Not Vancouver Bashing

[darklord700]

Just spent a rain drench week in Vancouver and I have to wonder why such high praises for this city that she constantly ranks top 5 in the world.

The weather: March might be a bad month to visit but I was told you only see constant sunshine in July and August. The other 10 months vary between cloudy and rain.

The traffic: Being sea bound on the west so traffic going into downtown Vancouver mainly comes from the East. And there’s no highway in GVA and if you think rush hour on Deerfoot is bad, try doing it on Marine drive. At least there’s no traffic lights on Deerfoot and other than the few bridges, it’s traffic light galore in GVA.

The downtown: Downtown Vancouver is beautiful but you see more glass condo than office buildings. North Vacouver is scenic as well but it’s basically a rainforest and rains even more. Richmond, well, why would anyone wants to live there unless you are Asian? Some parts of Burnaby are not bad but the rest of Burnaby is neither a metropolitan nor a suburban so it looks weird to me. Surrey is more like a suburb but God bless you if you have to travel to downtown Vancouver for work each day. It makes going from Airdrie or Cochrane to downtown Calgary seem like a breeze.

The job market: There’re no jobs there as there are very few big corporations there. Even if you manage to fine one, it pays less and you commute longer to get to work.

The housing: Generally, it’s two steps down from what we have here. If you live in a single house here, you’ll be looking at a condo there in Coquitlam or a similar house in Surrey. People living in Richmond probably bought their properties before the boom. Working class cannot compete with institutional buyers there, people come to Canada with a suitcase full of cash.

The food: No questions here, Vancouver simply is one of the best in the world with good prices.

If you are raising a family on employment income, it’ll be tough to make ends meet there. Calgary is expensive and dense but Vancouver is two times as worse. I think all these most livable cities surveys missed the point in that they give equal weight to all factors. Vancouver might be beautiful but what fun would it be to live there as a beggar so to speak.

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Just spent a rain drench week in Vancouver and I have to wonder why such high praises for this city that she constantly ranks top 5 in the world.

The weather: March might be a bad month to visit but I was told you only see constant sunshine in July and August. The other 10 months vary between cloudy and rain.

The traffic: Being sea bound on the west so traffic going into downtown Vancouver mainly comes from the East. And there’s no highway in GVA and if you think rush hour on Deerfoot is bad, try doing it on Marine drive. At least there’s no traffic lights on Deerfoot and other than the few bridges, it’s traffic light galore in GVA.

The downtown: Downtown Vancouver is beautiful but you see more glass condo than office buildings. North Vacouver is scenic as well but it’s basically a rainforest and rains even more. Richmond, well, why would anyone wants to live there unless you are Asian? Some parts of Burnaby are not bad but the rest of Burnaby is neither a metropolitan nor a suburban so it looks weird to me. Surrey is more like a suburb but God bless you if you have to travel to downtown Vancouver for work each day. It makes going from Airdrie or Cochrane to downtown Calgary seem like a breeze.

The job market: There’re no jobs there as there are very few big corporations there. Even if you manage to fine one, it pays less and you commute longer to get to work.

The housing: Generally, it’s two steps down from what we have here. If you live in a single house here, you’ll be looking at a condo there in Coquitlam or a similar house in Surrey. People living in Richmond probably bought their properties before the boom. Working class cannot compete with institutional buyers there, people come to Canada with a suitcase full of cash.

The food: No questions here, Vancouver simply is one of the best in the world with good prices.

If you are raising a family on employment income, it’ll be tough to make ends meet there. Calgary is expensive and dense but Vancouver is two times as worse. I think all these most livable cities surveys missed the point in that they give equal weight to all factors. Vancouver might be beautiful but what fun would it be to live there as a beggar so to speak.

As someone who lived in Calgary his whole life, has traveled for 5 years all over the world, and now lives in Vancouver...

You're silly and racist

[HELPNEEDED]

Vancouver wins simply because it never gets to -30

[Huntingwhale]

Look, I hate the Canucks as much as anyone else. But Vancouver as a city is 10x better then Calgary, AINEC. I go there multiple times a year and the only thing Calgary has going for it that is better is that liquor stores are open later and no PST.

They have nicer, better looking skylines. The ocean is right there. Food is better. Cars are nicer (not as many clunky jumbo looking trucks everywhere). More things to do. Yes housing is more expensive, but if you play your cards right its actually more beneficial.

[calgaryrocks]

^unless you like the sun in the winter

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Look, I hate the Canucks as much as anyone else. But Vancouver as a city is 10x better then Calgary, AINEC. I go there multiple times a year and the only thing Calgary has going for it that is better is that liquor stores are open later and no PST.

Our internet is better/faster (stronger!).

Memory Express is better (and typically cheaper) than NCIX.

I can make more money here doing my job than I can in Vancouver.

That's about it.

[V]

I could never live in Greater Vancouver for three reasons:

1) The traffic

2) The rain

and most importantly:

3) My in-laws live there

Vancouver really is an incredible place to visit, and incredibly depressing in the spring, when you leave the brown/white of Alberta and find yourself in the gorgeous greenery of Vancouver.

