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Brain addled by sun but two final news stories to come before holidays

August 13th, 2010 · 12 Comments

I’m sitting under an apple tree on Hornby Island, not Hornby Street, having just read my way through the 171 comments on the Hornby bike lane. All I can say is  … well, nothing. It’s too mind-boggling, the level of passion that is going into this stretch of pavement. Though, as someone pointed out, also pretty informative.

(Apologies to those whose comments were held in limbo, waiting for me to moderate. All up now. Everyone please go back and read, as they were very good.)

On other notes, I have two interesting news stories coming out tomorrow, watch for them. (I’ll post.)

Secondly, I am going to try to take some holidays, which means not writing stories, not writing blog posts, not answering emails, and generally not doing nerdy things like Twittering on the ferry or holding lengthy conversations with policy wonks while sitting on my towel at the beach. (It’s harder to do these days, because so many around are doing it — the Cardboard Bakery had three laptops running already when I got here and the naked guy next to me at Little Tribune was solving some kind of data problem on the phone while I was there this morning. In answer to your question, no, I was not.)

Soo .. what to do for the next two weeks. I could just shut everything down and disable comments, but I fear that would drive some people to have to leave their houses and we couldn’t have that.

My idea is to have a post called Holiday Comments, where anyone can post on any urban topic while I am gone. I’ll have someone monitor for violations of my blog policy — no stupid name-calling, no labelling people as mindless partisan hacks without some piece of specific evidence or analysis, no gratuitous meanness. You know, the Frances Bula Be Nice, or If You Can’t Be Nice, At Least Be Thoughtful policy.

Aye or nay?

Categories: Uncategorized

  • spartikus

    The practice on some other blogs is to hand the keys over to a guest blogger.

    No, I’m not volunteering 🙂

    MB, Lewis, Glissando, Keam, McCreery, Bickerton (amongst others)…many potentially interesting subs.

    Otherwise, Aye.

  • Lewis N. Villegas

    The kids were at the water park in Granville Island with Mom—one of the things the city gives for free—and I was out walking searching for water bottles. On that gentrified alley behind the Patkau’s addition to Emily Carr I walked by a gentleman at a cafĂ© table with a very serious look typing into his laptop… and I swear, I thought “he’s reading the bike lane posts on the Fabula”.

    I like your idea Frances. Full steam ahead. We’ll work up something juicy for you and the others.

    We were driving in the family van, and I made great fanfare of going to see “Some Chikadees” on the way to Granville Island. My two-year old is just mastering two syllables, cooed with great joy when he say them, “Chick-eees!!”

    Dad gonna have a serious talk with that boy… oh, in 2022 or so.

  • nara is for lovers

    i’d like to post on how the commenter “urbanismo” practically stalks you. like, first comment on the g&m seattle/vancouver article? and, as usual, saying something completely nonsensical and pointless? yep.

  • Bill McCreery

    Good idea Francis. I’m not volunteering either but, if its open ended there might be something to contribute [Gateway & Comox developers are back tracking on STIRS for instance]. I could put some thoughts together & let the assembled masses have a go, as intimidating as it might be.

    Do enjoy your Hornby time. It’s a special place. Just there a month ago.

  • Larry

    The important fact missed in the G&M article is the cost per mile/km. Total cost doesn’t really do it unless you also provide the exact distances. The other info is important as context and qualifier information. It is true that it is nearly impossible to tell what station one is in while on the train. The scrolling LED in the cars has so much text,scrolls so slowly, and the stops in each station so short (a good thing) that if you miss it on the approach it’s easy to find yourself leaving the station you want. There are simple remedies – many places to place signs for example. A more elegant solution involving distinctive place-making station design would be welcomed, but not likely to happen. They are spartan to the extreme.

  • Urbanismo

    @ nara is for lovers

    Thanqu for your comment, albeit quite irrelevant to this string, and pointing our attention to my G & M observation: I hope Frances enjoys her Hornby holiday.

    That said Frances is not an investigative reporter and has, accordingly, to stay friendly with her sources lest they take umbrage and dry up. I am under no such constraint.

    As for the Portland/Seattle/Vancouver comparisons: nothing new there.

    The vision “Cascadia” has been around for a long time and maybe it may come to fruition one day. I hope it does for I am much in favour of incrementalization: be it empires, cities or neighbourhoods.

    But it will take one hell of a bounce before that happens.

    In the meantime comparisons are quite meaningless. Vancouver is a culturally isolated medium sized conurbation in what was once a peace-loving (and promoting) nation.

    Seattle NOT!

