Vancouver Parking Lot Brawl Will Make You Want to Never Drive Again

There are plenty of reasons Vancouver no longer the world's most livable city

Aug thirty, 2011 • August 30, 2011 • 4 minute read • Bring together the conversation

Vancouver has lost its title as the earth's most livable city, simply we soldier on. What has changed, actually, since the last survey? Nosotros've experienced some other hockey-related riot, bigger than the 1994 donnybrook. We've added a second large bike lane downtown to impede traffic and commerce. We've witnessed more loopy metropolis council politics. Encouraged by Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Greenest City Action Team, we're growing more chickens in our backyards, and now in that location's wheat out forepart. The real estate market continues to punish center class families. Consistency. That's what Vancouver is all about.

And notwithstanding the city was dropped two pegs by the Economist Intelligence Unit, an off-shoot of the

magazine. The EIU produces annual livability rankings and city profiles, and sells them (current issue $three,150) to credulous, monied folk. Vancouver was the EIU's height choice for a decade until Tuesday, bloody Tuesday. At present we're Number Three, behind Melbourne and Vienna.

Toronto is ranked the world'south fourth most livable city. Calgary, fifth. So now we know: The annual survey is bunk.

More proof? Vancouver was bumped, the EIU explained, because of transportation bug. It cited precisely one, the "recent intermittent closures of the central Malahat highway that resulted in a 0.7 percent point turn down in the city's overall livability rating." The Economist'southward intel team might have checked a map; the Malahat Drive, as information technology's properly known, is a pretty just treacherous department of the Trans-Canada Highway. On Vancouver Island. A xc-minute ferry trip from Vancouver, across the Strait of Georgia, and then another hour'due south drive subsequently that.

The merely contempo extraordinary event along the Malahat occurred in April, when a fuel truck crashed near Goldstream Provincial Park, spilling 42,000 litres of gasoline and 600 litres of diesel. The Malahat was airtight for 22 hours; traffic was forced to detour, an inconvenience to be sure. B.C.'s transportation ministry ordered a review of the incident and a subsequent 21-page written report offered 8 recommendations to improve traffic control and communications forth the road. Responding to local ridicule and a World and Mail service investigation, EIU survey editor John Copestake explained that the "Malahat Highway, despite the fact that it's not in key Vancouver, [is] obviously in the broader region."

While Vancouver has plenty to recommend it — and is a nifty place to live and work, for those who can afford information technology — residents know the score. Livability? What about shoddy home construction, and leaky condos? That crisis isn't over nonetheless. Or the almost billion-dollar boondoggle formerly known as Vancouver'south Olympic Hamlet, now a privately owned ghost town?

Or an increasingly opaque municipal authorities? Hours afterwards the Economist released its livability survey on Tuesday, Vancouver councillor Suzanne Anton and her municipal political party, the Civic Non-Partisan Association (NPA), claimed that city bureaucrats "won't allow the public" to scrutinize another batch of city-funded projects, green-themed denizen initiatives intended to brand the city great again.

Vancouver'southward Greenest City Neighbourhood Grants program is built to "generate more customs involvement for the Greenest City goals in areas of goose egg waste, local food, trees/greening and agile transportation." A asking for proposals was issued this yr; 54 applications were received and reviewed by city bureaucrats for worthiness. Sixteen applicants were then approved to receive a full of $100,000 in taxpayer-supplied funds.

Ms. Anton, who is running for mayor in elections to be held in November, asked to see consummate descriptions of all successful project applications. They arrived final month, along with a dire warning from city director Penny Ballem. Go on the details to yourself, or face a lawsuit.

"This is confidential information which should not be disclosed to any third parties," Dr. Ballem's warning reads. "Afterward consulting with Legal Services and the Information and Privacy Director, I remind y'all that this [grant] information must be kept confidential, every bit it is subject to statutory restrictions on its disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation."

Ms. Anton was not impressed. "I've now seen the in-depth clarification of the Greenest City grant applications, but I'm forbidden from showing taxpayers the details," she said Tuesday. The $100,000 is being spent on "wacky schemes that waste tax dollars," she insists. Councillor Geoff Meggs says he'south "baffled" at Ms. Anton's remarks, noting that City Hall has offered more disclosure than she suggests.

According to a City of Vancouver authoritative study prepared in May, projects canonical for Greenest City funding include a private tricycle courier business ($fifteen,500), a "airplane pilot project to explore small-scale scale grain product by converting conventional grass lawns" ($5,000), and "a forum/conference on the physical and mental health benefits of fourth dimension spent in nature" ($two,000).

Trikes, talk and homegrown wheat. Wacky schemes? Perhaps. Simply this is a city in ratings free fall; the Economist says so. We'll endure what nosotros must to climb back on peak.

National Post

bhutchinson@nationalpost.com