I lived there for a summer once, but I lived in Langley and worked in Abbotsford. The traffic wasn't terrible, and it was summer, so there was little rain. I had a fantastic time.

A lot of my friends down there can't afford to live close to Vancouver, so they live in Langley / Abbotsford / Chilliwack, but their job requires them to work in Vancouver, so they have an unimaginably horrible commute. I honestly don't know how they do it without going crazy.

The rain too, I just don't get how you get used to it. I get depressed here when it's cloudy for a couple weeks straight. I couldn't handle it down there.

[automaton 3]

Cloudy with a chance of rain and +8 beats -25 and snow anytime in my book. It is also green year-round.

The transit system seems to work ok, I don't think I'd bother trying to commute if I lived there. The housing market has been out of control but a correction has started in many areas.

Fair comment on the job market. My sister and her significant other both work 2 part time jobs each. My sister has pretty much given up working in her trade They love the climate/lifestyle but are not getting ahead at all.

[MrMastodonFarm]

While the moisture is great for my nerdy dry skin the rain is just a non-starter for me. The surrounding area around Vancouver is gorgeous but when it snows in and it's cold at least the sun is always shining. This past fall we have a week of overcast and ugly weather, the sun didn't come out at all.. can't take that crap.

[neo45]

The biggest knock against Vancouver is that they don't have the industry to justify the ridiculous housing prices.

[Reaper]

I used to live out in White Rock for 14 years and eventually moved because I was tired of living in a grey overcast world for 6 months of the year. Calgary gets way more sunshine. I can handle -30 and sunny for months on end but string together a couple of weeks where you don't see the sun and I want to stock up on razor blades.

[moon]

It is an awful city in my view but can see why some may like it.

The one thing that drives me nuts is how everyone from there or who loves it acts as though you are nuts for not liking it.

Hey d-bags people have different likes/dislikes but for some reason Vancouverites/lovers cannot grasp this.

[Tinordi]

Traffic really isn't a problem if you live in the city. Vancouver has good transit and you can bike pretty much anywhere.

[darklord700]

I kind of like the extreme swing of weather in Calgary. If it is -30 outside, I just stay home and hibernate. If it is nice out, I go outside. -30 is overated, this past decade we can count the -30 days with one hand each year. This past winter, I had only put on my parka once or twice. Just a week not seeing the Sun in Vancouver, I definately cannot take the overcast sky weather any longer.

I guess if I didn't have to worry about making a living or commuting to a job in downtown Vancouver, Vancouver is better than 99% of the cities on Earth. As for now, I will go visit there in the summer every now and then and be done with.

[jammies]

Why is thread named "not Vancouver bashing" when that's what it is?

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Just spent a rain drench week in Vancouver and I have to wonder why such high praises for this city that she constantly ranks top 5 in the world.

The weather: March might be a bad month to visit but I was told you only see constant sunshine in July and August. The other 10 months vary between cloudy and rain.

The traffic: Being sea bound on the west so traffic going into downtown Vancouver mainly comes from the East. And there’s no highway in GVA and if you think rush hour on Deerfoot is bad, try doing it on Marine drive. At least there’s no traffic lights on Deerfoot and other than the few bridges, it’s traffic light galore in GVA.

The downtown: Downtown Vancouver is beautiful but you see more glass condo than office buildings. North Vacouver is scenic as well but it’s basically a rainforest and rains even more. Richmond, well, why would anyone wants to live there unless you are Asian? Some parts of Burnaby are not bad but the rest of Burnaby is neither a metropolitan nor a suburban so it looks weird to me. Surrey is more like a suburb but God bless you if you have to travel to downtown Vancouver for work each day. It makes going from Airdrie or Cochrane to downtown Calgary seem like a breeze.

The job market: There’re no jobs there as there are very few big corporations there. Even if you manage to fine one, it pays less and you commute longer to get to work.

The housing: Generally, it’s two steps down from what we have here. If you live in a single house here, you’ll be looking at a condo there in Coquitlam or a similar house in Surrey. People living in Richmond probably bought their properties before the boom. Working class cannot compete with institutional buyers there, people come to Canada with a suitcase full of cash.

The food: No questions here, Vancouver simply is one of the best in the world with good prices.

If you are raising a family on employment income, it’ll be tough to make ends meet there. Calgary is expensive and dense but Vancouver is two times as worse. I think all these most livable cities surveys missed the point in that they give equal weight to all factors. Vancouver might be beautiful but what fun would it be to live there as a beggar so to speak.

There are lots of stereotyping, hyperbole and English errors happening in your post.

If you own a single house in Calgary, you can afford more than a condo in Coquitlam. It all depends on how much your house is, but let's suppose it's valued at $500,000. I bought a 3 year old, 2 bed 2 bath 2 story 1,000 sq ft townhome with 2 parking spots near Granville Island for $520,000 4 years ago. I have a 1 and den condo in Burnaby and another one downtown Vancouver that were new construction and paid less than $325,000 for each. Yes, detached houses are expensive in Vancouver, but if you got to Surrey, Coquitlam, Delta, etc. $500,000 will buy you one, and not just a condo.

