N
nassauone
Guest
I wish more people would see it that way!
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I wish more people would see it that way!
S
shawnmicallef
Guest
I wouldn't live anywhere else but downtown Toronto either. Chuck, there are a million things to pay attention to in the city, but it will suck if you focus on 14 bad things. If you move to a small town, or suburbia, or the moon, you will be able to find 14 bad things you could focus on so much that you'll start to think they are reality and keep you from enjoying the rest.
We had Zanta come into our mobile recording studio last month when we were parked at the CBC. Suzana interviewed him, alone in the trailer -- he talked calmly for about 30 minutes. I'm not sure i dig the agressive performance (in the same way i'm leary of some sport celebrations around town), but he certainly gives people something to see when they come to the city -- and probably does a lot in not letting people down on their expectations from a world class city.
There is no Zanta in Cornwall.
We had Zanta come into our mobile recording studio last month when we were parked at the CBC. Suzana interviewed him, alone in the trailer -- he talked calmly for about 30 minutes. I'm not sure i dig the agressive performance (in the same way i'm leary of some sport celebrations around town), but he certainly gives people something to see when they come to the city -- and probably does a lot in not letting people down on their expectations from a world class city.
There is no Zanta in Cornwall.
E
EnviroTO
Guest
Living in London Ontario I had 8 bikes stolen (3 in daylight all locked and one of which was stolen in the 20 minutes I went into a hospital to visit someone), there are crazy people on Dundas, our neighbour had his convertibles roof slashed multiple times, etc. Every place has its problems.
I hope someone did something about the sexual assault.
A lot of the stink Toronto has downtown has to do with the old sewer system I think. There are some streets where the smell comes up from the sewers all the time. Hopefully there are plans in place to do something about that. Spadina is crowded in Chinatown but not very crowded elsewhere... presumably if you are walking in Chinatown there is a reason to be there and moving to midtown won't change the fact that Chinatown is still on Spadina and is still crowded. I live downtown and still find it easy to avoid the crowds because one block from most places with a crowd is a street that is much quieter.
I hope someone did something about the sexual assault.
A lot of the stink Toronto has downtown has to do with the old sewer system I think. There are some streets where the smell comes up from the sewers all the time. Hopefully there are plans in place to do something about that. Spadina is crowded in Chinatown but not very crowded elsewhere... presumably if you are walking in Chinatown there is a reason to be there and moving to midtown won't change the fact that Chinatown is still on Spadina and is still crowded. I live downtown and still find it easy to avoid the crowds because one block from most places with a crowd is a street that is much quieter.
T
TdotTrickyRicky
Guest
I assume this discussion focuses on downtown as defined by Spadina, Bloor, Jarvis and the Lake in which case I have never really lived downtown. Living in the west end (Bathurst to Dufferin) for the last 7 years I can't contemplate living any further out from the core in Toronto.
My experience doesn't align with the general notion that crime is increasing either since the last decade in the west end has been characterized by decreasing street crime year after year. While the cleanliness of the area's public realm degraded a few years ago I would say it is back to at least the same or better then I have ever seen it. The condition of private property both commercial and residential has also been improving rapidly.
My experience doesn't align with the general notion that crime is increasing either since the last decade in the west end has been characterized by decreasing street crime year after year. While the cleanliness of the area's public realm degraded a few years ago I would say it is back to at least the same or better then I have ever seen it. The condition of private property both commercial and residential has also been improving rapidly.
F
fiendishlibrarian
Guest
*warning, classic fiendish long-winded rant ahead*
I'm beginning to be let down by Willowdale too. It sounds strange to say this, but Willowdale, at least my-soon-to-be-former part of it, needs to gentrify. Badly.
