Whenever people bring up this point I ask if they can provide any examples of cities that have reduced pollution or GHG emission by reducing idling. There doesn’t seem to be any. There are cities that have reduced pollution by adding more cycling infrastructure and limiting car use.

I am a lonely person, with only trolls for company.

Yeah, I didn’t think anyone was actually serious about this.

Driving to work is down and cycling, walking and transit use have increased in the areas east of Dunsmuir. A pretty good indication that pollution as well will be decreasing. http://richardcampbell.org/2013/08/06/driving-to-work-down-east-of-dunsmuir/

Page 8 of
metrovancouver.org/about/publications/Publications/2013_LFV_AQ_Monitoring_Report.pdf

“Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) – 2013
Monitoring results for all PM2.5 monitoring stations with sufficient data requirements are shown in Figure S8. The Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standard values for two stations are not shown in Figure S8 because the data are incomplete for the year.

…Metro Vancouver’s 24-hour PM2.5 objective was exceeded at five stations in 2013. Exceedances occurred during three separate periods on January 20-22, October 19-20 and November 25-26.
Elevated levels of regional PM2.5 can occur when high pressure weather systems are present. Typically experienced in the summer, 2013 had three occurrences of high pressure systems which contributed to PM2.5 exceedances in the fall and winter. During these times regional and local emissions sources combined with stagnant atmospheric conditions led to elevated PM levels.”

BUT see worries in Paris [ airqualitynow.eu/city_info/paris/page2.php ]
aqicn.org/city/paris/

And the usual summer debate: theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/17/paris-worse-air-pollution-beijing

And Kits, “It’s Organic!” 😉

http://aqicn.org/city/british-comlumbia/vancouver-kitsilano/

Meanwhile, pgs S-3 & S-4 of your own cite show a long-term decline of all particulates except ozone.

As mentioned, vehicles are more efficient than they used to be. Far more. This is obviously a factor. Nevertheless, there are areas where there is much more vehicle idling, Beach eastbound and Burrard is one. Dunsmuir westbound at various intersections too. Hornby is best avoided so Seymour becomes clogged.

I can inform you that high rent people in the financial industry have told me that they are seriously considering relocating their offices out of downtown because clients do not want to go downtown anymore because of the hassles. I also know of another that has moved out.

The same thing happened in many US cities. Once the law firms follow the financial services, then the dentists and perhaps a design studio and then an ad agency and an architectural practice. The cafes and restaurants follow too. A critical mass is established and the old city loses a growing chunk of triple A commercial renters.

A couple of years ago the architectural critic and writer Trevor Boddy, correctly warned of a looming shortage of commercial office space in the downtown Vancouver core. Westcoat Energy had become Cube condos and, just in time, the architectural firm IBI succeeded in stopping the condo conversion of Arthur Erickson’s Evergreen Building on Pender. During this time a moratorium on condo conversions was brought in.

Once again Vancouver is gradually discouraging commercial activity by over emphasizing the resort lifestyle of the wealthy Spandex crowd.

Vancouver increasingly becomes a place for the haves and the have nots. That’s why we see such massive and increasing volumes of upper middle class vehicles heading in and out daily to Richmond, North Vancouver, Surrey, Coquitlam, Langley and beyond.

Because robots and computers will do all the work, right? Everyone can stay at home and travel, study and socialize and wage war through telepresence , rather than in person. No need for cars or bikes or roads or planes or the planet-killing poison that fuels them. Deliveries will be by solar-powered drone. Everyone will be happy and healthy and won’t worry about things over which they have no control.
Sounds like somebody has been reading too much sci-fi or maybe too much Kurzweil. What CK likes to call trends are just wishful dreams. Won’t happen until we have all had a chip implanted in our heads. Then everyone will be the same, no arguments or disagreements, no whiners and cranks. We’ll all know everything thanks to our implanted Google connection and we’ll all know the very same thing.
Wouldn’t it be great?

From those dirty commies at the Economist:

“Innovation has brought great benefits to humanity. Nobody in their right mind would want to return to the world of handloom weavers. But the benefits of technological progress are unevenly distributed, especially in the early stages of each new wave, and it is up to governments to spread them. In the 19th century it took the threat of revolution to bring about progressive reforms. Today’s governments would do well to start making the changes needed before their people get angry.”

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21594298-effect-todays-technology-tomorrows-jobs-will-be-immenseand-no-country-ready

Not doing too badly in the present day. Why wait?

Well, there’s a lot of people working on those wishful dreams. So, what’s your prediction? Anyone can sit around as say ‘it’ll never happen.’ What do you think will happen in the coming years? It would be useful if you contributed something worthwhile to the discussion instead of just tearing down others. Thanks.

Please don’t use the Mr Obsolete schtick of exaggerating a single concept to the point of hyperbole. I provided two fairly reputable sources discussing trends relevant to the issue of office space requirements — that run counter to your anonymous anecdotes. Tessa’s comments (in my opinion) are an even stronger rebuttal of your position, using local stats in the here and now. You might have more to gain by proving her wrong than attacking my ‘wishful thinking’ LOL.

“A new comment was posted on http://francesbula.com/Brilliant

I would think robots are just as capable of turning out doodles for cartoons, yet Gregor seems to think that is an industry which can replace resource extraction.

12:09 p.m., Sunday Nov. 30″

Do you live in Vancouver Brilliant?

“Many of the jobs most at risk are lower down the ladder (logistics, haulage), whereas the skills that are least vulnerable to automation (creativity, managerial expertise) tend to be higher up, so median wages are likely to remain stagnant for some time and income gaps are likely to widen.”

