Political discussions

[Sportsdude]

each suburb will have a downtown area of skyscrapers.  

[kitten]

I don't particularly like the idea of so huge a city.  I don't like big crowds, and houses all crowded together.  There will be constant traffic gridlock;  it's close to that now.  I don't like small towns either, but a mid-sized city is perfect for me.  All the amenities without the crowding.  

[Sportsdude]

do you like high rise apartments?  

[kitten]

They make me nervous in earthquake territory.  I live in a low-rise on the ground floor.

[Sportsdude]

ah, well the newer buildings are all earthquake tested.
But that's where the region is headed though unless you want sprawl from Stanley park to Hope where you don't have any green space let. Basically the city centres are now walkable. Something I can't say about were I live.
 

[kitten]

I can guarantee you that I wouldn't walk down Granville St. at night.  Too much crime.

[Sportsdude]

what's a vancouverites idea of 'crime'.  

[kitten]

Organized gangs warring with each other.  Drug addicts and pushers.  Assaults and rapes.  The usual city crimes.

[Sportsdude]

ah I see so no gang wars in house to house shooting then. That's pretty common here. People in the city sitting in their kitchens and bullets go flying through the house. lovely.  

[kitten]

Drive-by shootings are getting more common as part of the gang wars.  There are several gangs, usually based along ethnic lines but not always, and they are frequently warring for turf.  Illegal guns are a lot more plentiful than they used to be, and you know where they come from.  I think drugs are the biggest factor in the crimes that are committed.

[Sportsdude]

the gangs in Canada have resources to pot they sell the pot to the american drug dealers in exchange for guns. Legalize marijuana and that money flow stops. Because americans can get their cocaine from the mexican drug lords. So what then would the canadian gangs trade to the american gangs?  

[kitten]

That's easy...heroin.  Legalizing alcohol didn't stop bootleggers, and legalizing pot won't stop drug dealers.  The one thing about pot is that persons driving under the influence of pot are still impaired.  It's just harder to detect without special equipment.

[Sportsdude]

The mexican drug folks take up that trade as well, I don't see where the canadian crime bosses fit into the nafta of drug trade.
 

[kitten]

There are Canadians in Afghanistan, the heart of the poppy-growing industry.  I'm sure that most of them are honest citizens, but still there are temptations to make a quick buck abve and beyond their basic salary.

[Sportsdude]

I don't see the corelation.
any foreign nationals doing that would be caught pretty quickly and the u.s would take the folks and throw them into gitmo since the poppy growers are taliban supporters there by you would be helping the enemy.