As I've said on this board before, in recent years I had taken it upon myself to try to make my area a bit better by picking up any stray bits of trash I see lying around. I have averaged about three full shopping bags a day, every day, in an area that isn't that large. (Drewry Ave to the south, Chelmsford to the west, Goulding Park to the east, and Moore Park to the north. That figure hasn't changed. If anything, it's gotten worse. Where downtown you at least have frequent litter pickup in most areas due to the crowds, in Willowdale, especially under Miller, service levels have been decimated. Streets are now rarely cleaned (never mind washed), maybe once every two months, where only a few years ago you could set your watch to it: usually the 28th or 29th (or last Friday) of the month, every month. Now, who knows? You'd think an area like mine doesn't need it, but it does, especially since more and more people have no hesitation in throwing things onto other people's lawns, or out the window of their cars. Civility and pride and consideration are things of the past here. I have said before that even if the city sent a cleaning crew everyday to my area, they would still have as much to pick up the next day. This remains more true than ever.
I am constantly e-mailing my councillor about the ever over-flowing bins in my area, the parks that are never swept, the three-foot high weeds along some parts of the roadway, etc. etc. The roads are constantly ripped up because of broken mains and new homes (which I'll get to later) and are generally among the worst in the city. Drewry Ave. is a lunar landscape. My subdivision is nearly fifty years old now, and I would guess that is the age of many of the streets here.
I have personally had at least three illegal/rooming houses investigated and closed down. Countless instances of illegal dumping and vacant/and or unkempt properties looked after. Discarded shopping carts left everywhere removed. Vandalized bus shelters repaired, endless plastic signs by contractors removed, driving school and garage sale posters removed, all the products of a neighbourhood that seems to have collectively lost it. And it seems like I'm the only one looking into this, because if I don't make a complaint, I've noticed that nothing gets fixed. And I seem to be the only one making them because I may be the only one watching out for them.
There are two reasons I can think of for this, I've noticed: first, a large contingent of long-residing original residents (mostly WASP...ok, not to be pc about it, white trash), whose subsequent offspring are the ones who dump the beer cans in the parks every Friday and Satruday night and leave trash everywhere else. There seems to be a core cohort that has come of age over the past five years or so that is responsible for perhaps 90% of the problems that didn't exist when I moved in ten years ago. The second factor is related: the aging of many of the people who own the homes in the area. Too many of them are too old and have given up maintaining their property to what used to be a fairly good standard. So now you have weeds sprouting up on the roadway in front of them where before they would pull them out or use a weedkiller (which of course we can't use anymore thanks to Miller and co.). The grass isn't cut as often. Garbage is put out so haphazardly it usually spills out everywhere. You get the impression of a general sense of malaise, of indifference, so it's not surprising to see many of these old homes being torn down and mini-McMansions go up. It hasn't been a good thing.
First, these new houses require larger utility resources, and often the road has to be torn up for new pipes, etc, with the result that on some streets so many new homes have gone up (ten on my street alone over two years) that the street has been torn open more than Joan Rivers' face. And the houses are, esthetically, an abomination, totally out of character to the area. The other problem is that they were often built on spec, and some are vacant and still for sale, or at least occupied by many transient families (mainly, but not exclusively, Chinese, again, not to be pc about this) who often neglect the upkeep of the property and in many cases use them to house multiple families or students. Sometimes, this corrects itself, and the house is sold again to people who keep it up well. But year by year, as more of these things go up, the look and feel of the area is lost as these huge ugly houses are stuffed into the lots, and the area looks like any other out in Markham or Vaughan.
Add to all this schools that fail to maintain their common areas, and I've just had enough. Complacent, lazy property owners. Stupid, dirty kids. A paucity of city services. I'm done with it, they're on their own now. I am no longer going to be a one-man works department.
Let me be clear. My area isn't turning into Parkdale. If you drive through it, a quick glance is impressive. It IS a nice and desirable area, and most homes *are* well-kept and respectable. House prices are rising. Young families are moving in. But there are problems, and they're growing. You do begin to sense that standards are slipping, and having lived there for ten years, I am convinced they are. I see it, day by day, month by month, year by year. Just how far down they'll slide is another issue. Maybe things will improve. But just based on my observations, that isn't the case. As for me, I'm glad I'm leaving.
