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  #81  
Old Posted Nov 18, 2007, 2:38 AM
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Back in the day you could use a trimet all zone pass on c-tran.
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  #82  
Old Posted Nov 22, 2007, 5:32 PM
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Seventh Street opens to two-way auto traffic

Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Contact: Bill Whitcomb, Deputy Transportation Manager, (360) 487-7700
After years of being designated for buses only, Vancouver's Seventh Street will open this evening to two-way, regular traffic between C and Washington streets.

The traffic revision follows the implementation of C-TRAN's new service plan, which included closure of the Seventh Street Transit Center, new transfer locations throughout downtown Vancouver and the opening of the 99th Street Transit Center at Stockford Village.

In addition to allowing auto traffic, the City of Vancouver's Seventh Street Project also includes a new traffic signal at Washington and Seventh, and metered parking along Seventh. Drivers are asked to be mindful of the change in traffic patterns and be especially alert to other motorists and pedestrians.

Construction Contact: Ryan Knox, Construction Project Engineer, City of Vancouver, (360) 487-7750

http://www.ci.vancouver.wa.us
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  #83  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2007, 5:20 PM
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City's future may ride on streetcars

Tuesday, December 04, 2007
BY JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer

The face of downtown Vancouver will change dramatically in the next 10 to 20 years with redevelopment of the Boise Cascade waterfront site, construction of a new Interstate 5 bridge and possible extension of light-rail transit into Washington.

Those changes could create the opportunity to bring back streetcars, which faded from downtown more than a half-century ago.

"These kinds of things really get planners and architects, as well as the general public, thinking about what our city might become," Ralph Willson, an owner of LSW Architects in Vancouver, told the city council Monday. "We know the automobile is not going to be the answer to fixing our transportation needs."

Willson is a member of the American Institute of Architects' Vancouver chapter, which studied how streetcars could fit into the city's future.

"We think this is prime time," Willson said. "We think it is key to our future."

Six years ago, Portland reintroduced streetcars, which cater to about 10,000 riders every weekday in the city's downtown, Pearl District and, most recently, to the South Waterfront area on the Willamette River south of downtown.

Unlike light rail, which operates in its own right of way and moves commuters at high speed, streetcars share the road with cars, trucks and buses and assist people with short intracity travel, sometimes no more than three or four blocks.

The chapter's research indicates that streetcars have the potential to increase density and spur redevelopment, something that Vancouver wants to do in a downtown that only recently has begun to emerge from a 25-year slumber.

Councilman Dan Tonkovich said streetcars create a sense of permanence and send a message to private developers.

"It signals an investment, you might say, that you're serious about the redevelopment efforts, that you're serious about the densities," Tonkovich said.

The Vancouver chapter conducted a two-day symposium at Clark College that included Charlie Hales, a former Portland city commissioner who left office in 2002 to take a job with the engineering firm HDR but remains a national expert on streetcars.

Willson said Hales urged participants to think about how they would use a streetcar system. Or, as Willson put it, "Don't think you are designing this for someone else."

Those participating in the symposium looked at a number of routes, including service to the Boise waterfront site, the Vancouver National Historic Reserve and Main Street, where the city hopes to encourage retail development.

The biggest question is financial. Councilman Tim Leavitt gave an estimate of $38 million for every mile, which means even a modest three-mile system could cost in excess of $100 million. The city is already short of money to pay for roads for the Boise project.

Matt Ransom, Vancouver transportation planning manager, said the federal government has a "small starts" program that can provide a 50 percent match to help pay for streetcar projects.

Portland has applied for federal small starts dollars to help take its streetcar system across the Willamette River into east Portland, Ransom said.

Councilwoman Jeanne Stewart questioned if Vancouver could build a streetcar system without passing significant costs onto taxpayers.

"The local share is still the local share," Stewart said. "It's still one half of a lot of money."
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  #84  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2007, 5:30 PM
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The biggest question is financial. Councilman Tim Leavitt gave an estimate of $38 million for every mile, which means even a modest three-mile system could cost in excess of $100 million. The city is already short of money to pay for roads for the Boise project.
That's good they are picking the Boise project before the streetcars.
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  #85  
Old Posted Dec 10, 2007, 11:08 PM
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Vancouver - Fourth Street and south blocks of Esther Street now open

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Fourth Street and south blocks of Esther Street now open

Monday, December 10, 2007
Contact: Chris Malone, Transportation Services Engineer, 487-7700 Construction Contact: Ryan Knox, Construction Project Engineer, 487-7750

Downtown drivers take note: A realigned Fourth Street is now open to traffic between Columbia and Esther streets, and Esther Street is now connected between Fourth and Sixth streets.

