I saw that which you see above Saturday in the Seattle Times. A link to an article titled With new options for food, wine and walks on the Columbia, the Vancouver waterfront is buzzing.
The first two paragraphs of this article...
Sawmills, shipyards, breweries and a paper mill once lined the north bank of the Columbia River in the “Other Vancouver,” the Washington town across the water from Portland that thrived with industry in the late 1800s.
Fast-forward to a post-pandemic 2022. People walk their dogs and kids play in a waterfront park flanked by restaurants, wine tasting rooms, a gourmet coffee “gastro” cafe, and, coming later this year: two hotels; an El Gaucho and 13 Coins restaurant; a brewery; and another taproom.
“It intrigued me from the beginning,” said developer Barry Cain, who spearheaded Waterfront Vancouver, a mixed-use project with office buildings and residences, for the Gramor Development company. When Boise Cascade decided to close its paper mill in 2006, leaving dormant 35 acres of prime waterfront property just south of downtown Vancouver, Cain saw the opportunity “to take a situation like that, and do something that could change the face of the city.”
So, it appears private developers are the ones developing some prime Vancouver real estate, land which had previously served an industrial purpose, and is now being re-imagined. The next paragraph tells us how this land is being re-imagined...
Tying everything together is a 7-acre city-owned park connecting to the 5-mile Columbia River Renaissance Trail, popular for jogging and biking. Open-air patios stand on the half-mile paved path at Waterfront Park, lined with granite benches, play areas and water features, separated by the Grant Street Pier, an overlook suspended 90 feet over the river.
That all sounds quite nice. And, what with this land only becoming available in 2006, rather quickly developed. Apparently without begging for federal funding. Or hiring a local politician's son to be part of the project to motivate that politician to secure federal funds.
What a concept. A big city wearing its big city pants.
And then there is this paragraph...
“Vancouver has always lived in the shadow of Portland,” says Seidy Selivanow, owner of Kafiex Roasters’ Gastro Café, which opened on the waterfront last April. “Now it’s taking on an identity of its own.”
A city living in the shadow of a bigger, more well known city. Now, what does that remind me of? Oh, yeah, Fort Worth living in the dark shadow of Dallas.
When I saw this article referencing Vancouver I thought back a couple decades to that Sunday morning when I read a blaring headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram screaming "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH".
I remember reading that and thinking what fresh ridiculous nonsense is this gonna turn out to be? Little could I realize how totally absurdly ridiculous Trinity Uptown would become over the following decades, eventually morphing into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Riverwalk Vision, proudly, after years and years of construction, managing to build three pitiful freeway overpass type bridges over dry land, hoping one day to see a water filled ditch go under the bridges, thus creating an imaginary island.
I remember when I read that Star-Telegram article about Fort Worth being turned into the Vancouver of the South, wondering which Vancouver they were talking about. The Canadian Vancouver, or the Washington Vancouver? The Canadian Vancouver is surrounded by water, with mountains looming in the background, and a big river, the Fraser, passing by. The Washington Vancouver also has a big river, the Columbia, and mountains visible, such as the Mount Hood volcano in Oregon.
Fort Worth has zero of these attributes both Vancouvers possess.
Turns out it was the Canadian Vancouver Fort Worth was destined to become like.
When this Star-Telegram Fort Worth nonsense happened I was early on in experiencing what I came to see as the town's, well, tendency to delusion, as reflected in its leaders and its one and only newspaper.
Trinity Uptown turning Fort Worth into Vancouver happened before the Santa Fe Rail Market was supposedly modeled after Seattle's Pike Place and public markets in Europe, when it turned out to be nothing more than a soon to fail lame mall food court type thing.
And then after that there was the time the Star-Telegram trumpeted that the Cabela's sporting goods store opening in far north Fort Worth would become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. Has the Star-Telegram ever apologized for misleading its few readers over that nonsensical nonsense? Even after a second Cabela's opened in DFW?
One more blurb from this article about this actual Vancouver development...
Fodor’s Travel took note, naming the Vancouver waterfront to its 2021 list of the nation’s 15 best river walks.
