Fucking Olympics

As the 2010 Winter Olympics approaches Vancouver like a winter storm, I am sure this will not be my only blog entry on the subject.

There are always certain plusses when billions of federal and provincial monies are poured into the local economy for the purposes of impressing foreign visitors and investors. There are, unfortunately, many minuses too.

The plusses include the widened highway that clings to the mountainsides between Horseshoe Bay and Whistler, a capital expenditure that the local economy could never afford on its own. And there's the Canada Line, a new subway/light rail line that runs from downtown to the airport, and lots of new pavement and downtown urban design improvements, such as the face-lift Granville St got.

But each silver lining has its cloud. The widening of the Sea-to-Sky highway to Whistler has caused a lot of environmental damage, unavoidable with all the blasting and heavy construction. The Canada Line construction has bankrupted scores of businesses in formerly prosperous retail strips along its route and the Granville St face-lift began with the complete removal of all existing trees. Months after it started, it still looks a mess.

I need rather level terrain to walk around, as my pathetic legs cannot handle steep hills or ramps, high curbs or broken, uneven ground. Over the past 5 years I have used walking as my main source of exercise and to keep my legs operational longer. As the construction crews raced to complete the Canada Line operational, and collect their bonuses for doing so, they have torn up the surrounding sidewalks and left the streetscapes largely neglected.

At a certain point 2 weeks ago, just before the line opened for business, I found the last sidewalk accessible to me was completely blocked off. All other routes require pedestrians to be able to climb up curbs without a ramp or negotiate sunken or rolling gravel pathways that have replaced the formerly flat surfaces. Fortunately, I can still access my building because my local bus stops at the back door and also picks me up there. But as the weeks go by, now that I am not walking to work, I find my ability to walk rapidly deteriorating. My suspect most of what I am losing will never come back.


"The world is made for those who are not cursed with self-awareness." - Walt Whitman

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