Denman Street and the West End is a prime example of a place where the focus is not on tourism as much as on the local, as evidenced by the presence of — tada! — that novelty, the grocery store, along with a post office and lots of small inexpensive restaurants. This is everyday Vancouver. And — perhaps this will come as no surprise — I enjoyed it far more than touristy Gastown or the shops of Granville Street. Keep Stanley Park, keep the Harbour Centre viewpoint, keep the Olympic Village. It is here at the West End (as well as places like the Chinese streets of Richmond) where the authentic Vancouver can be felt.

At Kintaro, in Vancouver, B.C.’s West End, ramen is served up from a genuine Japanese-style ramen shop.

Sitting in Kintaro — a ramen shop on Denman — I found heaven. The little shop’s kitchen is hopping with two young Japanese men, holding up the tradition of this culinary genre. Both staff and clientele are young, which bodes well for the future of the shop. Indeed, the formula must be paying off, as there are two more ramen shops within a block’s distance, and a third a bit beyond that.

Ramen, gyoza, Heaven.

The noodles came tasty, swimming in a rich miso-based broth, and accompanied by the prerequisite slice of pork, hard boiled egg, and a mix of vegetables. I also ordered a plate of gyoza, succulent and hot. This is the real comfort food, the way I like it, putting a smile on my face and made with genuine love for the art of its creation.

In Portland, Kintaro would be an ethnic restaurant, a culinary lark in a solidly intellectual, liberal, Caucasian American city. But here, in a metropolitan region where less than half the population speaks English as a first tongue, Kintaro is more akin to home cooking. And that is why, to me, this bowl of ramen is the real Vancouver.

Recently, I visited the Vancouver, B.C. area. Among a number of goals, I had one that stood out: to sample the legendarily good Chinese food available in the suburb of Richmond.

Interacting with the culture of Richmond was an adventure of its own, especially if that adventure involves ordering something to eat. The first restaurant I tried was Top Shanghai. Although they had some English signs the predominate language spoken inside sounded like Cantonese. I immediately felt out of place, not so much for my skin, as for my lack of fitting into the social norm: every table in this place was built for eight or so, and here I was, a single patron looking for lunch. My awareness of being the only gwai low in the place did not disconcert me so much as it puzzled me: Richmond is the heart of Vancouver’s storied Asian food scene, but here I was, the only non-Asian enjoying it? What’s wrong with these people? I thought.

English is definitely not the predominate language in Richmond.

Perhaps the menus are to blame. Mine had almost no English on it, with several pages of purely Chinese characters and only a handful of items with English descriptions. I looked on the bright side: there was no way I had time, even if I spent all the rest of my stay at the restaurant, to sample everything on the menu, so this helped me to narrow my choices.

When I ordered the Shanghai Style Pork — they are a Shanghai style restaurant, so it made sense to try what they ought to be best at doing — the waitress seemed perplexed. She brought over an older woman who tried to explain something to me that seemed very important. Bones kept being mentioned, and I indicated that was fine, fine. Perhaps my nice shirt and tie made them think I didn’t want them? Or was she so used to the Caucasian obsession with personal health and fitness that the ordering of a bony, fatty cut of meat was surprising? For a split second, I considered that maybe I had just ordered a dish of marrow. No matter, this is an adventure, I thought to myself; try something new even if it was the wrong thing to order. I just nodded and encouraged them, and with one last check back — “They ribs. Pork ribs. Okay?” I confirmed my order and sat waiting, drinking tea and reviewing some of the day’s photos on the digital camera.

Top Shanghai’s Shanghai Style Pork.

Having cycled through the photos on the camera, my food arrived, a large pile of lustrous deep brown, short-cut spareribs that smelled luscious. As if my insistence on ordering them had made some sort of difference, I could feel the mood change in my servers. Suddenly, I was attended to often, albeit in a discrete and non-intrusive way. Did I need some rice? It appeared in a bowl shortly after. When my plate began to fill with bones, a new clean one quickly arrived unbidden. And the ribs? Moist, tender, succulent. Were they worth the trip all the way here for? I was not convinced that I couldn’t find some similarly good food at home if I looked hard enough, but at the same time, consider, my choice of restaurant had been a shot in the dark, as had my selection from the menu, and they had arrived delicious and without fault, not dull or oversalted or greasy in the least. The same could not be said of picking a random Chinese restaurant in Portland and picking a random menu item.

