Showing posts sorted by relevance for query VMV. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query VMV. Sort by date Show all posts

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

The Battle continues over Vancouver Aquatic Centre

 https://globalnews.ca/video/11480236/battle-continues-over-vancouver-aquatic-centre-renovations 

There isn't officially a Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV), but somehow through the decades, the KEEP VANCOUVER SMAL AND BACKWARDS mentality keeps manifesting.

https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/aquatic-centre-25vs50m-officials-misled "This scandal exposes how Vancouver’s development approval processes can be corrupted if staff predetermine outcomes and manufacture justifications rather than conducting evidence-based analysis. If municipal staff can systematically mislead elected representatives on a project this significant—with technical evidence this clear—what other decisions have been corrupted in the past or could be corrupted in the future?"

Why have a modern full-size pool, when there can be a half size, Half-A$$ED pool? That's the VMV resurfacing again.

https://vancouversun.com/news/proposed-vancouver-aquatic-centre-seeks-height-density-relaxations "Swimmers have mounted a court petition over plans to replace the 50-metre Olympic-sized pool with one half that length"

A scaled down Vancouver+Aquatic+Centre is part of the pay more to get less mentality. One of the most obvious ways to perpetuate the BC antigrowth agenda is to go backwards and build smaller infrastructure. Where does the money go if it's not always going towards proper big city size infrastructure?

Half sized buildings, half sized trains, half sized bridges, that's the VMV & BCMV in action. 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SHIT-BOX 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Lions+Gate+Bridge An absurd 3 lane bridge without a parallel bus and train tunnel to help relieve this quintessential chokepoint. 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada+Line A 2 car train that should have started with 5 cars, but can only be expanded into a 2.5 car train, someday. 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Richmond-Delta+Tunnel No provision for a train tunnel, because that would make it easier to have a line connecting YVR with the Tsawwassen+ferry+terminal. Just like there is no desire to have a train between YVR and the Horseshoe+Bay+ferry+terminal.

This Vancouver and BC Mind Virus is horrible, because it keeps stunting the potential of BC by watering down the infrastructure.

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Burrard Street Bridge closes for Sen̓áḵw crane removal

 https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/burrard-street-bridge-closes-for-senakw-crane-removal 

Several cities have parallel bike bridges, then the city planners don't have to remove traffic lanes. 

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-burrard-street-bridge-temporarily-closure 

Unfortunatly, the Burrard_Bridge (BB) was hit hard by the multigenerational Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV). The Burrard_Bridge was designed to have a lower level for streetcars or tram-trains, but the city never followed through. Fortunately, the VMV was unable to stop Portland and Seattle from reviving some of their streetcar lines.  

The Burrard_Street_Bridge used to have 6 lanes and 2 wide sidewalks. However, since the city has a problem of not building separate bike bridges, 2 potential bus lanes were removed from the Burrard_Bridge. Now, if the city ever wants to have 2 dedicated bus lanes, the BB will only have 1 general lane each way. That's the VMV at work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrard_Bridge#History

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Vancouver City Council green lights funding to keep Car Free Days afloat

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-car-free-days-funding-city-council 

The no+fun+city aspect of the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) isn't suppose to be real, but it occasionally keeps manifesting. Fortunately, these street festivals still have a chance in Vancouver. Just like some truncated summer fireworks still might be possible. 

What's really fortunate is that the VMV hasn't spread to Montreal & Toronto, Calgary & Edmonton, or Winnipeg, QC & Halifax. Especially to any of the major cities in Australia & NZ.  


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

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Calls for independent audit of Vancouver Aquatic Centre redevelopment decision with a 25-metre pool

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-aquatic-centre-redevelopment-park-board-motion-auditor-general 

Of course the VMV would manifest to scale back the Vancouver Aquatic Centre. A 25m pool is going backwards for what should be a growing city with a new 50m pool.

The Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) is such a bad thing for the city.

