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-- What do you like/dislike about Toronto
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| Originally posted by The Highroller Every city has something wrong with it. Ask anyone who lives in any city, and they will give you a list of what they like and don't like about their city. For me personally, I think Toronto is a great city. As it stands right now, the short-comings are tolerable, and the positives outweigh the negatives. |
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| Originally posted by The Highroller lol are you kidding me? EVERYBODY wears flip flops in the summer time. Unless I'm going to a club, I wear flip flops for 95% of the summer. |
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| Originally posted by teufel-man wearing a suit just because you are in 'business' school (unless its an MBA school) just means that you take yourself way too seriously and probably are very socially awkward |
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| Originally posted by The Highroller Every city has something wrong with it. Ask anyone who lives in any city, and they will give you a list of what they like and don't like about their city. That brings me to my next question: Although Toronto is not perfect (nor is any other city), do the city's short-comings bother you to a point where you have a plan to leave the city in the future, or you are entertaining the thought of leaving at some point in the future? |
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| Originally posted by The Highroller Do you see yourself living in the city for the rest of your life? |
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| Originally posted by malek actually wearing a suit *every* school day make you look like a dedicated and organized person, who's willing to sacrifice his own comfort for principles. He demonstrates apreciation and respect to the institution of University. |
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How waterfront dream became a misty memory
May 16, 2008
Christopher Hume
How appropriate that it took a group of architects from Denmark to remind us that there's something rotten in the state of the Toronto waterfront.
The quartet was in town this week to talk about its projects, including those on the waterfronts of Liverpool, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The firms represented have designed opera houses, museums and concert halls � "magnets," they called them � intended to attract people to those cities' newly revitalized harbourlands.
In Toronto, meantime, after seven years of painful effort, we have a condo or two in the works, an energy plant, a film studio and an office building.
But as the Danes made clear, their projects are each conceived as part of a larger campaign to return former industrial lands to residents. In Toronto, by contrast, we seem to be moving from one industrial model to another.
The Filmport project is the most revealing of how things work in this city. Here's what insiders say has happened:
First of all, let's deal with TEDCO (Toronto Economic Development Corp.), an arm's-length city agency responsible for redeveloping city-owned land, much of that on the waterfront. TEDCO president Jeff Steiner, who apparently answers to no one, least of all the citizens in whose name the land is owned, made a deal with Rose Corp. several years ago that gave them 20 hectares (twice the space they need) to build Filmport. That land is on the north shore of the shipping channel, which has the potential to become the most desirable residential neighbourhood in Toronto.
Because no one has ever seen the contract, insiders fear that Steiner negotiated a sweetheart deal with Filmport and its majority owner, Rose Corp., complete with a 99-year lease and a no-compete clause.
Rose also owns the 7.2-hectare site on Eastern Ave. where its film studios were formerly located. That's the same site where Rose and its new partner, SmartCentres, want to build a mammoth mall potentially anchored by Wal-Mart. This despite the express wishes of city council and residents.
It's unlikely the mall proposal would have happened if Steiner had not arranged the Portlands deal that left Rose with the waterfront site.
Insiders also say that by giving Rose much more land than it requires, TEDCO has paved the way for Rose itself to get into the waterfront condo-building business in the future. The city has zoned the land for "other uses," which means it doesn't have to be part of the studio complex.
Film studio president Ken Ferguson immodestly calls his scheme "visionary." And from his and his masters' point of view, it may well be. But this should not be confused with waterfront revitalization.
Indeed, staff at Waterfront Toronto, the corporation charged with overseeing waterfront revitalization, make no secret of their frustration with Steiner. But they say there was nothing they could do when Filmport was approved years ago.
Since then, as Mayor David Miller points out, the city has taken away TEDCO's power to make deals with its waterfront property.
Miller, who sits on the board of Waterfront Toronto, defends Filmport, but not TEDCO.
"TEDCO is under review," he said testily. "I don't know when that will be ready. We have already removed its authority on the waterfront. But I don't buy fiddling with the location of Filmport. It will bring excitement to the shipping channel."
That's hard to accept. Clearly, the mayor has never seen any of the drawings from a study of what could be done with housing along the shipping channel. It has the potential to rival Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Copenhagen or Stockholm.
Not now, of course. That dream is over.
Christopher Hume can be reached at [email protected]
source:
http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Columnist/article/425954
To bring the topic back, sometimes I get the impression that Toronto used to be an amazing place in the 80s and 90s, and it since grew into a giant mess of big corporations and multicultural squalor (not that I'm saying anyone from such-and-such is bad, just noticing the dynamics of how everyone fits together).
I wasn't here back then, so I wouldn't know. Is that what happened?
