Business travel to Vancouver BC
By Warren McNeil
Just came back from a week in Vancouver BC. Melanie and I were there for a real estate training conference. I was really impressed with how beautiful Vancouver was. We met many friendly people and learned quite a bit about this beautiful world-class city. We rode up to Grouse Mountain, visited the public market on Granville Island, took several forms of transportation around the city and sampled a couple of the beers. I definitely didn't like the wheat based beer; Hefeweizen is an acquired taste indeed! We stayed at a hotel in the entertainment district downtown. The room was really small but at least it was clean. Next time we are going to get a bigger room in a nicer hotel. Overall my opinion of Vancouver was a positive one. The real estate market there is a bit slower now but not as bad as Calgary according to the local Realtors.
The other thing I had the privilege of doing was ride on the Skytrain. If you don't know what the Skytrain is, it is a rapid transit people mover that is pretty much hands-free. It runs on an electric rail and stops at various points in the city. They are extending this transit system all the way to the airport. The Skytrain was a relatively smooth ride and very fast.
Next time I go back, I would like to see some of the loft developments in the downtown core. I bet they have some pretty nice designs. There are more and more loft developments showing up in Kitchener and Waterloo because of their growing popularity.
On a much more serious note, we had the opportunity to visit the DTES (Downtown East Side)! During one of the bus tours we were on, the bus operators told us to stay away from the downtown east side and we assumed we were nowhere near it. One night we decided to go for supper at "The Olde Spaghetti Factory" in Gastown (BTW, I highly recommend this place. Incredible value and terrific food. There is one in TO as well). After supper we walked up the street and asked a passerby how to catch a bus to get back downtown. He told us to catch the bus over on Hastings. We didn't think much of it. Next thing we know we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the DTES (Downtown East Side). I was really taken aback with what I saw. I walked by one building and the smell of pee was so bad I thought I was going to pass out. There were many sick people there mainly due to mental illness, drugs and homelessness. I was sad to see the situation of some of the people there. We were a little nervous while waiting for the bus but nobody bothered us. Turns out that some of these people can't afford to pay rent anywhere so they are forced to live on the streets. Shelters care for as many as they can but are limited due to space issues. There are several factors that are the causing the problems. One of the biggest being the high cost of real estate. We tried to get an idea of what the average house price was in Vancouver. I think a Realtor told me the average house price is 600,000! This is a far cry from our average house price of 310,000. I also heard that a mental institution was closed down and the people housed there were released onto the streets I hope with the Olympics coming in 2010 that they have a solution to the problem. There are lots of changes taking place. I hope that something is going to be done to help the homeless problem. Check out this CTV article. I can't really comment more because I don't fully understand all the issues. You have to see it yourself to fully understand the scope of the problem.
For the people between Main and Hastings, be safe out there...
All in all, our trip was awesome. Thanks for reading!