Quote:
Originally Posted by BurnoutBinLaden
It is of my opinion that the real estate bubble has hampered the expansion of entertainment and cultural venues in town. Developers have made so much money from skyrocketing land prices that they are able to bankroll local elections. This way, they get their plans approved over, say, a new theatre or arena. Here's an article about it (it's a poorly written one but the underlying message is sound).
This bubble has long lasting and far reaching effects that people might not realize. One of the reasons that Vancouver is no fun city is that all the potential places to have fun have been occupied by condos. It really makes me question whether I want to keep living in this town, and I know that sounds petty but Vancouver is shooting itself in the foot with respect to becoming a world city. |
That's a small piece of a larger picture.
Yes, clubs are destroyed to build condos. That affects a certain amount of people, and makes the city "less fun"
So many businesses are levelled because the primary purpose of the place is to make money. And, they sell out and make money on the land.
Then, you have a group of people that have less disposable income because of their housing that they can't support businesses.
And industry. They started buying the Hastings corridor in East Van. Well, that was primarily an industrial area. It still could be, but its cheaper to move to industrial parks and vacate that area. Meaning, your employees and customers need to commute in. So then you say we need more public transit to support these new areas, when in reality, you had it, but you leveled it to make more bedrooms.
Everyone talks about live-work neighborhoods, but no one is moving in that direction, unless people work small retail and starbucks.
There are a few key areas that could support a fantastic system of local made, real products in an area close to residential neighborhoods. Hastings is one. New West has another. The pressure for development is: condos. Great for the tax base, great for construction...but not really great for life.