Jak's View From Vancouver

I'm A Transit Booster, But ....

I know a lot of people will disagree, but I think Vancouver transit is pretty darned good.  Do I have qualifications to make such a statement?  I sold my last car in 1991 and I've used transit essentially every day since -- 16 years or more.   Every workday, I travel from Commercial Drive to Richmond, and back; a total of about 2 and a half hours commuting each day.  I wouldn't go back to traveling by car every day.

However, I do have to object to the awful new cattle-truck type buses that have been introduced on some routes.  Riding a bus should be a pleasure, an oasis from the rest of the city.  One should be warm and comfortably seated.  That's not an option on these trucks, where the few seats seem designed for discomfort and are separated by wide open standing spaces.   These buses are more cavernous than a SkyTrain compartment.  These buses are a dreadful mistake, especially when the wonderfully articulated 98s, 99s and 135s show they can do so much better.

Levels of Meaning: Hasting Street 2007

Major demolition near the Woodwards site has revealed the old side wall of the Paris block on downtown east Hastings.  We can see multiple layers of commercial messages including a contemporary real estate banner and today's graffiti.

One interesting question:  has the shape of the building changed, or did the Hotel Strathcona painters begin a habit of writing messages out of parallel with the roof line?

Extremism In The Defence of Liberty blah blah blah

The NRA is forcefully opposed to a new piece of "gun control" legislation that attempts to make it impossible for terrorist suspects to obtain weapons.  In defense of their anti-strict-constructionist reading of the Second Amendment they are happy to see violent extremists buy assault rifles over the counter.  Sickos.

1st May 1961

Today is the 46th anniversary of the first US hijacking.  Puerto Rican Antuilo Ramierez Ortiz hijacked a National Airlines plane at pistol-point and ordered it to fly to Cuba where he received asylum.