Cascadia Report

Category: Vancouver

  • Rockslide shows need for road alternatives

    There’s no definitive explanation yet for the rock slide that blocked traffic between Vancouver and Whistler for seven hours on Sunday.

    Sea-to-Sky rockslide; photo from news1130.comSurely the major widening of the Sea-to-Sky highway to handle traffic for the 2010 Olympics played a role, but construction isn’t officially getting the blame. It’s worth noting that radio Web sites provided information about the road’s conditions all day, while as late as 1:00 a.m. on Sunday night the Vancouver Sun’s Web site told readers to wait for the Monday morning newspaper.

    The unexplained closure ought to renew interest in alternative forms of transportation to the Whistler area. Why not an expansion of the passenger ferry service planned between Vancouver and Squamish during the Olympics? Why not start a fast ferry from Seattle to Squamish? If the C$600 million or so cost of the highway’s reconstruction makes economic sense, can’t alternatives pencil out too?

  • How the rest of Cascadia handles the Olmsted Bros.

    Apparently a movement is afoot to replace the long row of cherry trees along Lake Washington with native plants that would more closely follow the original Olmsted Brothers’ design for the park. Danny Westneat refers to this as “botanical correctness.”

    There are similar Olmsted designs in Vancouver and Portland. Any idea how they’ve handled updating these master-designed parklands that help make the cities so liveable?

  • Timber company gets gift of public forest

    British Columbia is giving a troubled timber company a huge swath of forest on Vancouver Island, essentially allowing logging on public property in exchange for the economic benefit of helping keep the company in business.

    Western Forest Products gets 69,000 acres — roughly 75 times the size of Stanley Park — that the company ceded to the government decades ago in exchange for access to other land. The move is expected to allow logging that will provide thousands of jobs along the province’s coast, though the jobs aren’t likely to outlast the trees.

  • Build rail transit to help the environment

    Here’s another reason to invest in rail transit along the I-5 corridor from Vancouver to Portland: the environment.

    Of course it will cost billions, but we should begin the process with the money we have amassed in recent years. If we don’t, we’ll never be able to afford it. Ticket revenue would defray a portion of the cost, and productivity gains will help offset the cost.

    If we add tolls along the corridor based on the amount of car traffic, the economics of a rail alternative would improve even more.

  • B.C. should open India trade office, report says

    British Columbia should open a business development office in India to support industry-led marketing there, according to a group commissioned by Premier Gordon Campbell.

    In order to build ties beyond the export of natural resources, the province needs to boost its profile in India, the report said. B.C. could encouraging Indian movie and TV producers to include stories of the Indian diaspora in Canada, or pay them to showcase the province’s nature. It notes that both Air Canada and Air India are expected to launch service to India from Vancouver.

  • Whistler debates opening of another chain store

    Debate over whether a drug store chain should be allowed to open in Whistler Village has driven a wedge between small retailers worried about being run out of business and residents hungry for bargains. Residents are torn: a recent survey found that they want lower prices for goods but prefer local stores over national chains.

  • Which would you sacrifice: your latte or your car?

    A poll found that people in British Columbia, by a margin of more than three to one, would rather give up their lattes than their cars to save money. The Vancouver Sun contrasts that with eastern Canada: “While Quebecers may still be sipping lattes, they are more likely to be doing that on public transportation.”

    The survey should have asked what part of their day people would like to give up. Most Cascadians would likely trade their cars for a better experience if there were an alternative. Unfortunately no city in the region will ever replicate transit in Montreal. Vancouver’s Sky Train falls far short and Seattle isn’t even close (see post below).

  • Ports oppose plan to tax shipping

    Washington state ports are opposing an influential legislator’s plan to tax containers to pay for transportation projects that would help move freight. The ports should offer an alternative way to pay for the improvements.

    An extra per-container charge would steer more traffic to rivals in Vancouver or California, which are already competing effectively because of superior transportation links to larger markets. Yet, with rising construction costs making the regional to-do list more daunting, it’s not enough to expect voters to pay entirely through up-front taxes. Why not advocate congestion pricing across the region, which would alleviate crowding on roads and provide incentives to use alternate transportation.

  • Seattle port among the West Coast’s least efficient

    The Port of Seattle is among the West Coast’s least efficient , according to the Seattle P-I. Vancouver’s port moves twice as many containers per acre.

  • Report: Cascadia cities among the world’s costliest

    A new report says Cascadia’s cities are among the world’s least affordable, with Vancouver ranked 13th worst, Victoria 23rd, Seattle 36th and Portland 60th.

    VancouverThe report, by research firm Demographia, focuses on the ratio of home prices to income. It rightly notes the imbalance between supply and demand, but dismisses the role of interest rates and robust local economies.

    Another oversight: It doesn’t mention the cost of transportation, which makes big cities such as New York and Tokyo less prohibitive than the report suggests. If transit options in Cascadia enabled the average family of four to live with one car instead of two, saving at least $400 per month, even pricey housing would be more affordable.

    The report says land-use rules are the biggest culprit:

    Various planning strategies have driven up the price of housing, such as land rationing (urban growth boundaries and infill requirements), extravagant amenity requirements, excessively high infrastructure fees and approval processes that are unnecessarily lengthy and complicated.