I'm beginning to be let down by Willowdale too. It sounds strange to say this, but Willowdale, at least my-soon-to-be-former part of it, needs to gentrify. Badly.
As I've said on this board before, in recent years I had taken it upon myself to try to make my area a bit better by picking up any stray bits of trash I see lying around. I have averaged about three full shopping bags a day, every day, in an area that isn't that large. (Drewry Ave to the south, Chelmsford to the west, Goulding Park to the east, and Moore Park to the north. That figure hasn't changed. If anything, it's gotten worse. Where downtown you at least have frequent litter pickup in most areas due to the crowds, in Willowdale, especially under Miller, service levels have been decimated. Streets are now rarely cleaned (never mind washed), maybe once every two months, where only a few years ago you could set your watch to it: usually the 28th or 29th (or last Friday) of the month, every month. Now, who knows? You'd think an area like mine doesn't need it, but it does, especially since more and more people have no hesitation in throwing things onto other people's lawns, or out the window of their cars. Civility and pride and consideration are things of the past here. I have said before that even if the city sent a cleaning crew everyday to my area, they would still have as much to pick up the next day. This remains more true than ever.
I am constantly e-mailing my councillor about the ever over-flowing bins in my area, the parks that are never swept, the three-foot high weeds along some parts of the roadway, etc. etc. The roads are constantly ripped up because of broken mains and new homes (which I'll get to later) and are generally among the worst in the city. Drewry Ave. is a lunar landscape. My subdivision is nearly fifty years old now, and I would guess that is the age of many of the streets here.
I have personally had at least three illegal/rooming houses investigated and closed down. Countless instances of illegal dumping and vacant/and or unkempt properties looked after. Discarded shopping carts left everywhere removed. Vandalized bus shelters repaired, endless plastic signs by contractors removed, driving school and garage sale posters removed, all the products of a neighbourhood that seems to have collectively lost it. And it seems like I'm the only one looking into this, because if I don't make a complaint, I've noticed that nothing gets fixed. And I seem to be the only one making them because I may be the only one watching out for them.
There are two reasons I can think of for this, I've noticed: first, a large contingent of long-residing original residents (mostly WASP...ok, not to be pc about it, white trash), whose subsequent offspring are the ones who dump the beer cans in the parks every Friday and Satruday night and leave trash everywhere else. There seems to be a core cohort that has come of age over the past five years or so that is responsible for perhaps 90% of the problems that didn't exist when I moved in ten years ago. The second factor is related: the aging of many of the people who own the homes in the area. Too many of them are too old and have given up maintaining their property to what used to be a fairly good standard. So now you have weeds sprouting up on the roadway in front of them where before they would pull them out or use a weedkiller (which of course we can't use anymore thanks to Miller and co.). The grass isn't cut as often. Garbage is put out so haphazardly it usually spills out everywhere. You get the impression of a general sense of malaise, of indifference, so it's not surprising to see many of these old homes being torn down and mini-McMansions go up. It hasn't been a good thing.
First, these new houses require larger utility resources, and often the road has to be torn up for new pipes, etc, with the result that on some streets so many new homes have gone up (ten on my street alone over two years) that the street has been torn open more than Joan Rivers' face. And the houses are, esthetically, an abomination, totally out of character to the area. The other problem is that they were often built on spec, and some are vacant and still for sale, or at least occupied by many transient families (mainly, but not exclusively, Chinese, again, not to be pc about this) who often neglect the upkeep of the property and in many cases use them to house multiple families or students. Sometimes, this corrects itself, and the house is sold again to people who keep it up well. But year by year, as more of these things go up, the look and feel of the area is lost as these huge ugly houses are stuffed into the lots, and the area looks like any other out in Markham or Vaughan.
Add to all this schools that fail to maintain their common areas, and I've just had enough. Complacent, lazy property owners. Stupid, dirty kids. A paucity of city services. I'm done with it, they're on their own now. I am no longer going to be a one-man works department.