Thursday, October 30, 2025

World Cup lodging shortfall predicted in Vancouver

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/airbnb-wants-str-rules-relaxed-for-upcoming-2026-fifa-world-cup-in-vancouver-1.7649128  

The proposed 27-storey hotel tower at the edge of Stanley Park is drawing pushback from West End residents over its scale https://vancouversun.com/news/proposed-west-end-tower-that-aims-to-fill-vancouvers-hotel-shortage Parking lots and almost delapadeted buildings should be selected first. This building still seems to be in reasonable shape. 

https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/vancouver-needs-10k-more-hotel-rooms-says-report-10508458

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-major-hotel-policy-overhaul-room-shortage

https://www.destinationvancouver.com/media/media-releases/BC-hotel-association-provides-recommendations-to-spur-new-hotel-development 

Lots of people in some parts of the West_End end are still accustomed to stumpy buildings, despite the very high land costs. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg/960px-Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg Many other cities aren't afraid to build tall close to the water or parks.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Vancouver_west_end.jpg/960px-Vancouver_west_end.jpg People shouldn't be displace just becaus of a new development. An agreement should be reached so that they can still remain in the new structure. However, it's the height issue that usually keeps popping up. A lot of people that still remember Vancouver as a provincial backwater of a city want it to remain that way for as long as possible.

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2030-2038-barclay-st , https://stop2030barclay.ca 

https://henriquezpartners.com/projects/2030-barclay The height proposal is at lest a dozen floors too short, it should be about 20 stories taller.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2030-barclay-street-vancouver-stanley-park-hotel-tower

https://storeys.com/marcon-barclay-street-vancouver-hotel The issue here is that a lot of people don't want a stump replaced with an atempt of a taller building. The people that live there should have the option to live in the new building. If the city and the developer could reach an agreement to allow the current residents to move into the lower floors of the tower. Then remain there at a reasonable rental rate for as long as they want. Then eventually after all the former residents have moved on or passed on, the lower floors could be repurposed into hotel rooms. If a developer in such a situation could agree to that, then the city should allow them to build 15-20 floors higher than 27 stories.

That gets back to the height restriction issue in Vancouver. Other cities have allowed tall buildings right up to the edge of a park. It seems that no one from Vancouver was able to ever stop Sydney. Rather, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) never made it there to thwart big, bustling Sydney.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg/960px-Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Global_Citizen_Festival_Central_Park_New_York_City Anything like the VMV would have thwartted NYC so badly. 

Of course it would have been great if there was future space south of the Hotel+Vancouver (with only 507 rooms) to build a 55-65 story tower. A VPL and Hotel+Vancouver tower could have been started there in the mid 1950s, but Vancouver was still too much of a provincial backwater then. The Fairmont_Royal_York is nice and wide with 1,363 rooms


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_St._Francis "...the St. Francis one of the largest hotels in the city, with more than 1,254 rooms and suites." 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_San_Francisco_Union_Square "Renovated in 2017, it is the largest hotel on the West Coast,[8] with 1,921 rooms."

Fortunately, Sydney, Melbourne, SF and Toronto were never under anything like a Vancouverization agenda. Somehow that backwards mentality was never adopted in most real cities.

https://bcbusiness.ca/industries/real-estate/land-values-how-the-hotel-shortage-in-vancouver-is-coinciding-with-a-boom-in-tourism The BC Mind Virus is so firmly entrenched that its still very difficult to properly upgrade things.


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

Monday, September 29, 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.

Sunday, April 20, 2025

The Oak Street-Granville Street Corridor

Burrard_Street and the Burrard St._Bridge (BSB) were originally designed to be 6 lanes wide, but then the VMV got ahold and changed that.

