This verges on parody:
.
.
Nelson Skalbania has had a fabled career in Vancouver as a consulting engineer (some give him credit for designing the early Vancouver highrise floorplate) and real-estate speculator. He’s also a road cyclist (truly a MAML), a resident of Point Grey Road (north side) and a member of Canada’s 1 percent (I’m assuming).
He’s also very outspoken, as the interview so graphically captures. Some highlights:
I belong to Jericho tennis club, which is about two blocks to the west. Now instead of driving in the rain two blocks, I now have to drive six blocks.
… all those guys at City Hall, I bet you, I’ll swear that most of them never lived in Vancouver for more than five years or, as we speak, don’t live in Vancouver at all.
… when we have to use all these side streets, I can’t believe that the residents in all the side streets accept now all the traffic.
I’ve been in Vancouver since 1944. You’d think by now guys that have lived here and raised here and born here might have some say of what’s happening.
I cycle all the time, I never had any complaints, I didn’t need a bike lane.
Downtown Vancouver is slowly being choked. I mean who comes downtown? … The transportation existing isn’t satisfactory so you kind of have to come by car, so people who work don’t come by bike. Lastly, people who come down to buy a suit or other stuff downtown don’t come down on a bike to buy a suit or whatever it is.
I’d love to know who benefits from me paying $3,000 a month in taxes so I can’t get out of my house. I paid for that road in front me? And if I did so, who in the hell really benefits? I’m trying to figure that out.
Vancouver was a lovely place to live, and now all of a sudden we have people making arbitrary decisions that don’t ask us if that’s what we want. … I don’t know what percentage of people wanted that, but if it’s more than 1 percent, I’ll eat my hat. There’s no way that more than 1 percent of the people want what’s there. Period.
Let’s leave aside the point that just about all his facts are wrong. Downtown, you’ll be glad to know, is doing just fine. Even the guys who sell suits will still be selling them to the guys who will still be buying them as they fill up the new office towers under construction.
Let’s even leave aside the easy targets: Nelson is not the kind of guy who walks or cycles two blocks in the rain to his tennis club.
There’s something else going on here: that overweening sense of entitlement that is more conspicuous than ever among the very rich.
You’d think by now guys that have lived here and raised here and born here might have some say of what’s happening. … Vancouver was a lovely place to live, and now all of a sudden we have people making arbitrary decisions that don’t ask us if that’s what we want. …
By ‘guys’ in this context, he means people like him, the ones equally outraged by something so trivial in the scheme of things as a bike lane.
It’s not, of course, about the bike lane. It’s that they’re not in control by virtue of their wealth, status and, yes, gender.
This is their territory – the streets in front of their homes and businesses – and since they assume, as Nelson does, that they own them by right of their disproportionate tax-paying power, they are mighty pissed that they are being inconvenienced – being dissed – so the space can be appropriated for people who, they assume, do not work, do not buy suits, and who, finally, don’t really exist.
There’s no way that more than 1 percent of the people want what’s there. Period.
Why don’t the guys who made this decision on Point Grey Road understand that you don’t offend this 1 percent for the sake of that 1 percent?
After all, Nelson Skalbania didn’t need a bike lane.
I had to check the date to be sure it was not April 1.
Join the poll (135 votes so far) – http://vancouverdecides2014.org/2014/01/26/day-292-pt-grey-road-closure-poll/
“Nelson Skalbania has had a fabled career in Vancouver as a consulting engineer (some give him credit for designing the early Vancouver highrise floorplate) and real-estate speculator. He’s also a road cyclist (truly a MAML), a resident of Point Grey Road (north side) and a member of Canada’s 1 percent (I’m assuming).”
—–
You also forgot, “convicted felon”.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/skalbania-in-jail-1.161578
You’re missing the point. He pays high taxes and has lost the use of the road in front of his house. That was his point. It makes perfect sense. OK, maybe he’s a little out of touch with the importance of bike lanes but in fairness there is a lot of cycling infrastructure created by people that obviously don’t ride themselves. Often the best thing to do is simply make the road a little wider if possible. When you put concrete dividers along roads its often a disaster waiting to happen.
