It’s been a crazy couple of weeks here in Vancouver—or, as I’ve taken to calling it, Olympictown. In so many ways the city since February 1st has been an entirely different city that it has ever been. Amongst the important questions being asked is: what will it become next?

Without a doubt the games have brought Vancouver to life: streets downtown have felt, more or less, like a 24 hour party zone, and its been quite a change from the normal routine of rolling up sidewalks in the early evening on weekdays. Bars and restaurants on Granville and Robson Streets have been overflowing, even those of dubious quality.

Granville Island was a focal point for quite a bit of activity, to say that its been busy is an understatement. It’s been a different kind of busy though: while the prepared food vendors and coffee merchants have been quite happy, the others have—in many cases—seen a dramatic drop in business: up to 40%. The impact of an exorbitant and sudden parking fee, no doubt. To say that there are many Granville Island merchants who are counting down to the end of the games is an understatement.

Our great experiment with short streetcar line provided (at no cost, it must be noted) by Bombardier has been very popular. People want to keep it. The line needs to be longer, but it would be nice to see something similar stick around. It probably won’t. It will take decades for there to be enough traffic on that line to justify the cost to Translink.

The Canadian flags being worn as capes all around town will come to an end in about two hours, with the end of the Men’s gold medal hockey game. A shame, as the bright red of which many of us are proud all year round does a nice job of punching out against the cloudy grey backdrop the weather has provided us for much of the last two weeks. The public outpouring of patriotism has been remarkable. Vancouver is not a town that feels much like it’s part of Canada most of the time. This is us, out here on the raggedy edge: a long way from an Ottawa that feels (too often) like it ignores us altogether. Perhaps that will end, thought I doubt it: we still don’t vote Conservative in the city, and the Liberals like Quebec too much.

For all the talk about Vancouver as Canada’s future—it’s been a topic of conversation before, and it will come up again—I’m not sure that this has marked any kind of substantial transition. A two week party amongst our glass towers does little to repair the economic fragility of a town lacking in head offices and sizable employers, where the cost of purchasing a house vastly exceeds the reach of the average income. It remains to be seen, of course, and its been an interesting ride.

I, for one, can’t wait to get my city back.

Posted by skooter at 8:01 PM This entry is filed under .