Fortunately, the VMV hasn't reduced the 6 lanes of Oak St. and 6 lanes of Granville St. Thus, when combined, they still form a 12 lane, north-south corridor. 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Street_(Vancouver) , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXbUb7TMj6k

Since the Oak+Street-Granville+Street+Corridor are still both 6 lanes wide for most of their lengths, this is essentially a 12 lane street corridor and is much less disruptive than if a 10-12 lane freeway had been pushed through in the 1950s or 60s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Street , https://storeys.com/vancouver-granville-street-entertainment-district-history-renewal-planning-program

The yellow line is set for 3 lanes each way. However, if it was moved over 2 lanes, or just removed, then there could be 5 or 6 main lanes one way & 1 or no lanes the other way. Having 6 lanes each way would be best, because then 1 lane on Oak & 1 lane on Granville would always be just for busses. Then, there could also be an HOV lane on northbound Oak and on southbound Granville. This would still allow 4 north and 4 southbound general traffic lanes. 

A 1950s or 60s freeway would have been so disruptive. Its always better to make surface streets more efficient than to rip up neighborhoods.

The Oak+Street+Bridge+and+Granville+Street+Bridge (OSB-GSB) are still part of an incomplete corridor for what is supposed to be a major port city and region.

An improved 8 lane Granville+Street+Bridge with double-width sidewalks could have still worked, if there had also been a wide bike & foot bridge built next to it. Then, a roughly new parallel bridge next to the 4 lane Oak+Street+Bridge, or a new 8 lane crossing altogether. Either way, that could have allowed for an 8 lane crossing there. Four lanes of Granville_Street southbound over the Fraser River and 4 lanes of Oak_Street northbound. A separate BRT bridge could run parallel. Unfortunately, such improvements go against the congestive transportation planning agenda.

2 lanes were removed from the Burrard+Street+Bridge (BSB), 2 lanes removed from the Granville+Street+Bridge (GSB) and 1 lane from the Cambie+Street+Bridge (CSB). That didn't have to happen if a bike bridge was built next to the BSB and the GSB. While the east side of the Cambie-Street-Bridge has a nice, wide sidewalk, there wasn't enough foresight to also have a wide sidewalk on its west side. However, that narrow sidewalk could still be built out to be nice & wide so that the CSB can be restored to 6 lanes. 

When a city & metropolitan region mostly has narrow bridges, removing lanes or not having enough is utterly foolish! Case in point... https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca Instead of extra width for 2 bus & 2 HOV lanes, everything will be initially funneled into just 2 lanes each way. https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/about/projectoverview Two nice sidewalks & 2 nice bike lanes, but no emergency lanes & especially, no bus lanes, right from the start. Its another classic BC bottleneck in the making. Since the SkyTrain doesn't run on a 24hr basis, 24hr bus lanes are essential, but that would go against the congestive planning methodology that is backwards BC.

Grater Vancouver isn't officially against having a proper regional express bus system and a proper BRT network. Its just without having a proper regional bus and bike bridge network, it all remains as a Half-A$$ED joke.


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Oak+Street+and+Granville+Street 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Oak+Street+Bridge OSB

Friday, May 1, 2026

Should the Vancouver Whitecaps revive the Gastown waterfront stadium concept instead of pursuing Hastings Racecourse?

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-whitecaps-gastown-railyard-waterfront-stadium 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mls-commissioner-vancouver-whitecaps-new-stadium-1.7594905

https://www.facebook.com/groups/831329483640398/posts/25294271920252814/ 

https://theprovince.com/sports/soccer/mls/vancouver-whitecaps/mls-misrepresenting-whitecaps-stadium-availability-bc-place


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Regional_Stadium  "It was built on reclaimed railway land..." 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/CentrePort_and_Westpac_Stadium%2C_Wellington_NZ.jpg/960px-CentrePort_and_Westpac_Stadium%2C_Wellington_NZ.jpg 

These were both possible, because they are far away from any influence from the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV).

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

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/Capetown_stadium.JPG/960px-Capetown_stadium.JPG 


Despite Lumen_Field in Seattle being relatively close to BC, no VMV has seemed to have reached there.  

