Why the Hate for Mississauga?

[yyzer]

Mississauga is a sprawling culturally devoid hellhole.

Yes, that post is a worthless piece of drivel.....

 

[syn]

The hate or love which side you were grew tonight when council refused 2 development in the name of traffic and NIMBY.

Both developments supported transit big time, but the car folks wanted their way.

I expect both application will go to the OMB where the city will loose.

City council said every one should have the full view and sunlight from their single floor house.

Try tell that to the folks who thought they had a good view of the city of Toronto on the 20th and then one day a build grew up in front of them blocking the view.

HAY!! HAY!! HO!! HO!! Time Council Got To GO..................OH!! Running for reelection has already started and it not even 2010.

Who running for office as they have my vote than the clowns we have.

Which developments are you referring to?

 

[ElevaTOr]

Where suburban meets urban: front and rear views from a fully detached home in a quiet cul de sac RIGHT at the perimeter of the Mississauga City Center (5 minute walk to the Square One south entrance and nearby City Hall, Celebration Square,, Central Library, Living Arts Center, Kariya Park, etc, etc).

 

[ElevaTOr]

re: Why the Hate for Mississauga? Thread
@mods, Is there another Mississauga thread? Just noticed this thread has not been used in years so maybe there is now less hate for Mississauga’s attempt at urbanism? LOL

 

[Towered]

Nah, I still hate it.

 

[T3G]

Nah, I still hate it.

In fairness, there is nothing especially special about Mississauga, of all places. I'd say it has the edge over Brampton, or Milton, or York Region, just purely by virtue of having a shoreline.

But yeah, no, it sucks.

 

[Dan416]

People seem to love Dubai but it’s even more artificial than Mississauga.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I grew up in Mississauga, Meadowvale to be specific at Winston Churchill and Derry Road. We lived there from our arrival from the UK in the 1970s until we moved to Toronto's Beach(es) in the late 1980s. Having now lived in Cabbagetown for 25 years and having traveled around much of suburbia for work, I find myself asking why downtown-like density wasn't used in early suburbs like my 1970s Mississauga and those sprawling burbs that followed.

Here in Cabbagetown I have dedicated on-property parking, five bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a finished basement rec/tv room, separate family/reception and dining rooms, a useable backyard with patio, garden, BBQ, etc. all on a lot that's about 18.5 x 110 ft. The street out front has sidewalks on both sides, is narrow to encourage traffic to stay within the 30 kph posted limited, yet wide enough for on-street parking on one side, a dedicated bike lane on the other side and sufficient space for vehicular traffic, including the largest fire trucks to use.

When I visit suburbia, including Mississauga, I see the polar opposites, including needlessly wide roads that encourage speeding, often without any sidewalks, and wastefully wide lots. Beyond a huge lawn to mow, there's nothing that the suburban house on its sprawling lot offers that mine does not. You could put ten of my houses where there are three or four in suburbia. And that's why I detest Hazel and the planners of the 1970s.... they had model communities like mine, demonstrating efficient land and smart density that they could have modeled Mississauga on. And the developers would have gone along, since they could sell ten houses instead of three on narrow streets with homes more packed in, making best use of space and infrastructure.

Why build this...

If you can build this? And who would want the above when you can have the below?

Yes, in Mississauga you can often park four or even six cars on your property, whereas in downtown Toronto your lucky to park one. But this is only necessary because every adult in the house needs a car because Mississauga does not have the density to support good public transit.

 

[sixrings]

I grew up in Mississauga, Meadowvale to be specific at Winston Churchill and Derry Road. We lived there from our arrival from the UK in the 1970s until we moved to Toronto's Beach(es) in the late 1980s. Having now lived in Cabbagetown for 25 years and having traveled around much of suburbia for work, I find myself asking why downtown-like density wasn't used in early suburbs like my 1970s Mississauga and those sprawling burbs that followed.

Here in Cabbagetown I have dedicated on-property parking, five bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a finished basement rec/tv room, separate family/reception and dining rooms, a useable backyard with patio, garden, BBQ, etc. all on a lot that's about 18.5 x 110 ft. The street out front has sidewalks on both sides, is narrow to encourage traffic to stay within the 30 kph posted limited, yet wide enough for on-street parking on one side, a dedicated bike lane on the other side and sufficient space for vehicular traffic, including the largest fire trucks to use.

