Downtown London, Ontario

[ssiguy2]

I agree that in smaller cities due to their smaller downtowns, the homeless and drug addicts seem more noticeable.

Part of the issue I think is also that people don't "expect" to see them in smaller cities so they notice them more. This is particularly true in city's like London with it's leafy, old wealth reputation. Victoria, even though smaller than London, is MUCH worse and seems shocking because you don't expect to see it in pristine Victoria. This as opposed to Vancouver where you can't move for the homeless and drug addicts but because the city has a reputation for it, it doesn't shock and often isn't even noticed.

It's the same inside all cities. If there are homeless in St.James or Regent Park, they are barely noticed but if they were to all of a sudden move to Rosedale or High Park, it would horrify the citizens.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if per capita homelessness and drug issues are larger in Ontario's mid size cities, especially recently. Toronto's skyrocketing real estate has pushed a lot of very low income people out of the city into the rest of the province to find housing.

Hamilton's City Hall is awesome - possibly my favourite in the province. Toronto has potential but it's overdue for a bit of money to spruce it up, and it's office floors are so narrow they border on non-functional. Hamilton's is recently renovated and is filled with nice finishes and high quality office space.

 

[ssiguy2]

I think that is true in term of Toronto's rental and real estate prices "pushing" low income people out of the area.

The poor and marginalised need to find more affordable accommodation yet still need the social, health, education, transit, and job opportunities that only the larger centres can provide and London fits that bill. Conversely, Toronto's high real estate prices and crushing traffic are good part of the reason that London was the 2nd fastest growing metro in the country last year. Unlike Toronto, relatively little was due to immigration but rather Torontonians fleeing the city for a more affordable and relaxed lifestyle of both the young who don't see a future in Toronto and the older who want to cash-out.

 

[Towered]

I haven't been in downtown London for several years but back then, during the day it was a typical downtown but after hours it was pretty grim. Glad to hear it has had some degree of turnaround.

Drugs and homelessness are a nationwide problem. I think part of the reason it is so noticeable in smaller towns and cities is their downtowns are so much smaller; often one or perhaps two streets them directly into residential. Toronto's downtown is obviously so much bigger and there are multiple pockets where people congregate.

I found Brantford to be particularly dire upon visiting it a few months back. Now there's a hurting mid-sized city.

 

[ericmacm]

I think that is true in term of Toronto's rental and real estate prices "pushing" low income people out of the area.

The poor and marginalised need to find more affordable accommodation yet still need the social, health, education, transit, and job opportunities that only the larger centres can provide and London fits that bill. Conversely, Toronto's high real estate prices and crushing traffic are good part of the reason that London was the 2nd fastest growing metro in the country last year. Unlike Toronto, relatively little was due to immigration but rather Torontonians fleeing the city for a more affordable and relaxed lifestyle of both the young who don't see a future in Toronto and the older who want to cash-out.

A lot of young people don't really see a future in Toronto, myself included. How is a new entrant to the job market supposed to be able to save up and purchase a home with an adequate down payment when average home prices are going up by ~$100,000 each year? Like London, most of Southwestern Ontario is growing for that exact reason. It's getting really hard to justify living in a $1700/mo+ tiny apartment or an overleveraged house in the GTA for a job that is a 1 hour commute away, which only pays marginally more than what the equivalent job in London or Windsor would, where the cost of living is much less expensive. The big downside is that it sometimes takes longer for young people to start their careers in some disciplines, but the lower cost of living and ease of entry into the housing market can easily justify this.

 

[ssiguy2]

Ya, Brantford's downtown is a wasteland.

While it may not seem like a fair analogy as London has quadruple Brantford's population, the difference with Brantford is that it is completely self-inflicted. 40 years ago Brantford say it's downtown go south very fast, they, unlike London, decided that there was nothing they could do and just let it rot into the dumpo you see today. The nail on the coffin was when they tore down 2 full blocks of derelict but historical old buildings downtown which will go down as one of the worse urban planning decisions in Canadian history.

It's a real shame because Brantford is an older city and had a lot of historic buildings in it's old core.

 

[ssiguy2]

PLEASE read my recent note on Yonge Street Renewal thread about a huge mistake London is about to make and how to correct it.

 

[syn]

Hamilton's planner Jason Thorne recently trekked over to London, ON and took some pics of their new streetscape, in Dundas Place.

Pretty impressive.

View attachment 267582

View attachment 267583

Note the retractable Bollards, below:

View attachment 267584

Twitter thread:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1297963984692424706

Wow, that's beautiful.

Downtown London seems to be on the upswing - hard to see it ending anytime soon (even with the pandemic).

London is continually becoming a more desirable location for those tired of Toronto or Toronto prices.

 

[Towered]

Wow, that's beautiful.

Downtown London seems to be on the upswing - hard to see it ending anytime soon (even with the pandemic).

London is continually becoming a more desirable location for those tired of Toronto or Toronto prices.

I have friends who have moved to, (or at least strongly considered moving to) London to escape Toronto. I'm somewhat tempted myself, but I'm stuck here.

 

[ssiguy2]

To see the entire strip and what they have done go to www.dundasplace.ca

 

[picard102]

It looks good, but I remain doubtful it will fix the seedyness of the area and the lack of retail destinations.

 

[Northern Light]

It looks good, but I remain doubtful it will fix the seedyness of the area and the lack of retail destinations.

I always find your optimism refreshing.

London's downtown has significant residential construction ongoing and more in the pipeline.

Retail will arrive to serve the customer base.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

It looks good, but I remain doubtful it will fix the seedyness of the area and the lack of retail destinations.

I imagine that this takes time to fix, but the intervention on the public realm will help aid the pace of change.

Unfortunately with COVID, I doubt there are many businesses starting up to fill the void of new retail and entertainment destinations for the time being.

 

[Irishmonk]

Downtown London--taken a couple weeks ago.

 

[Towered]

Downtown London--taken a couple weeks ago.View attachment 280896View attachment 280897

That tower looks exactly like one of the ones at Humber Bay Shores - same developer?