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I was looking act this map that list known areas where specific gangs tend to reside. Am East Toronto is actually looking pretty good . Like 5 years ago I was search for a new home with a bigger yard and there was this home on a street called Galloway that the real-estate again kept on brushing off and literally was ignoring my requests to go see it. The house was pretty good deal. Nice size lot which a house I could easily renovate. I was thinking I wondering it she is keeping this one aside for another client. I finally called her out on it and said hey why do you not want to let me see this house. At that point she straight out told me I don't want to encouraging you to buy a property you wont be able to sell and she basically told me that area has a bad reputation and left it at that. I did a quick google search and then realized there was a bloody gang named after that street. After that I gained 100% more trust in her.
After looking at this map I realize wow I grew up right near 3 of these gangs area and did not really notice anything. I literally was roaming around Jane Street from Steeles to St. Clair as a teen and never really noticed anything. Then again I never walked west of Driftwood on Jane Street growing up or on Gosford Blvd as (on this street specifically because there were always groups of guys in their teens or early 20s that would harass you and follow you down the street when walking in that area. Total losers which I hope someone eventually pepper sprayed to teach them).
In the last 10-15 years I have not really spent too much time around any of the areas on the MAP. A few I am pretty surprised about because they seem like areas that are actually pretty expensive to live in. A lot these areas tend to have Ontario Housing/ lower income housing ex Driftwood West of Jane Street.
Anyone that lives or works in any of these areas want to share their experiences or observations? Are these concerns visible to the average person living in these areas or are they well concealed?
Which of these seem like expensive areas? It does seem like mostly places with a lot of Ontario Housing.
I'm a little confused about what you're saying about Driftwood... Driftwood is east of Jane, not west. And you never walked along the part of Jane Street in the Black Creek/Jane-Finch area even though you grew up in Black Creek?
Anyways, I suspect the gang activity is often not visible from the street but tucked away in the parking lots and lane ways of housing projects, if it even is visible from the outdoors at all.
Which of these seem like expensive areas? It does seem like mostly places with a lot of Ontario Housing.
I'm a little confused about what you're saying about Driftwood... Driftwood is east of Jane, not west. And you never walked along the part of Jane Street in the Black Creek/Jane-Finch area even though you grew up in Black Creek?
Anyways, I suspect the gang activity is often not visible from the street but tucked away in the parking lots and lane ways of housing projects, if it even is visible from the outdoors at all.
So sorry .. I have no sense of direction I meant east ex towards York University. I spend the first 2 decades of my life living in the Jane and Steeles area. The west side of Jane in a pocket of the area populated with mainly detached, semis or town houses.
If walking around that area to go anywhere the safest routes from the perspective of a teenage age female where walking up Hullmar in the day or walking along Steeles to Jane Street and up Jane Street with known realities of having a few men possibly pester you around the bus stops at Jane and Steeles and the harrassment factors increased as your walk south hugely. The appartments south of Shoreham Plaza and at Shoreham Plaza there were always a few creepy men that would make comments or start following you and trying to talk. After you pass Shoreham Plaza until before you hit Yorkgate Mall it was not that bad. Once you hit Jane and Finch around the malls there was always someone trying to bug you. Main streets were safer as if someone was bugging you there was traffice passing buy or other adults passing by that would usually get involved or would deter them from bugging you too much especailly if you made it clear you were uncomfortable. Nothing like a West Indian or Italian grandmother put a man harassing a teenage girl to shame lol ! Young ladies if you ever have some older man harrassing you and you want an adult to put them in their place ... look for the nearest Jamacian, Trinidadian or Guynese grandmother/ female senior citizen because they will give it to them good and they will usually walk away with their tail between their legs lol .
The scolding will be 10 fold if they look like the church going type !
Jane and Sheppard was not that bad. Jane and Wilson and Lawerence the pestering beings. Weston Road and Lawerence... problem spot. Myself and many of my freinds always had issues with men (not even teenage guys) harassing us and following us which was seriously uncomfortable.
Hopefully it is not as bad now that there are cameras at most places and just about everyone has a cell phone.
I was not roaming around the area too much once in university as I was either in school, work or travelling outside of the area, province or country) and my entire family left the area around 2006) so I can not tell you as much what it is like as an adult female, but now that as a teenage female the biggest issue in that area was sexual harrassment. It would be interesting to see what it is like now.
More expensive areas ..
Areas like Vaughan Road between Eglinton and St. Clair.. there are a long of really expensive homes in this area and lots of construction for new condos.
