No fireworks in downtown Vancouver for New Year's Eve or the rest of 2026

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-fireworks-2026-new-years-eve-nye 

While Vancouver hasn't been able to get most other cities across Canada and around the world to stop, ban or cancel their NY Eve fireworks, strange Vancouver will retain this part of its NO FUN CITY mentality and agenda. 

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/fireworks-banned-halloween-vancouver-fire-department-9726922 Why just ban them in October and January, when you can ban them throughout the year? 

https://www.ehnewspaper.ca/articles/third-year-of-vancouvers-fireworks-ban

For some strange reason, backwards Vancouver hasn't been able to get other cities around the world to adopt the same bizarre idiosyncrasies.  

Officially, there isn't supposed to be a Vancouver+Mind+Virus, but the backwards city is so stunted and strange. Other cities in a scenic setting such as Sydney, Auckland, San_Francisco and Seattle are able to have wider bridges in or close to their city centers. 

Despite warm and scenic Honolulu having some very short bridges, they are still wider than what extremely restrictive Vancouver allows. These two short bridges in Honolulu provide 4 lanes each way. Thus, they form an 8 lane crossing and they aren't even part of a freeway.  

There is also a very short 6 lane bridge in Honolulu. In addition to its 6 lanes, there is a turning lane and a one lane wide median, which makes it equivalent to being 8 lanes wide. Plus, there are 2 wide sidewalks, which are wider than the original sidewalks on the Granville Bridge in Vancouver. In other words, no bridge in Vancouver is allowed to be as wide as it. Despite regional population growth, the Granville Bridge was reduced from 8 lanes to 6 lanes. 

Considering how Vancouver has such a narrow road system, one would think that a regional network of bus and bike bridges would be essential. Of course the backwards city and greater urban region is too cheap to fund such infrastructure and rather opted for a congestive transportation approach.

In contrast, The+Helix+Bridge in Singapore is fine example of what backwards Vancouver refuses to build. No lanes had to be removed from the 6 lane Bayfront+Bridge or the 10 lane Benjamin+Sheares+Bridge. Stubborn Vancouver could really benefit from something like the Helix Bridge. 

While Vancouver went backwards after Expo 86, Brisbane really took of after Expo 88. The Kangaroo_Point_Green_Bridge, Goodwill_Bridge, Kurilpa_Bridge, Jack_Pesch_Bridge and the Go_Between_Bridge are all great examples of what strange Vancouver refuses to build. What's really amazing from a backwater Vancouver perspective is that those bike and foot bridges in Brisbane never required any lanes to be removed from the cities road bridges. 

In comparison, Vancouver removed 2 lanes from the Burrard Bridge, 1 lane from the Cambie Bridge and 2 lanes from the Granville Bridge. If urban planning in Vancouver was wise and the city never got rid of its trams or streetcars, perhaps something like the Tilikum_Crossing could have been built across False_Creek.

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

Majority polled in Calgary and Edmonton are unhappy with the pace of population growth

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/too-much-too-fast-majority-polled-in-calgary-edmonton-unhappy-with-pace-of-population-growth-9.6935121 

If you are visiting Vancouver or Victoria from Calgary or Edmonton, you will be shocked as to how narrow most of the bridges are in Greater Vancouver and Victoria. Edmonton was wise in the 1970s to have 125 m long underground LRT stations. Foolish Vancouver opted to only have 80 m stations on its first 2 lines and an absurd 50 m for the 3rd line. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Line_(Calgary) , https://www.calgary.ca/green-line.html 

https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans---projects/lrt/green-line.html

https://engage.calgary.ca/greenline/UndergroundStations Fortunatly, any underground stations in Calgary will be closer in length to that of the Edmonton LRT and not backwards Vancouver.

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/north-america/tunnel-preferred-for-calgary-lrt-green-line/

https://www.tunnelsandtunnelling.com/news/calgary-city-council-approves-green-line-lrt-construction/?cf-view

https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/stations.html

https://www.tunnelsandtunnelling.com/news/calgary-city-council-approves-green-line-lrt-construction/?cf-view 

The main roads and bridges in urban parts of Alberta are allowed to be wider than their counterparts in backwards BC. So while people in the urban parts of Alberta are concerned or even angry about rapid growth, at least Alberta can easily build more urban infrastructure. That's because Albertal isn't affect by the (unofficial) BC Mind Virus (BCMV). 

A timely example is a new bridge between Surrey & NW. Despite Surrey being expected to become the largest city in BC, the new bridge will only open with 4 lanes. No 3rd or 4th lane each way for busses, HOVs and trucks. Thus, all the road traffic at either end is funneled into just 2 lanes each way. Plus, there are no breakdown or emergency lane, just like the old bridge.   