I don't really see how "corporations" have even the slightest thing to do with it, though I realize it's convenient to blame them for everything under the sun.
In more recent years the balkanization of Toronto probably has had a little to do with it - diverse cultures are generally a good thing until you have entire sectors of the city that don't speak more than 10 words of English. However, that's only a symptom of a policy problem at the federal level, and the biggest cities like Toronto are the ones that suffer.
More than anything else it's just that over the past 25 or 30 years, both the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario have had very weak and short-sighted leadership, mostly pandering to NIMBYs and fringe lobby groups from all sides of the political spectrum. Feds haven't been so great either. We've had a few good leaders come in and out but for the most part it's been a disaster. Ever since the city caved in decades ago and halted both the highway AND mass transit extensions to appease a few loony environmental groups, we knew we were screwed.
None of this makes it a bad city to live in; just, not as good as it could be.
Anyone who complains about the TTC fares.... compare it to the DC Metro system, and then feel better about what you have. There is no such thing as a flat-fee monthly pass.
Metrorail fares vary depending on the length of your journey, and whether you travel during 'rush hours' or not.
Metrorail fares
Regular fare (In effect on weekdays from opening to 9:30 a.m., 3-7 p.m. and 2 a.m. to closing)
$1.65 minimum
$4.50 maximum
Reduced fare (All other times)
$1.35 minimum
$1.85 mid-range
$2.35 maximum
Transfers
Metrobus to Metrobus � If you pay your fare with cash or tokens, ask your driver for a free transfer. It�s valid for unlimited Metrobus connections (including round trips) within a two-hour period. If you pay your fare with a SmarTrip card, you don't need to use paper transfers.
Metrorail to Metrobus � Rail-to-bus transfers are worth 90� off your bus fare, whether you ride a regular or express route and whether you pay with cash or a SmarTrip card.
Bus fare with transfer:
Regular route using SmarTrip 35�
Regular route using cash 45�
Express route using SmarTrip $2.10
Express route using cash $2.20
Metrobus fares
$1.25 using SmarTrip
$1.35 using cash
$3 express routes using SmarTrip
$3.10 express routes using cash
Senior/disabled fare is 60�
^^your reponse made me wanna write:
What I like(d) about Toronto: TA-BBQ's put on by mat and graham 
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| Originally posted by yankeeBaby ^^your reponse made me wanna write: What I like(d) about Toronto: TA-BBQ's put on by nat and graham |
dislike;
weather
cops
ttc
like;
nature
parks
clubs
Seems like the powers that be are more aware than ever about changing Toronto's current image to tourists/visitors... this is just as excerpt taken from the article:
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| Personally, if I were to be in the business I'd come up with a different slogan for each target group. Talk about the zoo and the Toronto Islands and the Ex when you target the families. But if you want to get the professionals and the edgy, younger crowd, I'd give $10,000 to some struggling artist with lots of tattoos in places you don't want to think about and let them come up with images for a campaign. I leave it to the smart folks to figure out what the images are, but it's obvious that they need to be hip and urban and sleek and chic, and it's critical they not look like the usual stuff people think of when someone whispers the word "Canada." And, if we must have a slogan, what about this: "Toronto � Not a Mountie in Sight." It's a start, eh? |
Here's a really cool article about Toronto in the New York Times on Sunday, video included.
New York Times' Toronto story
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| Originally posted by tatgirl Anyone who complains about the TTC fares.... compare it to the DC Metro system, and then feel better about what you have. There is no such thing as a flat-fee monthly pass. Metrorail fares vary depending on the length of your journey, and whether you travel during 'rush hours' or not. Metrorail fares Regular fare (In effect on weekdays from opening to 9:30 a.m., 3-7 p.m. and 2 a.m. to closing) $1.65 minimum $4.50 maximum Reduced fare (All other times) $1.35 minimum $1.85 mid-range $2.35 maximum Transfers Metrobus to Metrobus � If you pay your fare with cash or tokens, ask your driver for a free transfer. It�s valid for unlimited Metrobus connections (including round trips) within a two-hour period. If you pay your fare with a SmarTrip card, you don't need to use paper transfers. Metrorail to Metrobus � Rail-to-bus transfers are worth 90� off your bus fare, whether you ride a regular or express route and whether you pay with cash or a SmarTrip card. Bus fare with transfer: Regular route using SmarTrip 35� Regular route using cash 45� Express route using SmarTrip $2.10 Express route using cash $2.20 Metrobus fares $1.25 using SmarTrip $1.35 using cash $3 express routes using SmarTrip $3.10 express routes using cash Senior/disabled fare is 60� |
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| Originally posted by Stilez Seems like the powers that be are more aware than ever about changing Toronto's current image to tourists/visitors... this is just as excerpt taken from the article: The STAR Source For me, Toronto is like that kid in grade school who grew faster than everyone else, yet despite his 'big' appearance, is still a kid at heart. Toronto's glory days were the 80's and very early 90's when the world said we were like New York being run by the Swiss. Since then, we've deteriorated fairly quickly. More so , as a result of amalgamation and the creation of the 'Mega-city' that went through despite an overwhelming majority of the city's population voting against it. We're still a fairly young city compared to Montreal and even by North American standards, and especially when compared to most European cities. We're just going through the same growing pains most large cities/urban centres experience until they truly mature and establish it's own identity. |
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| Originally posted by dEsidEL I love how all the DC metro stations look like nuclear attack shelters. i think someone mentioned to me once that they could be used to evacuate people underground in the event of a surface threat. |
PRO:
Nights like last night!
