Toronto/Chicago comparisons

[ShonTron]

One thing i love about Chicago is they have lots of hotels to choose from for all budgets. I have been to Chicago many times for business, conventions, and for vacations. You don't have to break the bank to stay in the downtown. Toronto has lost a lot of mid level hotel rooms, forcing my friends who visit and business clients stay outside the downtown. Not everyone can afford 4 or 5 star hotel that goes for $300 to 600 a night room for a week or two. Even NYC has added a huge number of budget friendly hotels over the past few years.


Less room at the inn for Toronto conventions: Report

Booming downtown development is threatening the future of the city’s thriving convention business as mid-priced hotels are converted to condos and others are rebranded and renovated to justify higher nightly rates.

https://www.thestar.com/business/2018/07/17/less-room-at-the-inn-for-toronto-conventions-report.html

Hotel-to-condo developments are threatening Toronto’s convention business: report

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...lopments-are-threatening-torontos-convention/

Montreal too! Even on Civic Holiday weekend (with the womens' tennis matches and the Osheaga music festival going on) I was able to find a hotel room for less than $200/night, in Griffintown.

And unless you're going to New York during a major convention or around the Christmas holidays, hotels can often be surprisingly inexpensive because of the huge capacity and good mix of hotel room classes. There are also hotel clusters just outside Manhattan, like in Long Island City, that are easily accessible to everything by subway. Toronto doesn't really have any alternative hotel clusters like that. The airport is too far and UP Express too expensive to qualify. Chicago does have the Midway Airport hotel cluster which is a bit more convenient with the L service.

 

[TheKingEast]

I am beginning to think that we have surpassed Chicago, we just don't realize it yet.

Toronto is happening right now. The city is attracting lots of people and jobs on a scale that is basically incomparable to other cities in North America.

Architecturally though, Toronto will remain second rate.

I guess it depends how you look at it. Toronto is happening in terms of growth. Yea, it's the IT city here. I just don't find it all that exciting. Perhaps it has to do with not being from here, but I just don't quite get the hype. From an architectural standpoint, infrastructure, big city feel, public realm I feel Chicago is superior. Just in that regard.

I didn't see anything wrong with Chicago's transit system. I took the train a few times from DT out to the suburbs. Liked the simplicity of it and how far you could go. It goes out to both airports I believe. Found the actual sizes of the trains to be on the smaller side but that seems to be normal with the US. New York City's cars are on the smaller side too.

People may be moving out but Chicago's building...a lot. They are in the midst of a massive building boom. Everywhere I looked there was a building getting built. Plus what they have in the hopper looks quite impressive.

Toronto is just blah. Plenty of guests have said this to me and I agree. We could take some tips from Chicago.

 

[Northern Light]

I didn't see anything wrong with Chicago's transit system.

Much is open to personal taste, but this one is a bit hard to swallow. The quality, safety, frequency and pleasantness of Chicago's system are all poor compared with Toronto.

The TTC needs to improve in a host of areas, only Montreal has a system that can even be mentioned in the same breath.

New York has more size and 24-hour service, but frequency is worse, bus service is worse, delays are ubiquitous and the stations are (mostly) rough.

Toronto is just blah. Plenty of guests have said this to me and I agree. We could take some tips from Chicago.

[/quote]

Again, conceding off the top that personal preference plays a role; I can't say this is my sentiment nor that of guests I've had in the City.

Now, if we're narrowing the discussion to signature parks and public realm on the best streets, this is a fairer discussion.

But writ large, I think Toronto has better nightlife, a better restaurant scene, a better music scene, far more parks and public spaces.

But we are making progress on the public realm side, even if we have a long way to go.

Architecture of the past.....Chicago has far more early 20thC quality offices and store fronts. Not much we can do about that, it was a bigger city sooner.

In recent contemporary I don't think we hold up so badly; though the sheer volume of banal condos may overwhelm some of the better works.

 

[gabe]

Montreal too! Even on Civic Holiday weekend (with the womens' tennis matches and the Osheaga music festival going on) I was able to find a hotel room for less than $200/night, in Griffintown.

And unless you're going to New York during a major convention or around the Christmas holidays, hotels can often be surprisingly inexpensive because of the huge capacity and good mix of hotel room classes. There are also hotel clusters just outside Manhattan, like in Long Island City, that are easily accessible to everything by subway. Toronto doesn't really have any alternative hotel clusters like that. The airport is too far and UP Express too expensive to qualify. Chicago does have the Midway Airport hotel cluster which is a bit more convenient with the L service.

