Posts from — October 2009

Frances Bula’s short note on my Tyee piece about revisioning the Georgia Viaducts has produced a welter of comments, including the important note that this issue was passionately and persuasively raised by Paul Hilsdon on his blog earlier this year. I had added a note to that effect to the Tyee piece, but it fell under the editor’s delete button. Credit where credit is due.

The idea of removing the viaducts is not new, but was never raised seriously until Concord Pacific began developing the Expo lands. Until then, the viaducts made sense. The first viaduct carried Georgia St. over the rail yards, industry and warehouses that sat between CPR’s False Creek operations and the port. Its replacement in the 1970s was at the heart of a proposed massive freeway system, but also served to lift traffic over an industrial area.

The prospect, at last, of redeveloping the area between Yaletown and Chinatown, brings the future of the viaducts into question. [Read more →]

On the Tyee today, my questions about the future of the Georgia Viaduct.

Just hours after the unveiling of the medals for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, VANOC CEO John Furlong told a Board of Trade luncheon crowd that the Vancouver Games have already been a transformative event in the history of the province.

The Games have already begun, Furlong said, with yesterday’s transportation plan roll-out, the medal unveiling and the lighting of the Olympic flame next week in Greece. After that, the longest torch relay in Olympic history will visit 1,000 communities and then, at last, we have the Games.

In an emotional speech that reviewed the long history of the bid, from the victory in Prague to last week’s final report to the IOC in Copenhagen, Furlong ticked off the transformations he believes have already occurred.

Most conspicuous of course, are the venues — “the changes at the airport, the new Olympic Village, a new rail line, although it was not part of the bid, and on it goes” — but even more important, he argues, are the changes in the people of the province.

In Prague, he said, “we had a vision and that vision was a very human one.” The Games “could be about everyone, not an exclusive few . . . we would find a way to let everyone in.” [Read more →]

Bombardier's Flexity tram, now in service in Brussels, is heading to Vancouver for an Olympic trial: leather seats and wood interior design features have reduced vandalism.

The two Bombardier Flexity streetcars destined to run between Granville Island and Olympic Village Canada Line station during the 2010 Games are on their way. After rolling around Brussels for several weeks carrying banners indicating their destination is Vancouver, the cars — complete with leather seats and “Art Nouveau” design features — will be loaded on a ship, come through the Panama Canal to Tacoma, then proceed by truck to Vancouver for commissioning early in the New Year.