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John Barber: A city in decline?

Not really worth responding to point-by-point. He does have one or two points, admittedly, but nobody ever said Toronto was perfect. To respond to just one of his points, if it's so bad, how is it that the population continues to expand; and no it's not just brown-skinned and illiterate immigrants who apparently don't know any better. A good chunk of the GTA's growth is inward migration from within Canada, not to mention U.S. and "advanced" countries in Europe etc.

I'll just comment specifically on one point: Calgary. It's a pet peeve of mine, and it actually is a fault I see in Toronto, how many people in this town cry that the sky is falling in here, because ... well ... Calgary (or some other city) is expanding. Imperial Oil? Given the business they are in, it makes business sense for them to locate key people close to the centre of a lot of their activity, their suppliers, and their peers. How is this a sign of Toronto's "decline"? And BTW the company still has a significant number of people in Toronto. Not everyone moved to Calgary.

I don't worship at the altar of all things American, but one thing the Americans seem to get right: they don't have nearly the amount of petty inter-regional or inter-city rivalries that some people in Canada seem to absolutely thrive on. They seem to understand in the U.S. that prosperity in one region strengthens the country and eventually benefits everyone. In my experience dealing with many Americans, they really do seem to think of themselves as Americans first. I really wish that some people in Toronto would take a lesson from that, and stop whining because another city, that still has only a fraction of Toronto's size and influence, has recently had a healthy growth rate. Small-minded and short-sighted, or what?? (Might be a reason why some out west say they don't much like us)
 
But I hardly ever see "Calgary sucks because it's outpacing Toronto" attitudes like you describe. It's almost always "Toronto sucks and Calgary's showing us how it's done".

In other words, people seem to be saying that our loss is their gain, not that their gain is our loss (if you get what I mean).

Pretty rivalries ALWAYS seem to work with the smaller entity insulting the larger, and the larger not caring or most likely not even noticing. Calgary vs Toronto, Alberta vs Ontario/Quebec, Canada vs USA, Humberview vs Mayfield...
 
I've pretty much stopped reading *any* columnist in this city. The disconnect between what they (and most of the media in this city) write and what I experience and know is becoming so vast that they might as well be writing fiction. I haven't watched local TV news in six months, and I'll only read regular news items on the web. In between this site, SSP/SSC and a few blogs, I have no need for any of the local media outlets in this city and their peanut-brained hacks.

edit: simplydan, your "friend", no offense, is a ****ing moron.
 
^ ditto. Or perhaps a racist moron who should take the TTC if he's in such a hurry.
 
As a rule of thumb, I tune most articles out after the words "socialist teat"
 
"I'll just comment specifically on one point: Calgary. It's a pet peeve of mine, and it actually is a fault I see in Toronto, how many people in this town cry that the sky is falling in here, because ... well ... Calgary (or some other city) is expanding."

'Hogtown' grew at the expense of Montreal, relatively fast and within relatively recent history no less. Most people know this, indeed remember this, and understand that things change. I see this as pragmatic caution rather than alarmist irrationality, no matter how peevish it may feel.
 
3D: Rich people don't take the TTC, silly!

Besides, I figured it would be interesting to see what an ordinary investent banker would think of the G&M article - a highly-educated white-collar Torontonian living downtown with no attachement to Urban Toronto or any forum whatsoever. I know many more living in this great city share his views.
 
Aww... I shouldn't have said he's my friend - he's an old Queen's commerce buddy of my brother who happened to read the article is all. I'm now beginning to think I shouldn't have posted anyting in this thread at all - too much controversy!
 
“ If you think Toronto isn't in decline, you're in denial.â€

Decline- why do you think it is in decline. As one of NA’s fastest growing cities it has some issues to resolve but it is hardly in decline. TO is forging new paths in NA when it comes to international immigration. Sad that you're not up to the challenge.