Spidina and Dundas West
Jane south of St.Clair is also pretty nice and also expensive. They have also build a lot of new homes in that area south of St. Clair between there and Lawerence.
Any... "gang"... with the word blood or crip at the end of its name should not be taken seriously, There are no real blood or crips in Toronto or anywhere in Canada. Unfortunately some of these gangs have young retards with guns and sometimes they end up hurting people. But for the most part, thankfully gang banging in Toronto is a non issue.
Spadina and Dundas West has the Alexandra Park housing projects so that would explain that.
Vaughan Road was a bit surprising but even though the gang HQ was there, doesn't mean that's where all the gang members lived. It's also in a transitional area, that area I would say is still a pretty expensive/wealthy neighbourhood but not as much a little further in the Vaughan Rd & Eglinton area. Jamaican resto part of gang raid | Town Crier
I agree that Jane south of St Clair is a pretty expensive area but the area north of St Clair at Woolner where the Gatorz are supposedly based, not so much.
I've been to most of the areas highlighted during bike trips exploring Toronto, often 2-3 times, although not to Fallstaff/Jane or Woolner/Jane. Some of those areas on the map did seem a bit sketchy, but I haven't seen anything illegal or been bothered by anyone. Jane-Finch area actually didn't seem bad despite it's reputation, the people I came across were friendly.
Spadina and Dundas West has the Alexandra Park housing projects so that would explain that.
Vaughan Road was a bit surprising but even though the gang HQ was there, doesn't mean that's where all the gang members lived. It's also in a transitional area, that area I would say is still a pretty expensive/wealthy neighbourhood but not as much in the Vaughan Rd & Eglinton area.
I agree that Jane south of St Clair is a pretty expensive area but the area north of St Clair at Woolner where the Gatorz are supposedly based, not so much.
I've been to most of the areas highlighted during bike trips exploring Toronto, often 2-3 times, although not to Fallstaff/Jane or Woolner/Jane. Some of those areas on the map did seem a bit sketchy, but I haven't seen anything illegal or been bothered by anyone. Jane-Finch area actually didn't seem bad despite it's reputation, the people I came across were friendly.
Interesting that you said freindly. At least from my experiences living near that area and regularly going to malls, restaurants in that area and volunteering at the hospital.. I would agree people are more freindlier then other parts of Toronto, but at least when I lived there it was likely related to some extend to type new immigrant cultural groups in the area ex usually people from the West Indies/ Caribbean and the Latina American groups that have higher concentrations in that area are cultural more freindly (we they are new immigrants ... the 1 and 2nd generation not so much lol). Case in point my dad... still talks to EVERYONE (totally embarssing as a kid and teen... learned to deal with it as an adult). "Hi, how are you, where are you from" ... making random small chat with strangers is seen as normal. In general ( this does not apply to everyone one as there are always exceptions).
It is funny the you mentioned the freindly comment as I actually found that since moving from there to where I live now there is certainly a lower community spirit (and I am not better then my neighbours). We all live in detached homes and have backyards. We almost never talk or see each other. Where I grew up people we typically living is closer corners. Had smaller backyards so people were usually sitting at the front of the house or seeing each other and talking more often. You felt a bit more connected to your neighbours.
I saw this guy on the subway a few months ago with a t-shirt with a Jane and Finch Street sign. It was pretty cool, but did not feel pushy enough to ask him about it. Anyone else see these t-shirts around. No interested in buying one, just curious what that is all about.
For me it was just a few limited encounters since I've only biked over to Jane-Finch a couple times. One time I fell off my bike and a couple middle aged ladies that were walking nearby were concerned asking if I was ok. And a couple times biking on the sidewalk coming up behind some teenaged guys the first one to notice me would nudge his buddy to make space. Probably would've been similar elsewhere but little things like that do matter for getting a positive impression of a neighbourhood you're unfamiliar with, to tell you it's an alright place there too. Sometimes you hear about the "breakdown of social order" (mostly ghettos outside Canada) so these sorts of experiences reassure that the vast majority of people there are good people and will look out for you.
I think you're right about different cultures though. There was a refugee from Gambia next to me on the plane recently that reminded me of that, I can't think of an english word that describes him as well as the french "chaleureux". Seems like he wasn't used to the cold (or the airplane) wearing a jacket and 2 blankets. This was in November so he'll have a whole winter ahead of him right when he arrives, and to make things worse, he was headed for Edmonton... I told him to go to spend the day at West Edmonton Mall to look at winter clothes. Checked the forecast for Edmonton once I got home, they were getting a cold snap, high of -25C with windchill of -35C, ouch...