Although I had done what I had not planned to do — finish an entire plate of ribs — I still had enough room left to try one more place before heading back. My next stop was HML Seafood, located on the second floor of a newer building and offering Dim Sum until 3 o’clock. Inside, the atmosphere was a bit like a modern hotel ballroom, with rich carpet and upholstery, pinkish walls, and crystal chandeliers. There was no overwrought Suzy-Wong-dancing-with-a-dragon theme here. The dining room was relatively packed, with only a half dozen or so tables empty. I was amazed and impressed, however, to note that they had tables set up for two and four people as well as the prerequisite Chinese restaurant staple of the 8 person round. Plus, the smaller tables were not shoved into some corner by the restrooms, but in the thick of things where a good view of the dining room could be had. The staff here all dressed up in rather nicely cut suits bringing a very professional air, and they glided about the room in silent stately grace.

Alas, I did myself in here, deciding to be a little more experimental. My order: superior shrimp dumplings, custard bao, and — yes, I’ve seen Anthony Bourdain in Indonesia, and yes I ordered it anyway, or perhaps even because of that — baked durien pastries. The dumplings were excellent, although not necessarily unobtainable at home. The custard bao was unique, but a bit difficult to eat as anytime you bit into one a hot stream of orange custard would gush out. (Fortunately, none of it landed on my clothes.) The flavor was sweet — perhaps too sweet for me, but still interesting.

And the durien pastries? Well I bit into them skeptically, expecting the horror story of their smell to suddenly cause me to be caught in a foul yellow cloud of stench that would drive my fellow diners away. I was surprised, and maybe even a bit disappointed, but they simply weren’t that bad. There was no foul odor, and Bourdains’ description of a “stinky cheese” didn’t really come to mind. At the same time, there was a slightly off vegetal taste to them that didn’t encourage me to finish one, much less eat the other two. When the waiter came back with the check, he made a double take and stopped to ask if there was anything wrong with the pastries. I denied it, stating only that I could eat no more; I did not want him to offer to take them back and replace them with something else merely because I had made the mistake of ordering something I had not in the end liked.

The Canada Line makes for a quick trip to Richmond, earning it the nickname of the “Orient Express.”

Sadly, my list of things to do on my stay in Vancouver was long, and I didn’t get a chance to eat again in Richmond. The experience, however, was good, like a tantalizing appetizer. Without question, the new SkyTrain Canada Line had made exploring the area much easier, and I am looking forward to returning to the area on my next visit to try another couple of restaurants. Or three. Or more!

TriMet’s WES Commuter Rail broke convention… and just plain broke a lot too.

First, in February, Portland’s TriMet opened up its first commuter rail operation, WES. This line runs 14.7 miles from Beaverton Transit Center (where a transfer can be made to MAX light rail) south to Wilsonville. Three intermediate stops allow riders to access the Nimbus/Washington Square area and central Tigard and Tualatin.

The project opened in February, late by about three months, and slightly over budget. The equipment — Colorado Railcar “Aero” Diesel-Multiple-Units — have been buggy and error prone since the beginning. Mired in political controversies (especially from loud critics of TriMet’s rail transit projects), WES has had low ridership so far.

In time, the line may become a key core of a larger Portland-Salem commuter operation, or it may convert into proper High-Capacity Transit with all-day, every-day service at frequent intervals. Or, it may languish as a testament to Washington County’s inflated self-image, a transit equivalent of Beaverton’s Round development.

Pros: Comfy and fast; great connections with Salem busses; WiFi on board.

Cons: Constant equipment failures; mixed ridership and high fixed costs; no fare transfers for Salem busses.

Seattle finally stuck its tow in the light rail water, but will there be more?

While Portland’s TriMet was busy making a commuter operation that looked as much like light rail as possible, Seattle’s Sound Transit was busy making a light rail system — Central Link — that looked very much like Vancouver’s SkyTrain heavy rail system. The result was a 13.9 mile line through Seattle’s downtown transit tunnel and then south to Tukwila, opened in July, with a short extension (1.7 miles) to the SeaTac airport that opened in December. The line uses extensive viaducts and tunneling, and includes a station in a tunnel much like Portland’s MAX light rail.

