https://curiocity.com/new-years-eve-fireworks-2026-near-calgary-alberta/
Just like Vancouver can't stop its surrounding cities & suburbs from setting off fireworks, Vancouver can't stop Calgary, Perth and Seattle...
https://www.chatterblock.com/events/427141/new-years-eve-fireworks-calgary/
https://soperth.com.au/perthnews/perth-new-years-eve-fireworks-2025-2026-132795
https://visitperth.com/events/new-years-eve-in-the-city-2025 A nice hot summer in Perth is so much better than a cold, damp depressing winter in Vancouver, BC.
https://www.perth.wa.gov.au/news-and-updates/all-news/double-firework-spectacular-to-ring-in-2026
The people of Perth and WA in general, are so fortunate that nothing like the Vancouver Mind Virus has ever been accepted there.
https://www.worksafe.wa.gov.au/schedule-fireworks-events
The Transit Every Airport Needs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YeVZVluQWI&t=247s
https://www.upexpress.com/en/about-up/things-are-looking-up Its only a two and three car train, when it should be between 4-6 cars, depending upon the time of day. https://www.torontopearson.com/en/transportation-and-parking/up-express
At least it's not a perpetual 2 car train joke that is the YVR-Canada Line. The eventual airport REM line should consist of 4 car trains, but the entire REM should eventually have 6 car trains.
Somehow, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane & Perth all are able to have longer trains to the airport. The 10 car SFO-BART trains are pretty cool.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower
.jpg/960px-A_look_downtown_(759827996).jpg)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Canadian_Place The BMO. Unlike Chicago, Toronto has no 100 story office towers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentall_Centre_(Vancouver)#Three_Bentall_Centre A 32 story BC office stump.
Being from small Vancouver, its amazing that Canada even has one megacity. Toronto is certainly a big city on a lakeshore like Chicago is. Montreal isn't allowed to have buildings as tall as Melbourne, let alone NYC. Montreal has allowed only one office tower to be over 50 floors and a few residential towers in the 60s.
Calgary has more 50+ story office towers than Denver and Perth. No 40 story office tower exists in BC. The office section of the Harbour_Centre doesn't even have a 30th floor and the revolving restaurant is closer to being like 35 floors up. However, with the overall building being 481 feet, it would be equivalent to 40 floors, if the windows went right up to the top. The flagpole has no windows, but the flag would be like the equivalent of being 48 floors up.
Not just Toronto & Montreal, but Edmonton and Seattle have longer underground train stations than backwards, congested Vancouver.
The Iron+Bridge, Oak+Street+Bridge, Knight+Street+Bridge & the Arthur+Laing+Bridge should all have a bus+and+bike bridge built next to them. The extremely inadequate Lion+Bridge should have already had a bus and train tunnel close to it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Adelaide#Cityscape
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Adelaide#Tallest_buildings
After several decades, Adelaide will finally have a couple of buildings that will even be tall by Perth standards.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tron-ares-review-9.6933888
Unfortunatly, using special effects is the only way to make Vancouver, BC look like its a proper big city.
No bridge within the small city limits of Vancouver has been allowed to be as big or wide as the biggest in Perth, Seattle, Portland, Edmonton & Glasgow...
The Skytrain stations are shorter than train stations in Perth, Seattle, Calgary and Edmonton...
No office tower in Vancouver has been permitted to have a 40th floor. Of course, Perth, Seattle, Portland and Calgary have office towers over 40 stories.
https://hollywoodnorthbuzz.com/2025/10/tron-ares-vancouver-as-real-life-grid.html
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-landmarks-tron-ares-trailer
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/events-and-entertainment/new-tron-ares-movie-trailer-features-vancouver-sci-fi-setting-10488343 Vancouver is so smallscale, but awesome? Perhaps when compared to Victoria, Kelowna, Prince George, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, it is.
https://www.theurbanist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_2666.jpg Two train tracks and the 4th lane each way is for busses. Just amazing when compared to backwards BC. Seattle is able to do so much more because its not affected by the BC Mind Virus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandurah_line#Kwinana_Freeway_roadworks
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1aarCsKys-/ The Vancouver mind virus never made it to Perth.
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_Tower, Commerce_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/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
stumps and towers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Vancouver_Zoo
While the Greater+Vancouver+Zoo seems to have a lot of space for future growth, there doesn't seem to be that much there now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Vancouver_Zoo#21st_century
Unlike Perth, Seattle, Calgary & Edmonton, the Greater+Vancouver+Zoo is quite far away from the city of Vancouver.
https://604now.com/stanley-park-zoo-vancouver-british-columbia-history/
https://vancouverguardian.com/old-photographs-stanley-park-zoo/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park#Zoo_and_Children's_Farmyard
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/r2-rapidbus-north-shore-metrotown-burnaby-route-extension
https://aquilinidevelopment.com/community/kwasen-village
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/yvr-worlds-best-airports-accessibility
Unfortunatly, the YVR-Airport_station has one of the shortest & narrowest stations of any major airport.
