how are things are the west coast?

Evidently, not so great.

So what happened, vancouver? When did the homeless population get so huge? When did the crack and meth problem start taking over the West End? When did a massive police presence on Granville street become so necessary? When did the dumb jocks turn into dumb, violent jocks? No, this isn't just another one of my "no-fun city" rants. If I disliked Vancouver that much, I would not have spent the better part of my summer vacation there. But our favourite little west coast bubble has undergone some very noticeable changes in one year.

First of all, I can't get over how sketchy downtown Granville street is on club nights. You are more likely to end up in the hospital if you hang out there on a Friday night than you are walking around the downtown Eastside alone. Try standing outside any club or bar on that strip for an hour and count how many fights break out. Bet you couldn't count them on just one hand. Vancouverites' drinking habits are becoming alarmingly similar to those of the Brits.

Secondly, the petty crime rate is getting ridiculous. Yes, I got my bike stolen for the second time in a year, outside the Royal Unicorn, and yes, I'm still very choked. But so many people I know have either had the same shit happen to them, or have unwittingly bought stolen property from presuably legitimate sources.

Finally, I was surprised to find out the extent to which the population suffering from drug addiction has spread throughout the city. I don't ever remember seeing so many meth addicts around the West End. But the real eye-opener came when I cruised around the downtown Eastside searching for my stolen bike. The back alleys around the old Woodwards building and Carnegie Hall were literally teeming with junkies. When and how did this situation get so out of control?

I was searching around the internet earlier (I'm currently at work) and I found this online version of the BC Mental Health and Addictions Journal which deals specifically with the strong correlation between mental disorders and drug abuse. One of the main problems with the shelters and health services facilities in the downtown Eastside is that most of them are unable to treat both problems at once, even though the high occurence of mental illness among addicts suggests that they go hand in hand.

I'm noticing more and more how bizarre Vancouver is: while all the classic problems associated with large agglomerations have started to appear (infrastructure unable to cope with population boom, lack of social housing, homelessness and poverty, drug trafficking, etc) the mentality of most vancouverites seems to be stuck in the past, in an era where we could get away with not having a rapid transit system to and from the airport, or one could make a noise complaint and shut down a club with nary a peep from concertgoers. I hate to burst your bubble, Vancouver, but it's the 21st century now and you're supposed to be Canada's third largest city, and all that NIMBY bullshit is getting tired.