    As for “shiny trinkets“. Well, they are singulars in a pluralistic urban environment: that is to say they can only serve very narrow corridors in wide and variegated catchments: ergo ultimately to complete the journey other modes of TX are necessary.

    Which begs the question, why waste the money?

    Thanqxz for the comment nara. Hope you can handle lots of lovers.

  • landlord

    @ nara : “nonsensical and pointless”? Ouch. Frances just finished saying nice or thoughtful.
    Urbanismo is rarely nice but always thoughtful.
    So he posts a lot. That’s what the Internet is for : advertising. You push your ideas in the same marketplace as everyone (and I mean EVERYONE, on Earth) else. Maybe they’ll go viral and you’ll get a book deal and a spot on Larry King.
    Luckily it’s all ephemeral. Who stores Bulablog comments from 3 months ago? Frances and her ISP and that’s all.
    The upside is that Internet users soon discover what old guys and Vision politicians have always known : it’s all been said before, by smarter people than us. Do we really need to go over the same ground again and again?
    When it comes time to make decisions most people aren’t influenced by the best argument. They calculate what is in their short-term personal best interest and act accordingly.
    Nevertheless, Urbanismo does make compelling arguments, for a misanthrope.

  • Bill Lee

    Aha! From the Hornby Bike Corridor to Hornby Island, to a growing media empire in the nothern Gulf islands.

    ” The CRTC has approved an application by Hornby Community Radio Society to operate a very low power developmental community FM station on Hornby Island. It will operate on 96.5 MHz with an ERP of 5 watts non-directional at 30 meters HAAT. A similar application was approved in 2007, but wasn’t implemented.
    CRTC release http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-586.htm

  • Bill McCreery

    The mind boggles @ info which comes to light on blogs like this one.

  • Gassy Jack’s Ghost

    “Nevertheless, Urbanismo does make compelling arguments, for a misanthrope.”

    One of the more famous misanthropes, Jonathan Swift, once wrote:

    “I have ever hated all nations, professions and communities, and all my love is towards individuals…. Principally, I hate and detest that animal called Man; although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas….”

    A few days ago on Alexander Street, a Maple tree that died due to over-pruning by a film crew was cut down by the City. The next day, a pile of tiny dog shits, like from some poodle or lap dog, were seen to be baking in the sun right on top of the tree stump, which had been sawed close to the ground.

    About 8 hours later I walked by and noticed someone had slipped a handwritten note under the little doggie poops on top of the stump. It read: “Losing faith in humanity.”

    I suspect Swift’s definition of misanthropy applies to a lot of us these days.

  • Frances Bula

    @Urbanismo. Just couldn’t leave for my holidays without commenting on this post, which betrays a lack of understanding of the way journalism really operates. First of all, no, I don’t call myself an investigative reporter and I’m proud to do so. Although I admire in-depth reporting that tells me and others something new about the world, I find that far too much “investigative reporting” consists of deciding in advance that something is really bad and then going out and looking selectively for the facts that will support that point of view. Those kinds of reporters very often don’t take the trouble to find out or explain to their readers the true complexities of any given situation or help them to understand why bad decisions get made.

    I wouldn’t make the claim that the Vancouver/Seattle piece was in that explanatory category I admire, though. It was an effort to get people to see beyond Vancouver and realize that other cities are also dealing with their own transit dramas, done in a very restricted space. Criticizing that for not being investigative enough is like me criticizing you that the house you designed isn’t an art gallery.

    Secondly, it is such a cheap shot and a crock to say that I (or any journalist who covers an institution) can’t be critical because I have to stay friendly with my sources or they’ll dry up. I realize it’s part of the new media-criticism schtick. The old lefty media critics used to go after the institutions and the bosses. The new media critics just attack individual journalists. But what you’re saying is like accusing every architect who ever works for any developer of turning out pieces of crap. Any reporter who hopes to survive in this business has to be open (and friendly) to all points of view and all sources. That means being just as friendly with the critics, and willing to give them space, as with the people who are in power for the moment. As a result, I have had more than my fair share of nasty emails and unpleasant phone calls to my editors from people in various city administrations unhappy with my work.

  • Bill McCreery

    Francis, I enjoy the scenarios you present on this blog. You briefly frame the issue of the day & step back & let the unlikely gaggle of ‘us’ [meaning anyone who has something to say on the subject] have a go @ it. I’ve given up trying to figure out what your bias may or may not be. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the discussions that result, which @ times are tedious but, often are inciteful, stimulating & occasionally provide sources of important information. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.