With such a short segment, Central Link has a long way to go before it develops sufficient critical mass to become a major part of the Seattle transit universe. Indeed, it is the expansions to the system that are currently the center of debate. An extension eastward through Bellevue has generated controversy regarding what bridge on which to cross Lake Washington and where and how to route through downtown Bellevue. Meanwhile, there is discussion of extensions wholly within the city of Seattle, and some interesting debate about the role of streetcars in augmenting the system.

Pros: Feels fast, a few nice stations, train length not limited by system design to two car sets.

Cons: Fare system less than ideal; still only one line not a full system, odd, isolated feel to route in SoDo.

Vancouver, B.C. added a sleek new SkyTrain line.

Just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver opened a new SkyTrain route — the “Canada Line” — from the YVR airport to downtown in August. This route also has a short branch to the suburb of Richmond, bringing the system mileage to 11.8. Totally separate from the existing SkyTrain heavy rail system, the Canada Line is half underground, half elevated, and very rapid. Equipment for the line is incompatible with the older SkyTrain segments, but the system is integrated into TransLink and uses the same fares and transfers.

Given that this is a relatively new line, it’s hard to say if it will spur lots of tower-block development like the older SkyTrain stations have. Like most totally grade separated lines, the stations constrict train size.

Pros: Bigger, sleeker, more comfortable cars; connections to YVR airport and the Richmond suburbs; Fast and convenient.

Cons: Equipment is incompatible with the rest of the network; stations limit train length.

Portland gets a new downtown light rail alignment and a new spoke to the transit wheel.

The last major opening in the Pacific Northwest was again in Portland, with a two stage addition to the MAX light rail network; 1.8 miles of new downtown alignment on the old bus mall, and 6.5 miles of new line from Gateway Transit Center to Clackamas Town Center Mall.

The alignment on the mall in downtown, sharing the roadway with busses, was a significant cause of worry for me. I remember the old bus mall and the completely undisciplined insanity of the busses there, and could not imagine that exisitng with MAX going through it. The new design, however, injects a significant amount of formality into the mall and works breathtakingly well. In a city that seems more interested in finding the latest negative to gripe about, it is a virtually unsung triumph.

The Gateway to Clackamas TC alignment, although looking much like a roller coaster at first glance, operates quickly and smoothly, and introduces a swift connection between outer southeast and downtown that did not exist prior.

Pros: Downtown segment operates smoothly; fewer downtown station stops; feels fast; great Park & Ride facilities.

Cons: Limited transit-oriented development potential; slight delays at Gateway and Steel Bridge.

Overall, a total of 50.4 miles of new rail transit were added in the Pacific Northwest during 2009. 2010? Here in Portland, two transit projects should get underway during the year, the Portland Streetcar’s eastside project, and the MAX extension to Milwaukie. Otherwise, it should prove a far quieter year in terms of construction, but also a time of important debates about new additions to the transit maps.

Richmond is ethnically diverse, suburban, and… walkable?!?

Richmond sits at the end of the new SkyTrain Canada Line. It’s mostly suburban sprawl, but there are also some newer towers in the area. I wonder how and why these towers were even built? Was it natural market forces, or was it from a government incentive? Regardless, if it weren’t for these towers, the town would look like nothing more than an average North American suburb. Oh, except for the SkyTrain, which runs like a backbone through the area, parallel to the Number 3 Road. It is actually amazing how unobtrusive this is, given its elevated nature. It doesn’t feel overbearing in the way that other more traditional elevated railways do.

This area, by conventional standards, is not pedestrian friendly, and yet the place feels more walkable than downtown Vancouver does. Perhaps it is scale — the buildings are shorter and feels more human sized, despite the massive car parking lots and the wide boulevards with their fast traffic. In addition, the place is bustling, busy, and awash with visual richness. Everywhere are signs in Chinese as well as English, even on big national bank chains like Scotia Bank and the Bank of Montreal. Many businesses have signs only in Chinese and no English at all, simultaneously intimidating and fascinating.

I think that the reason for its feel of greater walkability, however, lies in the blocks. In Richmond, most of the blocks of land are occupied by low density strip-mall type development. This means the blocks, thanks to parking lots and driveways, are permeable, allowing the pedestrian to cut through them. Instead, these lots and alleys became unofficial pedestrian ways and undeclared streets. Downtown, by contrast, fills up blocks completely with large multistory structures, leaving only an occasional, uninviting dark alley.

