Things have been going well for Vancouver. Last night, our beloved Canucks managed to beat the Dallas Stars, and won the first set of playoffs in the final 7th game. It was make or break, and they made it. The celebrating on Robson Street was so loud and long that I suspect a lot of people are heading into work sleepy-eyed this morning.
Yesterday was a picture-perfect day, with mild breezes, sun and a few scattered clouds. Before the game started at BC Place, I met up with Mark, a Computer Scientist visiting from LA, whom I’d met through my article in the LA Times. While we tried to chat over a few brews, the groans and cheers of the crowd would punctuate the evening (I got home before the revels started). As the game-winning goal was made by Trevor Linden we heard the cheers from the whole city from our balcony in False Creek. A slew of hangovers was probably made just bit worse by the return of rain today.
Tomorrow night is the Blogger Meetup, and I suspect that our celebrations will continue, although somewhat tempered by the fact that it’s not over; the Canucks now have to go on to face the Anaheim Ducks, and will be doing so that evening just as we’re sitting down. (I’m sure we’ll know the play by play, either from TVs or the Wi Fi connection).
The CanadaLine
Today I came across this video via Pacific Metropolis, who track this sort of thing, that details the new mass transit system that is currently the reason that they are tearing up much of downtown and Cambie Street (as well as the airport, I suppose, but I haven’t seen that myself). As it shows, It will make Richmond and the Airport about a half an hour from Downtown’s Waterfront Station, which is the connection to North Vancouver (and ultimately by motor coach, Whistler) via Seabus and the other towns to the east via the Skytrain system.
It’s a typical, cheesy corporate video, with some truly awful stock music and overly plastic narration, but you can get the general idea:
Frankly, if this is what the taxes that we’re filing (due in 6 days and counting) are going toward, I’m more than OK with it. Yeah, I know, I know, there are lots of folks here who aren’t thrilled with the Canadaline, and fought against it (and I suspect that it really wasn’t pretty the way it was pushed through). I say, let’s make the most of it. Finally, people will be able to get from the Airport to Burnaby (and even Surrey) without burning an ounce of gasoline. And with local prices at the pump around 1.18 per liter, as well as the usual Global Warming arguments, being ahead of the curve on mass transit can’t be a completely bad thing.
I remember the videos and praise for the Big Dig back in Boston, but I always hated the idea of a road for more cars, built under the city. So much money and so much engineering (and corruption) merely to build a highway? What were they thinking?