The City of Vancouver project, just completed this week, further opens circulation around the Vancouver Convention Center and Hilton Hotel area. In addition to the street improvements, the project included sidewalks, ADA accessibility, storm water and water improvements, as well enhanced "streetscaping" in keeping with the Esther Short Park design.

Drivers are asked to be mindful of the change in traffic patterns and be alert to other motorists and pedestrians.

http://www.cityofvancouver.us/News.a...16578&Id=47490
I wonder if this is the target to make The Columbian's redevelopment area to success?
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  #86  
Old Posted Jan 3, 2008, 9:11 PM
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Light-railline to Clark gains speed

Friday, December 28, 2007
GREGG HERRINGTON Columbian staff

Maybe.

Probably.

Almost certainly.

Pick one of those three choices to fill in the blank in this sentence:

_________ you can forget the arguments about where a Max light-rail line from Portland would go if it comes to Vancouver because political momentum is building for a relatively modest, unintrusive and financially easy route that would terminate near Clark College.

Local elected officials, whose political careers depend largely on their ability to distinguish between dreams and the doable, are looking with increasing favor at the so-called "Minimum Operating Segment" - a plan that might leave the civil engineers, transportation-policy wonks and shoot-for-the-moon crowd saying, "Is that all there is?"



Kiggins Bowl plan fading fast

But it should (would?) leave residents of Vancouver's Arnada, Lincoln, Carter Park and Shumway neighborhoods angst-free. The same can probably be said of members of the First Presbyterian Church at 43rd and Main Streets. Under the plan, notions of a light-rail terminus and park and ride lot in the Lincoln area near the church and Kiggins Bowl are toast.

The MOS has the support of the Clark County Board of Commissioners, and on Jan. 8 could win the backing of the C-Tran Board of Directors. C-Tran Board Chairman Tim Leavitt of the Vancouver City Council says the board, at a recent retreat, made clear its preference for a route that (1) would not be anathema to business owners on upper Main Street and residents in the Lincoln-Kiggins Bowl area and (2) would use only federal funds for construction.

Steve Stuart, chairman of the Clark County Board of Commissioners and a C-Tran Board member, says the emerging plan is good, although not perfect from the standpoint of creating a light-rail system that would serve the most people as fast as possible. But he hastens to cite this version of Voltaire's quote: "The perfect is the enemy of the good."

To those dreamers who might hold out for a more extensive or "perfect" initial light-rail line, as well as those who might oppose any light rail service into Vancouver under any circumstances, Voltaire also said, "Common sense is not so common."

The Clark College route is enthusiastically touted by Stuart and more tangentially and cautiously by Leavitt, who stresses that any plan must get a public airing and an environmental OK. But they seem to agree that the idea could be acceptable to the public while offering relief to I-5 commuters.



Details of the deal

Here's how it would work:

Light-rail tracks would run from the north end of Tri-Met's Yellow Line at the Expo Center (three-fourths of a mile south of the Columbia) across the river on or adjacent to a new I-5 vehicle bridge. The line would run north, probably up Washington Street, to McLoughlin Boulevard. There, it would turn east, cross Main Street and continue another seven blocks and pass under I-5. (Washington Street is especially wide, having been the route of the old Highway 99 before I-5 was built in the early 1950s.)

Then, opposite the Marshall center, it would turn left into a terminus and park-and-ride lot west of Clark College.

Avoiding neighborhood disruption is just one reason, according to Stuart and Leavitt, that this plan has gained support on the C-Tran Board. The other is that it could be built without tapping local governments or taxpayers for cash. Enough money to do this much has been promised by the Federal Transit Administration. Vancouver residents might be asked to approve a small sales tax increase for operation and maintenance, however.

For those who wish something more far-reaching, the advantages of incrementalism ought not be overlooked. If this gets built and gains public acceptance, the community might then think about extending it north to Fourth Plain Boulevard or state Highway 500, east to Interstate 205 and then to PDX and Portland light-rail connections.

Stuart obviously wants light rail to happen here, but is cognizant of the realities. "If you bite off more than you can chew," he says, "you choke."