Both Montreal and NYC have a fantastic selection of small boutique hotels. I prefer unique boutique hotels to the large generic chains, they offer a more authentic local experience. The boutique hotel trend never really caught on in Toronto or even Chicago.

 

[Skeezix]

Both Montreal and NYC have a fantastic selection of small boutique hotels. I prefer unique boutique hotels to the large generic chains, they offer a more authentic local experience. The boutique hotel trend never really caught on in Toronto or even Chicago.

You lie. Toronto has some wonderful boutique hotels.

 

[TheKingEast]

Much is open to personal taste, but this one is a bit hard to swallow. The quality, safety, frequency and pleasantness of Chicago's system are all poor compared with Toronto.

The TTC needs to improve in a host of areas, only Montreal has a system that can even be mentioned in the same breath.

New York has more size and 24-hour service, but frequency is worse, bus service is worse, delays are ubiquitous and the stations are (mostly) rough.




Again, conceding off the top that personal preference plays a role; I can't say this is my sentiment nor that of guests I've had in the City.

Now, if we're narrowing the discussion to signature parks and public realm on the best streets, this is a fairer discussion.

But writ large, I think Toronto has better nightlife, a better restaurant scene, a better music scene, far more parks and public spaces.

But we are making progress on the public realm side, even if we have a long way to go.

Architecture of the past.....Chicago has far more early 20thC quality offices and store fronts. Not much we can do about that, it was a bigger city sooner.

In recent contemporary I don't think we hold up so badly; though the sheer volume of banal condos may overwhelm some of the better works.

We have nothing on par with Millenium Park. They have several top notch art galleries, Field Museum, etc. Navy Pier, the Planetarium. Food actually tasted better in Chicago but I won't argue about who has better restaurants. Toronto probably wins there but I'm not even a fan of the restaurants here either. Nightlife? No idea. Music scene? Not a clue.

But Toronto's parks and public spaces look terrible. Even downtown they look neglected.

Look, Toronto is a nice city but there is a lot that needs to be worked on. How could you tout our parks and public realm? I mean, being honest here Toronto isn't that great in those categories.

I noticed no difference between TTC here and over there. My commute to and from work absolutely sucks. Chicago's system runs into both airports. Can't say the same for Toronto. On top of that fair is cheaper.

It's all up to personal preferrence. You prefer Toronto, I prefer Chicago. Hell, I prefer Montreal to Toronto and there are plenty here that would disagree with me.

 

[TonyV]

Reading this stuff is so depressing but I'll have my say. Toronto lacks something : engaged and interested civic leaders, and that's just for starters. How often do elected folks carry on about a grand vision or a spiffy new intersection that they want to create, or a new vista, or ... heavens ... a completion of the NPS project? Nope. Instead the leaders count beans and do cost justifications and "let's see if we can stick some parking there" stuff, like the barf-a-rama that is YDS. And I'm just starting. We have what I consider a shit mayor ... has the ever gotten carried away with some sort of wistful public-realm improvement project? His idea of a public realm improvement is to keep the eastern Gardiner Expressway. That's our Tory.

And Yonge. Yuck. Why does it take so long to get another tree-lined promenade, where such a thing belongs. Some of you may get excited because the odd supertall is planned on Yonge, but hell, I'd rather see a place that will attract pedestrians, not repel them.

I'm becoming quite sour on this town of late. With massive investment from big developers, the city exacts not enough in return. Oh, I'll change if I see someone push the public realm issue, but I see a promise squandered -- year 2000 was a hopeful time but the leaders have endorsed blandness instead of boldness, in most cases. I'm looking to see a change of the guard. The young in this town are so much better than the oldies, ftmp.

 

[TheKingEast]

This Apple Store was pretty cool

They have a plethora of museums, one of which ranked 2nd or 3rd best in the world. But yea, Toronto has surpassed Chicago

Didn't see a single power line pole downtown either.

They have Millenium Park

We have Dundas Square

Their public realm surpasses ours. Tree lined streets, flowers planted everywhere.

Their public art is superior:

Yet Toronto is so far ahead? How? Where? Everything we seem to do is low budget. What do we have here that is somewhat interesting? Distillery District? Maybe the CN Tower? What else? Need to start thinking and acting like a world class city IMO. Smaller cities are killing us on the interest scale.

 

[Northern Light]

This Apple Store was pretty cool

They have a plethora of museums, one of which ranked 2nd or 3rd best in the world. But yea, Toronto has surpassed Chicago

Didn't see a single power line pole downtown either.

They have Millenium Park

We have Dundas Square

Their public realm surpasses ours. Tree lined streets, flowers planted everywhere.