(from the linked Economist piece)

Brilliant:
Please do make some attempt at scanning the provided information and understanding the issue before excreting your opinion. It’s unlikely to add anything useful to the conversation, but it might make you look less like the antithesis of your screen name.

“Ah Chris I’m always so glad Frances runs these bike posts as it brings the The Bike Lobbyists scurrying in to parrot some propaganda.

10:03 p.m., Sunday Nov. 30”

What part of the Eastern time zone are you posting from?

Jen, it has happened. The article states “Despite its recent rises, downtown Vancouver’s office vacancy rate is consistently below that of the region” That counters the anecdotal comments about companies fleeing the downtown core for the suburbs. They may be doing so, but if so they are being replaced at a greater rate than they are leaving.

Data on trips comes from different sources.

For a summary of population and job changes compared to vehicles entering both the City, and the downtown core, look in the Transportation 2040 plan. Summary: From 1996 to 2011, for the city, population was up 18%, jobs were up 16%, and cars counted crossing the screen lines were down 5%. For the same period, for the downtown core, population was up 75%, jobs were up 26%, and cars counted across the screen lines were down 20%. Full plan here: http://tinyurl.com/Transportation-2040

Other data is available from the Translink Metro Vancouver Regional Trip Diary (analytic report). Look to page 39 for Vancouver/UEL (no breakdown for the downtown core). You can see where trips originate and end, and compare trips and mode share, with data up through 2011.

http://tinyurl.com/Trip-Diary-Analytic-Report

It’s a little confusing overall, saying the vacancy rate has risen but is still lower than the suburbs. mind you, I’ve been sick since Friday, it’s freezing in here but I refuse to close the window. Is that bad? Jay says it is but I hate breathing stuffy air. Thanks for the links, will check them out now.

It is healthy to be self-confident but I do wonder, are you as pompous in person?

The very first point from the linked Forbes article:

“1. The Internet will be used to engage with millennial employees and customers

Millennials are looking for more engagement from financial advisors and banks. They want advisors to connect with them using online tools instead of face-to-face conversations like they typically would have with older generations. 61% want video meetings with advisors and 57% will change financial advisors for a tech setting.”

Feel free to provide some evidence that the financial services industry is expecting to hire more people to meet the needs of Millenials, and that this need will translate into a higher or continued demand for downtown office space. My mind is very open to strong arguments with a basis in good data. But the diminishing need for personnel in financial services and a host of other industries seems fairly well-accepted as far as I can tell.

Ya got me Chris . Since losing the mayors race in TO I’ve been laying the groundwork to bring Ford Nation to Vancouver. LOL.

Or it might just be the timestamp on the Rogers network. Take your pick.

Extremely short sighted and narrow viewpoint. Offices are not disappearing because of “automation of…financial and accounting tasks.” People are still people, and collaboration still happens in person FAR more than it happens remotely.

Vancouver’s risk on this is the flight of jobs as these functions are centralized into Head Offices, most of which are not here. This has been a long term trend–I reviewed a city study of the issue almost a decade ago–and for every new Microsoft or Amazon office opening there’s another that’s moving high value jobs back to their head office.

Vancouver is a branch office town, and branch offices are smaller than ever. This is going to be a city of sales people and business development representatives–may god have mercy on our soul.

“In an influential paper, Autor, Levy, and Murnane (2003) provide a compelling explanation: they found that middle-skilled manufacturing and clerical occupations are characterised by a high intensity of procedural, rule-based activities which they call “routine tasks”. As it happens, these routine tasks can relatively easily be coded into computer programs.

Therefore, the rapid improvements in computer technology over the last few decades have provided employers with ever cheaper machines that can replace humans in many middle-skilled activities such as bookkeeping, clerical work and repetitive production tasks. These improvements in technology also enable employers to offshore some of the routine tasks that cannot be directly replaced by machines (Autor 2010).”

http://www.voxeu.org/article/job-polarisation-and-decline-middle-class-workers-wages

And when did the Port install onshore power systems so ships no longer had to run their diesel engines to generate power? One of the large container ships produces the same emissions from their 110,000HP diesel engines as 50 million cars according to a story in the Guardian. So the next time you talk to the folks at Metro Vancouver Air Quality ask them how much of that reduction has to do with the Port installing onshore power systems for ships tied up? Or how much had to do with automobiles being more efficient, when they’re running and not stopped at traffic lights?

According to the last census, 2011, less than 2% of the region’s over 15 and employed used a bike to get to work. There are 4 times more people going to work by walking. So shouldn’t we be investing more money into wider sidewalks and safer intersections for pedestrians?

It took all of less than 1 minute to find this:

http://ti.org/Congestion&GHGs.pdf

Traffic Congestion and Greenhouse Gases, University of California,

“…we have estimated how three improvements in managing traffic operations can reduce CO2 emissions:

Congestion mitigation strategies that reduce severe congestion and increase traffic speeds (e.g. ramp metering, incident management, and congestion pricing);

Speed management strategies that bring down excessive speeds to more moderate speeds of approximately 55 mph (e.g. enforcement and ISA); and

Traffic smoothing strategies that reduce the number and intensity of
acceleration and deceleration events (e.g. variable speed limits and ISA).

Using typical conditions on Southern California freeways as an example, our research has shown that each of the three traffic-management strategies above could reduce CO2 emissions by 7 to 12 percent. All three strategies in combination could reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 30 percent.”

LA is installing smart traffic lights to “smooth” and sync traffic flow, managing it for movement rather than engineering congestion through constriction or badly or non-synched traffic lights. They are seeing great results and will meet the U of C projections.

The big issue for bicycle mode in this area is the days of cold grey wet days. The mode share is still quite low but there is an increase in people using bikes and walking in the core of the city.