Telegraph: Toronto - the city that retains its human scale

[Sir Novelty Fashion]

I've just spent a week in Toronto. While there my car was due for an oil change. My son in law recommended a place at the corner of Spadina & Eglinton. I was welcomed with a cup of coffee and a copy of The Globe & Mail. The oil change was done by the time I had reached p.3.
Posted by Canon Bob Tuck on January 16, 2008 7:46 PM

This is my favourite comment, for so many reasons.

 

[ganjavih]

Well, I haven't been to the UK for a few years but last time I was there (2005), Toronto was just starting to show up on people's radars. Montreal was best known by the old-timers and Vancouver seemed to be the new trendy city. People asked me most about Vancouver. Travel agencies would sometimes list flights to Vancouver and Montreal but not Toronto, and BBC weather excluded Toronto (but included Vancouver and Montreal) from its weather maps. Maybe things are different now.

 

[allabootmatt]

For what it's worth, my kayak.com London flight deal bulletins have Toronto on the list of popular cities and not Vancouver or MTL...

By the way, everyone should use Kayak. It's a real money-saver.

BBC int'l weather still lists only four North American cities: New York, Vancouver, Chicago (I think), and Miami. Odd selection, but your point is taken.

Important also to remember the iron law of UK tourism: people are absolutely obsessed with New York, to an extent that's almost a little embarrassing. As such any other North American destination has to compete with/complement NY. Hence a lot of the London papers' travel articles on Toronto (and indeed Montreal) make various New York comparisons.

 

[Tewder]

Well to be fair, we're all a little obsessed with New York, no?

It's been said here time and time again, if Toronto falls off the radar it's because there is little identity or image associated with the city. Who actively seeks out a place they know absolutely nothing about?

 

[Edward]

BBC int'l weather still lists only four North American cities: New York, Vancouver, Chicago (I think), and Miami. Odd selection, but your point is taken.

East, west, middle and south?

 

[allabootmatt]

Well to be fair, we're all a little obsessed with New York, no?

Maybe so, but totally over the top out here. The cover story in the current issue of Time Out London is a huge guide to the best shopping...in New York. Tropicana advertises orange juice by claiming that its brand is most popular...in New York. And so on.

 

[Tewder]

Interesting! Though London is definately secure in itself to be so blatant in its obsessions du jour.

 

[JasonParis]

For humour sake, here's the more recent comments...

Having lived in many places over the last 35 years, I can safely say that it the most depressing place I have ever known! I lived there for 15 miserable years. The city itself is ugly, the people are like the weather, cold and dull. There is absolutely nothing at all that I miss about the place.
Posted by Francesca on January 24, 2008 8:38 AM

For all of those complaining about living in Toronto, there is the 401 and Pearson Airport. Please use them and don't come back.
Posted by Julia T. on January 24, 2008 1:06 AM

Toronto is dull, dull, dull - oh and my wife says the shopping is crap: there's a very limited selection, of poor quality and you pay through the nose for it.
Posted by Pete on January 21, 2008 6:57 PM

Sorry, but in provincial cities, almost half the residents aren't born in another country. Here's a fascinating city that has transcended a provincial and white Protestant past in the span of fifty years. It has a collection of modernist examples by the top architects of the modern era, but there's always some 19th century building like the flatiron or that Old City Hall to remind of those humble beginnings. In terms of food, the options are vast.

It's a dynamic and engaging city that has its highs and lows, unless you find yourself working in the financial district but living 40 kilometres away. Indeed, many who came believed that they could buy a large home in a by downtown (or midtown these days) and pay next to nothing in taxes.

The occasional escape into rural Ontario isn't that bad. Niagara Falls, the wine and fruit country, and in another direction, the serene lakes and forests of Algonquin Park are poignant.

It is rare that I hear a Torontonian say that Toronto is the absolute finest city in the world, yet so many enjoy living here. To have civic pride and reasonable expectations is not wrong or unwarranted. Actually, that title would be very to give to any place.