Gregg Herrington 's column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Friday. Reach him at
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  #87  
Old Posted Jan 4, 2008, 7:46 PM
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No Longer Bustling

Transit center made downtown unsafe, Vancouver official says
The people who once frequented downtown Vancouver's bus mall were interfering with redevelopment nearby, a city official said Wednesday.
"Think about your wife, daughter, girlfriend, or your mother," said Gerald Baugh, the city's manager of business development. "Would any of them feel safe walking from Esther Short Park to the waterfront?"
Big projects are on the way, and more are being discussed along Seventh Street itself, he said.

"This is just a step," Baugh said of the transit center's closing.
The city's not trying to push poor people from downtown, he said, citing the new subsidized housing developments that the city arranged to open nearby.

But Baugh said a new crop of rich tenants will lure investment, unlike the seniors living in downtown's Smith Tower.

"No offense to them, but they did not bring in other business like that is there now," Baugh said. "When we brought in the high-end condos, we got a Starbucks."

As for people annoyed by having to walk between bus stops, Baugh said it'll help them get to know downtown.

Anyway, he said, it's probably good for them.

"While there might be some complaints about walking, exercise is one of the things that as Americans we are not getting a lot of, and it's something that we need to do," he said.

- Mic hael Andersen



The bus shelters, the buses, the people and two nearby businesses are gone from the downtown Vancouver transit center on Seventh Street. Some regulars say they're glad to see less loitering. Others call the place too silent. (JANET L. MATHEWS/The Columbian)


No Longer Bustling

Friday, January 04, 2008
BY MICHAEL ANDERSEN, Columbian Staff Writer

When Krystal Taylor was 13, her brother Robbie took her down to the sidewalk outside the Bus Stop Market at Seventh Street and Main and introduced her to Elaine.

Elaine was one year older than Taylor. Taylor had decided to start hanging out on the corner, and Robbie had selected Elaine to be her bodyguard.

Until Nov. 18, that was the way you played it safe at Seventh and Main.

The Bus Stop Market is still there. But 46 days ago, the buses left. At the request of the city of Vancouver, C-Tran's downtown transit center is gone.

November's service change marked the latest chapter in Vancouver's quest to scrub its city center of crime and homelessness and make it more comfortable for urbane shoppers and creative elites.

The scrubbing, at least, is working. Whether you're a cabbie looking for a fare, a cop looking for a crook or a teenager looking for a friend, you're already less likely to find it on this corner, residents and regulars say.

"All our friends always hung out here," said Taylor, 20, who said her diaper had once been changed on the counter of the Lucky Loan pawn shop across the street. "Now we don't."

Taylor and her boyfriend were stopping to buy some chicken strips and potato wedges. The Everest Business College students were on their way to Gresham, Ore., to sell their plasma. They said they hadn't seen their old friends in a month and a half.

Buses still roll through downtown, dispersed among the new stops that have been scattered nearby. But for the first time in 22 years, Seventh Street is almost silent.

Bus drivers don't linger at the site for smoke breaks anymore; "downtown Vancouver" is just another stop on their routes. Bus schedules have been altered to discourage riders from waiting for transfers downtown.

Standing beside his taxi as he waited for a dispatcher's call, Ken Larsen grimaced.

"Politics," said Larsen, 61, a driver for Radio Cab. "They want to develop down here, I think, and put in a lot of higher-end stuff."

When the transit center was downtown, he said, things were simple: Just drop everybody at Seventh and Main.

"It was better off like it was," he said. "Now you got to wander all over the place to try and find their bus."

Larsen said he'd seen old people on walkers clamber down from one bus, then walk for blocks to reach another.

'Street kids' not missed

Inside the Bus Stop Market, cler ks said they were glad to lose the crowd of "street kids" that had been slouching outside their door for the past decade.
But they were worried about business. Their hours had been cut back when sales took a dive, then upped again when the Day and Nite market, down the road, shut its doors in December, perhaps temporarily.

Shelly Thomas, a clerk at the market, said that for all the complaints they generated, the youngsters had made her feel safe.

"They'd be outside, so I'd know I was all right," she said. "We went from having 20 street kids on our corner to having nobody."

"Five-thirty in the morning, I go down and it's a ghost town," she said.
The kids used to call her "mom," Thomas said.

With her seeing-eye dog sitting beside her, Joanie Delzer of Vancouver said the crowd of youngsters had been obnoxious, but she liked the area better before all the people disappeared.

"There's nobody out down here anymore," said Delzer, 56. "I don't know where to go. Who am I going to ask?"

Madeline DaFoe, 72, was angry. She, too, was glad the crowd of "smoking and cussing" young people was gone. But she didn't understand why the transit center had to go, too.