Unlike with BC_Place Stadium, Lumen_Field works well for soccer and American Football arrangements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumen_Field#Soccer 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Aerial_of_Qwest_Field_and_downtown_skyline%2C_2002.jpg/960px-Aerial_of_Qwest_Field_and_downtown_skyline%2C_2002.jpg

Accomplishing things in stubborn Vancouver, BC is just more difficult than in many other cities around the world.

=======================================

Could Honolulu Develop Like Tokyo or HK?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxkjJ2TNkY4 

No way. First, H. County would have to allow Singapore size buildings and infrastructure. Then, HK size stuff, before even getting close to something like a little Tokyo. Right now, H. isn't even allowed to have buildings as tall as what San Diego has. 

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.

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing Collapse of 1958

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironworkers_Memorial_Second_Narrows_Crossing#Collapse 

After the collapse, there was a chance that the Iron_Bridge (IwB) could have been totally redesigned, but this is BC. Its very difficult in BC to design transportation infrastructure with significant future capacity. The Iron Bridge should have been built along the lines of the 12 lane Ship_Canal_Bridge (SCB) in Seattle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Canal_Bridge 

Unlike Seattle and Washington State, so much in BC is built to a provincial backwater standard. Thus, nothing on the scale of the SCB has ever been allowed in BC. https://pauldorpat.com/2014/05/17/seattle-now-then-the-ship-canal-bridge Sunce an LRT line wasn't possible for the SCB, it runs sort of parallel in a tunnel to the UW. Of course LRT to UBC is still an incomplete BC pipe dream.

The IwB should have had at least 8 lanes on an upper deck and 4 lanes on a lower deck for extra bus and truck lanes. There should have also been a provision for 2 LRT tracks on a lower deck, but that would be properly planning for the future. 

Unfortunately, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) ruined the Burrard-Bridge. The Burrard_Street Bridge (BSB) opened with 6 lanes and a lower level provision for a double track streetcar crossing.

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/5-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-burrard-bridge-7129420 

Foolishly, because the city didn't want to build a parallel bike bridge, 2 lanes were removed from the BSB. This has made it very unlikely that the BSB will be able to have 2 bus lanes. No lower level streetcar crossing was ever built. Yet, a streetcar line on both side of False Creek could have been a nice thing to have up and running. Ironically, Vancouver was one of the first cities to get rid of its streetcars and will likely be one of the last to bring them back. The VMV is such a horrible thing, yet it officially doesn't exist. 



https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Second+Narrows+Bridge

Friday, June 26, 2026

CN Tower celebrates 50 years of being a skyline icon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujWLEBhbdt8 

If it were possible today, the KEEP VANCOUVER SMALL AND BACKWARDS people would still not permit any building to be a 3rd of the height of the CN_Tower. (CNT) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower#Height_comparisons

The Harbour_Centre opened just over a year after the CNT, and is just under a 3rd of its height. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbour_Centre#Height

https://www.cntower.ca/

Unfortunately, The Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) was able to ensure that the Canada_Line Stations aren't even quite a 3rd of the length of the 152.5 m Montreal Metro stations. 


Even the North-Shore mountains aren't allowed to be as tall as the mountains north of L.A. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Shore_(Greater_Vancouver) 


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/LA_San_Gabriel_Mountains.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gabriel_Mountains#Gallery 


Whether you are from Toronto or Chicago, LA or SF, Melbourne or Sydney, you might be shocked as to seeing how scaled down or watered down Vancouver is. Yet, the City of Paris, despite having a slightly smaller land area than Vancouver, can fit so much more inside. Boston and SF are only slightly larger in area than the City of Vancouver, yet they can also fit in so much more. 