Reading Nelson Skalbania’s letter in The Province on February 12, 2014 was excruciating; listening to him afterwards on CBC (as you have also provided above) was something beyond excruciating, and then re-reading his letter by link as printed on the NPA website, intended to gain support for the NPA, was supremely irksome to the nth degree. And, now you’ve linked his arrogant, egotistical diatribe here on this webstie as well, such that Vancouverites have to see it again. Not only does Skalbania’s sense of entitlement ooze from every word and smack one in the face with his sting of false despotic authoritarianism, but more incredible is the fact that he has no sense of thoroughly offending 99.9% of Vancouverites with his megalomania; he complains about his now (now that Point Grey Road is closed to commuting motorists) having to drive a couple of extra blocks to his tennis club! To his tennis club! Not to mention that his tennis club is only a couple of blocks from his house to start with (why would he drive instead of walk there)! What about the vast majority of Vancouverites who walk, run, cycle, take the skytrain, take the seabus, and commute many kilometres for up to an hour or more every day? I guess they are just chopped liver. How could any respectable political party expect to gain support by aligning themselves with someone like Skalbania, who has just spat in print and by radio (to put it mildly) on almost every one of his fellow citizens? And, I might add, that it is precisely those fellow citizens (of all ages, abilities and socio-economic statuses) who are now walking, cycling, running, and visiting the parks and beaches along Point Grey Road safely as a result of the closure to speeding high-volumes of commuter car traffic. Do Skalbania and the NPA really believe that Vancouverites are stupid enough to elect a party just to possibly re-open Point Grey Road so that Skalbania won’t have to drive a couple of extra blocks to his tennis club? Are they kidding?!
Yes, I await the campaign ads, “Vote NPA to save Nelson Skalbania from having to drive 2 extra blocks to his tennis club” Perhaps they could include a map showing the now onerous journey he must endure.
Yes, I can see them now, the NPA T-shirts for sale with the ad and map on them to try to garner campaign donations. The disclaimer would read, “Buy this shirt at your own risk. If you wear it, prepare to duck.”
That is the sound of the outraged, steadily-less-relevant, entitled baby boomer. Granted, this is a particularly acute case, but you hear it elsewhere to lesser degrees.
I’d like to think that I, put in the same position, would withdraw from bullheaded “things are different now and I’m upset” arguments in favour of letting the next generation have their run of things as they see best. I just don’t understand why no one can let go of anything. It’s not like we just excluded ‘medical care for the elderly’ from MSP, or adopted a shiny new “OAS is wasteful so let them starve” policy. We’re talking about transportation preferences, for heck’s sake…
The histrionics are mind boggling. It’s a bike lane. It’s not the dismantling of democracy. If enough people don’t like it the ballot box will reflect that quite well. Even if I happen to disagree with an initiative, the ‘cure’ of having to BE SO UPSET ALL THE TIME is surely worse than the ailment. This is the sad hobbyist realm of western life – having eliminated most actual problems and discomfort from our lives we must subsist on meaning and purpose extracted from complaining about bike lanes, among other equally earth-shattering conundrums.
Well, so much for the “Road for the Rich” nonsense.
Yes, Richard, which is what Skalbania can’t stomach: he now has to share closed-to-commuters Point Grey Road with the rest of humanity.
Yet, he will soon realize his house went UP in value due to less traffic !
If we closed every second street in Kits, Point Grey or other residential communities for cars people wold soon realize the benefits of green streets and would scramble to live on a green street as opposed to one with cars: far less noise, more peaceful setting, tranquil, more of a community feel, no through traffic, garden extension basically, no danger, more flowers .. and higher property values on those streets !
“Thomas” : closing “every second street” in every residential neighbourhood in the city regardless of the need for it is currently a far too radical proposition. As needs must, your suggestion may have a place in the distant future, but right now Vancouver’s citizens are not ready, willing or able to tolerate closing “every second street.” More importantly, such an extreme change in the traffic system in the city is not currently warranted. Oppositely, Point Grey Road had a long-standing, well-recognized and proven need for reducing car volumes and speed to protect the safety of all users of the road from its excessive congestion. Higher property values may or may not be a by-product from closing the road, and the same can be said for higher property taxes that may or may not result from closing the road, but these issues are inconsequential in the decision to close roads. Indeed, the possibility of a higher property value for Nelson Skalbania because he lives on now-closed Point Grey Road is the furthest thing from his mind BY HIS OWN ADMISSION in the CBC interview; his excessive wealth precludes any concern or interest in a minor increase or decrease in his property’s value from closing the road.
Another uncharitable rant from the “Greed is good” crowd.
Very well said, Gordon. Comments are spot on too.