"I don't know what they're doing downtown," DaFoe said. She and Delzer had just met on the bus and were making conversation while they waited for their transfers.

"Vancouver used to be a happy town," DaFoe went on. "We had benches on Main Street. ? Everybody knew everybody."

Smoking a cigarette outside the Gold Rush tavern, Shelley Diercks, 48, said she had never thought it was right for a crowd of children to spend their days on a street corner.

But closing the bus mall was the wrong way to deal with downtown's problems, she said.

"They're people," she said. "They're just people."

Diercks remembered talking to an 18-year-old woman who'd told her, in a half-hour conversation last summer, that she was being abused at home but was afraid to leave because the abuser would turn on her younger sister.
"I thought people should have come down here and given those people on the corner some kind of help," Diercks said. "Whatever help they needed. It was like they were lost."

Two blocks away, a gray-haired man who gave his name as Willie put things differently.

"I tell you - Vancouver, they don't know what they want to do," he said, standing alone under a black-and-white bus shelter that had been transplanted from the Seventh Street bus mall into the shadow of the four-year-old Vancouvercenter condominiums. "They're lost. They got nothing to do but throw away money."

Willie had something to do. He was on his way to get some pain pills, he said, either from his doctor or somebody else.

Was he ill?

Willie laugh ed. No, he said.

Then he got on the bus.

C-Tran route changes have boosted ridership

A major set of changes to local bus routes on Nov. 18 coincided with a spike in C-Tran ticket sales.

Ridership in the first month after the changes was up 12 percent over the same period in 2006, C-Tran spokesman Scott Patterson said last week.
That compares to a 4 to 5 percent rise in ridership over most of 2007, he said.

The changes, billed as the largest in C-Tran's history, include opening a transit center off 99th Street in Hazel Dell, closing downtown Vancouver's transit center and sending bu ses all the way to Portland's Delta Park MAX train.

The biggest traffic increases have come on two buses: Route 80 past the Firstenburg Community Center and on the bus to Portland, which now offers service along Fourth Plain Boulevard until after midnight.

C-Tran has also taken plenty of unhappy comments, Patterson said, especially at first. Some scheduling tweaks are under way.

"Any time you make a change, there's going to be some winners, and unfortunately there's going to be some people that don't see the benefits," he said.

­- Michael Andersen

Michael Andersen can be reached at 360-759-8052 or michael.andersen@columbian.com.
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  #88  
Old Posted Jan 4, 2008, 7:49 PM
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^^^I have to agree wtih Michael Andersen. Last time I went downtown Vancouver without the bus mall, I feel more downtown and more safer than when I go to 7th street bus mall.
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Old Posted Jan 4, 2008, 9:05 PM
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I find the new Vancouver downtown to be (more) dead and lifeless.

They expect it to become some magically urban city core, but it's not.

I'd wager a guess that they're going to slowly take the life out of businesses down there and bring in the amenities of a fourth-tier city like a starbucks or borders.

And on that note-- I love how the article a little bit above applauds the appearance of a starbucks in downtown... if that's what makes a city successful, then I know quite a few small towns that have Vancouver beat down in that regard.

Well... it's not that hard, but still.
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Old Posted Jan 4, 2008, 9:26 PM
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I find the new Vancouver downtown to be (more) dead and lifeless.

They expect it to become some magically urban city core, but it's not.

I'd wager a guess that they're going to slowly take the life out of businesses down there and bring in the amenities of a fourth-tier city like a starbucks or borders.

And on that note-- I love how the article a little bit above applauds the appearance of a starbucks in downtown... if that's what makes a city successful, then I know quite a few small towns that have Vancouver beat down in that regard.

Well... it's not that hard, but still.
Vancouver really needs to hirer some people from across the river. Downtown is the saddest thing in the metro area (because it has such potential). tsk tsk tsk.
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  #91  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2008, 4:23 AM
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Originally Posted by alexjon View Post
I find the new Vancouver downtown to be (more) dead and lifeless.

They expect it to become some magically urban city core, but it's not.

I'd wager a guess that they're going to slowly take the life out of businesses down there and bring in the amenities of a fourth-tier city like a starbucks or borders.

And on that note-- I love how the article a little bit above applauds the appearance of a starbucks in downtown... if that's what makes a city successful, then I know quite a few small towns that have Vancouver beat down in that regard.