While this new bridge can eventually be widened to 6 lanes, there is no provision for a lower deck for LRT, busses and trucks. Despite SW BC being a seaport area, trucks are funneled onto mostly narrow bridges. There has been a lack of interest to build bus bridges next to almost all of the bridges in Greater Vancouver. Yet, there is a Half-A$$ED attempt to have a better regional express bus network. This regional Rapid Bus attempt will always be a joke, unless a series of bus bridges are built. The Half-A$$ED approach is to try to have bus lanes on 4 to 6 lane bridges. Designating 2 bus lanes would reduce the narrow bridges to only 1 or 2 lanes each way for general traffic in what is suppose to be a major seaport and urban area.   

Most of the worlds population is non-white and for a big part of the history of BC, there has been a refusal to build up bigtime infrastructure for everyone. While some Albertains might wish that there was a wall built around their province or a force-field like out of Star Trek, BC is almost pretending like there is. Thus, the keep things small and backwards mentality. 

Several decades ago, BC implemented a symbolic slow-growth approach. Despite BC not having any control over immigration, or trying to establish an internal passport & checkpoint system, to KEEP PEOPLE OUT, it opted for the next best thing. Stunt or scale back the urban infrastructure to project a strong symbolic reluctance to growth and thinking big. 

When you realize how much larger things are allowed to be in Alberta, Washington State and even Western Australia & compare them to watered down BC, you see quite a difference. Despite BC & Canada in general, being multicultural, BCs cities keep finding ways to water the scale of things down. Canada has yet to have even 1% of the world's population, despite its size.  

While there are good arguments to occasionally slowdown immigration, that can eventually become problematic, just like too much immigration. Even in the 2020s, some people in the former White colonial parts of the world still wish that Canada & Australia, etc., could be a White Man's paradise. However, that seems so impractical on a planet that mostly has a non white population. 

https://humanrights.ca/story/chinese-head-tax-and-chinese-exclusion-act

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada 

https://royalalbertamuseum.ca/blog/chinese-head-tax-george-yees-story 

https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/blog/chinese-exclusion-act/

https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/exclusion-chinois-chinese

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/asian-heritage-month/important-events.html

https://stanleyparkvan.com/stanley-park-van-monument-komagata-maru.html

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/10/05/vancouver-komagata-maru-memorial

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/01/30/vancouver-komagata-maru-memorial-vandalism/

Even if Alberta were to eventually become its own country, it would be extremely unlikely that it could ever impose a White Man's Paradise Agenda. The same could be stated for backwards BC. However, something very peculiar has been happening in BC for several generations. 

Several BC cities and municipalities play off each other with various slow-growth agendas. Vancouver being one of the most restrictive & backwards on the the planet. Somehow the legitimate anti freeway fears of the 1960s & 70s didn't get the city & region to still build a series of bus & HOV bridges. Plus, a long-term, high capacity urban rail system.

While Montreal planned for 152.4 m stations to accomodate 9 car trains, backwards Vancouver only built 80 m Skytrain stations for the first 2 lines. Then to top that, was a plan to build a line to Richmond with only enough level clearance for 50 m stations. The 1st line only started to run 5 car trains in 2025. Eventually, the 2nd line will also have 5 car trains. However, the line to the airport was deliberately designed not to have 5 car trains. Just a Half-A$$ED 2.5 car train, someday. WTH?

For Greater Vancouver to mostly have narrow bridges, one would think the all the stations could ultimately be at least as long as a Montreal Metro train station. Indeed, Greater Vancouver should have built for 10 car trains, but will only have 5 car trains on the 1st  two lines & a 2.5 car joke of a train on the 3rd line. As of 2025, the 2nd & 3rd lines are still only running 2 car trains. Such a great way to symbolically show the resistance to eventually link YVR to both of the main BC ferry terminals. 

The inadequate 3 lane Lion Bridge still has no bus & HOV tunnels near it. Urban parts of Australia never seemed to have a similar reluctance to build tunnels as does backwards Vancouver. Tunnels for Montreal & Seattle aren't a problem either. At least BC is slated to have a new and improved tunnel by 2030, that's only a couple of generations late.   

Oh, if only people would stop moving to BC, especially Vancouver & Victoria. Well, that's not the case, its just that various BC cities want to only build urban infrastructure that is inadequate. Despite the frustrations that some people have in Alberta, at lest wider bridges, longer trains & taller buildings are allowed there. This watering things down in BC approach is symbolically indicative to refuse to properly build for a growing population. 

Surrey should have already had at least 1 hospital the size of VGH. At least Surrey like Burnaby, can build up taller in what is still mostly a mountain wilderness province. 

BC is a long way from New England & Southern Quebec. The restrictive urban planning measures in Greater Vancouver keep preventing it from becoming a proper big metropolitan area like Greater Boston and Montreal. 

