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GOOD - Kensington, High Park, Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Leslie Spit, and other green spaces, the relative ganja-friendliness compared to other major centres in North America, Trinity-Bellwoods drum circles, back-alley graffiti, farmer's markets, the variety of foods (India Bazaar! 400 different sushi restaurants! Tibetan *and* Ethiopian in the same 'hood!) and other wares from different countries - few of the things that I can think of that make Toronto a decent place to live.
NOT SO HOT - the appalling lack of support for independent culture. Toronto's a corporate city, and as such, if it isn't big business (or approved or sponsored by it), it doesn't have much of a chance of surviving. Even going down to Harbourfront for a sponsored event like the Beats, Breaks and Culture fest on a Saturday afternoon, and finding maybe a couple of hundred people listlessly milling around listening to top-notch local talent that rain-or-shine would draw huge, hands-in-the-air crowds almost anywhere in Europe is typical for this city. Sad, really fucking sad.
Bike-unfriendly - is it really that hard for City Hall to encourage and endorse bicycle culture in the downtown core?
Trendoid rent prices - in our search for a new apartment, we lucked out and found a decent, caring landlord, but the majority of people renting out downtown property are out to freaking lunch. Don't care if your house is located near "trendy Queen West", $1450 +utilities for a 2-bedroom that smells like cat piss and needs a major overhaul is wishful thinking - saddest part is that some wannabe is probably still going to shell out for it, just to be near the so-called "action". This was the case with most places we viewed - gouging for no reason other than the fact that most people are suckers and will pay the asking rate.
Pedantic Population - a Holt Renfrew on Bloor and some shiny, electronic billboards on Yonge Street does not a world-class city make. Guess it's due to a large suburban population, but a lot of peeps need to wake up to the fact that there's more to life than shopping and talking about what you watched on TV last night. There's next to no cafe culture in Toronto because everyone's either in too much of a hurry to sit down and relax, or working off the week's stress by getting shitfaced on a patio. And jeans and a sweatshirt have been the municipal uniform for far too long - are you afraid of a little colour? Drone-ishly Bore-ing.
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or did things change a lot over time?
