The Elitist Environmentalists of Vancouver

There's a small but vocal group of environmentalists in Vancouver who think they speak for everyone but truly only represent a tiny elitist minority of the population. Such groups include this one and this one. Their latest raison d'etre is a ridiculous campaign to stop the twinning of the 43 year old Port Mann Bridge.

Their biggest talking point is "we don't want to have an L.A.'fication of Metro Vancouver". This makes for a great bumper sticker, but let's analyze it a little more thoroughly. What they're essentially saying is that the transportation infrastructure decisions made 40+ years ago should last us for eternity. They loathe and frequently condemn anyone who lives in Surrey or further east in the Fraser Valley and has to commute into Vancouver to work.

How dare they! Unlike these self-centered snobs, not everyone can afford to live close to Vancouver and bicycle in to work. These critics are NIMBYs of the very worst kind and absolutely disgust me.

Here are a couple of facts you should know about me: I live in the heart of Vancouver. I willingly gave up my car almost 5 years ago and walk, bicycle, and take transit to get around. I have absolutely no bias on this matter except for the God given right to use my common sense!

A great new blog focused on such transportation issues can be found here.

Vancouver's NIMBYs In Play

This morning on CKNW's Bill Good show I heard Vancouver Park Board Commissioner, Marty Zlotnick, exemplify a typical elitist Vancouver NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) attitude. The subject at hand was the possible transference of the UBC Golf Club to the Musqueum Native Band.

He was totally against it, of course. And his overarching reason why? Because he & his friends like to go out there and play golf on a regular basis. Isn't that nice. Zlotnick admitted that as a golf course, the land is only worth $11 Million. But if developed into housing, it would be worth $600 Million.

At $40 - $70 per round of golf, only a small percentage of the population can afford to play there on a regular basis. So this valuable land is, in practice, only available to the precious elite like Zlotnick to use. He was very quick to assert that instead of turning over the golf course to the natives, instead the government should just pay them $600 Million outright. In other words, he was very willing to have your tax money and mine be used but we better not dare touch his personal playground.

This whole issue is indicative of the widespread hypocrisy amongst so many Vancouverites. They're perfectly okay with the government giving away endless amounts of land "out there" but when it comes to Native land claims in their neighbourhood then hands off. One day I do wonder if they'll realize how truly pathetic they are.


P.S. Such hypocrisy isn't limited to my city or even my country. Case in point is Robert Kennedy Jr. et al in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Mr. Kennedy is a staunch environmental activist. Until, it seems, someone wanted to activate some green energy windmills in his playground. Then all of a sudden it was a no go. You can read about it here.