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If you are going to use the population of Chicagoland as your benchmark, then it makes more sense to compare it to the Golden Horseshoe - an area of similar size, with multiple towns and cities forming a contiguous urban area - instead of the GTA, which only includes the City of Toronto and its immediate suburbs.
In this case, the Golden Horeshoe has a population of 8.76 million while Chicagoland has a population of 9.7 million.
As far as Chicago being an ugly city, that's not true at all, but it does have many large blighted areas in comparison to Toronto.
Both cities have their charms. Both cities have areas in need of improvement. Both are great cities in their own right.
IMO, Chicago's rate of violent crime really has to be tackled, because when large swathes of a city are virtual war zones, and accidentally wandering into one can lead to serious consequences for the hapless resident or visitor, that city can never reach its full potential. And Chicagoland has far too many blighted, crime-ridden neighbourhoods where residents live in fear for their safety. This is something that Chicago needs to deal with.
it would happen sooner or later when one is growing with decent rate while the other has been in consistent decline.
It doesn't mean much honestly. Chicago is still a more powerful and wealthier city in general. Toronto should focus on improving itself by building the necessary infrastructure and creating more jobs rather than being obsessed with catching up with someone in terms of size. And I would love to have some of Chicago's amazing buildings and its superb waterfront.
4th largest, that's about it. Toronto will never be larger than LA within the next 50 years (unless there is a huge earthquake there of course).
Would any city really want to be as large as LA? I doubt it. 4th largest is still extremely large!
I like your version of what our city should become, I just don't think reality will allow for it in terms of the need for high densification in our urban cores. As long as there is fuel for the fire of condo developer's those 60 story and above condo's will keep popping up. I do think we need some affordable and new developments to start occuring. If you rent in Toronto you are renting in a Commie Block building or paying an outrageous amount to rent a shoebox sized condo.
After visiting both cities I find that Toronto and in particular Old Toronto has a much more interesting and happening urban core than Chicago and in particular Downtown Chicago. On the flipside, The suburbs of Chicago are more interesting and urban than that of the suburbs of T.O.
Basically, In Toronto the place to be is Downtown, not Scarborough, North York or Mississauga. In Chicago everyone parties in the burbs. They go downtown to work along with tourists who go to visit attractions. I couldn't believe how far from the Loop (where my hotel was) to go to Boystown to check out the gay scene in Chicago. It would be like travelling from Downtown Toronto to Etobicoke...
The part I bolded seems off. The North Side neighborhoods aren't downtown, but generally people wouldn't call them the burbs either.
Great for Toronto! Chicago is a ****hole full of crime and urban decay. The CTA is a broken-down version of TTC that has CONTRACTED instead of expanded, like what the TTC is actively doing. I rode the Toronto subway before, and it's 100x nicer than Chicago's rotten metal shacks called the El. I'm curious of why so many people hold Chicago to a high regard when in reality it's an ugly ****ed-up mess that has been declining for 60 years and will continue to do so?
Great for Toronto! Chicago is a ****hole full of crime and urban decay. The CTA is a broken-down version of TTC that has CONTRACTED instead of expanded, like what the TTC is actively doing. I rode the Toronto subway before, and it's 100x nicer than Chicago's rotten metal shacks called the El. I'm curious of why so many people hold Chicago to a high regard when in reality it's an ugly ****ed-up mess that has been declining for 60 years and will continue to do so?
desipte being rotten metal shacks, Chicago's El still has twice as many stations and and with a systam 2.5X long.
Toronto will never have NYC's subway coverage, but would be nice to match the El, no matter how bad it looks. I will take an old rottle shack that covers 2.5 times the area over new and cleans but much smaller one any day.
TTC hasn't expanded since 2002 and we won't see anything new until 2022.
desipte being rotten metal shacks, Chicago's El still has twice as many stations and and with a systam 2.5X long.
Toronto will never have NYC's subway coverage, but would be nice to match the El, no matter how bad it looks. I will take an old rottle shack that covers 2.5 times the area over new and cleans but much smaller one any day.
TTC hasn't expanded since 2002 and we won't see anything new until 2022.
This is true and the El even reaches the Airport. But with the El being 2.5X larger it still doesnt even have 2.5X the usage the TTC does even though its larger and more expansive. Also their fares are cheaper but that still doesn't make it a more used system being 2.5X larger.
The TTC (yes Torontonians like to complain about the service, ridership costs, sleeping ticket booth collectors and all that etc) is still the third largest transit system in North America (after NYC and Mexico City) and continues to grow in ridership year after year despite its "smaller size", minimal expansion, ongoing increasing fare costs and other issues.
Toronto may not have 150 subway stations but the TTC still has some "advantages" to its system.
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Damn, I totally missed the news that Toronto had invaded Chicago.