In true lack of a big vision for BC, the YVR-Airport_station_Platform is so narrow & short that only 1 train at a time can stop on the very short single track station. While such small-scale train infrastructure would be impressive for Victoria, Kelowna, Prince George & Kamloops, it's hardly impressive to Seattle, WA and Perth, WA.
https://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/transportation/public-transportation
https://thecanadaline.com/station-guides/yvr-airport/
https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/station/yvr-airport/schedule
Being from backwards BC, it's amazing to see how several major airports will have at least a double track airport train station. The Portland_Airport_MAX_station is another one of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Airport_station , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAX_Red_Line
Ideally, the+airport+train should be more than a 2 car joke. Even 4 car trains should be able to stop at stations with enough future clearance to accomodate 6 car trains.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Passenger_rail_services_in_Australia_en.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Australian_Railway Eventually, there could be a standard gauge continuous line from Sydney to Perth. Two freight & 2 passenger parallel tracks. Other gauges could still remain intact.
http://www.railpage.org.au/railmaps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney%E2%80%93Brisbane_rail_corridor
A line from Brisbane to Alice Springs would be quite beneficial, as would a line from Cairns to Darwin.
https://digital.atlas.gov.au/datasets/digitalatlas::railway-lines/about
https://montecristomagazine.com/community/forgotten-bridges-vancouver
The LGB just wasn't designed with any future capacity in mind.
History of the Lions Gate Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHqi7Kijedw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Bridge#History
The inadequate 3 lane LGB is currently the most narrow road bridge in backwards & stubborn Vancouver. It's been in that category since the removal of the 2 lane Fraser Street Bridge in the 1970s. There was a refusal to twin the absurdly narrow LGB between the 1950s & 1970s. By the 1980s there should have been a subway tunnel and an 8 lane tunnel. Then two of the lanes could have been for buses. Georgia+Street is 7 lanes wide as it gets closer to Stanley Park. Thus, the main part of a tunnel through the park could have provided 3 general lanes each way & a bus lane each way. Instead, the 7 lanes of the westernmost part of Georgia Street are funneled into a 3 lane causeway & a 3 lane bridge. The LGB would be fantastic as just a bike & foot crossing, with train, bus & road tunnels well beneath & beside it.
The Burrard_Bridge, BB or BSB opened with 6 lanes, but now it only has 4 lanes. There are 2 bike lanes & 2 sidewalks. Had a parallel bike-bridge been built, the BB could have still had 6 lanes. While the BB has a lower level provision for streetcars or tram-trains, Vancouver did its damndest to phase out streetcars well before the 1960s.
The Ironworkers_Memorial_Bridge has 6 lanes, but should also have had 2 wide shoulders & 2 very wide sidewalks. Unfortunatly, there was no provision for a lower deck, as is also the case with all of the other Vancouver bridges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironworkers_Memorial_Second_Narrows_Crossing
Any replacement of the inadequate Ironworkers+Memorial+Bridge should be on the scale of what Perth, Seattle and Montreal have done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Street_Bridge#Third_bridge_(1954)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vPSdF0jRTC4 The Granville-Bridge or GSB is the widest bridge in the city limits. It opened with 8 lanes, but is being transformed into a 6 lane bridge with 2 bike lanes & 2 sidewalks. Had there been a paralel bike & foot bride, the GSB could have still been 8 lanes wide. Then there could have been 2 exclusive bus lanes.
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/granville-bridge-connector.aspx
The Oak Street Bridge should have been 8 lanes wide, with 2 wide sidewalks.
The Knight+Street+Bridge should have been 8 lanes with 2 wide sidewalks. Instead, its a 4 lane chokepoint.
The Arthur+Laing+Bridge should have been at least 6 lanes with 2 proper bike lanes & 2 sidewalks.
If the Cambie_Street_Bridge had 2 very wide sidewalks, then its likely that it would still have 6 lanes instead of 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambie_Bridge#The_present_bridge
Unfortunatly, bottleneck or chokepoint planning is part of the Vancouver & BC mentality.
Of course BC & the Metro+Vancouver Region just hasn't put enough funds and effort towards proper big-city planning & infrastructure development.
