friday forte: do i want to be here?

sunsetting, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

A few years after our move to Lotusland, mr ebb commented, "But where do people work?"

Vancouver is an oddity - it's not an It Spot for multinationals' headquarters and neither is it a financial centre, an academic centre or a manufacturing centre. It does have a huge amount of residential property in the downtown core but .... where do all the people who live here go to work?

As a visitor, you might be forgiven for thinking Starbucks, and for university grads that probably not far from the truth.

Where do Vancouverites go to work? Where will all the new city dwellers find employmemnt once they squeeze themselves into the bijou new "don't bring a personality or belongings" condos which seem to be the biggest local growth industry?

And, assuming that they will indeed work, rather than live off a trust fund or alimony (new season of RHOV kicks off soon), what will they do in their leisure hours?

I ask simply because I can't make sense of what's happening to the city. A cool arts venue like the Waldorf Hotel is closing to make way for yet more condos, yet I see no evidence of where mortgages for the new abodes will be earned.

Or where anything left over from paying a mortgage can be spent if leisure time exists.

It's similar out in the 'burbs; Port Moody's city plan includes high rise, more condos, low rise and densification with apparently few plans for generation of employment or provision of extra leisure/community services within the region. There is however, a lot of talk about sustainability and green-ing life, but not everyone can be a work-from-home entrepreneur.

And if jobs aren't available locally, then all these new condo inhabitants will need to commute to a workplace.

Wouldn't it be easier to make a community live/work/play rather than just increase the number of inhabitants?