Go cups and pedicabs: are we ready to be "World Class" yet?
Like a beautiful but gangly teenager on the first day of high school, in Vancouver we tend towards constant introspection and self-awareness to the point of mental self-abuse when we discuss our city. "Are we are as pretty as Zurich? Are we more fun than Sydney? Do these pants make me look fat?"
We obsess about being “world class” as though that makes us important. World class doesn't mean "big" – we remain medium-sized (and our topography ensures we will) - as Goldilocks would say, "Just right." World class means something unique which makes the city stand out. Sure, we have mountains, the ocean and trees. But to go next level, we need to go wide open with new ideas and take some calculated risks.
I’ve just rambled back from New Orleans (podcast) – a city that knows something about its brand and reputation – with a headful of ideas borrowed from working examples to re-fit our city experiment into something truly more livable for the normal folks.
New Orleans: "Go" cups – simple, put your beer in plastic cup and take it from bar or store to wherever (walking not driving), very civilized. Street music. Not lonely, hunkered buskers, but like the 14 man brass bands holding court on French Quarter corners where the crowd ebbs with high-rollers' cars and tourists with camera phones mix with locals boogying down. Street-level streetcars (ding ding) with a $3 day-pass to roll on wooden seats down the middle of the road. Also, add a brilliant culinary culture but leave the corruption, rats and humidity.
Austin, Texas: Pedi-cabs – move these cycle rickshaws beyond noisy, drunken weekend novelty status and transform the way we take short up/downtown trips. The licensed drivers make decent cash without emissions and save your sneakers on walks which are too short to bother playing the "where might a cab be?" game.
See also: Hosting art, technology festivals as a civic cash cow a la South by Southwest. Need to loosen up on bars, clubs and meeting centres (seriously, try renting a place) and provide an area for patrons to party (no, GranvilleMall doesn't count) and you'll attract conventioneers besides the stuffy ties at the dual Canada Places. Remember that conferences are junkets which requires fun times for attendees.
London: Though gloomy and spendy, I'll take late night double-decker buses and free museums and galleries. Art saves lives and defines who we are. Make it accessible.
New York: Falafel at 3 a.m. like it's no big deal. There is more, but this is enough.
Amsterdam: You'll notice the separated bike lanes after you are run down when you don't note the signs. As you are falling backwards avoiding the canals as scowling locals pedal by on heavy steel bikes, you'll say to yourself, "I see, these aren't sidewalks, these are true bike paths winding along like expressways for cycles."
The reason bike lanes in Van are getting flack is because something was "taken away" – instead, make bike-only routes separate from the car-ways and everyone will be way happier.
Toronto: Live music clubs with residency bands. Example: The Beauties every Sunday in the low ceilings and loud amps of The Dakota.
Barcelona: Hard to describe Las Ramblas but we need something just like it – a true city pedestrian mall, a walkway, a people's area for mingling, lounging and even lightweight commerce (lay down a blanket, sell your wares). Simply, we shouldn't have to close a major traffic route to host downtown get-togethers or to observe each other on lazy afternoons.
Logan, Utah: Free transit. I know it sounds absurd… another Dave (Olsen, that is) researched free transit systems but missed one in the culturally conservative, big truck driving, two-bar university city by the Idaho border.The seat of Cache County boasts free, quality transit – hop on to go frombig box stores to the Mormon temple. I'd settle for a "SeaBus only" pass.
Brussels: While dignified Brussels manages to beat Vancouver for most underwhelming tourist photo op (Mannekin Pis vs. Gastown "Steam" Clock), the Belgian capital wins big prizes for character bars tended to by pro beer traditionalists serving on endless patio tables ringing vast squares. While we don't have the centuries of Trappist ale culture, places like Six Acres show you can craft character and bring it outside on the cobblestones.
Vancouver: Summerlive at Stanley Park was close to perfect. Keep in mind, I'm a veteran of Grateful Dead tours, the legendary WOMAD feasts, and a hundred hippie jam fest weekends and attest this was simply a remarkable three days of music and demonstrative of a renaissance of great bands unseen since the beery 80s days of local hardcore.