Let me be clear. My area isn't turning into Parkdale. If you drive through it, a quick glance is impressive. It IS a nice and desirable area, and most homes *are* well-kept and respectable. House prices are rising. Young families are moving in. But there are problems, and they're growing. You do begin to sense that standards are slipping, and having lived there for ten years, I am convinced they are. I see it, day by day, month by month, year by year. Just how far down they'll slide is another issue. Maybe things will improve. But just based on my observations, that isn't the case. As for me, I'm glad I'm leaving.
B
building babel
Guest
I was surprised, a couple of weeks ago, to be approached for money on the increasingly trendy Riverdale avenue where I live.
I stopped in my tracks and blurted out, "Do you live on this street?" incredulously. "Yes." he said cheerfully.
There are still a few rooming houses on my street - old mansions that haven't been returned yet to single family homes - where poor people live. The begging thing has caught on bigtime everywhere, and people who wouldn't have done it ten years ago feel fine about doing so now. Like everyone else, I must learn to adjust to the ever changing city I suppose.
I stopped in my tracks and blurted out, "Do you live on this street?" incredulously. "Yes." he said cheerfully.
There are still a few rooming houses on my street - old mansions that haven't been returned yet to single family homes - where poor people live. The begging thing has caught on bigtime everywhere, and people who wouldn't have done it ten years ago feel fine about doing so now. Like everyone else, I must learn to adjust to the ever changing city I suppose.
E
Ed007Toronto
Guest
Hey Fiendish I lived at 127 Homewood from 1969 to 1984.
B
billonlogan
Guest
I wonder if its the same panhandler I've run into, tall fella with a beard and a bright green neon sign says "HUNGRY". He lives with his mother in a million dollar home in Riverdale. His teenage daughter has come for a visit this summer and now they both go panhandling together. She's the one with the bright orange neon sign says "HUNGRY". In case you bump into him or have given him or her some money, they use it to buy pot at the local tavern.
M
mpolo2
Guest
from the NY Times:
City to Clear Homeless Encampments
WASHINGTON, July 17 — Beginning an aggressive push to reduce the number of people living on New York City’s streets, the city will start pressuring homeless men and women to leave makeshift dwellings under highways and near train trestles and will raise barriers to make those encampments inaccessible, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday.
The city has found 73 of those sites inhabited by groups of chronically homeless people, the mayor said. “Humanely, respectfully and firmly, we’ll work to get these men and women to enter supportive housing, enroll in treatment programs or go into shelters,†Mr. Bloomberg said to a gathering of government officials and social service providers from around the country.
The changes amplify the mayor’s longstanding effort to steer the city away from its emphasis on emergency shelter for the homeless, and toward providing permanent housing and using social services to prevent homelessness.
The measures discussed by the mayor on Monday represented a significant shift in the culture of the Department of Homeless Services.
“While everyone has a right to emergency shelter, that doesn’t always make emergency shelter right for everyone,†Mr. Bloomberg said, adding that his administration was working to replace “the dead-end model of managing homelessness with the new goal of ending it.â€
He cited his administration’s program to create 12,000 units of supportive housing, which offers social services like mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment. And he announced plans to expand another program, which helps people on the verge of homelessness hold onto their homes.
But the new element is potentially controversial. The Department of Homeless Services, under its new commissioner, Robert Hess, has identified 73 makeshift encampments, including 30 in Manhattan, to which roughly 350 homeless men and women — of a total homeless population of about 3,800, according to the city’s last count — return nightly.
Most of the encampments are little more than collections of cardboard boxes, or tarpaulins hung over a beam, officials said.
Now, working with community and faith-based organizations, the city plans to work more aggressively to persuade people to leave those areas and enter housing, treatment programs or shelters.
The vigorous focus on the street population is an unusual approach that Mr. Hess brings from his time supervising services to adults in Philadelphia, where he built a reputation for reducing the number of people living on the streets.