Parts of Burnaby are bad? Of course. Parts of every city are bad. I'm looking at you Forrest Lawn. Surrey is not a suburb, it's its own municipality, similar to Burnaby, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, etc. Airdrie isn't a suburb of Calgary either. Richmond does have a large Asian population, but they all aren't institutional buyers. The foreign population doesn't prefer to buy in Richmond for investments or holding properties, as there are earthquake and flooding fears, being that it is below sea level. The majority of that money gets pumped into Vancouver. Prices in Richmond have been declining over the last 24 months.

This year's March was really rainy. It might have been the most precipitation I've seen in a March here. There aren't 10 months of rain. What I've found after a few years are it doesn't rain anywhere near as much as people who don't live in Vancouver think it does. It's also not anywhere near as nice as people who do live there think it is. The winter are so much nicer. Yes it rains, but I think I've only seen five days of snow in the last five years. I can golf in every single month of the year, including December and January. Besides Wednesday of last week, it has been sunny and gorgeous here since Tuesday.

There are jobs in Vancouver. In fact, there are lots. Check out the help wanted or LinkedIn sections. You may need specific skills, training and/or education, but they are there. Depending on what you are in, they generally pay slightly less than Alberta. A CA in public practice will make more in Alberta doing the same job. That's simple supply and demand. Mining and real estate pay a lot in BC. Oil and gas pays a lot in Alberta, but are vastly different industries. You can raise a family and make ends meet as long as you make smart decisions. I know people in Vancouver who make less than friends in Calgary, and yet they are better off. Because the transit system is better within GVA, you don't really need a car as much as you would in Calgary or parasite communities. You actually take home more of your income when you make less than $90,000 per year in BC than you do in Alberta after income taxes. Once you break that barrier you keep more in your pocket in Alberta.

Yes traffic is bad. That's why there is a large movement on getting people to take transit and use bikes. The hockey team is insufferable and the fans are worse.

The city constantly ranks high in those surveys, for the same reason that people still want to be here. It's a great place to live. If it wasn't, people wouldn't keep going to Vancouver. The winters are mild in the city, even if they are wet. It's easy to bike to work 365 days a year. You can drive towards Whistler and hit three ski hills, or go the other way and hit a couple more, all in under two hours. There are two excellent universities and a number of trade and technical schools. The working hours are nowhere near as demanding as Calgary or Toronto. The seafood is fresh and there are world class restaurants. It definitely costs more to live in Vancouver, but many people decide they'd rather spend their money on that, then to live somewhere that gets to minus 30 in the winter. YVR is close to the many sunny spots in the States and a short drive to Seattle.

I love Calgary, but I also really enjoy Vancouver. It's why I spend my time between the two cities. No matter what the standings say, Flames rule and canucks suck it.

[Yakbutter]

As someone who lives in Vancouver and is moving away in 2 weeks. I agree with everything in the OP.

2nd worst traffic in NA (LA is worse)
expensive housing
expensive car insurance
highest liquor prices in NA
deadbeats everywhere
AND THE F'N WEATHER rain and clouds for 10 months of the year.

The only good thing about GVRD is that if you like doing things outdoors, everything is close.



EDIT

For the record, people are not moving to Vancouver. People in the 20-30 age bracket are moving east and leaving the province. For anyone getting started in their career, it is simply to expensive to live here.

[Erick Estrada]

I hate Calgary weather but I like sunshine a lot and Calgary I believe receives the most sunshine of any major Canadian city. Vancouver is great in the summer when the sun is out but I just couldn't handle the months of cloudiness in the winter. I hate it when we have a week of cloudy weather and I don't believe I could adjust to the drab, rainy weather.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Traffic really isn't a problem if you live in the city. Vancouver has good transit and you can bike pretty much anywhere.

Vancouver traffic is fine until you have to cross a bridge. That's getting dealt with, slowly. The new bridge into Surrey makes a huge difference. Next they need to fix the mash up on the North Shore. Other than the bridges, the highways are actually pretty solid.

As for Calgary, it also has horrendous traffic and the city is extremely spread out. I grew up in Sundance, and travel times to anywhere worthwhlie were horrendous. Living in Vancouver, I can walk to a local bar or restaurant very easily. With the exception of a few select, and very expensive areas in Calgary, you can't say the same. Vancouver should get props for the fact you don't have to travel as much.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Yakbutter

As someone who lives in Vancouver and is moving away in 2 weeks. I agree with everything in the OP.

2nd worst traffic in NA (LA is worse)
expensive housing
expensive car insurance
highest liquor prices in NA
deadbeats everywhere
AND THE F'N WEATHER rain and clouds for 10 months of the year.

The only good thing about GVRD is that if you like doing things outdoors, everything is close.

I feel the bums in Vancouver are nowhere near as agressive as say Montreal bums that will follow you down the street and yell at you if you ignore them. However there are too many street people in Vancouver and Victoria as well for that matter.