Sunday, June 11, 2023

The 6 and then 4 lane Burrard St. Bridge (BSB)

 https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/5-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-burrard-bridge-7129420 The BSB used to have 6 lanes, but was reduced to 4, because the city didn't want to build a parallel bike bridge.

https://vancouverhistory.ca/places/burrard-bridge

Hopefully, the VMV will never cause the removal of 2 lanes from the congested 6 lane Second+Narrows+Bridge

https://vancouverhistory.ca/events/collapse-of-the-second-narrows-bridge 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Burrard+Bridge A parallel bike bridge could allow the BSB to have 6 lanes again, with 2 of them for buses.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Second+Narrows+Bridge A parallel express bus or BRT bridge with 2 truck lanes and 2 LRT tracks would greatly improve crossing capacity.

Friday, March 13, 2026

Queen Elizabeth Park

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/queen-elizabeth-park-vancouver-attractions-zipline-canopy 

An observation tower that's well above the trees sure would be nice, but some people want the trees to block out the views of the city. 

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/queen-elizabeth-park-zipline-tree-canopy-walk-vancouver 

The no fun city types always come out of the woodwork to spread the VMV.

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Expo 86 and Expo 88

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_86 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_86#Fair 

Unlike highly restrictive Vancouver, Brisbane started to allow taller buildings, wider bridges and longer trains. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Expo_88 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Expo_88#The_Fair 

No office tower in Vancouver has been allowed to have a 40th floor. No Vancouver bridge is allowed to have 8 lanes. Only some of the newest Skytrains have 5 cars, but certainty not 8-10. That would go against the congestive transportation mentality of BC. 

The VMV and the BC Mind Virus are so firmly entrenched.

Monday, October 27, 2025

Honolulu’s Skyline Rail Expands to West Honolulu, and to a New Airport Station

 https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/honolulus-skyline-rail-expands-to-west-honolulu-bringing-faster-more-sustainable-public-transit-to-oahu-with-a-new-airport-station 

Even if the widest parts of the H-1 could be 10 or 12 lanes, it would still get plugged up. Nevertheless, being from Vancouver, it's quite impressive to see such a wide H-1 by the airport. If you visit Vancouver from Hawaii, you might think that Vancouver is a big city like Sydney, SF or Seattle. Then you discover that the roads & bridges are much narrower than what's in those cities. The real big surprise is that Vancouver not only has shorter trains than Sydney, SF & Seattle, but even Edmonton. Fortunately, the Skyline to the airport isn't a 2 car joke of a train like Vancouver's airport line is.

https://honolulutransit.org/about/route-map , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Route

https://www.honolulu.gov/dts/skyline


The Airport Segment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Segment_2:_Airport 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelepaua_station If only Vancouver's line to the airport could have opened with 4 car trains, then with Selective_door_operation, eventually 6 car trains. Unfortunatly, backwards Vancouver has been stuck with a 2 car YVR train since 2009, but it has the potential to become a 2.5 car joke of a train, someday.  


Downtown Honolulu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Segment_3:_City_Center 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Ala_Moana_extension 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)#Rolling_stock "The line uses 256 ft (78 m) four-car train sets, each with the capacity to carry nearly 800 passengers..."  "Each car is 64 ft (20 m) long, weighs 72,000 lb (33,000 kg), and has 36 seats with a listed total capacity of 195 people, and sits on standard-gauge (1,435 mm) rails." 

While the Skyline cars are similar in length to the YVR-Canada-Line cars, they are of a heavier construction. Plus, the trains are twice as long as any on the embarrassingly short Canada+Line trains.

While it took a long time to get the Skyline to the airport, at least the stations were all initially built to accommodate 4 car trains. Unfortunatly, the joke that is the SkyTrain-Canada+Line is still only running 2 car trains and wasn't designed to eventually have 5 car trains. Its difficult to understand why the joke-line stations are only designed to accommodate a 2.5 car train, someday.

Honolulu like Brisbane, are very far away from the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) and much warmer. Thus, they are able to have longer trains to the airport, because they can build on a proper big city scale.  


