Is Vancouver, BC really The best place on Earth? I doubt it!

[Will N. Dowd]

So I've lived in Vancouver, since 1994 and as anyone else who lives here knows, we are constantly bombarded in the media with how Vancouver is the best place to live in the world! It always gets ranked in the top 5 cities to live in the world and the local media makes sure to hype that up every year so all the idiots here know about it. To make things worse, some local company came up with the catch phrase "the best place on earth" and uses that to advertise BC and plaster it everywhere! They even went so far as to put it on our license plates in case anyone forgets it.

I always ask myself these questions:

If it's the best place on earth, why do only about 2 million people live here?
Why does anyone move elsewhere or go on holidays elsewhere? if it is the best place why not stay here?
Why is it supposedly so good here? I doubt it really is.
It rains a lot and is full of feminist women and p**sy whipped men.
the real estate prices are criminal! Luckily I just paid off my place, so I am in a good position.
People here suffer from the same Seattle freeze issue Winston talks about.
A lot of people from here have never lived anywhere else, so how do they know it is the best place?
What makes a place so good anyways? Is it mountains, the ocean and skiing? Or is it the people?

I would say that as far as Canada goes it is probably the best place to live in Canada, because the rest of Canada is too hot and humid in summer, and too cold and frozen in winter, and again is full of feminist women and feeble men.

I'm looking for opinions on the subject from people who live here, have lived here and now live elsewhere, have visisted, or who either love or hate the place. I think people make a place nice, and in that matter, Vancouver sucks, but of course you will never hear about that in the strange criteria that goes into measuring how nice a place is, based on United nations development index.

[pete98146]

Living in Seattle, I have been to Vancouver dozens of times in my life. Back in the day when the US Dollar was 1/3 higher than the Canadian currency it was a fun weekend getaway. Now that the currencies are equal, it's a very spendy place to visit.

Interestingly, I find the Canadian Anglos MUCH more friendly than the US Anglos. However, the city is an interesting mix of Chinese, East Indian and Anglo and the three classes don't assimilate very well together, so the entire city gives off a really snooty vibe.

I still take my wife up there on occasion tho. It's a fun party town and the young Chinese women make for some good eye candy. I rank Vancouver as a "fun place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there" type of city.

[globetrotter]

Vancouver, BC is one my most favorite cities in the world. The women are tall and lovely, many are Asian, the scenery is stunning and beautiful.

Compared to L.A. weather the weather in BC sucks, but compared to all of Canada, Vancouver has the best weather in the country.

It's a great city. I have visited many times.

Asian High School goth girls waiting at the bus stop. In skirts. My word...

Real Estate is in a bubble and will soon have a price collapse. This is due to the Olympics - it happens to all cities that host. Prices shoot the moon, and prior to that the global bubble. Many Chinese invest in ramshackle cape cods in YVR.

I like the houses, the neighborhoods and the feel of it. Like Seattle, Portland and parts between the city has a great, other worldly feel to it. Like some Aussie cities.

Yeah, it's expensive but I plan to visit next time I am in North America.

In 2002 the loonie was 60¢ to the USD so trips were like monopoly money. In 2006-2008 packages from LA to YVR were $290 for the flight and a 3 day rental car. How could I NOT go? I shot up there on the weekends 3 or 4 times.

[wuxi]

Compared to L.A. weather the weather in BC sucks, but compared to all of Canada, Vancouver has the best weather in the country.

I disagree, I think Kelowna has the best weather in Canada. Also, southern Alberta gets tons of sunshine year round but does get cold. It rains everyday in Vancouver in the winter and then the suicide rate skyrockets. I'm sure half the people suffer from vitamin D deficiency and don't even know it. Also, Vancouver's downtown east side has a dubious distinction as having lots of drugs, maybe thats why the UN gives it such a high rating. No matter where you go in Canada you'll be surrounded by militant feminists but the chinese women in Richmond are probably the best looking women in the country.

[globetrotter]

Compared to L.A. weather the weather in BC sucks, but compared to all of Canada, Vancouver has the best weather in the country.