Well... it's not that hard, but still.
And that's why the City of Vancouver governments are trying to funding so much effort on the downtown, such like Vancouvercenter, Riverwest, 10K Residents Waterfront Envision, The Columbian developments, etc. They WANT the downtown become the heartcore in Vancouver, not the sprawling area such like Mill Plain or Fourth Plain or Highway 99 or whatever is outside the truly downtown Vancouver. Also the downtown Vancouver is the first area where they was incorpated(sp?).
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2008, 6:27 AM
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Ironically, real cities such as NYC and Frisco have attracted "elites" in part due to their grit... or at least the "creatives" sure get off on it.

Cities such as the 'Couv are about a decade late in following the fads of city revitalization, but they're trying to cherry pick and only cater to the wealthy. Pretty sad... they don't even want to accommodate normal commuters who have to take the bus to work??
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  #93  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2008, 7:12 AM
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Ironically, real cities such as NYC and Frisco have attracted "elites" in part due to their grit... or at least the "creatives" sure get off on it.

Cities such as the 'Couv are about a decade late in following the fads of city revitalization, but they're trying to cherry pick and only cater to the wealthy. Pretty sad... they don't even want to accommodate normal commuters who have to take the bus to work??
I have to be honestly with you, the new city bus system that started last November was the FAR best service I've rode so far. Why?

Fourth Plain #4 bus goes from Vancouver Mall to Downtown Vancouver to Jantzen Beach which meets Tri-Met city bus and then to the light rail at Delta Park which open from 5 in the morning to 12 am which give people more time for work. Also there is #44 Fourth Plain Limited Express which goes similar route as #4, but are extended toward few miles east of Vancouver Mall and faster than #4 and only open from 5 in the morning to 7 pm on the weekday only.

Before November, you have to ride the #4 and then take ANOTHER bus just to get on the Jantzen Beach to grab Tri-Met's #6 bus or the light rail. There is no #44 before November.



Also there is some of city bus that switching two different routes when they reach the downtown, for example, Hwy 99 #37H bus and Mill Plain #37M bus, they are on the same number and same bus. You can just take #37H and stay there till it go to Mill Plain after the downtown without stopping and waiting for another bus.

Before November, you have to take #71 Hwy 99 bus and stop at downtown then waiting few minutes for the #37 Mill Plain bus.


Note that light blue arrow? It's the switching routes.



Also there is NO city buses in Vancouver that open till 10pm-12am before November.

And one more thing, I want to ask. Is it that HARD to walk just blocks by blocks around this cute little Vancouver's downtown for different bus? I thought downtown Portland don't have the transit center in downtown, do they?

When I rode on the city bus to downtown, I felt so different than before because almost everyone is at 7th street, barely see anybody around downtown other than just the 7th street, but now the downtown Vancouver seems like more people wandering around the entire downtown. Also I still remember I can't really smoke the cigarette at 7th street because someone would just come to me and ask for the cigarette (everytime I was smoking there), but now I can smoke anywhere I feel like with fewer people would beg me for cigarette. I don't just support this only because of my cigarette situation, but I was just showing the example about the difference about the 7th street as it used to be and what it is today.

(I copied the city bus maps from this official website: http://www.c-tran.com)
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2008, 8:06 AM
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well... I think we're going to have to agree that, 'to each its own.'

I've never spent any time in the 'Couve, and I doubt you have spent much time in Portland, either: 5th and 6th avenue are both the transit mall for the entire length of downtown. Portland actually has several transit centers throughout the city.
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2008, 8:53 AM
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well... I think we're going to have to agree that, 'to each its own.'

I've never spent any time in the 'Couve, and I doubt you have spent much time in Portland, either: 5th and 6th avenue are both the transit mall for the entire length of downtown. Portland actually has several transit centers throughout the city.
True, I don't spend much time at Portland neither except for my friends who live there or anything that Vancouver don't have, but Portland have.

Ahh I see about the transit center in downtown Portland, it's just that I didn't stop there before when I ride the bus in Portland..
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2008, 5:59 PM
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And that's why the City of Vancouver governments are trying to funding so much effort on the downtown, such like Vancouvercenter, Riverwest, 10K Residents Waterfront Envision, The Columbian developments, etc. They WANT the downtown become the heartcore in Vancouver, not the sprawling area such like Mill Plain or Fourth Plain or Highway 99 or whatever is outside the truly downtown Vancouver. Also the downtown Vancouver is the first area where they was incorpated(sp?).
They're failing pretty miserably.