Calgary and Edmonton each should have hand an airport+line by now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Line_(MBTA) Calgary will have its own version of a Green Line, eventually. https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Calgary+Green+Line

Why Greater Toronto Has Several Skylines

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI9WJa9Q8dA 

Of course many large urban areas around the world have more than 1 or 2 skylines or tower clusters. 

For the longest time, no building in Vancouver or BC, was allowed to be as tall as the 1930s CIBC tower, which is now a stump.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2017/05/toronto-lost-observation-deck-commerce-court-north/

https://www.torontojourney416.com/canadian-bank-of-commerce-building/ 

https://www.25king.ca/the-history 

It wasn't until the early 1970s when stumpy, Vancouver allowed a building to be taller than the L.A. City Hall, or the Smith Tower in Seattle. 

The 1930s CIBC tower, the L.A. City Hall and the Smith Tower, would still be prominent towers in Vancouver, but stumps in their own cities. 

Despite Vancouver being divided by an inlet and a river, the city wasn't able to build a huge wall along Boundary Road. Thus, the KEEP THEM OUT agenda was a little thwarted. The various White city councils tried to do the next best thing. That was to symbolically impose various restrictions as a reluctance to think, plan and build on a BIG city scale. The time especially from 1960 to 2000 had predominantly White City Hall and its councils continually impose several overlapping restrictions. 

Since Vancouver can't control immigration or the movements of non-white people, keeping things small and backwards, means that less people will move there than to Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton. However, with a mild winter climate, more and more people want to move to backwards BC, especially small-minded Vancouver and provincial Victoria. 

In spite of immigration and Multiculturalism, Vancouver was to perpetually promote its small scale agenda. 

While the first Skytrain line can finally run 5 car trains, the stations weren't designed to become long enough to eventually accomodate 9 car trains like the big city Montreal Metro has. 

The 2nd and 3rd Skytrain lines are still only running 2 car joke trains. Running 8-10 car trains is what a proper big city would do, but not backwards Vancouver. 

Narrow bridges provides strong symbolism of the cities narrow-mindedness. When bridges are too narrow, its difficult to have a proper express or rapid bus system. The reluctance to build parallel bus and HOV bridges helps to maintain the congestive planning approach that is vancouver and the Greater Region. 

Vancouver's refusal to build parallel bike bridges has meant that 2 lanes were removed from the Burrard Bridge, 1 lane from the Cambie Bridge and 2 lanes from the Granville Bridge. 

Keeping buildings symbolically short when compared to what scenic Sydney, Auckland, SF and Seattle allow, also helps to maintain Vancouver's reluctance to enter the big and tall urban scale. In fact, the scenic setting that Vancouver is in has been used as the main excuse to continually scale the city down. Yet, several scenic cities around the world are either able to have wider bridges, wider roads, longer trains or taller buildings. 

The world is mostly composed of non-white people. Canada has less than 1% of the world's population and stubborn Vancouver symbolically remains as a small provincial backwater on the Pacific Rim. 

https://centralparktower.com.au Unlike Perth, Vancouver forbids 50 story office towers and Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne size residential towers. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/108_St_Georges_Terrace In fact, no office building in Vancouver has been permitted to have a 40th floor. However, since Burnaby and Surrey aren't under the restrictive controls of Vancouver, they will eventually allow office towers over 40 stories. 

Despite Australia having less people than Canada, Perth is allowed to have taller buildings, wider bridges and longer trains than Vancouver. Taller buildings, wider bridges and longer trains are even less likely in Halifax than whats in Brisbane or Queensland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q1_(building) To see buildings on a similar scale of what Brisbane allows, one has to get to Greater Toronto. Brisbane is allowed to have some buildings that would even be impressive in Melbourne and Sydney. 

While Montreal is allowed to have taller buildings than Vancouver, Montreal isn't allowed to have Sydney size towers. Especially not on the scale of what Melbourne and Toronto permit. 

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 Seafair. https://www.seafair.org/what-is-seafair

Vancouver was never able to waterdown the Calgary_Stampede. https://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.

Its Not Just About Bus and Bike Bridges

Bike bridges might not be able to totally solve the transportation mess that is Vancouver. However, its quite odd how Vancouver Cycling_Infrastructure is missing a crucial bit of transportation infrastructure. Indeed, many cities will build least 1 proper bike bridge. The Vancouver approach is to take traffic lanes away from existing bridges, or not even bother to build a bike bridge next to a congested bridge. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crossings_of_the_Fraser_River#North_Arm There should have been several bus and bike bridges in just this section alone. 

 https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/newsroom/2024/08/08/striking-perth-bridge-crosses-key-construction-milestone Unfortunatly, such a nice bike bridge in Perth isn't allowed in backwards Vancouver. 

https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/projects-initiatives/all-projects/metropolitan/causeway-path/

https://www.wsp.com/en-ca/projects/perths-boorloo-bridge If you are visiting Perth from Vancouver, you might cry when you realize what WA can do, simply because its not influenced or limited by the backwards BC mentality or mind virus.

https://www.destinationperth.com.au/listing/boorloo-bridge/3706 Unlike in backwards Vancouver, many cities build bike bridges so that they don't have to remove traffic lanes.

https://dissingweitling.com/en/project/swan-river-causeway-bridge 

https://www.buildingfortomorrow.wa.gov.au/projects/boorloo-bridge Unfortunatly, properly building-for-tomorrow is much more difficult in backwards BC than it is in WA. 

