"The Future of Vancouver a Model City or Urban Gated Community"

Ah Vancouver, my city by choice like so many others. A town that is always on the some publication's annual  "Best City", or "Most livable City" list. In some ways it is, great views, access to the ocean and stunning nature, a amazing culinary scene. Yes this is a great city.....for now....
 With sky rocketing real estate prices that run from bat shit crazy to just plain Lindsey Lohan on meth crazy. This week there was a report that by the spring the average price for a detached single family home will be $900 grand! And for you who do not live here just google "Vancouver Special" to see what just shy of a cool million will get you today in crow city.

"Vancouver Special"

  A few years back  the city sold it's soul to Concord Pacific in return for an experiment in Modern Urban Density. Soon we became a city of glass fish bowl condos. They all look similar, Mc Condos, with out supersizing. Sure Condos in and of themselves are not bad. Home ownership is a good thing, but for alot of people they do not want to own, or cannot afford to own. So they rent.

 Rentals in Vancouver are scarce, you might have  a better chance of seeing Big Foot or John Gosslin not wearing a douchy Ed Hardy shirt.  The city has chosen condos not apartments for this city. Thus turning us slowly into the largest urban gated community on earth outside Dubai.
 Vancouver will become an elitist Tower filled country club where we have to bus in the people who feed us, sell us stuff, and  who also work below management levels.

 Condos are not the answer to a successful City / Urban experience. A mix of rentals and ownership, market price and affordable housing makes for a dynamic diverse community. Not a Island of Glass fish bowls and hot yoga studios.  Just look at our city they have pretty much torn down every old building, and as a New Yorker it is kinda unsettling and sterile. We do have areas that are still real city, gritty interesting but they are quickly dying.

 Vancouver will to me only really be a world class city when, it is a place of economic inclusion, a place that gets rid of it's draconian booze laws so we can have more live music, arts and culture and not just one large dance club downtown. A place that can celebrate its economic diversity as much as its cultural diversity.

NaBloPoMo Day 10 "You have Cancer...Now What?"

Last week I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma, and after years of wanton sun worship and growing up when no one knew of skin cancer we all lathered our bodies up with baby oil on the beach. There were even oils with crystallized crap in them to amplify the sun for a deeper tan. No days that is crazy talk in line with Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck.

 After I found out my mind went thru it's usually line of thought, from why me?, to time for bucket list. After I settled in with my turn of fate the toughts have normalized into "what should I do with the dead hookers in my closet".. No No i joke..... But I have thought about what I should be doing with my life in the near future and here is what I came up with so far;

A) I will continue to work. I love my job so I will work flex time ,some office ,some home on my boat / refuge.. I will video conference wearing nothing but a tie & shirt no pants.

B) I will get to know some new people outside of my job. I do not have many friends outside of work. It is like a living on the small inbreed island of Pitcarn ( that is where the Bounty descendants live) . So I intend to get to know some of the people I have met on twitter, like, Monica, Kimli, Gus Greeper and her husband, Emme Rogers and the like.

C) I will help Gus Greeper aka Corinna Carlson get her Bali Charity off the ground. I love that part of the world and I feel my connections, and inventiveness could be an asset to her in her cause.

D) I love Public Art...always have, i feel it is a wonderful way for people of all walks of life to experience art in their own way. So I plan on putting together a photo project of all of the public art in Vancouver and creating a website so anyone including schools can find our cities public art.

E) I will buy a new camera and get back into Photography. My late wife was a professional photographer and always amazed me with her talent and humanity in he work. I always loved to take pictures and wanted to get more serious about it now I will.

F) Reconnection with old friends... It is time to re connect with people i loved in my life. Now that I may not have a long lifetime to do this I plan a"Moose Tour" so that I can get as many of my old friends as drunk as I can.

G) Easy part! I will strive to be nicer, more open and better member of my community. To be a participant in life and not just an observer / consumer of it.

That is it for now, I hope you all choose to follow me in my new journey of self exploration, and maybe just maybe be inspired by it.

VIVA LA BADGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NaBloPoMo day 9 " When is a Blog not a Blog but a HTML Infomercial?"

 This post is bound to get me sent to the Blogger version of the misfit toys from x-mas island. It is just a personal observation and snapshot of my views of  social media life.

  I am new to blogging but I have been a avid web browser / lurker since Mosaic was still a browser and all you could find were animated gifs and gopher sites (cira 1993) which in web years might as well be before the baby jebus.... I have seen so much bad internet it is sick. I was even a subscriber of AOL for 2 years til it almost drove me to kill. I am also a working journalist / producer. I do not write about it because it is my life so much of the time i need a break once and awhile.
  So when is a Blog a Blog? When does it cross from social media to social marketing? And should bloggers get paid to advertise products or services in the guise of reviews when by the fact of receiving payment of money or goods and services still be considered blogs.  I do not have a problem with people making a living blogging, if you have a service or product go market it. If that product is you even better I support that fully. Social Media is a great place to market in and around. I have plenty of friends who do this and do it very well.

 The difference is when the line is blurred. Blogging about that wonderful resort or restaurant you went to is great, But if you got your hotel stay for free for the blog post or your diner free to pimp for the eatery. I start to have issues. Some will say that I am jealous, but i am not. I cannot take payment or service for a piece I do not because I am a a professional Journalist and that would be intellectually dishonest, and professionally immoral. I do think that people who pimp for businesses and services should state that they were paid for the article in the post. Or they run the same line as infomercials that pretend to be news shows.... which is very intellectually dishonest.
 Please understand fellow bloggers, I do not have a problem with people "Self Marketing" or "Marketing for friends". But some blogs and bloggers are not friends with every biz in town (especially the really trendy and hip ones)
 These forms of HTML Infomercial, tricks the reader into thinking it is a honest review, a real experience, one persons interaction with some thing they paid for. It is nothing else but dishonest. I have read some of these blogs and i find it easy to figure out quick. there are never any medicore reviews, everything, at everyplace they visit or product they use is Fabulous and not to be missed.

 Are these bloggers parasites? yes to a degree, it is that they feed their wallets off of businesses who are willing to pay, feed, cloth, and house these tape worm bloggers. By no means should we run them out of town with pitch forks and torches, we should just call them what they are. social media infomercials. Bloggers who are just like Shlomo the Sham-wow guy, minus the hooker beating. or the late billy Mays. They just do it in a slick, internet based way. And we do not even have to pay shipping & and handling.
  There are also blogs written by big Biz as well. Disguised as consumer information blogs when again they are just shills.

 I will continue to support bloggers who write because they like to, or write because their minds make them. I will also support anyone who markets themselves and their product in social media. But for me soon it will be open season on blogger infomercials, just like so many of us bag on their television equivalents.  I hope I still have some online social media friends after this......