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It is obvious that the city (or we should say the city let developers) overbuild condos, no doubt about it. But I agree that it's been good for putting people to work in these economic times and it has helped build new structures and improve neighborhoods in the core city. In addition, more downtown residents has resulted in improved amenities in terms of restaurants, art galleries, and other things to do.
But I still think this condo build out could have been managed better because and is not all good:
-It has created a false sense of security for the average joes who bid up properties over fair value and become house poor in the process. Many people are treating property like a stock market, and I think we've all seen to many bubbles burst all over the world. I'm happy the government understands this and is actively stopping it
-The quality of a huge proportion of the condos going up has been subpar as builders cut corners and buyers have been wearing blinders. Many buildings will turn out to be slumy in the future
-The majority of all units in these condos (~2/3rds I think) are one-bedroom or studios. This will only be suitable for singles or young couples, not families. Don't count out the burbs as people need space, especially with families and pets, etc.
-I don't know how to change this but why does every building that goes up in Chicago have to be gorgeous whereas we have built some really ugly structures in odd places. It seems aesthetics and urban planning around green space were secondary considerations to getting quick $. I've seen some nice mid-rises but overall, I feel there was a missed opportunity to really beautify the city with better planning
But it looks like this condo boom slowing down, thank goodness as we have enough supply for a while. No lets focus on infrastructure and building real sustainable industries for the future that will increase our living standards. I know I'm not a politician but I just don't understand how these people think sometimes.
I agree, and alot of the condos built are bland glass types. They should be more creative in designs like adding red or rainbow strips across the tower to make it interesting or a cute glass tower with a nice curve. Alot of those towers are copycats or the same. They need to not be afraid to be more creative in designs and really make them pretty.
I agree, and alot of the condos built are bland glass types. They should be more creative in designs like adding red or rainbow strips across the tower to make it interesting or a cute glass tower with a nice curve. Alot of those towers are copycats or the same. They need to not be afraid to be more creative in designs and really make them pretty.
Growing pains! Toronto hasn't been a world class city for very long and people don't demand much of it, don't even act like it deserves investment or nice things. As time goes by, I think we'll see this attitude change and the city will improve the way it thinks about itself and how it builds.
Growing pains! Toronto hasn't been a world class city for very long and people don't demand much of it, don't even act like it deserves investment or nice things. As time goes by, I think we'll see this attitude change and the city will improve the way it thinks about itself and how it builds.
I found many people are stuck in their 1970's mindset. They think building a 30 story condo at Church st/Gerrard, 3 minutes away from downtown Yonge is wrong because it is too tall and will ruin the neighborhood "character".
On King West, when Toronto gets the chance to have three 85 stories tall buildings designed by world famous architects, with more gallery space and expanding OCAD, they hate the idea because again. they are too tall. The prefer those 2 story old houses to stay because apparently Toronto should keep looking like a small town.
Finally Yonge st north of College have the chance to see many of those horribly maintained, tired looking 2 storied tacky stores gone and be replaced with something closer to the 21 century, NIMBYs protest vehemently because they think that's Toronto's backbone should look like - 2 story mom and pop stores, pizza-pizza, and quick-cash branches.
To be a great city people should first stop acting like they come from small villages
I'm sorry, because there's a lot to love about this city. There is. But holy crap, does it ever need to stop its unmanageable levels of growth. Farther and farther out into the suburbs we see houses so close together that a fat person couldn't even fit between them, dotting what was formerly the countryside. Condominiums sprouting up everywhere in the city. And what exactly is the longterm plan to manage all this population growth? None. No expansions to the subway or to the freeway network. Just talk of traffic tolls to inconvenience people and make driving in the city even more hellish than it already is, without any real solutions to actually solve the problem.
Expanding a city's population without expanding the infrastructure is a recipe for disaster.
Additionally, the GTA is the destination of around 50% of immigrants to Canada, but overwhelmingly, it's not economic immigrants who choose Toronto (they seem to largely opt for going out west instead). It is refugees and welfare recipients and the like. Toronto is having a growing number of urban poor and a declining middle class, and this is a recipe for high crime rates and social unrest. Honestly, I am utterly ASTOUNDED that Toronto's crime rate is still as low as it is (yes, we hear about plenty of momentous shootings on the news, like that Eaton Centre one and that Scarborough block party one, but it's still a low rate on a per capita basis)
"A seemingly plausible argument for boosting the population of at least one Canadian city to 10 million or more would be that the truly great cities of the world are very big.
But London and Paris grew to their current size gradually over hundreds of years, and their greatness is the result of the wealth of the empires of which they were the capitals. You don't build London and Paris by adding millions of bodies over a short period of time. That's how you build Mumbai and Mexico City."
Ideally I think Toronto needs to stop growing at such a fast rate. The government needs to step in and impose stricter regulations on not only expansion but against densification as well. The city can't handle either expansion or densification with infrastructure as it currently stands. I also think that it's unfair that Quebec gets to determine immigration policy and other provinces don't; I think Canada needs to be more strict with immigration standards in general, but not only that, we need to actually start being able to impose limitations and regulations on where immigrants can move to and how many. If Quebec gets to do this I fail to see why other provinces can't. Ideally we need to send more immigrants to, well, anywhere that isn't Toronto. Within Ontario, there's plenty of small towns and mid-sized cities that are not Toronto or anywhere in the GTA that could use more immigration and population growth in general.
I'm not sure how this could be imposed, I'd have to look into Quebec's policy (because we could divert immigrants to other provinces this way...not to BC because Vancouver has similar problems, but definitely to the Maratimes or Prairies), but tax credits to move elsewhere may be a good incentive, also they could simply ask the question on immigration tests of where you intend to move to and deny entry to people who select Toronto (of course people could lie but having the measure there would weed out more than a few).
Also I find it makes the idea of a racially/ethnically diverse Canada a complete joke, when almost the entire racial and ethnic "diversity" is found within a few select metropolitan areas (Toronto especially, Vancouver too). I wouldn't mind some more diversity in small towns and rural areas and mid-sized cities of Canada (most of which are overwhelmingly white), but Toronto I think has more than fulfilled its "diversity quota" and then some.
Since I have already written a piece on Toronto from the Iown of York, to a World Class City in a recent publication for which I have received a lot of praise. I am unable to write a discourse on this subject again. I am also copyrighted owner of some 4500 articles that I wrote published all over the world.
Since I have already written a piece on Toronto from the Iown of York, to a World Class City in a recent publication for which I have received a lot of praise. I am unable to write a discourse on this subject again. I am also copyrighted owner of some 4500 articles that I wrote published all over the world.
Are you sure you wrote anything? You need to take English classes, sir.
In order to compare the level of regulation of Toronto as opposed to what we citizens of Los Angeles have had to put up with for decades, could someone explain how much resistance Donald Trump encountered in building his newest skyscraper from some local politicians, environmentalists, and the usual assortment of NIMBYs?
Also are there any plans to extend your superb subway system in any direction?
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