A bike+bridge in the right spot can make a huge difference. A bus+and+bike+bridge can be a huge improvement, especially in the case of Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver Region. 

The Arthur_Laing_Bridge, Oak_Street_Bridge, Knight_Street_Bridge and the Queensborough_Bridge all could be improved simply by building a bus+and+bike+bridge next to them. These bridges are simply too narrow to accommodate 2 bus lanes, 2 wide bike lanes and 2 wide footpaths.

The narrow North_Arm_Bridge for the very short Canada Line trains, is another lost opportunity. There should have been 2 express bus lanes, since the little train doesn't run 24 hours. There should have been 2 wide bike lanes as well as 2 sidewalks. 

Perhaps it was designed to be in the tradition of the narrow SkyBridge between NW and Surrey. Unfortunately, the SkyBridge wasn't designed to help the old Pattullo Bridge by accommodating 2 bus lanes, 2 bike lanes and 2 sidewalks.

While the Pattullo_Bridge_replacement opened with 2 nice bike lanes and 2 footpaths, there was a deliberate decision not to open it with 2 bus lanes and 2 HOV lanes. Especially, no wide emergency lanes or wide shoulders. Its another instant classic BC bottleneck-chokepoint. 

Somehow the Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District still hasn't realized that a regional network of bus and bike bridges can really help the region's mostly narrow bridges. Plus, proper big city long trains. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_Line_(SkyTrain) Only started to run some 5 car trains in 2025.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Line Still usually only 2 car train with the option to run 4 and the potential to eventually run 5 car trains.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyTrain_(Vancouver)#Canada_Line Despite a building cost cutting measure, this joke of a train and its short stations still could have been designed with enough level clearance to allow for 5 car trains eventually. Unfortunately, this line was designed to ultimately just have 2.5 car, 50m trains. Since 2009, this line is still only running 2 car trains. 

Multigenerational congestion planning is all by design in backwards BC.

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

Vancouver's forgotten streetcars and interurban trams

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/transportation-old/interurban-streetcar-hydrogen-rail-line-fraser-valley-bc-1942783

Fortunately, Toronto, NO, SF and Melbourne never got rid of all their streetcar and tram lines.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/downtown-vancouver-false-creek-streetcar-route-map

While backwards Vancouver wanted to be among the first cities to get rid of them, Vancouver will likely be one of the last cities to bring them back.

https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2021/04/06/a-bump-in-the-road-kits-points-hidden-streetcar-line/

Atlanta, SD, LA, Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle & Portland brought back some of their trollies in the form of modern LRT or tram-trains.

https://montecristomagazine.com/community/vancouvers-forgotten-streetcars

The sad irony is that Vancouver, Burnaby & NW really could have benefitted from following the Toronto, SF and Melbourne examples. 

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/history/last-ride-oak-streetcar-vancouver-1937040

https://www.facebook.com/groups/128486813979056/posts/1968090176685368

 https://maps.nicholsonroad.com/bcer/

https://humantransit.org/2010/02/vancouver-the-almost-perfect-grid.html

There used too be a streetcar route along Robson St., Denman St. & Davie St. A revived version of this could provide a nice downtown transit loop. However, that would go against the backwards mentality of Vancouver. Fortunately, the Vancouver mentality never made it to Atlanta & Dallas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Streetcar#Downtown_Loop_route_funded

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

Unfortunatly, Vancouver & BC are all about congestive planning.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/2026-fifa-world-cup-vancouver-1.7559067

With less than a year to go, its impossible to revive any streetcar lines, because that can take 5-10 years. There isn't even a network of regional bus bridges. Such inept transportation planning means that busses have to squeeze onto bridges that are mostly just 2 lanes each way. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-rising-costs-fifa-2026-world-cup-1.7573669

Despite the first SkyTrain line opening in 1985, it took until 2025 to start having5 car trains. The 2nd & 3rd lines are still only running 2 car trains.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/vancouver-short-on-hotel-rooms-silent-on-safety-costs-for-2026-world-cup/