I wonder if Fodor's Travel book will ever find itself adding Fort Worth to its list of the nation's 15 best river walks?
I suspect that will never happen, but if it does, Fort Worth will likely have a city wide celebration whilst bragging such is making towns, far and wide, green with envy...
__________________
Looks like Vancouver has built itself a Riverwalk, of sorts, on the banks of the mighty Columbia. How did this come to be I wondered? The answer came in the next paragraph...“It intrigued me from the beginning,” said developer Barry Cain, who spearheaded Waterfront Vancouver, a mixed-use project with office buildings and residences, for the Gramor Development company. When Boise Cascade decided to close its paper mill in 2006, leaving dormant 35 acres of prime waterfront property just south of downtown Vancouver, Cain saw the opportunity “to take a situation like that, and do something that could change the face of the city.”
_____________________
So, it appears private developers are the ones developing some prime Vancouver real estate, land which had previously served an industrial purpose, and is now being re-imagined. The next paragraph tells us how this land is being re-imagined...
Tying everything together is a 7-acre city-owned park connecting to the 5-mile Columbia River Renaissance Trail, popular for jogging and biking. Open-air patios stand on the half-mile paved path at Waterfront Park, lined with granite benches, play areas and water features, separated by the Grant Street Pier, an overlook suspended 90 feet over the river.
_______________________
That all sounds quite nice. And, what with this land only becoming available in 2006, rather quickly developed. Apparently without begging for federal funding. Or hiring a local politician's son to be part of the project to motivate that politician to secure federal funds.
What a concept. A big city wearing its big city pants.
And then there is this paragraph...
“Vancouver has always lived in the shadow of Portland,” says Seidy Selivanow, owner of Kafiex Roasters’ Gastro Café, which opened on the waterfront last April. “Now it’s taking on an identity of its own.”
______________________
A city living in the shadow of a bigger, more well known city. Now, what does that remind me of? Oh, yeah, Fort Worth living in the dark shadow of Dallas.
When I saw this article referencing Vancouver I thought back a couple decades to that Sunday morning when I read a blaring headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram screaming "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH".
I remember reading that and thinking what fresh ridiculous nonsense is this gonna turn out to be? Little could I realize how totally absurdly ridiculous Trinity Uptown would become over the following decades, eventually morphing into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Riverwalk Vision, proudly, after years and years of construction, managing to build three pitiful freeway overpass type bridges over dry land, hoping one day to see a water filled ditch go under the bridges, thus creating an imaginary island.
I remember when I read that Star-Telegram article about Fort Worth being turned into the Vancouver of the South, wondering which Vancouver they were talking about. The Canadian Vancouver, or the Washington Vancouver? The Canadian Vancouver is surrounded by water, with mountains looming in the background, and a big river, the Fraser, passing by. The Washington Vancouver also has a big river, the Columbia, and mountains visible, such as the Mount Hood volcano in Oregon.
Fort Worth has zero of these attributes both Vancouvers possess.
Turns out it was the Canadian Vancouver Fort Worth was destined to become like.
When this Star-Telegram Fort Worth nonsense happened I was early on in experiencing what I came to see as the town's, well, tendency to delusion, as reflected in its leaders and its one and only newspaper.
Trinity Uptown turning Fort Worth into Vancouver happened before the Santa Fe Rail Market was supposedly modeled after Seattle's Pike Place and public markets in Europe, when it turned out to be nothing more than a soon to fail lame mall food court type thing.
And then after that there was the time the Star-Telegram trumpeted that the Cabela's sporting goods store opening in far north Fort Worth would become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. Has the Star-Telegram ever apologized for misleading its few readers over that nonsensical nonsense? Even after a second Cabela's opened in DFW?
One more blurb from this article about this actual Vancouver development...
Fodor’s Travel took note, naming the Vancouver waterfront to its 2021 list of the nation’s 15 best river walks.
_____________________
I wonder if Fodor's Travel book will ever find itself adding Fort Worth to its list of the nation's 15 best river walks?
I suspect that will never happen, but if it does, Fort Worth will likely have a city wide celebration whilst bragging such is making towns, far and wide, green with envy...
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