Toronto named best place to live.

[Zeitgeist]

1 hour ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Hamilton is a sh!t-hole.  It smells like those disgusting steel mills on the lakefront that emit garbage into the air out of their smokestacks.

There’s a lot more to Hamilton than the steel works.  It actually has a nice geography with the escarpment, bay, many waterfalls, and Royal Botanical Gardens.  I used to judge that city based on its industrial side, but it’s got a lot going for it.  In some ways it’s a more authentic city.  

Edited April 11, 2020 by Zeitgeist

[Boges]

13 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Hamilton is a sh!t-hole.  It smells like those disgusting steel mills on the lakefront that emit garbage into the air out of their smokestacks.

Hamilton actually is quite large (area-wise). Sure portions are industrial, rundown and poor. But it also has gentrified urban area, greenspace and upscale suburbs. The Escarpment makes part of Greater Hamilton, very livable. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Boges

[taxme]

17 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Hamilton is a sh!t-hole.  It smells like those disgusting steel mills on the lakefront that emit garbage into the air out of their smokestacks.

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by taxme

[cougar]

On 1/30/2015 at 9:03 AM, guyser said:

Not bad at all.

Im betting they didnt include sports teams in that ranking, nor a winter index.

And congrats to Montreal placing second.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/01/29/toronto-ranked-best-place-to-live-in-economist-ranking-of-cities-around-the-world/

Let the haters chime in.....

Wonderful news!!   Hope all crowds go that way to those marvelous places to live!

[cougar]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:54 PM, Moonlight Graham said:

Hamilton is a sh!t-hole.  It smells like those disgusting steel mills on the lakefront that emit garbage into the air out of their smokestacks.

Oh no!  Hamilton is the cherry on the cake!  After a while you get so used to the stench it starts smelling like home.

[SpankyMcFarland]

The Mountain in Hamilton is what riled me up after Alberta. This little hill, are you serious? I did appreciate warm summer evenings on the deck, though, doing my lizard impersonations. In the places that I have spent most of my time, there’s always a doubt that winter will behave itself and pack its bags. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by SpankyMcFarland

[Boges]

The Niagara Escarpment is actually a quite impressive geologic feature. 

[Zeitgeist]

5 hours ago, Boges said:

The Niagara Escarpment is actually a quite impressive geologic feature. 

Yes, a lot of natural beauty, but I like the steel works, because if any Canadian city is self-sufficient it's a place like Hamilton.  They can and have produced just about everything.  It also has a lot of agriculture, including a respectable stretch of the fruit belt in Winona.  Hamilton stretches to the border of Cambridge.  I think it's the diamond in the rough that will stand the test of time because it has a truly self-sustainable economy.

[jacee]

9 hours ago, Zeitgeist said:

Yes, a lot of natural beauty, but I like the steel works, because if any Canadian city is self-sufficient it's a place like Hamilton.  They can and have produced just about everything.  It also has a lot of agriculture, including a respectable stretch of the fruit belt in Winona.  Hamilton stretches to the border of Cambridge.  I think it's the diamond in the rough that will stand the test of time because it has a truly self-sustainable economy.

Shhhhh! We're trying to keep that quiet! 

[Moonlight Graham]

meow

Edited April 25, 2020 by Moonlight Graham

[Independent1986]

Hamilton ? I actually have been there once to a mall square something, shocking to be honest, no offence to Hamilton residents.

[-TSS-]

In Finland we say it is the smell of money when people complain about the unpleasant smell emitted by the paper-mills.

[Zeitgeist]

1 hour ago, -TSS- said:

In Finland we say it is the smell of money when people complain about the unpleasant smell emitted by the paper-mills.

Yup.  In England’s north they used to say, “Where there’s muck there’s money”.   You want industry and the ability to produce important items.  Having steel on a major canal system, as well as agriculture, research hospitals, and universities, is how you buffer yourself against whatever bullshit unfolds everywhere else.  

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 4/23/2020 at 9:17 PM, Boges said:

The Niagara Escarpment is actually a quite impressive geologic feature. 

It is impressive in part because the surrounding land is so flat.

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 4/25/2020 at 11:41 AM, -TSS- said:

In Finland we say it is the smell of money when people complain about the unpleasant smell emitted by the paper-mills.

Those aromas must be disappearing in Finland, too? 

[-TSS-]

Yes, a lot of paper-mills have been closed and the rest will follow in the not so distant future. 