Of course the city is decades behind in keeping up with having enough hotel rooms.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-hotel-shortage-2026-world-cup-1.7117696

https://vancouverfwc26.ca 

https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/articles/vancouver-host-seven-matches-canada-stadium-bc-place

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Trams-Trains+and+Streetcars

Congestive urban planning in backwards BC

Most bridges in Greater Vancouver are so narrow, because there was no provision to have bus and HOV lanes. The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge are 2 classic examples of not constructing additional infrastructure to accommodate bus lanes, HOV lanes and especially, rail rapid transit. That's because such improvements would actually go against the congestive urban planning agenda. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_V._Murrow_Memorial_Bridge , https://www.historylink.org/file/21298 A narrow 4 lane BC type bridge was upgraded to an 8 lane crossing, plus 2 LRT tracks for WA. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth) From a basic bridge to a nice 10 lane crossing with 2 train tracks for WA. https://structurae.net/en/structures/narrows-bridge Its great that the horrible backwards Vancouver mentality never made it to Perth. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-13/perth-narrows-bridge-60-years-since-construction/11697812 Unfortunately, Vancouver & BC have done their damndest to prevent a similar nice, wide crossing, which also includes 6_car_trains. While backwards Vancouver & BC didn't want to build wider infrastructure simply to accomodate more drivers, the funds didn't seem to go towards a regional rapid bus or at least an express bus & HOV network with its own set of bridges. The SkyTrain should have been designed with a provision to eventually have stations at least as long as those on the Montreal Metro, which can accomodate 9 car trains on a 500 ft platform or 152.5 m. https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Place:Constructing_Narrows_Bridges  

The old Champlain_Bridge_in Montreal just had 3 lanes each way & no provision for a train. Where as the new Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge provides 4 lanes each way & has 2 REM train tracks. https://www.samueldechamplainbridge.ca Fortunately, Montreal, like Seattle & Perth was able to have a nice wide bridge with 2 train tracks in the middle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge#Construction_method 

Montreal, Seattle & Perth are allowed to exist on a larger scale than backwards Vancouver, because they don't have the same imposed restrictions. Urban Quebec and urban WA are able to do so much more, because they aren't hindered by anything like the backwards BC mentality. 

Risk assessment model of bottlenecks for urban expressways using survival analysis approach https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235214651730474X 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bunbury+WA+6230,+Australia/@-33.3399232,115.6694676,430a,35y,44.83t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x2a39279b2423314b:0x500f638247a10a0!2sVancouver+Peninsula+WA+6330,+Australia!3b1!8m2!3d-35.0599149!4d117.9307564!16s%2Fg%2F11fmh3xt4l!3m5!1s0x2a2e1d48f5a47b23:0x500f638247a1470!8m2!3d-33.3270366!4d115.6408605!16zL20vMDEycTcx?entry=ttu

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Perth+and+Seattle

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

Urban Tech Links .:. UTL

UTL - Personal observations of the urban world from a backwards Vancouver and backwater BC perspective. Indeed, it's always amazing to see what so many other cities can do, simply because they don't have anything like a Vancouver, Victoria & BC mentality to hold them back.

The Greater_Tokyo_Area is the most populated urban region on the planet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_area#Largest_urban_areas ,

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

https://wikimedia.org/Sand_Island_and_Honolulu.jpg Honolulu hasn't permitted any buildings to be as tall as what is in Miami, LA or SF. Indeed, Honolulu, has avoided having a Singapore or especially a HK size skyline. So far, no building has been allowed to be as tall as the Custom_House_Tower in Boston or the Smith_Tower in Seattle. Indeed, no buildings are even allowed to be as tall as the Los_Angeles_City_Hall at 453 feet or 138m.

https://wikimedia.org/Perth_airport.JPG No building in Vancouver is allowed to be as tall as the 2 tallest in Perth & Calgary.

Honolulu and 

Perth, WA are in such nice climate zones. They are a couple of the most isolated major cities on the planet. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu#Transportation , 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth#Transport

In some ways, Australia has been able to surpass Canada, despite it having a smaller land area & less population than Canada. Unlike Montreal & especially Vancouver, Perth & especially Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane, have allowed several taller buildings than what is allowed in Montreal & Vancouver. 

However, Honolulu's_tallest_buildings still haven't been permitted to even be as tall as the 2 tallest in the Giza_pyramid_complex in Cairo, Egypt. 

Urban Tech Links is a basic blog about referencing tall buildings & urban technology in various cities in general. Thus, it's mostly just a list of various urban and tech links. It's also about comparing various cities & infrastructure.

Some cities like to have narrow bridges, short trains & small buildings, like Vancouver, while many others cities reach for the sky. 

There is a point when a lot of major cities start to permit buildings to be taller than the 2 tallest pyramids in Egypt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids 

Paris & London, NYC & Chicago, Tokyo & Seoul...  

www.infrastructurebc.com

The BC part of Canada has tried to keep its infrastructure as small as possible for as long as possible.