Held close to the totempoles where I had my fifth birthday party, it felt like we stopped caring about how the outside looked at us and started living like we want to – we ride bikes, we walk the seawall, we tidy up, we sing along. Thanks to the police for keeping it chill and letting us enjoy picnics, tokes and (possibly) a brown bagged bevvie.
Wet Cement
We come from all over. Trying to find someone second generation from Vancouver amidst refugees from the frozen lands is a task. And we are already remixing ourselves, our city and our culture daily. The concrete isn't wet yet here, we can still define who we want ourselves to be. And it's a good time to do it since the city's brand (as I learned in a city which survived a hurricane, flood, looting, police corruption and chaos) is "that city that burns cop cars." Nowhere to go but up.
We have visible homeless problems, demoralizing property values and waffling by-laws. These need fixing. But to make my beloved city truly world class, I’ll be happy with a couple of the above for starters.
Photos: All photos by authour except "New Orleans Means Music" by Kris Krug via kk+ via Flickr & authour at Summerlive by brother Dan.
I moved to Vancouver from Toronto in the mid 80s and the most refreshing thing, unlike Toronto, was Vancouver didn't seem to care about whether or not it was world class. In fact, I thought its lack of pretension that way gave it a class that Toronto could never dream of. Sadly, over the years Vancouver seems to have had second thoughts and a World's Fair and the Olympics have only added to its burden of World Classness angst.
I mean, I bet Parisians don't write about how world class their city is.
Striving for world class status is like trying to hang out with the cool kids at school. You finally realized (too late maybe) that if you were just yourself, you'd probably be accepted. Trying to be accepted scotched any hopes of status, because everyone suspected the reason you were trying so hard was that you were insecure--and therefore, like, totally uncool.
I don't know about "To Go" cups in Vancouver - Bourbon St (or the quarter in general) on a weekend night is a bit of a gong show, and that's in a city with an already healthy party culture, and the police infrastructure to suppport it - but we could be well-served by a public liquor consumption policy akin to Montreal's (paraphrased from the original french): no drinking in the park unless you're having a picnic and/or in a picnic area. And no being a jerk about it.
And while we're taking examples from Montreal, let's do away with zone-based travel on transit. A trip is a trip.
The first line of this article sums up the problem with Vancouver perfectly! Rather than aiming for a collective sense of identity, we spend too much time focused on how we're perceived.
This is a great city, but too often that greatness is incorrectly defined by cosmetic features (trees, mountains, etc.). It's like we're too insecure to acknowledge the negative associated with this city (poverty, housing prices, antisocial, *ahem*, the WEATHER), so instead we keep repeating the same old refrain about being the "best place on earth".
Many people will tell you that this is the best city in the world, but offer little if anything of substance to actually back up those claims. At least, nothing that you can say is uniquely Vancouver.
I'm just glad that we can actually begin creating a discussion. At least this way, we can identify what we value as a city, rather than pretending to be something we're not.
I live part time in New Orleans and part time in Victoria, and I gotta say - we are SO incredibly uptight here.
I love being able to grab a beer 'to go' and take my dog for a walk after work - oh and she's allowed in the pub too. Then you come back here and it's god forbid you should be minding your business and have a beer on the beach, or be able to take a well trained, on leash dog anywhere.
Let business and people decide - not uptight city counsellors and provicinial officials legislate what's good or not for us.
Yeah there's always going to be a few bad apples, but take the good with the bad. We're far too sanitized here. I imagine that in the short term there would be problems with people taking advantage, but after awhile, as in every other city in the world that allows this sort of thing, once it's not taboo people get over it. The attitude changes to "Yeah I can have a beer on the street - what's the big deal?" from "OMG I can drink on the street lets get wasted and stupid!"
The reason bike lanes in Van are getting flack is because something was "taken away" – instead, make bike-only routes separate from the car-ways and everyone will be way happier.
Uh, but those Amsterdam bike-only routes used to be car-only all the same. They in fact "took away" much more than just a single lane, they just closed off entire streets and routed traffic around places where it doesn't need to be... or allow for delivery access only in the early morning.
Quoting works in the form, but not after you submit. Nice one.