[RedDog]

As written by Toronto media? Good Lord. ?

[Michael Hardner]

10 hours ago, RedDog said:

As written by Toronto media? Good Lord. ?

The OP is six and a half years old.  It's nowhere near that now.  Not a good place to live unless you have a lot of money and like crowds.

[Nefarious Banana]

On 7/21/2021 at 4:45 PM, RedDog said:

As written by Toronto media? Good Lord. ?

Hey RD . . . If they've spent decades/generations down the hole in the backhouse, it's not our job to inform them that they are brown and smell 'earthy' . . . it's our job to keep telling them how lucky they are - wish we could be there too, and hope that they stay there and never realize that the rest of Canada guffaws while we hold our noses . . . 

"Where ya' goin' Bob?" . . . . . . "out to the backhouse to feed the Torontonians"   ?

[Michael Hardner]

42 minutes ago, Nefarious Banana said:

 "Where ya' goin' Bob?" . . . . . . "out to the backhouse to feed the Torontonians"   ?

Still baffled why people would harbour hostility towards another *province*... so strange.  Many of my best friends came from Alberta and BC...

[Nefarious Banana]

2 hours ago, Michael Hardner said:

Still baffled why people would harbour hostility towards another *province*... so strange. 

No Michael, yet again your perception is skewed . . . . The question is:  Why do Torontonians harbour hostility towards the rest of Canada?   

[Michael Hardner]

1 hour ago, Nefarious Banana said:

No Michael, yet again your perception is skewed . . . . The question is:  Why do Torontonians harbour hostility towards the rest of Canada?   

I can not recall anybody in my city making a disparaging remark about the rest of Canada. Psychiatrists call this habit of yours projection.

[Nefarious Banana]

18 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

I can not recall anybody in my city making a disparaging remark about the rest of Canada. Psychiatrists call this habit of yours projection.

Your familiarity with psychiatrists is the give-away . . . . .  Is it the mark of a true Torontonian?

"Hey Bob!  they're getting hungry again . . . "

[YMS_1975]

Toronto is grossly over rated! Nice to visit at best. Enjoy dodging bullets, crack heads & panhandlers. Let the good times roll!

[Zeitgeist]

4 hours ago, YMS_1975 said:

Toronto is grossly over rated! Nice to visit at best. Enjoy dodging bullets, crack heads & panhandlers. Let the good times roll!

You don't really see any major social problems anywhere downtown except maybe Queen and Sherbourne.  Regent Park is being rebuilt and the Jane and Finch corridor is far from downtown.  The only issue I have with Toronto is that there's so much growth coming so quickly, especially with condos and office towers, that the focus of the city's design panel and planning department seems entirely oriented towards new development rather than preserving the old city.  We see this with the plans for the new Ontario Line station at the old Parliament site near the Distillery District.  That area and the St. Lawrence Market area nearby are really the closest things that the city has to a historic precinct, as it includes the biggest collection of Victorian industrial architecture, but rather than reinforcing that historic character by keeping the new station site's new buildings in keeping with the old architecture, for example by creating a replica of the first parliament, the plans are for yet more ultra-modern concrete, steel, and glass.

I like modern architecture, but it's unsettling to see so many new towers that have no apparent connection to the old city.  They could be anywhere.  Over 20,000 buildings have been demolished in Toronto, including many fine brick and stone buildings in the oldest neighbourhoods. 

There also aren't enough downtown squares or parks.  Toronto doesn't really have a Central Park or Mount Royal Park.  High Park is too far west and you need a ferry boat to get to Toronto Island.  There was promise with the idea of the Rail Deck Park, building a linear park over the railway tracks, but private developers are trying to block that plan through the courts.  That could've been like Chicago's Millennium Park.  The Port Lands are the last opportunity for a big new park and hundreds of millions are being spend on restoring the mouth of the Don River.  I just hope that the city builds it right.  The Province is currently working with firms to revitalize Ontario Place.  The CNE and Ontario Place both need to be better integrated into the city and become year-round destinations with multiple 24-hour uses.  We'll see.

Toronto has the luxury of making a lot of revenue from development charges and an expanded tax base as tens of thousands of new residents arrive every year, but the infrastructure hasn't kept up.  Congestion around the city always threatens its economy.  There's much new transit in the works, but it's a long time coming: Crosstown, Ontario Line, Finch LRT, Eglinton West LRT, Smart Track, GO RER, etc.