You're acting like getting rid of the seedy element will boost development and make rents go up, but it won't. Think of Belltown in Seattle, almost all of San Francisco, and think of how they maintained a character to their downtown. There are seedy people there all the time, and yet rents are through the roof.

Or think of Capitol Hill in Seattle, that's a good one. Lots of drug activity, there was a murder there a few nights ago, and yet, it's a vibrant neighborhood with a daytime population that dwarfs all of Vancouver.

I rarely err on the side of "do nothing", but this is one place where I do. Vancouver would have done themselves a favor by not doing anything to the transit mall. The suggestion that the current bus arrangement is fine because "you can just walk to another bus stop" is idiotic, since there are some people who simply can't "just walk".

Hell, even little ink spot towns like Ypsilanti Michigan have transit centers downtown.
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Old Posted Jan 6, 2008, 3:30 AM
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They're failing pretty miserably.
I think not.. I am starting to wondering what the downtown Vancouver would be like when the 90,000 square feets library was brought to downtown. Now that will bring more smarter educated people going to downtown Vancouver for the library.

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You're acting like getting rid of the seedy element will boost development and make rents go up, but it won't. Think of Belltown in Seattle, almost all of San Francisco, and think of how they maintained a character to their downtown. There are seedy people there all the time, and yet rents are through the roof.
True, the housing market right now are terrible, but that have nothing to do with the downtown redevelopment.

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Or think of Capitol Hill in Seattle, that's a good one. Lots of drug activity, there was a murder there a few nights ago, and yet, it's a vibrant neighborhood with a daytime population that dwarfs all of Vancouver.
Are you sure the new library with educated people wandering around plus those nice pricy condo towers where the kinda richy people will live and business people would go to that 7 stories office building, the Riverwest Project, that will bring to downtown Vancouver will also bring the criminals? I think not.

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I rarely err on the side of "do nothing", but this is one place where I do. Vancouver would have done themselves a favor by not doing anything to the transit mall. The suggestion that the current bus arrangement is fine because "you can just walk to another bus stop" is idiotic, since there are some people who simply can't "just walk".
I'd rather to be speechless on this one because that's your opinion.

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Hell, even little ink spot towns like Ypsilanti Michigan have transit centers downtown.
Oh really..
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  #98  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2008, 7:11 PM
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Originally Posted by PuyoPiyo View Post
I think not.. I am starting to wondering what the downtown Vancouver would be like when the 90,000 square feets library was brought to downtown. Now that will bring more smarter educated people going to downtown Vancouver for the library.



True, the housing market right now are terrible, but that have nothing to do with the downtown redevelopment.



Are you sure the new library with educated people wandering around plus those nice pricy condo towers where the kinda richy people will live and business people would go to that 7 stories office building, the Riverwest Project, that will bring to downtown Vancouver will also bring the criminals? I think not.



I'd rather to be speechless on this one because that's your opinion.



Oh really..
You keep implying that removing the seedy element and artificially creating a highly educated upper middle-class population will make Vancouver boom-- but that goes against the grain of urban history. Unless Vancouver lives in a symbiotic way off of Portland for the rest of its existence, taking out all the refinement of a well-rounded and character-filled city makes it just another sprawled suburb.

Capitol Hill has its crime (and relatively speaking, it's not much) because it hasn't lost its character, and that same character is what drives up rent and keeps people there for years. Crime happens from time to time, it's just endemic to a vibrant downtown or urban area.

As far as what Vancouver's doing, I am still not convinced that it will be any kind of urban center in the future, even with these "developments" people keep touting, especially since they effectively eradicate and rebuild, instead of refining and repairing what was there before.

And when city officials are saying "no offense, but old people are useless", you know there has to be something wrong with this approach.

Finally, as little towns with Transit Centers in downtown go, Vancouver had a pretty good one. But I don't expect Vancouver to make intelligent decisions in transit anymore, I really don't. First this, then the bio-diesel idiocy; it's really not going well for you guys.
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  #99  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2008, 8:04 PM
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actually old people and young people are the life blood to urban areas. Vancouver would have to play a strong role in restructuring SW Washington and creating a focused drive for development and limit suburban sprawl in their part of the metro and try and become more linked to the Portland metro, but the chances of that happening are slim.

I do see the downtown their growing and creating something that might have a Pearl District feel to it, but that isn't going to solve the problems for their downtown.
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  #100  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2008, 2:53 AM
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Part of what makes the Pearl successful is that it is linked to several neighborhoods and has an amazingly successful transit system integrated into it.
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