It wasn't until the 1970s when strict & stubborn Vancouver started to allow for some buildings to be almost as tall as the 2 tallest Egyptian pyramids. https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=105524651&offset=50 

1973 Royal_Centre_(Vancouver) not quite as tall as .:.

1977 Harbour_Centre not counting the flagpole, its still shorter than the original height of the tallest Egyptian pyramid.

2001 One_Wall_Centre, not including its spire, was the first building in Vancouver & BC to be taller than the tallest pyramid in Egypt. 

For most of Vancouver's history, the city refused to permit any building to be taller than the pyramid on top of the 496' Custom_House_Tower in Boston, the 462' Smith_Tower in Seattle, the 453' Los_Angeles_City_Hall. Of course today they are all just like stumps. 481' and 471' are the original heights of the 2 tallest in the Giza_pyramid_complex.

https://wikimedia.org/Pyramids_of_the_Giza_Necropolis.jpg

https://wikimedia.org/Kheops-Pyramid.jpg

"Initially standing at 146.6 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the world's tallest human-made structure for more than 3,800 years. Over time, most of the smooth white limestone casing was removed, which lowered the pyramid's height to the current 138.5 metres (454.4 ft)" 

Height	Original: 146.6 m (481 ft) or 280 cubits Current: 138.5 m (454 ft)

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

Height	Currently: 136.4 metres (448 ft) Original: 143.5 m (471 ft; 274 cu)

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

"The 1997 study noted that the opportunities for buildings significantly exceeding existing permitted heights were limited. There were a total of five sites where buildings exceeding the 450 foot height limit are possible and two sites in the northwest corner of the Central Business District where heights up to 400 feet (exceeding the 300 foot limit) could be considered." https://council.vancouver.ca/20030515/pe2.htm

Indeed, it's tough to believe that for the longest time, any building in the BC part of Canada had to be considerably shorter than the Washington_Monument in DC or the Philadelphia_City_Hall.

Then Vancouver wouldn't permit any building to be as tall as the Cairo_Tower. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Tower "At 187 m (614 ft), it was the tallest structure in Egypt for 37 years until 1998..."

2016 was when a Hotel-Condo was allowed to be slightly taller than the Cairo-Tower. 

The Cairo_Flagpole is the world's tallest flagpole, at 201.952 m (662 ft 7 in) tall. No building in Vancouver is allowed to be as tall.

The Living_Shangri-La tower is close, but not quite.

Of course Vancouver, BC & even Canada can't stop Egypt from building big & tall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_Egypt#Tallest_structures

{The origin of Al-Qahirah is said to come from the appearance of the planet Mars during the foundation of the City of Cairo. The planet Mars, which in Greek was called Ares, was associated with ruin or destruction and was called Al Najm Al Qahir in Arabic. Al Najm Al Qahir is transliterated as "the destroyer star [planet]".} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo#Etymology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo#Modern_era

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-cairo-washington-dc Washinton, DC made sure that going into the 20th century, it was going to have mostly low rise buildings like Paris & London or Berlin. However, the Greater Paris Region would eventually allow some tall buildings in certain areas. London even moreso. Yet, Greater London & Metropolitan Paris, certainly have allowed some tall buildings. 

Vancouver has been under a multigenerational set of restrictions as well as a small thinking & planning agenda. Part of this might be attributed to a backwater BC mentality. However, some parts of Greater Vancouver are allowed to build on a grander scale.

Edmonton, Seattle, Portland & eventually Calgary will all have underground train stations longer than what's in Vancouver. Yet, Vancouver could have really benefited from having proper big city long stations. Most of the regions bridges are so narrow that its difficult to have a proper bus lane & HOV lane system. But Vancouver & BC are all about inefficiency. Things might eventually improve if enough people someday start to see the growing gap between what most cities allow vs. stubborn Vancouver.

https://metropolisfilm.fandom.com/wiki/Joh_Frederson

Alphaville is one of the best cautionary stories about the AI run, totalitarian smart-city scenario. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphaville_(film)#Legacy

THX_1138 is the quintessential movie about AI & machines running an underground totalitarian city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138#Plot

Logan's_Run is another interesting totalitarian smart-city movie. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan's_Run_(film)#Plot

Blade_Runner is one of the best urban Sci-Fi movies ever made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner#Plot

Jacque_Fresco is one of many people throughout history with their own perspectives on civilization. https://www.forbes.com/2007/10/13/jacque-fresco-prediction-tech-future07-cx_1015fresco.html?sh=4107813c607f Some interesting ideas, but perhaps with a utopian angle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity#Gameplay , 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWLClUwAHGc , 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_(1989_video_game)  

http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion-spirituality/845605-humans-originate-mars.html,
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/marte/esp_marte_14.htm,
http://mars-earth.com/earthpage.htm

http://fusionanomaly.net/orion.html, http://fusionanomaly.net/bladerunner.html,
http://vigilantcitizen.com/hidden-knowledge/connection-between-sirius-and-human-history

