“Montrealers are from La Belle Province – Quebec; Vancouverites are from BC – The Best Place on Earth!”

Frank and Michael #9 & #10…
I hope you get the irony.

As a matter of fact, Montreal is actually falling apart, inside and out. Once a Grand city, now it’s a city pestered with protests, buildings are falling apart.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/05/16/montreal.html

The construction industry in Quebec is run by The Mob, what you didn’t know that? Many of their buildings… why do you think they fall down?
Some quietly, some, not so much…

People often die from falling debris while driving under bridges in… beautiful Montreal.
But bike lanes are a priority, and the city is doing a… LOL, “Bike Score”?

Hey, what is one to expect from a Province that spent more on Separation than on Infrastructure?
As for the Mayor of Montreal? Are you joking?
Laughable. A great city is not all about festivals, beer drinking and street parties.
It’s all about riots, property tax hikes, and parking – sharking.

Just ask Gregor.

We live in Vancouver and tis keeps us busy.

I noticed that a lot of money is being spent on the freeway heading west out of town.

So Mira, I am intrigued with your source of information. Do you have a web link to prove your point that all the money and resources are being spent on cycle routes? It looks to me like most of the investment in those routes happened in the 70′s and 80′s.

“Mayor Gregor Robertson opened “ . . . the New Cities Foundation conference in Paris!. And I do not see the French coming out smelling of roses. Just, more cynical smoke and mirrors!”

Me likes!
Smoke and mirrors! BTW did Robertson took days off from being Mayor, sick days, vacation, what? As he was invited there on private business, made to look like he’s doing city business. Perhaps but not THIS city! Phew!

Nice stuff. Greatly aided by the fact that the row across the way had been demolished after being bombarded in WWII, and the row now looks onto an open park.

The tube was about a 12 minute walk away, and just about half way one encountered a street market that operated on weekdays, if I recall correctly.

No reason we couldn’t build the same product with a contemporary vocabulary.

Agree! We suffer from “short-sightedness disease’ in this town.

Also agree on what constitutes hi-tech here, thus far.

Industrial land supply is a huge issue and a key component of Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy.

In fact, Goal #2 states: Support A Sustainable Economy

‘The land base and transportation systems required to nurture a healthy business sector are protected and supported. This includes supporting regional employment and economic growth. Industrial and agricultural land is protected and commerce flourishes in Urban Centres throughout the region’.

Now, go have a gander at this report from Metro Vancouver on our region’s total industrial land supply:

‘Metro Vancouver 2010 Industrial Lands Inventory – November 15, 2011′

Take a look at Vancouver’s numbers. Not good.

@Guest.

I hope that the City is recognizing the problem. But unless a civic strategy that specifically outlines how they intend to use that land into the future is produced, I would say that we will have to keep a careful watch on this subject.

A huge swath of industrial land on the flats lies virtually dormant for the occasional CPR shunting muster. (We forget Grace McCarthy was honoured for giving away half downtown to Li ka Shing!)

As for industry, we have none! What we call high tech is web page assembly and computer games: indeed, simple HTML and quite low tech.

The mining industry has gone to South America and South East Asia.

Dimension lumber is a thing of the past. We’ve squandred it all!

The lumber industry resorts to panelized splice and glue. Plywood mills are pulling veneer off logs that should not be harvested.

Shipping poles off shore, no value added, is now common practice.

Silviculture is, apparently, a word forest industry personnel are unable to pronounce.

But we have real estate and so long as some realtors, (probably most), can push 90% of their listing to Main Land China there is little incentive for the Mayor’s Task force and Round Table to take affordability seriously. When all is said and done, they’re, as the saying goes, inboard!”

So apparently, grandstanding is the order of the day . . .

Mayor Gregor Robertson opened “ . . . the New Cities Foundation conference in Paris!. And I do not see the French coming out smelling of roses. Just, more cynical smoke and mirrors!

@Mira – not sure what your hostility toward bikes (or Montreal?) is all about, but the Metro and underground system is also incredibly well-used. And the pedestrian realm is also highly attended to, with some of the most delightlful squares and public art to provide delight and respite. If you haven’t visited this truly great city I would urge you to do so.

If you are in areas of town where the City does not want to let I2 & M2 zones go, i.e. Marpole, then you are out of luck. The City can stand up for industrial land retention when it wishes to do so. This will be a good thing if/when job-production returns to these areas which are currently sadly underperforming.

The Marine Gateway site was only rezoned based upon its location at the CanadaLine station. Nothing else south of Marine Drive has been let go to date.

The key will be determining the Future Economic/Jobs Producing Plan for the remaining Industrial Lands in the city of Vancouver. The City is apparently working in earnest on this, but it has taken much, much too long.