On the positive (?) side, Mr Skalbania did bring the Flames to Calgary from Atlanta. If only he’d comment on Calgary’s current master plan for downtown cycle tracks…
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TP/Pages/Cycling/Cycling-Route-Improvements/City-Centre-cycle-track-network.aspx
I have to disagree with many of the comments & the tone underlying Gord’s comments: Skalbania is a well intentioned man who just is a little behind his times. He may have made some mistakes in the past, but he is ultimately a successful businessman who just has differing opinions about cycling. If you can recall, many opponents to the PtGrey closure cited that it would benefit the 1%, so a person that is part of the 1% who opposes a bike lane isn’t a catastrophe. And what’s all the fuss about the 1%? They are successful, and deservingly so: there are more than 5700 people who are part of the 1% in COV alone!
But this debate has been sidetracked. The ptGrey closure isn’t about income, or wealth, it’s about values. People who share different values, such as the closing of a road, are just different values. But to most people, it’s clear that the closure of Pt Grey road is common sense & a great step forward.
Kyle,
Nobody cares if Nelson Skalbania, or the Easter Bunny, opposes the closure of Point Grey Road; he is just one person. It is his reasoning that is at issue, which also likely explains his jail sentence for theft. CRIMINAL differences in values are NOT just different values.
Nelson Skalbania’s public position on new walking and cycling facilities near his home do not appear to line up with the position of his family business. Pricetags wrote about the issue here:
http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/bikes-and-business-rethink-at-the-wedgewood/
The Wedgewood hotel has for some time offered Cycling Packages with accommodation, route guides, a bicycle valet, and so on. They advertise that they are “Vancouver’s Cycling Hotel”. Good for them.
Their web site continues:
“For those wanting to cycle this summer, The Wedgewood offers direct access onto Vancouver’s network of bike paths and provide a unique Wedgewood Route de Bonheur en Velo maps for in-house guests.
There is really nothing like experiencing the City by bike on a warm summers day.”
I agree.
This promotion is made easier because the hotel is located directly on the Hornby cycle track. This is cycling infrastructure that Skalbania campaigned against when it was being introduced by asking for a 50% refund on his city taxes
We appear to have figured out how to all co-exist on Hornby. Point Grey Road and the intersection of Burrard and Cornwall will be the same. I believe that we will look back and cringe at the false prophecies of doom.
Yes, Jeff, Mr. Skalbania is full of contradictions; he and his wife fully supported the closure of Point Grey Road last summer when City Council asked for public support and voted on the issue; perhaps it is old age setting in, but Mr. Skalbania seems to have forgotten what he did only last summer.
One detail: Mr. Skalbania can drive half a block to the lane between PGR and 1st Ave., and go down that lane to the tennis club. That adds one block to his trip, not 6.
As a resident on one of those side streets he’s referring to, I am loving “all the traffic” in those streets. It is much reduced from what it used to be.
Once the hysteria dies down and the reality sets in, many will wonder what the fuss was all about.
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/02/18/letter-nelson-skalbanias-letter-to-mayor-gregor-robertson-and-vancouver-council/
It is my honest opinion from Mr. Skalbania’s letter to The Province (I provided the link above) yesterday that the man is perhaps deranged.
This guy is a tool!
Have you ever noticed how the houses on the water side of PGR were built facing the other way? These rich families have made a lot of money stealing from hard working people locally and overseas. They truly don’t care about the wellness of others in our society. Just a few days ago I saw a white porsche driving a least 120 km per hour west on PGR and then pulling into a driveway on the water side near alma. This guy also went through the new “do not enter-bikes only” sign at waterloo! These rich people are true idiots!
Ben,
Next time you see that, take down the license plate number and report the incident to the City, 311 on your phone.
Susan,
I also gestured to this porsche driver to slow down as I was running in the other direction along PGR. This guy stopped, backed up and started to yell at me in a foreign accent to say he would beat me up. I actually know his house address. I will report this incident to the police when I have a chance to get his licence plate #. What a strange world we live in!
Poor people in Africa and other developing nations would never believe these stories and the amount of money wasted in order to satisfy the egos of people like Nelson Skalbania and friends.
Actually we almost got run down by a jogger! If you want to complain about the car speeds you really need to slow down the bicycles and joggers as they are the real culprits. A bike going the speeds we saw can easily knock someone down and cause serious injury, and to walk around a corner on a sidewalk no less to be almost body checked by a jogger going light speed is unacceptable! We are not safe on these sidewalks anymore!! Unfortunately this scenic drive has gone green and gone bad and should have slower joggers and cyclists. Joggers have taken over!