As a city, Vancouver will have its moment in the spotlight this year. Yes I’m talking of course about the Olympics. However, the Olympics will come and go. Furthermore, no amount of protesting is going to stop them so let’s just enjoy them. No doubt this will be a huge boost to the city’s profile, if everything goes smoothly. However, it is what we as a city do post-Olympics that will go on to define us for the coming decades. In the short term I envision the city suffering from an Olympics hangover as there will be a lull in activity. Major construction projects are all but complete, so don’t look for the frenetic pace we’ve been accustomed to remain. A similar situation occurred after Expo ’86. Look for it to happen again.
In the long run though I see good things in Vancouver’s future (we’ll delve into that some more later this month in a Future of Metro Vancouver series), however many questions remain. The big question is whether or not Gregor “Mr. Happy Planet” Robertson can make this city the green capital. Let’s just hope the attempt at attracting green business fares a lot better than our attempt at becoming a hub of technology aka Silicon Valley North.
Moreover, it is time for this city to fight some of its more archaic laws. We need to stand up and fight the old ways of thinking at city hall. For instance, let’s start with some sort of New Years Eve celebration in Vancouver. Just get a freakin’ sponsor on board and have a fireworks display at Coal Harbour or English Bay or something.
Just because the world will all but leave after March, does not mean that the rest of the Vancouverites don’t want to come out and play!
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