The strategy, which officials say has been tried in only a few cities, reflects a growing consensus that a small number of long-term, chronically homeless people account for a large share of the medical care and other services required by the homeless population over all.
Officials stopped short of saying that they would force people off the streets, but they do plan to clear the makeshift dwellings and make them inaccessible for others to return.
“We’re going to let them know that their days on the streets must come to an end,†Mr. Bloomberg said in an address to the annual conference of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “And we’ll secure and clean up the places where they’ve been bedding down, to make sure that they won’t be occupied again.â€
Over the past four years, officials said, the administration has worked to shift its focus from improving and expanding shelters toward more permanent solutions. That effort has included the use of supportive housing — or housing that affords a range of on-site social services — and a program called HomeBase, which offers flexible subsidies or other support for people at risk of homelessness.
Mr. Hess would not give the precise locations of the sleeping areas — most of them out of sight of the public — that the city plans to target, out of respect for the people who stay in them, he said.
But officials said that some of the sites are already familiar to the department’s teams of outreach workers and that they will coordinate with the Police and Sanitation Departments and with transit officials to identify other sites, both outdoors and in vacant buildings.
One site, near Riverside Drive in Upper Manhattan, is known to homeless workers as the Bat Cave. Lately, it has been home to at least four people, including Gladys Anderson, 44, who sleeps on a discarded bed propped on milk crates. Monday afternoon, sitting on a red velveteen bedspread, she said she would gladly accept the mayor’s offer of more permanent housing.
She said it was “time to be out†of the cave.
“I will drop it like it’s hot,†she said. “This is not no life adventure for me. We’re just passing through.â€
City outreach workers stopped by a few days earlier, she said, and had the people in the encampment fill out paperwork needed to get apartments.
Her boyfriend, who would give his name only as Country, was more skeptical of the offer.
“This is America,†he said as he loaded 12 garbage bags full of cans and bottles onto a large rolling cart. “This is living off the land. That’s how we built this thing.â€
The largest group of street homeless identified by city workers, 195, is in Manhattan, officials said, spread over 30 locations. In the Bronx there are 54 people living at 12 sites; in Brooklyn, workers identified 45 people in 10 areas; in Queens they found 40 people at 10 sites; and in Staten Island, they identified 24 people gathering at 11 spots.
From the Mayor's Office: Press Release | VideoThe city estimates that it will take six months to a year to clear the often-squalid locations, which will then be secured with fencing or other methods, said Mr. Hess, who appeared with the mayor at a news conference after Mr. Bloomberg’s speech. Both men emphasized that they would not forcibly remove people, pointing out that there are legal barriers to doing so.
“The objective is not in any way to force people from one area to another,†Mr. Hess said. “It is to take a social service intervention strategy approach to help people make a decision to move from these very unhealthy encampments.â€
Two years ago, Mr. Bloomberg pledged to create the 12,000 units of supportive housing, in addition to 21,000 built over the previous two decades. On Monday, he said the money had been secured to keep his promise.
He also said that the city would funnel an extra $10 million into HomeBase, which helps people to stay where they live by interceding with landlords to head off eviction, making temporary loans for rent or helping obtain needed job referrals, health care or other services.
Mr. Bloomberg faced a receptive audience, which interrupted his speech with applause more than a dozen times. As if to anticipate criticism of his efforts, he used the address to take several jabs at some advocates for the homeless, who have been a frequent thorn in the side of his and previous administrations, suing the city to force it to change its policies.
“To rid our society of homelessness we must first liberate ourselves from the chains of conventional wisdom, fromthe fetters of political correctness, from the tyranny of the advocates and their unwillingness to admit that we’re ever making progress,†the mayor said.
City to Clear Homeless Encampments
WASHINGTON, July 17 — Beginning an aggressive push to reduce the number of people living on New York City’s streets, the city will start pressuring homeless men and women to leave makeshift dwellings under highways and near train trestles and will raise barriers to make those encampments inaccessible, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday.
