A Tale of Three Cities
February 18, 2003 - 6:45pm — bmann
Saw this interesting article published in the Seattle Times, comparing Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver.
Makes me a bit homesick, especially in the depths of winter here.
(Link via Boing-Boing)
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Cascadia
Republic of Cascadia "The former American states of Oregon and Washington and the former Canadian province of British Columbia must join together as a sovereign nation. Only then can we have self-determination and take our rightful place in the Global Community."
Name: The Republic of Cascadia (long form), Cascadia (short form)
Capital: Cascadia
Area: 855,762 sq km
Population: 12,653,849 (1997 est)
GDP: US$323 billion (1996 est)
Language: Cascadese (a dialect of English)
Time System: Metric Time
I hate politics.
The main problem with Vancouver/Lower Mainland right now is its traffic. From White Rock to Vancouver it used to take me 1 hour 30 minutes to and from work each day. I move to Burnaby West, far closer and with Sky Train, and it takes me 1 hour to get to work each day now. Vancouver is 20-30% over capacity on its roads and it really shows. We are starting to look like Ontario now, with five and six cars going through flashing-green left turns well after the light has gone off.
As for who is to blame with BC's current situation, well the answer is everyone, really. The NDP shares a significant amount of blame for the situation of BC's economy. Campbell does as well, and so does the Federal government. Evan, while I appreciate the opinion that the NDP can't be blamed, in light of you blaming it all on Campbell, and admitting your political preference, saying the NDP can't be blamed is quite partisan of you. Everyone knows the dirty tricks politicians do with taxpayer money to shove blame onto the party that succeeds them, like overspending gross amounts the way the NDP did in their last year in office.
And this is one reason why I absolutely hate politics. I don't even vote any more... politics in Canada is bankrupt, with government changing hands so many times that the changes one party makes are stripped away with the other - Canadian government is an exercise in futility - every government cancels the other out, and nothing ever gets done but corrupt deals, infighting, and stagnation.
actually
I don't blame Campbell for everything. I blame him for the most recent budget; that was entirely caused by his fiscal choices of the past year or two.
I think some changes he/Liberals made are beneficial. At the same time I think he is going too far to make his "imprint" on the BC economy/political landscape. I have always insisted that he is clueless about life outside of Vancouver and a lot of his decisions have reflected that.
I don't know if I will vote in the next election as the parties to choose from don't appeal to me. I end up voting for the party I dislike/hate the least. This is not democracy.
As for traffic I can't comment too much. Perhaps if the outlying regions of Vancouver (Richmond, Burnaby) had stuck to the sustainable region principles as Vancouver did they wouldn't be having the urban sprawl and associated traffic problems...Transit is a solution to this problem as long as density is high; otherwise transit fails (as evident in any of the outlying communities).
Water for the flames?
disclaimer: me left-wingy-type
Actually it was the 25% tax cuts given to top earners by the current Liberals (in name only) headed by Drinkin' Campbell.
And the massive tax cuts given to business.
And the deep cuts to everything if you live outside the Lower Mainland.
Yet we still have a 3.6 billion dollar deficit in the province. After a two years of governance the "blame the old governments" arguement starts to wear thin.
We now have a 3.5 cent per litre gas tax (don't affect me much!)
We now have higher taxes on smokes (don't affect me much!)
I agree some cuts were needed. However; every good doctor knows how deep to cut and this doctor should be in chains for malpractice.
Why is BC a Have-Not Province Now?
So, I haven't read the whole article, but I read enough to realize it touts living in Vancouver. Especially in the downtown core of Vancouver. But, tell me why it is that while our Eastern provinces are beginning to get out of the doldrums of fiscal trouble, BC has entered it?
Has Vancouver's development come at the huge expense of tax payers? I'm no expert, but the NDP government of the past sure seems to have screwed the province financially.
Just a little rant....
Less to do with NDP
I'm not going to enter the disclaimer :)
So, these Eastern provinces are coming out of the doldrums AFTER several years of money being put back IN to the system.
BC has always had an economy based largely on resources -- logging and fishing, primarily. Both of these industries, after several years of decline, have pretty much completely tanked. Little work has been done to stimulate growth in other areas.
Heck, here's a personal example -- large portions of its high-tech graduates leave for work elsewhere! As Evan pointed out, cutting things like education funding is likely not the right solution at this point.
Another interesting thing about BC is that there is Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the Interior. The main urban areas are Vancouver and the Island -- everything else is, essentially rural, or even just woods. It's as if Ontario had to run an entire province off of Toronto and Ottawa alone.
Oh, and the article was more about exploring the different development choices made in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, and it's written/targetted at a Seattle argument. Seattle's downtown core is essentially a bunch of office towers plus spaghetti loops of highways. Yuck!