Hipster Duck
Senior Member
Olive is off his rocker, but I don't think we should dismiss the increasingly frustrated tone that newspaper columnists are taking about Toronto. I've noticed a marked increase in articles like these and it's probably no accident. While one can't really say that Toronto is on the decline, I get a sense, despite all the construction cranes and new cultural developments, that there is a malaise in town that seems much more insidious and long-term than even the lean Mike Harris years (that's when it was a relatively new phenomenon to us, now I think we're resigned to it). A prof I spoke with who researches Toronto geography and cultural patterns recently mentioned to me that the best years for Toronto are probably behind us. I wondered aloud whether we were in any worse shape today than in, say, 2001 when we had to contend with broken cultural institutions, a ragged TTC, a homeless epidemic, the Tories in Queen's Park and the embarassment of Mel Lastman. He conceded that while there was a governance crisis, Toronto didn't have the kind of political and private sector inertia that seems to afflict the city today. If we were again confronted with the kind of problems that stared us down in 2001, it is unlikely we would get off our duff and have the kind of brief, cultural and civic rennaisance we enjoyed during the middle point of this decade.
Say what you want about the horrendous position Detroit faces right now. If you were wracked by segregation, arcane US governance and tax structures and the near total evaporation of your economy, planting urban farms and letting private investors fund your waterfront redevelopment is pretty heady stuff. It's not inertia. If they wanted bike lanes, a decent public realm and a coordinated regional transit plan, I'm sure they would know how to get it.
Say what you want about the horrendous position Detroit faces right now. If you were wracked by segregation, arcane US governance and tax structures and the near total evaporation of your economy, planting urban farms and letting private investors fund your waterfront redevelopment is pretty heady stuff. It's not inertia. If they wanted bike lanes, a decent public realm and a coordinated regional transit plan, I'm sure they would know how to get it.