Damn, damn, damn...

Vancouver has temporarily bailed on its plan to shut down Robson Street in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery for open public space and will be reopening the street Dec. 1.

That follows three months of city consultations on what to do with Block 51, as the art gallery block is called, and considerable uproar among West End residents irate about the loss of a bus going directly along Robson to Granville. They said that forced too many elderly people, who are a big part of the population in the West End, to walk an extra two blocks to get to shopping and medical appointments.

It's depressing to learn that closing a street is hard for even Canadians in a big and very liberal city.