Michael R. Barrick

I moved downtown to close to transit and services so I don't have to own a car just to get groceries, visit a friend, go to a gallery, see a movie, so I can go out to a bar or a club to make noise and conveniently get home, etc.. I have no tolerance for suburban yahoos that live in the sprawling hells spawned from the failed urban planning ideal of the 1950's that take watching someone imported from Scandinavia or wherever for no other merit than their ability to hit a hunk of rubber with a stick as a personal victory based on what shirt they paid to wear entitles them to circle their cars around residential neighbourhoods hooting and honking, largely because they saw someone else get away with it. Twenty, thirty, and more years ago we had Seafest, the PNE parade, beer-gardens on the beach at English Bay, nightclubs on Georgia, a plethora after-hours and alternative clubs in Yaletown, and a greater number of fun things to do because they all hadn't been ruined by invasions of suburban yobs or torn down by festivals of corporate greed aimed at that audience, like the Olympics and Expo'86.

I'm not against fun. I'm vehemently irritated by stupid people that ruin it and people who entitle them with unresolved opinions and ill-conceived sloganeering like, "If you don't like noise, don't live downtown."

The absurd awesomeness of this is not to be underestimated. Remember the McBarge from EXPO '86? Before it wound up at its current resting place off the shore of Burnaby, there was a short-lived plan afoot in the early 1990's to moor it in Port Moody and turn it into a swank restaurant.

In a clean up of old records here at Port Moody city hall, a complete set of blue-prints for the McBarge turned up, bound for recycling. Just for the sake of kitsch, I'm going to try selling the floor plans and elevations on eBay.

I just may make enough money off this for a Big Mac meal!