-magic-of-autumn-at-fairmont-hotel-vancouver 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/CN_Tower_observation_level_2023d.jpg  Toronto like most real cities, is able to set aside enough space to go wider. Narrow-minded Vancouver just keeps going the other way by continually watering the scale of things down. 

The Hotel Vancouver could have been designed with future expansion in mind to its south. The Royal York had enough space to eventually add a wing to the east side of the building.


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

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

Thursday, September 25, 2025

The New 4 lane Pattullo Bridge is expected to open by Christmas

 https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/09/25/new-pattullo-bridge-to-open-by-christmas-bc-government 

Not 8, not 6, just another 4 lane BC funnel chokepoint. Officially, NW isn't against bus and HOV lanes, they just weren't part of the new bridge design. Of course there was no provision for a lower deck, because that would go against the congestion planing mentality. This new bridge not only should have had 2 bus lanes, but 2 wide emergency lanes or shoulders as well. Even if it can eventually have 6 lanes, there still won't be any emergency lanes or HOV lanes.

This BC bottleneck planning mentality is so bad for transportation. So much of backwards BC is about doing things that are impressive to the Yukon or Labrador. Not Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge In 1800s BC, having the width of 2 wagon roads would be amazing.  

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge+replacement In the 2020s, having 2 wagon roads each way is still amazing. 

There seems to be an unwritten rule that whenever possible, no bridge system in BC should be as wide as the widest in Fort+McMurray,+AB or Edmonton,+AB.

https://www.canambridges.com/projects/athabasca-river-bridge

Most Albertans have no idea of what it would be like to be under something like a BC Mind Virus. 

The same goes for Southern Quebec and Southern Ontario.

https://www.canambridges.com/projects/ile-des-soeurs-bypass-bridge/ 

Alberta, Ontario & Quebec would collapse or implode, if they had to do things the backwards BC way.

https://www.canambridges.com/projects/new-champlain-bridge-corridor-project/

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Gentala Arasy Pedestrian Bridge

 https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297724-d8822261-Reviews-or10-Gentala_Arasy_Pedestrian_Bridge-Jambi_Jambi_Province_Sumatra.html 

Another nice type of bridge that would be great in Vancouver, but isn't allowed.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=6381435988563389&set=p.6381435988563389&type=3 

Vancouver, Burnaby and NW all should have have at least 1 of this type of bridge.

https://www.indonesia-tourism.com/forum/showthread.php?52240-Gentala-Arasy-Bridge-Jambi 

Why build a few bridges like this in Vancouver when lanes can be removed from the existing bridges?

https://elements.envato.com/moving-drone-footage-gentala-arasy-pedestrian-brid-WXCLQPZ

Pedestrian bridges are great, but bus, bike & foot bridges are even better. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jambi_(city)#Transportation

Friday, September 19, 2025

The Best fix for North Shore traffic is to upgrade or replace both bridges

 https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/letter-best-fix-for-north-shore-traffic-is-to-upgrade-or-replace-both-bridges-11233455 

When there is a refusal to build bigger and better bridges, there still should be a regional network of bus and train bridges. However, the gridloc planning agenda keeps winning out.

Unfortunatly, after decades of inept transportation planning and then so much money wasted down a $HIT-PIPE, the North Shore keeps getting hit hard from the $HIT-BOX planning mentality. 

The Tilikum+Crossing in Portland is a fantastic example of modern infrastructure planning and development. It allows for the MAX-LRT, the streetcar, the bus, bikes and pedestrians to conveniently get across. The nice thing about the TC is that no lanes had to be removed or repurposed on the other Portland bridges. Perhaps that's why something like the TC isn't allowed in BC, because it could actually help to improve transportation efficiency. 