Surrey: There be cranes here!

Another burgeoning edge city is Surrey. It is evident simply at a glance that Surrey is nowhere near as important as downtown, but it does have some rather tall towers, which is no small achievement, and they appear very newly planted on their hilltop nest. It is in every way a young city, with a “Brasilia” feel of having just been air-dropped in. Empty grass fields and acres of low density suburban sprawl mark the community’s youth. Terri Evans, from the Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University, mentioned that the area will soon be bigger than Vancouver itself. I laughed at this, more out of ironic enjoyment than anything, but Terri took the laugh for a scoff, and rejoindered with “it’s true!” I can’t help but think that a Vancouver urbanist, marking up a map of the metro area, might label Surrey with the words “there be cranes here,” and shudder in despair.

North Vancouver: seen one betowered suburb, seen them all?

The last suburb I’ll note is North Vancouver, hunkering down on the hillsides north of the Burrard, the last bastion of urbanization before the Coast Range’s wilds begin. The community can be reached via SeaBus, a high speed ferry that sails between the town and downtown’s Waterfront Station at regular intervals all day long.

Despite a beautiful setting, North Van was no more or less distinctive than any other suburb of area I had seen. As impressive as the towers in a suburb are, it was hardly unique; Richmond, New Westminster, Burnaby, and North Vancouver all had towers also. The town was mostly eighties concrete bunker blocks, vaguely second-rate shopping malls, the bland sameness of the condo towers, and relatively few and not very well maintained older storefronts. Once you’ve seen one mixed-use betowered Vancouver suburb, you’ve seen them all.

Downtown Vancouver’s Manhattan-like north shore looms through the rain spotted windows of Seabus.

The view back at the city center on the return trip via SeaBus was not bad at all, with the north shore of downtown looming on the Burrard Peninsula with an imposing, Manhattan-like feel of multiple layers, with its waterfront terminals for shipping, ferries, and cruise ships. It has a little more than a taste of Seattle’s waterfront presence on the water, and like Seattle it had almost no pleasure waterfront. The resemblance is strong enough that I can see why Douglas Coupland said that the Vancouver looks at Seattle as a model of what it could have become had it openly embraced the freeway and the expressway.

Looking at the view of downtown, I found it hard to believe that the suburbs like Surrey, despite their growth, would ever supplant the Burrard Peninsula. Surrey and Richmond both have no waterfront, no majestic mountains, no cluster of infrastructure. Transportaiton links helped to stimulate denser growth, but those same linkes continue to foster their relative place in the geographic food chain. Richmond and Surrey are and remain end termini of SkyTrain lines, while North Van, although more central, is isolated from most of the region by the Burrard Inlet. None of these suburbs enjoy the status of multi-modal regional hub as downtown Vancouver does. Transportation is arguably the most important reason that a point remains the locus of a given geographic scope, and Vancouver is the heart of the transportation network. When all roads lead to Rome, Rome remains a capitol. Place advantage remains king, and downtown remains central, literally.

Is Richmond a glance into the future of Portland suburbs such as Beaverton?

Still, the growth of Vancouver’s edge cities should give one pause. Soak in the visual play of high rises soaring behind a stripmall and a Best Buy in a significantly ethnic suburb. Is this Richmond, B.C., or is this the future of, say, Beaverton, Oregon, or Portland’s Southeast 82nd Avenue? Of course, Portland will never hold the political prominence in the U.S. that Vancouver has in Canada. That said, Beaverton — like Richmond — is a significant suburb whose ethnic diversity is growing rapidly. Over the last decade, Beaverton has become the home to more and more small businesses catering to Japanese, Korean, and other Asian and Latin ethnic communities, a trend that shows no sign of slowing. Beaverton has ambitions as well, as evidenced by projects such as The Round, the recent proposals for mid and high rise towers on the old Westgate Theater property, and an attempt to secure a stadium for the soon homeless Portland Beavers AAA baseball team. Rapid transit, high rise towers, acres of parking, strip malls of ethnic small businesses. This is the vision of Richmond, B.C. today. Might it also be the vision of Portland’s suburbs in the next few decades?

