Central Waterfront District | Waterfront Station - CRAB Park

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

The North Shore has a lot of potential to become Vancouver's own Kowloon.

Or Oakland?

[deasine]

Originally Posted by Nutterbug

Or Oakland?

I would say Surrey has the potential of becoming Oakland [you're talking about San Fran right?].

[jlousa]

*l* I thought Surrey was going to be New Jersey

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by deasine

I would say Surrey has the potential of becoming Oakland [you're talking about San Fran right?].

Uh yeah.

There's no other famous place by that name, is there?

[agrant]

Regarding the rail expansion to North Van... The growth on the North Shore seems relatively slow, but I imagine that's partly due to the limits of the crossings (Iron Workers and Lions Gate), and of course not a lot of land to play with. I can't see those two bridges taking on a lot more traffic. It can take up to 20 minutes just to get onto Lions Gate now, and you should see the chaos/frustration getting on. The fact there is going to continue to be a little growth, both there and further up the Squamish Hwy., will just add to the demand for a new crossing. I'd really like to see that in the form of rapid transit. Good lord, so many expensive projects are going to be needed down the road for sure.

[Rusty Gull]

I love the Kowloon analogy. That's my dream for North Vancouver.

However, some developers in town want a different direction -- Sausalito, across the water from San Francisco. Not my cup of tea, though... a bit too sleepy for my tastes. The local nimbies would love it, though.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Rusty Gull

I love the Kowloon analogy. That's my dream for North Vancouver.

However, some developers in town want a different direction -- Sausalito, across the water from San Francisco. Not my cup of tea, though... a bit too sleepy for my tastes. The local nimbies would love it, though.

We already have our own Sausalito though, it's called White Rock.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Nutterbug

Or Oakland?

I personally like to use foreign examples.

[zilfondel]

allow for an additional passenger rail line to be added in the future.

Down here in Portland and Seattle we're all for vastly improved intercity rail to Vancouver. They've got what, 1 train a day running between Seattle and Vancouver right now?

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

I personally like to use foreign examples.

The Americans took us over?

Seriously, though, it was meant as an example of what a cross-bay city would be like if things went terribly wrong.

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Down here in Portland and Seattle we're all for vastly improved intercity rail to Vancouver. They've got what, 1 train a day running between Seattle and Vancouver right now?

Two starting this summer.

It would be great if they could upgrade the bridge at New West, so they could run more trains to/from Vancouver, but if not, then they should build a station at Surrey, and two separate trains per day from both Vancouver and Surrey in alternation.

[Lee_Haber8]

For the most part I must say the plan looks good. However, some things still puzzle me:

-Why does an area that is probably the best served by transit in Metro Vancouver need another expensive car parkade?

-Why do all the extended new streets have to have car traffic on them? Wouldn't the area be a lot nicer and more pleasant if it was a pedestrian only area?

[Jacques]

I gather the street extension has more to do with tourism buses and delivery, once the hub is defined and with increased oil price not going down, I feel confident it will be aimed ore for foot traffic to the max and less for cars

BTW: OPEN HOUSE tomorrow at Vancouver public Library
for those interested
cheer

[flight_from_kamakura]

white rock as sausalito, that's a pretty cool analogy. the only problem is that it messes up my whole 'the north shore as marin' analogy!

personally, i think burnaby or maybe richmond is a lot more like oakland than surrey. surrey would be like a sort of san jose, a sort of large, regional competitor to vancouver.

but between burnaby and richmond, which is *more* like oakland?

well, oakland's essential features are: the port/docks, the low rise sfr's, the historically minority neighborhoods; the lower cost of living (hooboy, but not that much lower), the much nicer weather, the lake, the hills, the proximity to berkeley, and being sort of the capital of the east bay.

so let's see:

burnaby: port/docks, yeah sort of. low rise sfrs, definitely, but less and less. lots of minorities (but not too much more than in vancouver). it's appropriately cheaper than vancouver. a big lake. a big hill. proximity to a college (though not the regional hegemon that cal is). and it's a sort of capital of the north of fraser non-vancouver group of cities.

richmond: port/docks, uhh. the capital of low rise sfrs. strangely homogenous minorities, but yeah, it counts. much cheaper than vancouver, relative to burnaby. no lake or hills or good college, and certainly not the capital of the south of fraser (or so.fa!).

so on balance, burnaby wins! congrats to all burnabians!

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Nutterbug

Two starting this summer.

It would be great if they could upgrade the bridge at New West, so they could run more trains to/from Vancouver, but if not, then they should build a station at Surrey, and two separate trains per day from both Vancouver and Surrey in alternation.

finally

currently there is one train that leaves Seattle in the morning and than there is one than it goes back from Vancouver at 6 pm and there is no chance of making any connections further south so you are forced to stay the night in Seattle

if you could leave vancouver in the morning you could continue on to california

[deasine]

Misread Post/Delete

[Rusty Gull]

Isn't a second run to Seattle being added later this year-- and perhaps as early as this summer?

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by deasine

^ummm... isn't Nutterbug talking about the SkyBridge? not the rail bridge?

Rail bridge. That's what the Amtrak Cascades runs on.

[deasine]

Misread your post sorry.

[Jacques]

I stopped by the Open house at the VPL and I wasn't impress when one the speaker told us that the buildings to be added at the back of the LANDING Complex was aimed at being solely parking space and that the two forefront mid-rise office also were to have a large podium but underneath more parking spaces otherwise it would not meet the building cost as so he stated!
I asked about the WhiteCap Stadium that was accepted by public consultation to be built on top of the Seabus terminal and they stated it wasn't feasible so they told me that VPA has being in talks to have the stadium built on the adjacent parking lot now occupied by Heliport terminal or even further east side by side to Crab park.
A few people were also upset that they even didn't put forward space for bicycles and electric car stalls.
maybe be I am wrong but the speaker who talked to us, truly didn't make this venture very appealing, it all suggested more vehicles in this hub, when asked about a future extension EAST for the Skytrain, literary a resounding NO.
As for the build of Offices, their suggestion of mid-rise didn't add up, I suggested 800 meter and bulldozed the Vancouver sun and Sear tower and built a more suitable building that would stands a an Icon for the city, after all the Shangri-La has stamped our future as unique and awesome why not proceed in that manner.
I gather that by the end of the open house , hopefully they will listen to the suggestions and make some amendment, so far it is not green as environmentally as it ought a be, it is more green with the dollars in mind and how much money can they make out of this stagnant plot of land.
Overall, few tweak here and there and they could make it more pedestrians friendly have a defined streetcar line in place ( because that was not even in the agenda )
and have plan to extend Skytrain to the north shore by 2020 isn't unreasonable n my views.
MYO
cheers