Top three things about Vancouver: 1. mountains/hiking; 2. Chinese food; 3. Consignment stores on every block.

The other HOlly thinks the number one thing about Vancouver is good coffee shops. Tons of them.

As for the homeless people, ya, Vancouver homeless people are very aggressive, demanding and expectant.

Never a truer word spoken.

One of the interesting things I’ve found is that most Vancouverites have absolutely no concept of a built environment being beautiful in itself. The idea that buildings and civic spaces can be beautiful…it just doesn’t compute here. If you try to tell a Vancouverite that Vienna is a truly beautiful city, or Paris, or Edinburgh, or even New York, they will look at you like you’re crazy. “But those places don’t even have mountains!”, they’ll object. “Paris doesn’t have a harbour and a sea wall!” To a Vancouverite, a collection of rancid shacks next to a mountain would by definition be beautiful, whereas Venice can’t be beautiful because it isn’t surrounded by natural beauty.

I guess if you never leave the confines of this city, other than to go to Calgary, Vegas or Victoria, you will have no lexicon by which to converse about what true civic beauty is. It is a deeply ignorant place. Not stupid; ignorant.

Now, first some background – I’m not a BC native. I moved here from Ontario (like many other people in BC it seems). I’ve lived in several large Canadian cities, including Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. I’ve also lived in smaller communities in the Interior of BC and southern Ontario. Finally, I’ve driven across the country and visited just every province with the exception of Newfoundland. Still have to make it to the territories though.

Now, given that all, I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed in Vancouver, for a lot of the same reasons you mention. Here’s my take.

1. “Vancouver is a beautiful city”. This is patently false and is bad marketing. What really should be said is “Vancouver is a medicore city situated amongst beautiful surroundings”. There is no arguing that the mountains and ocean are a picturesque backdrop for the city. But Vancouver itself is pretty plain, and in some places downright unkempt (East Van, certain areas along Broadway, etc). Architecturally, Vancouver’s buildings aren’t very interesting either – just one copycat condo after another. The skyline is flat and without any kind of character.

2. The homeless situation here is beyond belief. I was floored the first time I visited Gastown (I work in high tech). Here are a ton of well-funded high-tech startups, and a few classy restaurants, situated right next to the poorest neighbourhood in Canada. I remember walking past a very fancy restaurant, right next to a mini tent-city in the foyer of an abandoned building. What’s wrong with this picture? How can this be a *beautiful* city?

3. Real Estate is insane. $550,000 for a 600 sq. ft 1 bdrm condo downtown? $550,000 gets you a home in Toronto and Montreal (in the city, not in the burbs). In smaller up & coming communities like Kitchener-Waterloo, $550,000 gets you a 2200 sq. ft. heritage house that’s well over 100 years old. $270K gets you a brand-new 1800 sq. ft house w/warranty.

4. The local work ethic is too relaxed. I used to live next to Vancouver’s “financial district” downtown (all 2 blocks of it). One day I overheard a conversation between two bankers – they were complaining that “big business” prefers Toronto & Montreal over Vancouver and never locate their headquarters here. Then the conversation switched to how they were taking the afternoon off to go skiing at Cypress. On a Wednesday.

Actually, the work ethic here isn’t really a bad thing if you’re an Ontario transplant. I’ve found that I do *very* well here while only working about 70% as hard as I did back east.

5. Unions. BC has too many of them.

6. Food is too expensive. Example: a large brick of Armstrong cheese (originally from Armstrong, BC) costs $11+ here. In Ontario and Montreal, the same amount costs $7-9.

7. Rain. Actually, Vancouver only gets about 18-20% more rain per year than Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario. So it really doesn’t rain *that* much. However, the precipitation in Vancouver is almost entirely rain, and almost entirely occurs within a 5 month period – whereas KW precipitation is spread out over the entire year, so it doesn’t seem as bad.

8. I have to agree with your #8 – “cheap things to do”. There really isn’t much in this city. It’s not that “the locals always get bored” as some other poster indicated. I’ve experienced that. This is different. If you’re into hiking and boating, then the area surrounding Vancouver has lots to offer. But if you’re not into the outdoors, the city offers little beyond shopping, movies, and dining out. Compare the events section of the Georgia Straight paper with a similar publication in Toronto or Montreal and you’ll see what I mean.

9. Vancouverites/BC residents don’t get out much. By “out”, I mean out of the province. The Rockies act as a buffer and cut BC off from the rest of the country. I’m amazed at how few BC natives have ever gone east of Alberta. I know it’s a trip, but c’mon – if you’re going to complain about Ontario, Ottawa or Toronto, you should at least visit it. And no, switching flights in Toronto on your way to somewhere else doesn’t count. Sure, Ontario has its downsides (I could write a long post about it too), but at least I’ve *been there* and know what I’m talking about when I complain.

10. Roads. Get some real ones. The major artery which connects the largest metropolis in BC to the rest of the province is a 4 lane highway that is frequently backed up beyond belief.

And rather than scrap the Georgia Viaduct, *finish it*. The city needs a fast, effective way to get downtown. If you’re concerned about traffic noise in residential communities, I submit it’s already there because you’re forcing more cars on residential roads. But if that’s still not enough, then take a look at what Ottawa did. The Ottawa River Parkway is a dedicated route from the ‘burbs’ to downtown Ottawa (almost literally to Parliament). It follows the Ottawa River & is very scenic. On Sundays in the summer, they even close the parkway to traffic and open it up to pedestrians, cyclists and roller bladers (plus there’s a dedicated cyclist path that parallels it all the way downtown).

Revitalize your waterfront and put something similar in that runs from Burnaby mountain / the Barnet Highway to downtown.

12. Recycling programs. Get real ones.

In the eyes of the rest of Canada, BC is a “green province” (and I don’t mean the weed). Imagine my surprise when I moved here and discovered the abysmal recycling programs. In Ontario I could recycle *everything*, in almost any moderately-sized community. Here in BC it’s hit and miss, and most of the recycling programs are limited in what they actually deal with. In the interior, it’s much worse. City recycling programs were scrapped in Kamloops because they apparently took business away from independent recyclers.

And did I understand this correctly: Victoria dumps *raw sewage* into the ocean? I know that’s not Vancouver, but still… WTF?

11. I’ll end this on a semi-funny note:

Vancouver retailers: Bagged milk. Get it.

Yes, I know the concept sounds funny. But it’s *super convenient* and uses less packaging than jugs or cartons.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/128389322_be5f183849.jpg

That’s it for me.

You have a probelm?? come kick our ass. we gonna get the heck out of this city, and move ot a better one!