I’ve rather provocatively titled this image “the future of Beaverton” with my tongue only partly in cheek. There are many ways that the pairing of Richmond/Vancouver does not hold as an analogy to Beaverton/Portland. Vancouver, for one, is a true international city, thanks to being the only major metropolis of its country’s (Canada) west coast, while Portland is more of a domestic city in the middle ranks of the United States.

That said, Beaverton — like Richmond — is a significant suburb of a larger city that is rapidly diversifying ethnically. Over the last decade, Beaverton has become the home to more and more small businesses catering to Japanese, Korean, and other Asian and Latin ethnic communities, a trend that shows no sign of slowing.

Beaverton, also, has ambitions, as evidenced by projects such as The Round, the recent proposals for mid and high rise towers on the old Westgate Theater property, and an attempt to secure a stadium for the soon homeless Portland Beavers AAA baseball team.

Rapid transit, high rise towers, acres of parking, strip malls of ethnic small businesses. This is the vision of Richmond, B.C. today. Might it also be the vision of Beaverton, Oregon in the next decade?

Living in Portland, Oregon, I sometimes get a bit jaded about our region. Thanks to a strong tradition of urban planning, a large transit system, and comparatively robust growth management laws, Portland has become a kind of poster child for urbanization in America. We are the so-called “most European city” in the United States, and the New York Times seems to have a crush on us. As a result, this region almost never looks up or admires other North American cities — we’re more likely to fall in love with Barcelona or Amsterdam.

Except, of course, for Vancouver, British Columbia.

From the perspective of passive-aggressive, grasping Portland, Vancouver is a true international city. It is a beacon of modernism and sophistication, one rarely talked about critically here in the states; we can resent or grudgingly admire Seattle, San Francisco or Los Angeles, but we can do noting of the sort with Vancouver. Instead we are confined to a quiet awe, as if we were not worthy. Vancouver can be spoken of in the same breath with cities like Berlin, Paris, Shanghai, or Singapore. For all that it wishes to be on the international stage, Portland can only ever pretend to belong to this club.

There are similarities between the two cities. Portland is the warmest and sunniest urban area of the Pacific Northwest, where the idea of perpetual rain is more a myth perpetrated in the tradition of the late Governor Tom McCall’s growth policy of “visit, but don’t stay.” Vancouver, meanwhile, is the only temperate metropolis in a country covered by snow for almost half the year. Both both cities share a history of rejecting freeways. Both have a history of tearing down and then reconstructing high capacity transit. Both have a past that is vaguely hippy, and a present that remains significantly influenced by alternative forms of culture. Even today both cities represent a rejection of mainstream urban norms.

In many ways, Portland, looking to the north, sees its future in Vancouver, B.C.. The downtown core of Vancouver is one of the densest in North America. The suburbs are growing up with residential towers being a common element. The transit system is fully grade separated and runs on rapid schedules.

But is Vancouver, truly, a picture of Portland’s future? There are some key differences any urban enthusiast, public official, or city planner need to be aware of:

Perhaps its not that surprising that Vancouver is simply a different city than Portland. No two cities are exactly alike, and perhaps no city should ever be held up to be emulated, so much as learned from. The initial lessons that I would draw from Vancouver is that

1.) metropolitan areas reflect their downtowns, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries,
2.) increasing density of suburbs has cultural implications that can exacerbate political and social divisions, and
3.) transit development is not enough to intelligently manage growth, even in the relative absence of freeway networks.

Overall, Vancouver is a rich and interesting city. There is no way it can be summed up in this short post, and there are many observations and ideas I brought back from my visit that I think have some bearing on how we live and grow in Portland. Most of all, I came back with a far more realistic picture of this often idolized city, one that is far less idealized but also far more human and real. I encourage any urban admirer of the city to visit, but if you do, do as I did, and spend at least as much time out in the suburbs and outskirts along the SkyTrain line as in the downtown. Cities do not reveal themselves in their shopping districts or their downtown towers, but in their commonplace neighborhoods, both urban and suburban.

Just a quick heads up that this week I will be in Vancouver, British Columbia. My goal is to see a little bit of this city, which as has been noted elsewhere is not entirely dissimilar from the Portland metropolitan region. In addition to some population similarities, both cities have ambitions to be “world class,” and both serve as poster children of progressive urban planning.