I disagree, I think Kelowna has the best weather in Canada. Also, southern Alberta gets tons of sunshine year round but does get cold. It rains everyday in Vancouver in the winter and then the suicide rate skyrockets. I'm sure half the people suffer from vitamin D deficiency and don't even know it. Also, Vancouver's downtown east side has a dubious distinction as having lots of drugs, maybe thats why the UN gives it such a high rating. No matter where you go in Canada you'll be surrounded by militant feminists but the chinese women in Richmond are probably the best looking women in the country.

Like most Canadians your perception of 'Cold' is totally skewed and simply not in line with the rest of the planet.

-Few people would trade sunshine for -40C, and that's what happens in Alberta and North Dakota every single winter. No one likes that type of weather, it is something to be avoided, thus people move to Vancouver. Yeah, you might think 'it's just cold', everyone else thinks it is unlivable, painful and hellish.

-The obsession those in the PNW have about suicide rates has gotten to the point of cliche and urban legend. Yes, more people kill themselves in YVR, SEA, Portland and the PNW, but it isn't an epidemic, it's just slightly higher. This is the kind of obsessive, local anecdote that high school kids keep repeating year after year.

-As far as downtown east side, which I have seen and walked through on a few occasions, taken the bus through, a taxi through, and stayed in a hotel, it is tame compared to any other seedy section of other cities. You are a Canadian and you have absurd standards. You see the only 1,000 drug addicts in all of Canada in one place and conclude that the entire city is a write-off. People will f**k up, no social program can prevent idiots from being stupid. Canadian addicts are the most tame, harmless homeless people I have ever seen. Vancouver was the end of the hippie trail up the USA coast and many hippies dropped out and off there, shooting up and doing nothing else...why?...

-Do you know WHY there are so many needle pointers in YVR compared to other Canadian cities? It's for the same reason that Los Angeles has so many homeless addicts - the weather is nice enough so that you won't freeze to death if you are a homeless addict. Try that in Edmonton in February and see how that works out.

-Lastly like so many people in the Pacific Northwest, you whinge constantly about all sorts of crap. If you don't like where you live, MOVE.

Being a grown man and whining about your hometown, that you have lived in for 16+ years, is pathetic.

You say your house is paid in full? Sell it NOW. Your city is about to get a massive bubble crash in real estate and your house/condo will be worth -70% less in a few years. Sell now, lock in those profits from some sucker who is willing to buy your place at these prices and rent in YVR or move to some place (Kelowna - but it's for the rich...) where you won't whine. This advice will save/net you hundred's of thousands of dollars if you follow it now.

{I lived in Seattle for 4.5 years, and traveled all over the PNW from POR to YVR and Whistler.}

[starkeep]

I was looking in the internet at condos in vancouver bc and was shocked. i think some of the minimum prices were 300000 . Then i lookked in houston texas and the condos were about 20000. So i dont know but i think that bubble cant go on forever there. The us is in a realestate depression and its global. Canada has the oil and less crime and not the overpaid actors and sports players but i dont know how the average person there can afford
anywhere near that????

[globetrotter]

Will,

I was just looking over recent YVR figures for housing sales and prices.

Price is flat the last month, sales are peaking and beginning to rollover.

You need to sell now! Price it aggressively, lower the price BELOW what you 'feel' you should get, because that's the only way to get it to sell. None of this hold your price where you want and wait a few months - in a few months everyone in Vancouver will be trying to unload their property as they all realise that the bubble has burst.

You better get moving, now or you won't sell that house ever.

It's your choice - walk away with massive profits or sustain a -70% loss from the value as of today.

Sell, sell, sell!

[extriniti]

I featured this posting at my VANCOUVER & CANADA SUCKS PAGE devoted to REVEALING THE TRUTH ABOUT VANCOUVER TO THE WORLD...xD

That will teach you to f**k WITH ME MOTHERFUCKERS... ;p

http://www.extriniti.com/index.php?opti ... 95&lang=en

[MIHA]

vancouver is garbage. it's expensive ($4 meal in usa will cost you $7 in canada), the weather sucks, food sucks, it's filled with savage immigrants, and white racists. i dont think it's any better than any other western capitalist city, including detroit. the only reason why it got voted as the best city to live in is because the vancouver business community probably bribed whoever was making the list. i wouldnt recomend living there. as someone has mentioned, the chinese, indians, and whites dont mix. at least in racist parts of america, you see chinese, whites, and blacks befriending each other.