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Among Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, how would these cities be ranked if the following five factors were equally weighted (20% each): 1. public park quality, 2. library system, 3. public transportation, 4. health care services and 5. housing affordability (property and property taxes). Are there huge gaps among these cities in terms of overall score or specific factors? Your input is appreciated.
Poll previewed with no issue but seems to clip off five factors: 1. public parks, 2. library system, 3. public transportation, 4. health care services, and 5. housing affordability (property and property taxes).
I doubt you will find many posters in this forum who have lived in all 7 cities within the last decade or so and regularly used each of cities' parks, libraries, transportation systems, and health care services.
I doubt you will find many posters in this forum who have lived in all 7 cities within the last decade or so and regularly used each of cities' parks, libraries, transportation systems, and health care services.
How is anyone else qualified to answer the poll?
Ya. I've been to all the cities except Halifax, but I couldn't tell you about their libraries, and only a bit about parks etc. Vancouver scores 20 percent in all but property where I gave it a 10. Some of you might be thinking it should be a zero, but I factored in rental properties as well as generally a lower property tax especially for some properties that take advantage of the Home Owners Grant, like I do.
I have lived in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Halifax and used most of those services.
Overall I'd rank Edmonton as the best. I found housing quite affordable for a major city (certainly compared to my hometown of Vancouver). Public transit is quite good. Not sure what your definition of a park is but the river trails are very nice.
Housing costs without relation to a persons specific pay don't mean much though. I'd say Halifax had similar housing costs but less job opportunities.
Vancouver is out of the running, IMO, due to housing costs. Despite having a nice library, fairly good transit, parks and health care.... housing costs, forget it.
Toronto's lacking in affordable housing too... although, I've heard the rental situation is a bit better than it was several years ago. Basement apartments are allowed now, and at one time they were against the bylaws, I believe. I've heard nasty stories about the condition of, and safety within, the public housing in Toronto. Not that it's particularly fantastic anywhere, but Toronto's facing some serious problems on that front. I heard that some have a nicely maintained physical facade on the front of the building, but when you go inside, yikes... And Toronto's transit is decent, but the demand for expanded services is a constant theme. Parks and "green space" are plentiful. Toronto is raccoon nation, after all... the ravines are a nice feature of the city. And you have the new Rouge park.
Halifax has OK transit (just so-so bus service going out to the suburbs), some nice parks, a nice new central library. The housing has character, but renting or buying in the centre of Halifax actually isn't cheap at all. High demand for a small geographic area -- location, location, location. Health care services are good in Halifax, but I wonder about the strain that it will face with an ageing population. Plus higher rates of smoking out East.
Montreal faces similar challenges to Halifax, although it has much better transit. Like Halifax, it has funky housing, but you pay a premium to live in popular areas. Parks, no lack of nice ones there. Healthcare... no experience with Montreal's health care system, but again, despite excellent hospitals, this has to be balanced against the ageing population and a lot of smokers in Montreal. Among the city's many amenities, Montreal's got an awesome main library branch that combines the Quebec archives within the same building.
Ottawa could be included in the running, due to abundance of parks, relatively affordable housing, and decent health care facilities... although the central Civic Hospital is crowded and a new building has to be built in the next few years. Montfort's not exactly state of the art either. But then, there's the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Heart Institute, and the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, which are all impressive. What we lack in public transit is pretty much due to the fact that the train system is still a work in progress, with a major expansion scheduled to be completed in 2018. Central Ottawa looks like a Big Dig right now. Hopefully once all that's done, the transit system will be flowing like a well-oiled machine....... we'll be getting a larger main library branch around that time too, and one proposal would see it combine the National Archives in one facility, as in Montreal. We'll see if that pans out.
I doubt you will find many posters in this forum who have lived in all 7 cities within the last decade or so and regularly used each of cities' parks, libraries, transportation systems, and health care services.
How is anyone else qualified to answer the poll?
Even if a person can just compare and contrast two or three of the cities, that's helpful too. Through the combined views, a full portrait will begin to form. Thanks for everyone's input so far.
Has to be Vancouver. The city consistently ranks as one of the best all-time. Surely the Economists know way more than the people who live in Vancouver right?
Vancouver is out of the running, IMO, due to housing costs. Despite having a nice library, fairly good transit, parks and health care.... housing costs, forget it.
Toronto's lacking in affordable housing too... although, I've heard the rental situation is a bit better than it was several years ago. Basement apartments are allowed now, and at one time they were against the bylaws, I believe. I've heard nasty stories about the condition of, and safety within, the public housing in Toronto. Not that it's particularly fantastic anywhere, but Toronto's facing some serious problems on that front. I heard that some have a nicely maintained physical facade on the front of the building, but when you go inside, yikes... And Toronto's transit is decent, but the demand for expanded services is a constant theme. Parks and "green space" are plentiful. Toronto is raccoon nation, after all... the ravines are a nice feature of the city. And you have the new Rouge park.
Halifax has OK transit (just so-so bus service going out to the suburbs), some nice parks, a nice new central library. The housing has character, but renting or buying in the centre of Halifax actually isn't cheap at all. High demand for a small geographic area -- location, location, location. Health care services are good in Halifax, but I wonder about the strain that it will face with an ageing population. Plus higher rates of smoking out East.
Montreal faces similar challenges to Halifax, although it has much better transit. Like Halifax, it has funky housing, but you pay a premium to live in popular areas. Parks, no lack of nice ones there. Healthcare... no experience with Montreal's health care system, but again, despite excellent hospitals, this has to be balanced against the ageing population and a lot of smokers in Montreal. Among the city's many amenities, Montreal's got an awesome main library branch that combines the Quebec archives within the same building.
Ottawa could be included in the running, due to abundance of parks, relatively affordable housing, and decent health care facilities... although the central Civic Hospital is crowded and a new building has to be built in the next few years. Montfort's not exactly state of the art either. But then, there's the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Heart Institute, and the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, which are all impressive. What we lack in public transit is pretty much due to the fact that the train system is still a work in progress, with a major expansion scheduled to be completed in 2018. Central Ottawa looks like a Big Dig right now. Hopefully once all that's done, the transit system will be flowing like a well-oiled machine....... we'll be getting a larger main library branch around that time too, and one proposal would see it combine the National Archives in one facility, as in Montreal. We'll see if that pans out.
+Montreal
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