Lake Ontario (condos, living in, pollution)

[GM10]

I am wondering what do residents of Toronto think of Lake Ontario and the setting and location of it in the city. Do you find the view and location of Lake Ontario beside downtown Toronto competes at all with Vancouver's setting by the Pacific Ocean? Or do you find the lake quite dirty and unappealing? Do you find Lake Ontario is a vital part of the city of Toronto in terms of feel and atmosphere?

[TOkidd]

Lake Ontario is extremely important to the City of Toronto and its citizens. And not just in some abstract way. During the warmer months, thousands of residents head down to the Lakeshore for R&R. I think most residents realize that our City would never have come into existence without its strategic position on the water.

But I wouldn't compare it to Vancouver (Vancouver is on the Pacific Ocean, beach culture is a bigger part of living in the city there, and the Georgia Strait happens to be one of the most important regions for oceanic wildlife in the world, on par with Monterey Bay, giving it an ecological significance that Lake Ontario will never have), because the brilliant developers and our city planners who always manage to take things too far and spoil things in Toronto have cut much of the city off from its waterfront by building a barrier of high-rise condos that allows people to forget it's there. Similarly, major waterfront revitalization plans have been pitched, given the go-ahead, then somehow fallen by the wayside anyways when the $ wasn't forthcoming. The more cut-off we become from our waterfront, the more apathetic we are about pollution. But things are changing. Pollution levels have been dropping since the 80's, and there are now plenty of places in the city limits were you can swim during the summer months.

But the lake is indelibly etched in the minds of almost all Torontonians. It's part of our city and part of us. It's an unavoidable geographical feature that we use to navigate (the lake is always south and vice-versa), to cool off, to cool our office towers in the summer, to live by, to play by. I personally go north when I want to swim in the Lake (Sandbanks Provincial Park has one of my favourite beaches in the world), but I have fond memories of walking with girlfriends on the Boardwalk, or spending summer afternoons at Harbourfront with my parents in the 80's, or watching Canada Day fireworks. Unfortunately I don't have a sailboat or yacht, or I would be out on the Lake every weekend, but lots of people do and even more people canoe, kayak, and paddle surf on the Lake during the warm months.

Cities built on water are almost always indelibly connected to that water - how do you separate London from the Thames, or New Orleans from the Mississippi, or Boston from the Atlantic, LA from the Pacific? Toronto is no different. We've mistreated our Lake in the past, polluted it and neglected it, but the future looks very bright. The condo towers won't be coming down any time soon, but the Waterfront Revitilization should eventually get under way, as well as the West Donlands neighbourhood, which will be right on the waterfront. These developments and more will surely bring Torontonians even closer to their beloved Lake.

[GM10]

Thanks for the information. I think Chicago has a nicer waterfront for a lake personally. But Toronto's still looks good.

[TOkidd]

Originally Posted by GM10

Thanks for the information. I think Chicago has a nicer waterfront for a lake personally. But Toronto's still looks good.

Chicago has done a lot to improve their lakefront and make it front and centre in the city. I can only hope that eventually Toronto does the same, but I doubt it. Nothing great ever happens in this city anymore. We've become accustomed to mediocrity, and mediocrity is what we get.