Their public art is superior:

Yet Toronto is so far ahead? How? Where? Everything we seem to do is low budget. What do we have here that is somewhat interesting? Distillery District? Maybe the CN Tower? What else? Need to start thinking and acting like a world class city IMO. Smaller cities are killing us on the interest scale.

I actually didn't want to take this up further w/you, as I respect differences in personal preference and I acknowledged where I think Chicago has a natural advantage. But your choice of photos compels a rebuttal.

You show a median w/some flowers........have you contrasted that w/University Avenue? Seriously, statuary, fountains, uplighting, massive floral displays...

Its aging, in some spots not gracefully, but when compared w/the example you showed I University Avenue would win every day and twice on Sunday.

The new Bloor Street (now with living trees) would also compare favourably.

The notion that a giant Bean is somehow terribly exciting is a bit much.

Btw, no power lines on Bloor. or Yonge, or University Avenue.

That doesn't excuse that they are too present in Toronto, but we should portray that they are universal either.

When it comes to public spaces, I'm rather keen on Yorkville Park; on the Music Garden and despite the shortcomings, Berczy Park.

I think there is a tendency to underplay Toronto's successes and overplay its failures.

I don't mind that generally, as I don't value smugness. LOL

But...still.

 

[TheKingEast]

Are you really posting tiny parkettes? That's your rebuttal to Millenium Park?

Michigan Ave > University. Much better walk.

There's really no point continuing. We are not going to agree. I think I could put up anything and you'd disagree with it.

 

[old boy]

I guess it depends how you look at it. Toronto is happening in terms of growth. Yea, it's the IT city here. I just don't find it all that exciting. Perhaps it has to do with not being from here, but I just don't quite get the hype. From an architectural standpoint, infrastructure, big city feel, public realm I feel Chicago is superior. Just in that regard.

I didn't see anything wrong with Chicago's transit system. I took the train a few times from DT out to the suburbs. Liked the simplicity of it and how far you could go. It goes out to both airports I believe. Found the actual sizes of the trains to be on the smaller side but that seems to be normal with the US. New York City's cars are on the smaller side too.

People may be moving out but Chicago's building...a lot. They are in the midst of a massive building boom. Everywhere I looked there was a building getting built. Plus what they have in the hopper looks quite impressive.

Toronto is just blah. Plenty of guests have said this to me and I agree. We could take some tips from Chicago.

I think the quote, " not being from here ", sums up some of the lack of enthusisam for this city. We've heard it all before. Maybe those of us born here feel a little sheepish extolling anything really positive about Toronto for fear of bringing on more knee-jerk criticism. Or afterall, maybe we're just plain bored with it.

 

[TheKingEast]

I think the quote, " not being from here ", sums up some of the lack of enthusisam for this city. We've heard it all before. Maybe those of us born here feel a little sheepish extolling anything really positive about Toronto for fear of bringing on more knee-jerk criticism. Or afterall, maybe we're just plain bored with it.

I’d say being from somewhere else gives a more objective look at things. I didn’t say Toronto is a bad city but it is certainly hyped and it usually comes from born and bread Torontomians. We still have groups of people who take offence to criticisms of the abundance of grey towers in the city like their grandma was insulted.

 

[Northern Light]

Are you really posting tiny parkettes? That's your rebuttal to Millenium Park?

Michigan Ave > University. Much better walk.

There's really no point continuing. We are not going to agree. I think I could put up anything and you'd disagree with it.

I don't think your being fair. I haven't said anything extreme, in either an anti-Chicago or pro-Toronto way.

I was expressly tackling what I perceived to be an extreme tilt in your post. The idea that somehow Toronto had no quality outdoor spaces or no streets lined w/flowers.

There was no direct comparison to Millenium Park, you had many other photos in there.

I have conceded that Chicago has a great deal more interesting early 20th century architecture, for which I have a great fondness.

There is also little doubt Toronto can and should do better in its public realm, though I offer that it is improving considerably with more many more large projects to come.

I just thought your post verged on Toronto bashing and really doesn't accurately describe the state of the city; its also very much Chicago w/rose-coloured glasses. (we really do disagree on transit, and if you visit the south or west sides, you'll see a level of poverty and neglect that thus far has not and I hope never would be tolerated here.

I simply sought to bring balance.

 

[TonyV]

At this time in our history, the position of mayor here is still regarded as small political potatoes. I'd like to see that change. A national figure with some dreams -- that idea appeals.to.me.

Chicago has Rahm Emanuel. We have John Tory, the guy who hates dreamers.

 

[Filip]

Torontonians have a superiority complex that makes me giggle.

Travel a bit.. You'll notice this city is a bit of an aesthetic dump... It's still a great place to live though, which is why I'm (still) here.