More about, UDL: https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=urban

https://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/9/11/3318910/nasa-scientist-believes-we-could-all-be-in-a-video-game

Civilization_(computer_game)

Civilization_IV  

http://www.mindmined.com/public_library/nonfiction/jake_horsley_gnosticism_reborn.html ,
http://hplusmagazine.com/2009/10/19/ghost-shell-why-our-brains-will-never-live-matrix , 

https://kotaku.com/one-nasa-scientists-quest-to-prove-were-all-trapped-ins-5942400 , 

http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/digitalphysics.html  

The Universe seems to be a vast Multi-channel of space & time that originated from a central point of energy. But what or who started this Big_Bang of cosmic information? Its like a cosmic projection program running inside an immense planetarium. The energy of nature or part of a creators plan. Thus either nature or a conscious creator has set up a cosmic matrix of space & time. Humans are just beginning to try to understand how an intelligent force of creation set this all up. Computer models factor into the study of reality & VR helps to illustrate different phases & parts of the universe.

http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/34497/title/Building_The_Matrix,
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/11/universe-computer-simulation,
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-10/how-do-we-know-were-not-living-inside-massive-computer-simulation,
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628950.300-the-idea-we-live-in-a-simulation-isnt-science-fiction.html   

-

Nick_Bostrom,

http://www.simulation-argument.com, http://www.simulation-argument.com/matrix2.html, 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality#Intermingled , Simcity, the Sims & more...
http://io9.com/5950543/physicists-say-there-may-be-a-way-to-prove-that-we-live-in-a-computer-simulation

-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2216189/Do-live-Matrix-researchers-say-way-prove-do.html ,
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/143180-probing-the-matrix-is-our-universe-simulated-and-if-so-by-who

http://thedigitallabyrinth.blogspot.ca/2012/03/cosmic-computer-hypothesis.html
Computer modeling provides the best way to extrapolate copious amounts of data.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Comparison_of_pyramids_SMIL.svg

The Hundredth_monkey_effect isn't supposed to be true, but in backwards Vancouver & backwater BC, it does seem to be happening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_monkey_effect#History

Almost everything in Vancouver is like a watered down knockoff. So many people from different backgrounds keep wanting to hold Vancouver back. The NO FUN CITY mentality keeps emerging, but that's just part of the phenomenon.

This reference blog is of a non profit nature.  

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

::

TransLink to extend North Shore RapidBus route to Metrotown starting in 2027

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/r2-rapidbus-north-shore-metrotown-burnaby-route-extension

https://aquilinidevelopment.com/community/kwasen-village

https://kwasenvillage.com 

The Kwasen Village & BCIT area is becoming a new intersection of housing & shopping, as well as education. So, hopefully starting in 2027, there will be an express bus from Metrotown_to_West-Vancouver. It will run along Willingdon Avenue providing a rapid bus link between Metrotown and Brentwood-Town-Centre-Station. Then onto N.Vancouver & W.Vancouver. This is being done, because backwards Vancouver refuses to build a rapid bus tunnel under or near the absurd, 3 lane Lions_Gate Bridge. Plus, the BC Government isn't interested in extending the SkyTrain on a bridge or through a tunnel to W.Vancouver. Thus, the inept, 3 lane Lions-Gate-Bridge remains as one of the worst bottlenecks or chokepoints in the world. 

Perth, WA built a 10 lane bridge with double train tracks in the middle of it.

https://www.skyperth.com/digitalstockfiles/train-over-the-narrows-bridge 3 sections. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Narrows_Bridge_from_QV.1.jpg Two 5 lane sections and a double track middle section. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xNv6nNKaRI

Seattle, WA did something similar, but their 3 section bridge or crossing has 4 lanes each way & a double track middle section.

https://www.mi-reporter.com/news/sound-transit-begins-light-rail-testing-across-i-90 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=felRTAG5MWc 

Montreal also did something similar to Seattle & Perth.

https://rem.info/en/albums/first-trip-across-samuel-de-champlain-bridge-july-2022 A 3 section bridge with 4 lanes each way. https://www.systra.com/en/news/the-samuel-de-champlain-bridge-in-canada-opens-to-train-traffic Plus, a middle section with 2 tracks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZDtKKQ_e0 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9O6RzsXIqQ 

Being from backwards Vancouver & backwater BC, it's always amazing to see what other places can do, simply because they aren't in BC.