As for community spirit, I think that can be tricky. First 10 years of my life were in a townhouse neighbourhood in Brampton, next 10 years were in a neighbourhood of detached homes on big lots. In the townhouses, we knew who all our neighbours were, and were pretty close to maybe 1/4 of them.
Then the neighbourhood with the big lots, well part of it was that your neighbours were further apart, so there were fewer close-by options for play-mates, but the neighbours also skewed older with lots of empty-nesters and seniors since it was an older neighbourhood. When you're kids, it's generally easier to make friends since it starts out with just looking for someone to play with. And for parents, you can often bond over your children. My mom was still able to make a few friends and they started a book club (mostly chit-chat). Then the kids started to head-off to university and the housewives were getting lonely and started to buy dogs, which became a new thing to bond over and make new friends. In the last few years it's been getting though for my mom though, some neighbours getting old and passing away or moving out, and increased property speculation leading to high turn-over of neighbours. I would say half the neighbours have only moved in in the last 2 years. Some neighbours we hardly ever see and it doesn't help that they hire other people to do all the yard work.
As for the reputation of certain bad neighbourhoods. There might be some bored teens looking to play up how tough their hood is for street cred. Probably at least as significant is outsiders trying to put down certain areas as a pathetic way to feel good about themselves.
Also when the neighbourhoods are more far flung areas with no particular reason to go there, that means most GTA residents will never have been there and the only thing they know about the place is from the news. So if an area has above average crime (even if that's not such a big deal because the average is still low and affecting mostly people involved in drugs), then you'll get more crime stories and it looks bad.
As for the reputation of certain bad neighbourhoods. There might be some bored teens looking to play up how tough their hood is for street cred. Probably at least as significant is outsiders trying to put down certain areas as a pathetic way to feel good about themselves.
Also when the neighbourhoods are more far flung areas with no particular reason to go there, that means most GTA residents will never have been there and the only thing they know about the place is from the news. So if an area has above average crime (even if that's not such a big deal because the average is still low and affecting mostly people involved in drugs), then you'll get more crime stories and it looks bad.
It was a pretty horrible situation. I know someone who lost a family member in that event. Totally disrespectful to the community. There is one thing to go around targeting specific people that you have issues with, but to do it at a community event like this shows how big a piece of garbage you are. Stuff like this does not happen too often in general though. I grew up in a working class area of the city and honestly felt in some sense in general people with a bit less tend to look out for each other more. Sometimes it is watching each other kids, people making small chat, helping with each others lawns or local seniors in the community just playing grandparents to all the neighbour hood kids. It was certainly a different feel to my current neighbourhood.
That is area is odd. Just minutes away south of that area are really really expensive mansions. There was a house I wanted to buy near there and when driving around I was shocked. There are all this hidden gated mansions (I was not buying one of those ), but the areas are very private and the average house price even 5 years ago for small homes was 600 000 plus. I honestly think a lot of these teens that get involved with this stuff lack parental supervision or come from families with long histories of social issues. Ex parents working too much and never home or parents that were involved n illegal stuff too.
Any... "gang"... with the word blood or crip at the end of its name should not be taken seriously, There are no real blood or crips in Toronto or anywhere in Canada. Unfortunately some of these gangs have young retards with guns and sometimes they end up hurting people. But for the most part, thankfully gang banging in Toronto is a non issue.
I wouldn't say it's a non issue in Toronto considering there have been 120 shooting occurrences resulting in the death or injury of 65 people thus far this year, much of it due to gang activity.
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. Like 5 years ago I was search for a new home with a bigger yard and there was this home on a street called Galloway that the real-estate again kept on brushing off and literally was ignoring my requests to go see it. The house was pretty good deal. Nice size lot which a house I could easily renovate. I was thinking I wondering it she is keeping this one aside for another client. I finally called her out on it and said hey why do you not want to let me see this house. At that point she straight out told me I don't want to encouraging you to buy a property you wont be able to sell and she basically told me that area has a bad reputation and left it at that. I did a quick google search and then realized there was a bloody gang named after that street. After that I gained 100% more trust in her.
! Young ladies if you ever have some older man harrassing you and you want an adult to put them in their place ... look for the nearest Jamacian, Trinidadian or Guynese grandmother/ female senior citizen because they will give it to them good and they will usually walk away with their tail between their legs lol 
! 
Messed up event ...