The Washington+Avenue+Bridge is another example of what's not allowed in Greater Vancouver or anywhere else in the BC part of Canada. After all this time, Greater Vancouver is still so lacking in a regional network of transit+bridges


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

Vancouver’s pools, rinks, and centres face tough future

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-audit 

It's amazing how several other cities are able to have enough money to properly fund such things. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

The $1.3 BILLION Struggle To Build Houston’s Giant New Bridge

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I3sbe2QRUM 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston_Ship_Channel_Bridge Its as if somehow a backwater BC bridge got built in Texas. While a bridge with only 2 lanes each way & no emergency lanes seems to fit with the small-scale Vancouver mentality, such a narrow bridge in Houston was almost inadequate right from the start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston_Ship_Channel_Bridge#Future While it doesn't seem to have a provision for rail, it's still on a grand scale like the Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge in Montreal. Especially like the new Tappan_Zee_Bridge near NYC. 

Several cities around the world are able to build nice wide bridges, because they aren't hindered by anything like the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV), or the Backwards BC Mentality (BBCM). 

https://www.traveltexas.com/articles/post/everything-is-bigger-in-texas Being from the BC part of Canada, its difficult to grasp that BIG Texas has more people than Australia, yet still has mostly wide open spaces. The THINK BIG mentality in Texas is the total opposite to the BBCM. 

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/03/11/nyc-big-apple When you live in Vancouver for several decades, its amazing to see what several other cities can do, simply because they aren't hindered by the VMV.

Sunday, September 14, 2025

The Boundary Road bridges (BRB)

Unfortunatly, there doesn't seem to be any BRB plan in place.

A North Boundary Road Bridge could provide an excellent BRT crossing between Burnaby and North+Vancouver. This would help to relieve pressure on the Iron Bridge.

https://movementyvr.ca/bby-heights-brt

The same with a South Boundary Roade Bridge with a BRT route between Vancouver and Richmond

Then another BRT bridge between Richmond and Delta to the ferry terminal. This could help to relieve some of the pressure on the new tunnel, because it wasn't designed to have 2 HOV lanes & no train section.

https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/projects/bus-projects/rapidbus-projects 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Boundary+Road 

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

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Richmond+and+Delta

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Vancouver-based Rennie expands into commercial real estate

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/rennie-commercial-real-estate 

https://storeys.com/rennie-launches-commercial-real-estate-brokerage/

A 50 story office tower in Seattle, San Francisco & LA is hardly the tallest. Even a 50 story office tower in Toronto & Calgary wouldn't be the tallest on the skyline. However, super restrictive Vancouver has never permitted any office tower to even have a 40th floor. At least Montreal has allowed 1 office tower to have 51 stories.

Metro Vancouver taxpayers left in the dark over ballooning sewage plant costs

 https://www.nsnews.com/economy-law-politics/kirk-lapointe-metro-vancouver-taxpayers-left-in-the-dark-over-ballooning-sewage-plant-costs-11198245

It's sad and unfortunate that so much money was diverted and wasted on an over-budget $HIT-box. Yet, no bus bridges or bus tunnels have been built to the North Shore, so far.  At least one of the SkyTrain lines should have been extended to the North Shore at least a dozen years ago. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=North+Shore

How the Twin Towers Were Built in NYC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_(1973-2001)

How the Twin Towers Were Built in NYC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab-z6_vvcmE Some people have pointed out inaccuracies in this post.

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Monday, September 1, 2025

Richmond–San Rafael Bridge (1956)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond-San_Rafael_Bridge 

The R-SR Bridge should have been built with two 4 lane decks, 3 lanes and1 emergency lane on each level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond-San_Rafael_Bridge#Third_lanes 

Plus, enough space for at least 1 wide bike lane & 1 foot path. Unfortunatly, in the 1950s, having a provision for such things wasn't seen as that important. 

https://abc7news.com/post/new-richmond-san-rafael-bridge-wanted-east-bay-politicians-would-come-hefty-price-tag-officials-say/16847906/ 

https://abc7news.com/post/officials-seek-ideas-for-replacing-richmond-san-rafael-bridge/5733399/