The city has found 73 of those sites inhabited by groups of chronically homeless people, the mayor said. “Humanely, respectfully and firmly, we’ll work to get these men and women to enter supportive housing, enroll in treatment programs or go into shelters,†Mr. Bloomberg said to a gathering of government officials and social service providers from around the country.
The changes amplify the mayor’s longstanding effort to steer the city away from its emphasis on emergency shelter for the homeless, and toward providing permanent housing and using social services to prevent homelessness.
The measures discussed by the mayor on Monday represented a significant shift in the culture of the Department of Homeless Services.
“While everyone has a right to emergency shelter, that doesn’t always make emergency shelter right for everyone,†Mr. Bloomberg said, adding that his administration was working to replace “the dead-end model of managing homelessness with the new goal of ending it.â€
He cited his administration’s program to create 12,000 units of supportive housing, which offers social services like mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment. And he announced plans to expand another program, which helps people on the verge of homelessness hold onto their homes.
But the new element is potentially controversial. The Department of Homeless Services, under its new commissioner, Robert Hess, has identified 73 makeshift encampments, including 30 in Manhattan, to which roughly 350 homeless men and women — of a total homeless population of about 3,800, according to the city’s last count — return nightly.
Most of the encampments are little more than collections of cardboard boxes, or tarpaulins hung over a beam, officials said.
Now, working with community and faith-based organizations, the city plans to work more aggressively to persuade people to leave those areas and enter housing, treatment programs or shelters.
The vigorous focus on the street population is an unusual approach that Mr. Hess brings from his time supervising services to adults in Philadelphia, where he built a reputation for reducing the number of people living on the streets.
The strategy, which officials say has been tried in only a few cities, reflects a growing consensus that a small number of long-term, chronically homeless people account for a large share of the medical care and other services required by the homeless population over all.
Officials stopped short of saying that they would force people off the streets, but they do plan to clear the makeshift dwellings and make them inaccessible for others to return.
“We’re going to let them know that their days on the streets must come to an end,†Mr. Bloomberg said in an address to the annual conference of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “And we’ll secure and clean up the places where they’ve been bedding down, to make sure that they won’t be occupied again.â€
Over the past four years, officials said, the administration has worked to shift its focus from improving and expanding shelters toward more permanent solutions. That effort has included the use of supportive housing — or housing that affords a range of on-site social services — and a program called HomeBase, which offers flexible subsidies or other support for people at risk of homelessness.
Mr. Hess would not give the precise locations of the sleeping areas — most of them out of sight of the public — that the city plans to target, out of respect for the people who stay in them, he said.
But officials said that some of the sites are already familiar to the department’s teams of outreach workers and that they will coordinate with the Police and Sanitation Departments and with transit officials to identify other sites, both outdoors and in vacant buildings.
One site, near Riverside Drive in Upper Manhattan, is known to homeless workers as the Bat Cave. Lately, it has been home to at least four people, including Gladys Anderson, 44, who sleeps on a discarded bed propped on milk crates. Monday afternoon, sitting on a red velveteen bedspread, she said she would gladly accept the mayor’s offer of more permanent housing.
She said it was “time to be out†of the cave.
“I will drop it like it’s hot,†she said. “This is not no life adventure for me. We’re just passing through.â€
City outreach workers stopped by a few days earlier, she said, and had the people in the encampment fill out paperwork needed to get apartments.
Her boyfriend, who would give his name only as Country, was more skeptical of the offer.
“This is America,†he said as he loaded 12 garbage bags full of cans and bottles onto a large rolling cart. “This is living off the land. That’s how we built this thing.â€
The largest group of street homeless identified by city workers, 195, is in Manhattan, officials said, spread over 30 locations. In the Bronx there are 54 people living at 12 sites; in Brooklyn, workers identified 45 people in 10 areas; in Queens they found 40 people at 10 sites; and in Staten Island, they identified 24 people gathering at 11 spots.