When I visit suburbia, including Mississauga, I see the polar opposites, including needlessly wide roads that encourage speeding, often without any sidewalks, and wastefully wide lots. Beyond a huge lawn to mow, there's nothing that the suburban house on its sprawling lot offers that mine does not. You could put ten of my houses where there are three or four in suburbia. And that's why I detest Hazel and the planners of the 1970s.... they had model communities like mine, demonstrating efficient land and smart density that they could have modeled Mississauga on. And the developers would have gone along, since they could sell ten houses instead of three on narrow streets with homes more packed in, making best use of space and infrastructure.

Why build this...

If you can build this? And who would want the above when you can have the below?

Yes, in Mississauga you can often park four or even six cars on your property, whereas in downtown Toronto your lucky to park one. But this is only necessary because every adult in the house needs a car because Mississauga does not have the density to support good public transit.

They didn’t build houses like yours after the 1940s even in Toronto, even with your model example even closer by.

You should amend your mayoral hate list to include Allen Lamport to Mel Lastman. Things got better with David Miller. But that’s 1952-2003 or 51 years of Toronto building which was not much better than what you hate about Mississauga.

There was a time and stick with me that people were actively leaving the city. Places like cabbage town were not hip. You can still see patches of danforth, with similar style houses, which are neglected from people with money leaving. Then people came back and they are hip again and affluent again. But that is very recent. It’s revisionist history to act like people would have flocked to buying 20 foot lots in the 70s. They wouldn’t have. They were trying to live the leave it to beaver life with the detached house and white picket fence. Now on the other hand post friends, Seinfeld, Frasier you can sell a shoebox condo because it’s cool to be downtown.

I’d also like to point out that there was plenty of people who grew up in areas like yours or denser and when they moved to Canada moved to live a different lifestyle. I remember sitting in Vaughan with a whole bunch of Italians watching the movie “little Italy” which is set in torontos little Italy. The thing is those people have nice memories of places like that but they don’t choose to live there. Or how Markham has become a huge destination for Chinese immigrants. Many of these people came to Canada specifically so that they could live a different lifestyle then they were in china where they were confined to smaller square feet.

Ultimately developers are going to propose what they know will sell. And politicians will let whatever pass which allows them to be re-elected. So really your problem isn’t with any one mayor here or there but a culture of wanting more. More square footage. More back yard. More personal space. More bang for your buck. more Environmental waste.

I will say things are not perfect anywhere but here is just a few things I have experienced in my life. I once lived in a downtown condo where someone there totally disregarded anyone else’s care when it came to noise. The by law officers would come issue the fine and he would happily pay it. Every single unit on his floor would eventually sell and then the new people eventually sold. All within 6 years of living there. It was completely crazy. But the Aston Martin driver could pay a fine every day and he didn’t care.

I also had a friend who had the most beautiful row house. One day they suddenly moved to a detached house. Finally I asked why they moved. I wasn’t trying to insult their new area but the old area was so nice. Then the truth came out. The neighbour.

Finally we moved into a semi. The person who we moved in wrote about all the people in the neighbourhood. This is the heating man. This person can help with roofing. This person has a kid who will babysit. Curiously they didn’t mention the neighbour. Well shortly after we found out why. 10 years later we moved out. A year after that we got a text from the new owners that they wanted to talk. Yes we knew the neighbours were crazy we were hoping they would be better with you. A year later they were contemplating moving.

Now my parents have a place downtown in a different city. A detached house. The neighbour is a disaster. But I promise you not sharing a wall makes life a whole lot easier.


Anyways, The good news is the suburbs are building all sorts of townhouses, stacked towns, and condos. It all isn’t just single detached housing. And they are even building some LRTs. So maybe not everyone will have to drive.

btw I moved to the suburbs to be walking distance from my in laws. But what I love is that there is 10 tennis courts within walking distance of my house. I can walk to the GO station. To MCC. There’s a super small art gallery. A renovated central library. A city square (celebration square), living arts centre for my kids dance classes but also for smaller concerts. A movie theatre (Ottawa doesn’t have a downtown movie theatre so it isnt a given). All walking distance. And I can yes live in a detached house. It’s not Toronto but I am not crying about it either.