If Perth+and+Seattle had to conform to the extremely restrictive Vancouver approach to things, those cities would be in a perpetual state of chaos. Fortunately, nothing like the BC Mind Virus has ever reached WA.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Oak+Street+and+Granville+Street
Why build things to an impressive international scale like Brisbane is doing?
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.669870 Small-scale Vancouver just has to build things that are only impressive to backwater BC.
Fortunately, The+Brisbane+Aquatic+Centre didn't have the same Vancouver B$ to contend with.
If you are from Brisbane & plan to visit Vancouver, you might at first expect to see a real city on the scale of Sydney or SF, or at least Seattle and Perth. Instead, you will see a provincial backwater of a city. The result of imposed overlapping hiderences.
Somehow, the Vancouver Mind Virus keeps creeping up through the decades. Have a smaller, Half-A$$ED pool than Brisbane, just like having a short joke of a train to the airport. That's the backwards Vancouver way.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver+Aquatic+Centre
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane+Airport+Railway+Line
https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=1097 40floors, 466ft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Centre,_Brisbane "Completed in 1986, it contains 40 storeys and rises 146 metres (479 ft) above ground." https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=170&searchname=timeline , https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=170&status=15
Brisbane and Perth have a similar looking office tower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QV1 "QV1 is a 40-storey modernist skyscraper in Perth, Western Australia. Completed in 1991, the 163-metre (535 ft)..."
https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=1263 40 floors, 533ft https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=168&searchname=timeline
The big question is, will WA ever permit some Gold Coast size resedential towers? https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=712&status=15
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?stateID=51&status=15
While cold Canada has a lot more towns that could gradually be expanded into proper cities, the warm coast of WA has tremendous potential for urban growth. Yet, most of the state can or will likely remain undeveloped.
Given that most proper big cities around the world are permitted to build much taller & wider buildings than what is allowed in strict & stubborn Vancouver, BC, a curious thing has happened over the decades. When a tall tower is built in another city, next to it will be a Vancouver size stump of a building. However, the Vancouver stump isn't always part of the complex, The Vancouver Size Stump might be across the street or a block or so away. Yet, such a stumpy building can provide an excellent example of the larger scale that most big cities are allowed to exist upon.
A Vancouver Size stump in tall Toronto.
.jpg/640px-Elizabeth_Quay_February_2016_(cropped).jpg)
Auckland, NZ, along with Perth, WA and Seattle, WA have no problems with taller buildings and wider bridges than what Vancouver allows. Established cities like London & Paris, NYC & Chicago, big L.A. and even smaller Singapore, all seem to plan, spend & build more infrastructure than backwards Vancouver does.
Cities like Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-SF-Boston-and-Toronto are all on a much larger scale, simply because they don't have anything like the overlapping restrictions that backwards Vancouver & BC has imposed for itself.
https://x.com/CityHallWchVAN/status/1517347123225718785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Escreen-name%3Acityhallwchvan%7Ctwcon%5Es1 What seems big in little Vancouver is small or just average in many other cities.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-Toronto
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane+Airport+Railway+Line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Western_Australia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Western_Australia#Railways
Fortunately, the Transperth_C-series_trains are allowed to be longer than what's in the BC part of Canada.
| Train length | 143.35 m (470 ft 4 in) |
|---|---|
| Car length | 24 m (78 ft 9 in) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transperth_C-series_train#History
From a backwater BC perspective, its amazing that the Transperth_C-series_trains are allowed to be so long. Almost as long as a Montreal Metro train, but closer to the length of the Stockholm Metro trains. It would be chaos if Perth, Montreal & Stockholm had to have short trains like backwards Vancouver does.
A lot of the secondary cities in each state could become big in their own right.
Texas has a lot more people than Australia, yet it's a much smaller area & still has plenty of room.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829222001605
https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-06/future-cities-paper-web.pdf
https://scenariojournal.com/article/made-in-australia
Of course one expects Melbourne and Sydney to have all the big stuff. However, from a Canadian perspective, it's amazing to see that Australia has a 12 lane crossing in Brisbane & a 10 lane crossing in Perth. Such wide bridges just don't exist in Halifax, NS & Victoria, BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges 12 lanes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth) 10 lanes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth)#Railway_bridge:_2005 Seattle & Montreal would end up having their own version of a wide bridge with a train component as well. Of course, stubborn & backwards Greater Vancouver would be one of the last urban areas to ever allow such similar bridges.
It doesn't look like anyone from Canada was ever able to convince Australians to give up on bridge duplication & opt to just cram everything into 4 lanes or an inept 3+lane+bridge for two-way traffic.