From the Mayor's Office: Press Release | VideoThe city estimates that it will take six months to a year to clear the often-squalid locations, which will then be secured with fencing or other methods, said Mr. Hess, who appeared with the mayor at a news conference after Mr. Bloomberg’s speech. Both men emphasized that they would not forcibly remove people, pointing out that there are legal barriers to doing so.
“The objective is not in any way to force people from one area to another,†Mr. Hess said. “It is to take a social service intervention strategy approach to help people make a decision to move from these very unhealthy encampments.â€
Two years ago, Mr. Bloomberg pledged to create the 12,000 units of supportive housing, in addition to 21,000 built over the previous two decades. On Monday, he said the money had been secured to keep his promise.
He also said that the city would funnel an extra $10 million into HomeBase, which helps people to stay where they live by interceding with landlords to head off eviction, making temporary loans for rent or helping obtain needed job referrals, health care or other services.
Mr. Bloomberg faced a receptive audience, which interrupted his speech with applause more than a dozen times. As if to anticipate criticism of his efforts, he used the address to take several jabs at some advocates for the homeless, who have been a frequent thorn in the side of his and previous administrations, suing the city to force it to change its policies.
“To rid our society of homelessness we must first liberate ourselves from the chains of conventional wisdom, fromthe fetters of political correctness, from the tyranny of the advocates and their unwillingness to admit that we’re ever making progress,†the mayor said.
F
fiendishlibrarian
Guest
Walk by it everyday. Homewood is actually one of the better maintained streets in the area, the others are more varied.
B
building babel
Guest
billonlogan:
I never give to beggars, even slickers with marketing backgrounds who carry signs. I'm tempted to carry my own sign, saying "STINGY", for whenever I meet them.
I never give to beggars, even slickers with marketing backgrounds who carry signs. I'm tempted to carry my own sign, saying "STINGY", for whenever I meet them.
T
TdotTrickyRicky
Guest
"Let me be clear. My area isn't turning into Parkdale."
Parkdale has it's own set of issues, run down apartments, mental health centre, rail tracks etc. However, it also has lovely tree lined streets, rapidly improving commercial strips and amenities. I wonder if and at what point the mythology of Parkdale and the reality will or have become disconnected.
There is always something to complain about in a city neighbourhood but as city dwellers we need to have some respect for a diversity of world views and human situations even as we strive to better our community, shaping it after our own interests.
Parkdale has it's own set of issues, run down apartments, mental health centre, rail tracks etc. However, it also has lovely tree lined streets, rapidly improving commercial strips and amenities. I wonder if and at what point the mythology of Parkdale and the reality will or have become disconnected.
There is always something to complain about in a city neighbourhood but as city dwellers we need to have some respect for a diversity of world views and human situations even as we strive to better our community, shaping it after our own interests.
A
andreapalladio
Guest
Isn't it disconnected now, what with the rush to buy the good houses before the prices go completely through the roof?
T
The Burgher of TO
Guest
"I wonder if its the same panhandler I've run into, tall fella with a beard and a bright green neon sign says "HUNGRY"."
i know the one you mean. i ran into him at bay/bloor on christmas eve a couple years back and took him down to the valu-mart to buy some groceries. i was somewhat surprised when he preferred this brand of juice over that because it had fewer calories. i also remember him telling me that he was a vegan, and that he abstained from alcohol. i saw him a couple weeks ago at the corner of yonge/bloor, and was wondering who that young girl he had with him was.
i know the one you mean. i ran into him at bay/bloor on christmas eve a couple years back and took him down to the valu-mart to buy some groceries. i was somewhat surprised when he preferred this brand of juice over that because it had fewer calories. i also remember him telling me that he was a vegan, and that he abstained from alcohol. i saw him a couple weeks ago at the corner of yonge/bloor, and was wondering who that young girl he had with him was.
A
adma
Guest
Then as panhandlers go, there's the St. George station regular whom Marc Weisblott refers to as a John Hiatt lookalike/soundalike...