Let's not be ridiculous. Which city do you think this is? Toronto's attidude toward its public realm is kind of like: If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you too? In other words: just because basically every single major city on the planet goes the extra mile to present themselves well, it doesn't mean we can't avoid doing the same. And somehow we think we're the wiser. Most people in this city -- including our civic leaders -- are perfectly content with Toronto looking like The Dude from The Big Lebowski. The mindset in this city is similar to those of the survivors from the movie: Alive. Remember how they rationed wine and chocolate in order to survive? They were initially hesitant to indulge themselves and go straight for the frozen butt jerky. But once their doubts were diminished, they couldn't resist gorging themselves. Toronto hasn't gotten to that stage yet. We're still in that rationing phase where we're afraid that the poor will die and the rich will M'Yeah (like 1920s gangsters) themselves into drooling vegetables if we spend anything beyond what is required to meet any given objective.