Fortunately, Perth, Seattle & Montreal don't have to contend with anything like the inept Vancouver & BC transportation mentality. It's mindboggeling that in 2025, Vancouver is still only running 4 car trains to Surrey & only 2 car trains to Coquitlam & Richmond. This, combined with several narrow bridges, makes it one of the most congested cities in the world. It's a sad & pathetic situation, because things in BC should be designed for proper future capacity expansion.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Metrotown-North+Shore+Rapid+Transit+route 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=R2+RapidBus

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

Vancouver's Celebration of Light fireworks festival cancelled indefinitely

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-honda-celebration-of-light-cancelled-9.6993068 

Some people say that there can't be anything like a No Fun Vancouver Mind Virus. Its just that throughout the decades, backwards Vancouver keeps getting sevela things wrong.

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/11/26/vancouvers-honda-celebration-of-light-fireworks-cancelled-indefinitely 

For some strange reason, Vancouver hasn't been able to convince other Canadian cities to give up on their summer fireworks.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouvers-celebration-of-light-cancelled-indefinitely 

Over the years, a lot of people living in the West_End of downtown have gotten very pisst-off with all the beer, pee and excremental antics by the masses of visitors.

https://604now.com/honda-celebration-of-light-vancouver-cancelled/

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/celebration-of-light-vancouver-fireworks-2026-cancelled 

https://vancouversun.com/news/could-be-vancouvers-last-celebration-light-producer-warns 

This cancelation make sense, since Vancouver also ended up being the only major Canadian city to no longer bother with NY Day fireworks. Even if Vancouver was some kind of an entity that could pee into a bottle and market it to other cities so that they also would cancel their NY Day fireworks, they just aren't interested in buying that PI$$! 

Vancouver lost its Sea Festival after 2005, but was never able to convince Seattle to give up on its Seafair.  

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sea-festival-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-1.545832

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/sea-vancouvers-assets-to-be-liquidated/article4122853/

This No Fun Vancouver Mind Virus is such B$! It would breakdown other cities if it ever gets contagious.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1p7b06d/honda_celebration_of_light_cancelled_indefinitely/

It's all part of the overall Vancouver Mind Virus.

Senakw's first rental housing towers begin to take shape

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/senakw-squamish-first-nation-vancouver-towers-construction-july-2024

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

The tallest buildings in this Vancouver development should have been taller than the tallest building in NW, Burnaby, Coquitlam or Surrey. 

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/pier-west-1/30319 

178 m / 584 ft https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/complex/3304

https://www.newwestrecord.ca/real-estate-news/new-wests-changing-skyline-pier-west-towers-hit-top-heights-7676861

Senakw should have had at least 2 or 3 towers much taller than the Living_Shangri-La, the tallest in Vancouver at 200m. Something like the Crown_Sydney scale, is banned in Vancouver, but it's no problem for big thinking cities like Sydney & SF.

Tip	271.3 metres (890 ft)
Observatory	250 metres (820 feet)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Sydney#Approval

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver#Tallest_proposed_and_under_construction Most of BC is a backwater wildernes that is unapealling for people, but great for wildlife & vegetation. 

The plan was to continually thwart Vancouver, Victoria & Kelowna for as long as possible. That in turn slows down the few key areas of urban grown in BC. NSW & California, just never had the same, KEEP THEM OUT MENTALITY. Thus, they were able to think & properly plan for growth. There seems to be an unwritten rule, that as long as Vancouver can do things which are impressive to Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops, that's good enough.

Sydney, NSW & SF, California just were never under the extreme restrictions that Vancouver has. Plus, Syd & SF haven't been under a multigenerational agenda to keep holding those scenic cities back. 

Sydney and SF aren't afraid to build taller next to a bridge, like Vancouver is. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Sydney#Tallest_buildings_(150m+)

"The taller tower, One Rincon Hill South Tower, was completed in 2008 and stands 60 stories and 641 feet (195 m) tall.^[A][B] The shorter tower, marketed as Tower Two at One Rincon Hill, was completed in 2014 and reaches a height of 541 feet (165 m) with 50 stories." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Rincon_Hill

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_San_Francisco#Tallest_under_construction,_approved_and_proposed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_central_business_district#Transport This is what you are able to do when you aren't bound by the limiting mentality & backward agenda that Vancouver has. For some reason, Vancouver hasn't been able to get established big cities to emulate its congestive & inept planning standards. That's because most major cities want to plan & implement good transportation infrastructure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Public_transportation

Fortunately, Sydney & SF never wanted to take the backwards Vancouver approach to things.

Canada is far off from even containing 1% of the world's human population & BC has yet to have the population of 1 Switzerland. Proper infrastructure planning like in Japan & S. Korea, the UK, CH & Germany, has already been able to accommodate many more people. However, most of the world is non-white & some parts of Canada still want to hold onto the old White British Colonial mentality for as long as possible.