Among my goals? To check out the new Canada Line, to sample the new Chinatown of Richmond as well as the old one in Vancouver proper, and to generally soak up the atmosphere of the city. Another goal is to ride each of the rail transit systems that opened in the northwest this year: WES and the MAX Green Line in Portland (Monday), the aforementioned Canada Line in Vancouver (Tuesday or Wednesday), and Sound Transit‘s Central Link on Friday in Seattle.

I will be toting along my iBook and my G9, so as the week progresses expect to see Sky Train, dim sum, and skyscrapers as I report back from my visit. For now, I must dash off to the train north.

Since the conversion of the area into a largely residential zone began in the early part of this century, hundreds upon hundreds of housing units have been created in South Waterfront. The pre-eminent residential tower, the John Ross, stands at 31 stories high, making it the tallest residential building in Portland as well as one of the ten tallest buildings in the city.

The John Ross tower, center, is a prime example of the Vancouver B.C. style redevelopment occurring in Portland’s South Waterfront area.

Despite the rapid growth of the district, however, a visitor is immediately struck by how much of a ghost town it is. There is almost no street life. There are few retail establishments, and those that are there never seem particularly busy. It all feels more like a movie set or a computer generated city than a real place anybody lives. It is, in short, a bedroom community, with few basic cultural amenities, it is a place people come to to sleep but not to live life.

It is, in short, a vertical suburb.

What makes neighborhoods magic is always hard to define, but a few key elements always stick out. There needs to be life at the street level. There need to be places to spend time, be they small stores or local cafes or what have you. There need to be the community anchors, too, places like grocery stores, parks, schools, and the like places where nearly every day the community at large spends a considerable time visiting. South Waterfront has almost none of these.

To see if this was more than simply perception, I ran a brief test. Using Walkscore, I ran the numbers for the John Ross tower. The score for South Waterfront was actually pretty decent, a 77 out of 100, what Walkscore calls “very walkable.” (Walkscore also noted that 40% of Portlanders had a higher walk score.) To compare, I ran the numbers for what must be one of the least dense, least well designed suburban neighborhoods, Aloha, out on TV Highway. Few places could less conjure up the words “pedestrian friendly,” and yet Aloha managed to eke out a score of 83. Less surprising, though still notable, the intersection of Canyon Road and Hall Boulevard in central Beaverton scored 95, a so-called “walker’s paradise.”

The numbers for South Waterfront decline even further when you look a the details of its 77 score. In grocery stores, for example, only two — New Seasons and Cash n’ Carry — are full service, and both are located over a mile away on the other side of the river, with the nearest safe walking route being via the Hawthorne Bridge over a mile north. Or, ya know, by car. Of the vest-pocket and convenience stores that Walkscore also counts as grocery outlets, one is a mile north at Riverplace, one is a mile east on the other side of the river, and three are on the other side of Interstate 5, hardly walkable. One, just one, a convenience store, is located within the South Waterfront district itself. The same basic story can be told about schools, libraries, theaters… the list goes on. In short, when you take into account the barriers of Interstate 5 and the Willamette River, the area’s Walkscore becomes obviously overinflated. If it were not for the streetcar, the situation for a pedestrian would likely be intolerable.

What of Aloha or Beaverton? If Walkscore isn’t taking into consideration significant geographic barriers, then perhaps these scores are equally inflated? In Aloha, most of the grocers are small ethnic stores — not a minus in my book though it might be to some — and one Cash ‘n Carry. There are, however, no freeways or rivers to contend with. Certainly, crossing TV Highway is not pleasant, but there are crosswalks and stoplights in the middle of Aloha, so the task is not difficult. Theatres and libraries, however, are thin on the ground, but bars, restaurants, and parks are all numerous. Beaverton’s case is even stronger, with nearly every desirable amenity — including four full service grocers — all within easy walking distance, and almost all of it west of the 217 freeway.

The point of this exercise is not, however, to argue that living in Aloha or Beaverton is preferable to living in South Waterfront. It is, however, to illustrate that the latter has a long way to go, and is seriously lacking a number of key ingredients to make it a vibrant, desirable neighborhood. As Portland looks towards this district’s future and contemplates future development, it should be less and less interested in more housing towers, and more interested in some of the amenities that are lacking. A full service grocer, an anchoring retail development, improved parks, entertainment venues, and so forth should all be topping the list. Until they do, South Waterfront will remain no more than a suburb in the sky.