Vancouver -- I hardly knew ye

One day in September my wife and I, enroute to Hawaii, had a day to kill in Vancouver. I hadn't been to downtown Vancouver in many, many years, which is sad for me, since this is the city in which I grew up and a city that, at certain levels, I love and cherish.

Staying in Richmond, we decided, being sans vehicle, we would take the bus. No complaints there. The service was quick and as pleasant as a bus trip can be, and let's face it, bus travel never qualifies as literally pleasant, anywhere in the world.

Anyway, we had a fairly pleasant afternoon window-shopping, meeting a dear friend for lunch, and just taking in the sights of a city that has changed so radically since my childhood and youth. Unfortunately, architectural orgasms notwithstanding, some of the changes have been notably unpleasant ones. We rarely could traverse a block without being panhandled at least once. There were a couple of instances in which we crossed the street because we did not relish passing by individuals that looked frankly intimidating. I am not easily intimidated. I have wandered city streets in major centres all over the globe. Yet, Vancouver intimidated me. A few days later, wandering around Honolulu (a city of equivalent size), we noted the fact that never once were we hit upon by scary looking dudes demanding money. Never once did we feel anything but safe. What is going on here?

A friend just back from Mexico told me how he was sharing a drink in a Mazatlan bar with a native of that city. The man was a qualified tradesperson. My friend asked, "Why not come to Vancouver? With your trade skills you could make much more money." The Mexican declined. "I don't want to go to Vancouver. It's too violent."

So, as we smugly decry the Mexican investigation of a couple of tragic murders of Canadians in Cancun, a Mexican suggests Vancouver scares him due to its violence potential. And, sadly, he's right. It is violent. Very violent. When was the last weekend that somebody wasn't gunned down on its streets? It happens all the time, and that's not just Vancouver Province hyperbole. I can honestly say that the last time I was in uberviolent LA, I felt no more queasiness in the bowels than I do in the city in which I grew up.

The province is currently hemorrhaging goodwill about the 2010 Games. Jolly nice. Are we going to do something to clean up the cesspit of Vancouver if we expect people to come and feel safe in our largest city. We'd better or it's going to bite the city and the province on the ass globally.

Who are what is to blame? Oh, I have my beliefs. Boy, do I have my beliefs, ranging from a boneheaded and cowardly judicial system to a lack of honest dealing with the social issues that lead to the depravities of the downtown Eastside and elsewhere. Beliefs that suggest all the wonderfulness of our society's largesse should be visited on the west side. A smugness that mistakenly informs those powers that are that Vancouver is a "world-class" city, when it is in fact an adolescent frontier town that has never really attained the sophistication it likes to think it has. As I said, I have my beliefs.

Vancouver, what are your beliefs and what are you going to do about it?