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| Originally posted by dEsidEL Toronto really needs to find its own identity. |
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| -Great electronic music scene, tons of great locals |
I don't live in Toronto, but the skyline is damn nice. One of my old friends is an aerial camera operator, and he took some pics last September while he was in town for work.
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| Originally posted by malek most of the time identity starts with food, i have a hard time finding a special dish found only in Toronto, sure we don't have hotdogs in the streets, but thats only because of a bylaw. So is there a toronto dish that I'm unaware of? |
maybe not even a dish unique to Toronto (its really hard to keep a secret), but something the city is recognized with, something that I could forward to if I visit the next time.
For example Montreal is known for smoked meat, bagels and poutine but we didn't invent any of them.
reading through this thread, Toronto sounds exactly like Melbourne! In both pros & cons.
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| Originally posted by Fpcookie reading through this thread, Toronto sounds exactly like Melbourne! In both pros & cons. |
multiculturalism or self-segregation?
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Jaideep Kaur teaches a Grade 2 English lesson at Claireville Junior School. She also speaks Punjabi, handy for her primarily South Asian students.
Serving students in culturally clustered schools
Educators debate need for same-culture role models amid reality of 'segregated' schools
Louise Brown
May 20, 2008
When Canada's largest school board votes tomorrow on whether to start an Africentric alternative school, there will be those, including Ontario's premier, who oppose a school that clusters children by race.
Segregation, critics charge, has no place in our public schools.
Yet schools have long been segregated, naturally, by virtue of the colour-coded neighbourhoods in which they sit, says veteran urban planner Mohammad Qadeer of Queen's University. In Canada, he argues, this could be a good thing.
From the Chinese tracts of Markham to the Jewish community down Bathurst St. and the South Asian hub in Brampton, the professor emeritus says Canada's "ethnic enclaves" provide a soft landing for immigrants and fuel hubs of cultural commerce, yet are still open enough to allow some racial mix, unlike the ghettos of some American cities.
But because Canadians prize social integration, we need to step out of these natural enclaves to get to know each other � and that's where he said schools come in.
"Schools are one of the places where people form social bonds, like offices, clubs and even bars, so schools that are segregated do pose a problem," said Qadeer, adding both curriculum and teaching staff must be broad enough to reflect the colours of today's classrooms.
"You want to increase exposure to people of other backgrounds so the children will know each other � or at least know of each other."
Schools might even redraw boundaries to straddle different neighbourhoods, he suggested � "although I'm not talking about busing, which was not a great success in the United States" � or plan joint projects between students of different neighbourhoods.
Black teacher Ainsworth Morgan is one of several advisers to the Toronto District School Board on Africentric programs, and agrees many public schools are already segregated, in large part, by virtue of the ethnic neighbourhoods in which they sit.
As the latest census shows, these enclaves are on the rise; many people simply prefer to live among those who are like them, especially newcomers.
Morgan says culturally clustered schools should be seen as a challenge, not a curse.
"Many schools already are segregated in a way, based on the demographics of local neighbourhoods," said Morgan, a teacher at Nelson Mandela Park Public School in Regent Park, where he grew up.
"If I'm living in Jane and Finch, the majority of kids will be black and brown. If I'm in Riverdale or Leaside, the majority of kids will reflect the white population of those neighbourhoods," said Morgan, who is on a three-year leave to work with the Pathways to Education mentoring program.
"No one walks into schools with all white students and all white staff and asks how those kids will assimilate in a diverse world when they graduate. Why do we ask that about schools that aren't white?"
No school board in Ontario had done a thorough colour count of students before the Toronto District School Board began asking students their race last year. But the latest data on visible minorities from the 2006 census gives a broad hint at how neighbourhoods � and their schools � can vary.
Schools in Stouffville, for example, where 93 per cent of residents are white, are likely to have less diverse classrooms than Markham, where 65 per cent of residents belong to a visible minority, half of them Chinese.