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane+Airport+Railway+Line 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=the+airport+train

Thursday, March 13, 2025

The Old City Hall and The Simpson Tower in Toronto

The Old_City_Hall opened in 1899 at a height of 103.64 m (340.0 ft).  Even in the 21st century, many parts of Downtown Vancouver aren't allowed to have buildings taller than Toronto's Old City Hall.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Torontos_Old_City_Hall_2009.jpg If you are visiting from Toronto or Montreal, Sydney or Melbourne, you might be shocked as to seeing how small and backwards Vancouver is. Various imposed restrictions have cause a multigenerational watering down of what should actually be a properly functioning big city and greater metropolitan region.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Front_of_Old_City_Hall_in_July_2024.jpg Being from backwater Vancouver, its always amazing to see what cities like Toronto, Montreal, Sydney,  Melbourne, Seattle, SF & LA are permitted to do. They and most other cities just don't have anything like the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) to thwart them.

The Post is a stumpy building+complex in Vancouver. Despite the high land costs, strict Vancouver wouldn't permit it to be taller than Toronto's Old City Hall. The Stump, rather The Post, should have been taller than the LA City Hall, the Philadelphia_City_Hall and the Manhattan_Municipal_Building. It should have really been closer in size to that of the Seattle_Municipal_Tower or even the Tokyo_Metropolitan_Government_Building

Library Square in Vancouver just like The Post, wasn't allowed to have 25 floors, when they both should have been well over 50 stories.

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/library-square/25126 84.1 m / 276 ft

https://www.da-architects.ca/projects/library-square Strict Vancouver just doesnt allow buildings in that part of the downtown to be taller than The Old City Hall in Toronto.

https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2018/10/05/library-square-best-new-public-space-in-vancouver 

https://montecristomagazine.com/design/secret-garden-top-vancouvers-library-stayed-hidden-20-years#gsc.tab=0 

Unfortunatly, Library Square and The Post are so scaled back or watered down, they would hardly be impressive in most proper big cities around the world. Library Square and The Post should have both been in the 50-60 story range, but don't even have a 25th floor. This was a lost opportunity for Downtown Vancouver to have a proper size big city and government complex.

The Simpson_Tower opened in 1968. It has 33 floors and is 144 m (472 ft) high. It would be equivalent to being the tallest building in BC until 1973. Even in 2025, most office towers in Vancouver aren't allowed to be taller than this 1968 Toronto stump.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Simpson_Tower_2022.jpg 

The Simpson-Tower is only 18 feet taller than the LA+City+Hall.

The Simpson Tower has become just like another Vancouver size stump in Toronto.

It's really astounding that not only did The+Post+in+Vancouver have to be shorter than the Toronto Simpson Tower and the LA+City+Hall, it had to be shorter than the Old City Hall in Toronto. Now that's very small, but it fits in with the small-minded Vancouver mentality. Indeed, Vancouverization is about a backward, rainy city that has a multigenerational restrictive agenda to water everything down. Even the mountains north of Vancouver are shorter than the mountains north of L.A. WTH?   


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Post+building+complex

Monday, September 29, 2025

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

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Oakridge Park and Mall

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Kwx7SctJ4 

Somehow the people around Broadway Station weren't able to stop this. Well, the Oakridge Station area is becoming its own town centre in that part of provincial Vancouver. Yet, the Broadway & Commercial area is already a big transportation intersection.

Despite the C-Line still only running 2 car joke trains, there is a potential to have 3 car trains. That's still pretty sad when the 50 m stations should have been built to eventually accommodate 5-6 car trains. Unfortunately, the planners never seriously considered to have a future level station clearance of 100-120 m. In contrast, the Montreal Metro has 152.5 m stations and can accommodate 9 car trains. The Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) has always prevented the city from thinking on a big scale. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Oakridge+Park+Mall 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Selective+Door+Operation