“I have to tell you how safe I felt walking home from work last night to the sound of gun fire at Yonge and Dundas. Ah, yes... Toronto: the nicest American city I've ever lived in.â€

-I’ve lived and worked in Toronto for 7 years and have never seen or heard gunfire. Statistically, Toronto is still very much safer than any American city of similar size, and per capita certainly some much smaller Canadian ones.

“Have you been to the Wal-Mart at the Scarborough Town Centre on a Saturday (this covers his other line about a "wasteland")? Here's how that looks: your white face among a sea of others with some serious pigmentation who don't speak English.â€

-For this statement- you’re an idiot ..period. Multiculturalsim a challenge to be sure. Toronto is taking on the challenge more than any other city in north america. I'm proud of that fact and will do my best to create a solution. We're pioneers in this area."

“My buddy, who drives a 2006 Porsche, was nearly in tears last night as he described the 30 minute-plus drive (read: crawl) from Yonge and Dundas to his condo at Yonge and St. Clair last night.â€

-My heart bleeds- his porche must have been labouring. If he took the subway it would have taken him 15 mins. But perhaps he didn’t want to sit on a train with people with ‘serious pigmentation’. Solution: park your F* porche- downtown TO is ALL about public transit. That is the future of Toronto transit. Like London and Paris- the city will rely on the subway and rail. Calgary and LA, dallas, houston, miami etc... are infants in this department. TO has challenges to be sure- but we are still far ahead of most large American cities.

“Ugly people. No style. A city that is a total vacuum for anything even remotely world-class when it comes to fashion and design.â€

-Lets see a photo and see how YOU rank. Toronto is the third largets centre in NA for culture and talent. The TIFF festival (the world's largest) is just one part of Toronto's culture. Calgary and other canadian cities are a sneeze in this department. Toronto is the centre for Canadian style and culture. It's pitiful you don't recognize and support this.

“Unless, of course, you count all of these panicked attempts at building something that will bring tourists to the city.â€

- You mean the ROM, AGO, Four Seasons, OCAD among others- yeh Toronto is in a panic to be sure :lol There is no city in Canada that supports Canadian culture more than Toronto. Unless of course you for some reason think that Canadian culture is inferior or less significant.

5) The Island Airport
"We've already established the author knows nothing about business, so this doesn't even merit discussion."

It’s proven to be not viable for decades- it merits considerable discussion. Did I mention- you're an idiot.
 
It may be, but your friend doesn't do himself well with a rant of a response to an intelligent column. There are so many ways of rebutting it, it's hardly worth the bother, but here's one: I remembered seeing a list of the richest ridings in the country. Ridings are interesting in this regard because they all contain about the same number of people. Of the 10 richest riding, 10 are in the GTA. No. 11 is in Ottawa, No. 12 is in Vancouver, No. 13 is in the GTA, and No. 14 is in Calgary.

I wish Calgary well and of course taxes are somewhat lower there, but they still have a lot of catching up to do with regards to Toronto.
 
Your ordinary, highly-educated investment banker and the many more who share his views are lucky to have you as a friend in their time of extreme need.
 
Affirmative, we're in a flat spin headed out to sea. Have you been to the Wal-Mart at the Scarborough Town Centre on a Saturday (this covers his other line about a "wasteland") ? Here's how that looks: your white face among a sea of others with some serious pigmentation who don't speak English. It is a fact. I defy anyone to say otherwise. Why is this troubling? Because, literally, something on the order of 50% of new Canadian immigrants come to Toronto. They're part of the more than 100,000 new residents who come to the city each year. The double-whammy is that these folks, for the most part, do nothing to maintain or raise the standard of living for the rest of us.
Click to expand...

Not reading the rest of the article, I get the feel the individual is a racist prick. I see a bright future at the Hertiage Front for him.

AoD
 
"Not reading the rest of the article, I get the feel the individual is a racist prick."

He is a racist prick with only one goal. You're flipped fried and done asshole- time to move to Miami Beach.

Meanwhile-there are serious world cities that require real world solutions for their populations.
 
Well said Bog. Hopefully Dan will forward your post to the enlightened fellow. He could read it while he gets his morning shoe shine.
 
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