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My family is considering moving to Vancouver... does anybody here know the city fairly well?
We're concerned primarily about locations WITHIN the city, which are good or bad for crime, air quality, etc...
It seems to be fairly good in terms of tech jobs, plus I want to try out for the Vancouver TheatreSports league (the place where Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles of "Whose Line Is It, Anyways?" fame got their start...)
talk to "Ferrit" he lives there
I was there on vacation and its just huge. Traffic is a major pain no matter where you live, I'd reocmmend victoria if possible its much nicer. But if its gonna be vancouver stay the hell away from downtown, there's crack heads and drunks everywhere and cops are always busy.
I lived in BC for over 20 years and know the Vancouver area, or "Lower Mainland" as it is known by the local residents.
Joker1 is absolutely right about transportation. Traffic is horrible just about everywhere and public transit is even worse. There is a rapid transit train called the SkyTrain but it's pretty useless since it doesn't really go anywhere useful (except downtown) The biggest problem with the Lower Mainland road network is that there are plenty of bodies of water breaking up the region and NOT enough bridges. The few bridges that there are end up being bottlenecks for cars and buses. There are no freeways leading downtown. Getting to the airport is a pain since there is no freeway link from it to the TransCanadaHighway.
Housing prices are EXTREMELY expensive if you want a house within Vancouver city limits. If you get a house in the suburbs (Surrey or Langley are popular) then you've fallen into the commuter trap and get to spend time crossing those bridges.
If you live on the Island or have to go there often, you'll have to take ferries to get back and forth. It costs $40 for a car and as many people that will fit in it to cross one-way. Multiple sailing waits spanning several hours are not uncommon on weekends.
The scenery is nothing short of spectacular. There are plenty of parks and things to do. The climate is very mild, even in winter. But when it does snow, nobody knows how to drive. To say that it rains a lot in the Lower Mainland is like saying that there are a lot of people in New York City. My mom lived there for two months and moved back to the interior of BC because the rain was so depressing.
Air quality is generally good, since the prevailing winds come from the ocean (which also accounts for the mild climate) but once in a while it gets bad when there is a thermal inversion (hot air above and cold air below) Nowhere near as bad as southern Ontario. BC only has one fuel fired power plant that is used only in emergencies. The rest of the power is hydroelectric so there's no coal burning.
Crime is pretty much the same no matter where you go, except for Downtown which has a lot of street people and the problems that go along with them. Commercial drive is also a place to stay away from. There are ethnic gangs all over so nowhere is really "safe." Being a Pacific rim port, the drug trade is thriving and so is all the bad activity associated with it. BC has become world reknowned for growing the best pot around :eek: , and it's not restricted to one area or another. If I had to live anywhere I would probably pick North Vancouver. Expensive but nice.
The economy is in very rough shape (which is the main reason I moved from BC to Ontario four years ago). The previous government was trounced in the last election, but the new government has a huge task of trying to salvage the economy from the last government's bungling and incompetence. The tax rate in BC is the highest in Canada: 49%.
Hope that helps. If you have any other questions you can mail me at [email protected]
I lived on the Quenn Charlotte Islands North of Vancouver Island For 4 years.
The scenery in BC Is awesome
The weather id Decent Not to cold west of the Rocky's in the Winter.
But I Rains and Rains and Rains all year long.
As for vancouver I've never lived there but have visited a couple times. Seems to me like a Toronto Type City. Very Busy.
Over all Provinces BC is second next to Ontario For me.
I have visited B.C. in the past because I have relatives living there. Vancouver is a lovely place to visit, but I'm not too sure if I want to live there. Joker1, MacGyver, and Danimal all have very good points about B.C.
I, however, lived all my life in Saskatchewan, and I currently reside in the city of Saskatoon. I may move to Alberta sometime down the road, but this is my home for now.
A genuine thank you to everybody for responding, this is good quality info for me to discuss with my wife (esp. yours, MacGyver). I really appreciate you all taking the time to relate your experiences to me. I can't think of any better, easier, or more reliable way information on this subject from someone I trusted than to come here or to one of the other two net boards I'm on...
Anyone with further points to make would still be welcome, of course.
If your looking for tech jobs, i can give you two alternate places.
The Tech Triangle which is the Triple Cities in the Southern Tier of NY (Binghamton, Endicott, Elmira)
and Silicon Island aka Long Island NY
i can give you info on both since i live on LI and go to school in Triple Cities
Hey Wayward, I have lived in van for 24 yrs and it is a nice city to live in. Sure the traffic sucks in Vancouver, but you get used to it. In April and May you can still ski in the local mountains and still go to the beach 15 mins later. It is a beatiful city with alot of people from all over the world. So what if there is crime, where is there not any crime? And if you want to get away for the weekend you can go to Vancouver Island, Whistler (1.5 hrs north) and Seattle (2.5 hrs south). Probably the best area to live in is Burnaby because it is pretty much central to everything. If your loooking for a techjob I can hook you up with one.