Almost half of Mississauga residents are people of colour, as in Toronto and Richmond Hill � in Orangeville, 90 per cent of residents are listed in the census as white. And it varies even within communities.
The census tract around Claireville Junior School near Finch Ave. W. and Martingrove, for example, is 80 per cent visible minority, and more than 40 per cent South Asian, whereas the families around, say, Blythwood Junior Public School near Eglinton and Bayview are more than 90 per cent white. In Halton Region, where Milton has seen an almost 800 per cent jump in the percentage of visible minorities in five years, "students need teachers who are both mirrors and windows," said diversity co-ordinator Suzanne Muir. "They need a mix of same-culture role models and also teachers different from themselves to help them see the world in a different way."
With the growing waves of immigration, schools dominated by a particular culture pose a challenge educators cannot ignore, says Jim Grieve, director of education for the Peel District School Board.
"We opened a school a few years ago where about 99 per cent of students were Punjabi � and pretty much from the same region; it was so interesting," said Grieve.
"But with this amazing diversity comes a responsibility to reflect the communities. If we have the distinct pleasure of being where the world comes to learn, we have to make sure we welcome that world."
This has implications for the rest of the country, he noted, because how Peel looks now is how Canada is projected to look by 2050.
The board has worked to increase the number of visible minority teachers, now at about 40 per cent. Schools try to colour-match teachers where possible.
Grieve tells the story of a male Sikh teacher working at a middle school who was approached by a Sikh mother with a question only he could answer.
"She said her son's turban kept coming off during sports and her husband was out of the country � could the teacher show her son how to tie it tightly enough so it wouldn't fall off?" recalled Grieve. But visible minority teachers should also be placed in schools where white students can see them in positions of authority, says Chris D'Souza, equity and diversity officer for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. Only with a pool of diverse teachers will equity spread up the ladder to principals and vice-principals, he said. At his board, only seven of more than 300 administrators are people of colour.
At Toronto's Claireville Junior School in a largely Punjabi neighbourhood, teacher Jaideep Kaur speaks Punjabi to a new Grade 2 student who is struggling with English. It allows the girl to join the discussion, with Kaur interpreting.
Kaur is one of four South Asian teachers, plus a secretary, whom principal Isabelle Khan has hired to reflect the student population.
"It's not just (communicating) with students; Many of the parents are shy about their English and don't understand services Canadian schools offer like psychologists and speech pathologists, so they don't sign the forms for their kids," said Kaur, who moved to Canada from Delhi in 1992.
"I feel glad I can help them understand how schools in Canada work."
With files from Kristin Rushowy
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GTA VISIBLE MINORITIES
Schools are bound to reflect the diversity of their communities. The latest Census provides a broad snapshot of how this can vary:
Pickering (population 87,000) � 30 per cent visible minority (Largest group is black, 10 per cent)
Ajax (90,000) � 36 per cent visible minority (Largest group is black, 13 per cent)
Vaughan (238,000) � 27 per cent visible minority (Largest group is South Asian, 9 per cent)
Markham (260,760) � 65 per cent visible minority (Largest group is Chinese, 34 per cent)
Richmond Hill (162,000) � 46 per cent visible minority (Largest group is Chinese, 21 per cent)
Whitchurch-Stouffville (24,000) � 7 per cent visible minority (Largest group is Chinese, 3 per cent)
Aurora (47,000) � 13 per cent visible minority (Largest group is Chinese � 3 per cent)
Newmarket (73,000) � 15 per cent visible minority (Largest groups are Chinese, South Asian, Southeast Asian; 3 per cent each)
Toronto (2.5 million) � 47 per cent visible minority (Largest group is South Asian, 12 per cent)
Mississauga (666,000) � 49 per cent visible minority (Largest group is South Asian, 20 per cent)
Brampton (432,000) � 57 per cent visible minority (Largest group is South Asian, 32 per cent)
Caledon (57,000) � 7 per cent visible minority (Largest groups are South Asian and black; 2 per cent each)
Orangeville (27,000) � 5 per cent visible minority (Largest group is black, 2 per cent)
Oakville (165,000) � 18 per cent visible minority (Largest group is South Asian, 6 per cent)
Milton (53,000) � 17 per cent visible minority (Largest group is South Asian, 6 per cent)
Halton Hills (55,000) � 4 per cent visible minority (Largest groups are South Asian, Chinese, black; 1 per cent each)
Bradford West Gwillimbury (24,000) � 6 per cent visible minority (Largest group is South Asian, 2 per cent)
Source: Canada Census 2006
source:
http://parentcentral.ca/parent/article/427519
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| Originally posted by dEsidEL multiculturalism or self-segregation? |
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