The claims that it is an insular and provincial city are unscientific and downright absurd.
Posted by Mike on January 19, 2008 2:51 AM

I grew up in London, but have lived
in Toronto since 1975. It was a
dump then and still is. A small
sampling of its shortcomings:-

A truly useless public transport
system with 2 and 1/4 subway
lines, slow crowded streetcars
blocking traffic in the middle of
major downtown streets and
infrequent buses outside the core.

An ever expanding nouveau riche
who don't care about transit
because they drive everywhere
(badly) in enormous SUVs while
chatting on cellphones.

A proclivity for knocking down old
buildings to allow construction of
architecturally undistinguished loft
style (hah!) condominiums all over
downtown.City planning influence
on the appearance of new building
seems limited to the occasional
incorporation of an original facade
into a new high rise building.

A city council so broke a donation
from Mastercard was needed to
keep the much touted City Hall ice
skating rink open at Christmas.

Despite these flaws (and I could go
on), many Torontonians are
smugly confident they live in a
"World Class City" to use the too
often heard expression. It's sad.
Posted by Austin on January 19, 2008 1:23 AM

Like any living thing, Toronto is not what it was and not what it will be. Life is sweet in Toronto if you have lots of money. You can find the city quite interesting and even romantic if you have the mindset and don't insist that it resemble other places. Granted, if you don't have money or imagination, it can be dreary; but where isn't it then?
Posted by george adam on January 19, 2008 12:14 AM

I have to wonder how many of these "Torontonians" complaining actually live in the city. For that matter, how many have even visited it? I think it is a well known fact that bashing Toronto is the Canadian national past-time, second only to bashing the United States. So I wouldn't be surprised to find that many of these bashers have IP addresses located outside of the Toronto area.

Some of the stereotypes are dumbfounding. We claim to have the best beer? I didn't even know we made beer in Toronto! Crime is out of control? We only have the second lowest crime rate in the country (look up the statistics on Statscan, you lazy bums!). A few tragic murders over the weekend don't constitute a pattern. Torontonians are smug? Its easy to appear to be so when the rest of the country experiences outright glee at any of your troubles. I've always said that, if 9/11 happened in Toronto, the rest of Canada would likely have celebrated.

And the city is segregated according to race? If Toronto is segregated, I don't think there is a city in the world that isn't. But try coming downtown and then tell me this city is segregated! You would have to lying out of your teeth to make that claim.
Posted by Oscar on January 18, 2008 8:53 PM

This article could have been written 20 years ago. Not only is it riddled with mistakes, but it hardly deals with anything relevent about this city today.

Despite people's hysteria on here, Toronto is the 2nd safest major city in Canada. Sure, it's not without it's problems but it is both a city of commerce and creativity that affords its residents and an incredible standard of living in one of the world's great beta cities. Comparing any city to London or New York is ridiculous (with the maybe exceptions of Paris and Tokyo).

Toronto is getting a lot of things right and has a very bright future. The amount of development is staggering (commerical and residential) and the growth of the cities downtown population has been very impressive.
Posted by Jason Paris on January 18, 2008 8:39 PM

I moved to TO in 1979 from the UK (London and the SE) however I live just NW of TO in the City of Brampton, a rapidly growing place. I have lived in many places around the world, from Vancouver to Winnipeg to Halifax and points in between, including the far east and north of Scotland. I took a visitor downtown a year or so ago and was so embarassed having to step over beggars on Yonge Street (the main drag) every 10 feet. Toronto and suffers from a totally inept, bleeding heart Liberal loving Mayor and Council who will not work with or back up our Police Force and do nothing to address anything important never mind our huge homelessness/poverty issue, aggressive panhandlers, ganstas having shoot outs on said Yonge Street in the middle of the day or local streets, garbage and graffiti, smog pollution and general filth that Toronto has evolved into over the past 20+ years. It is also correct that our "newcomers" are horribly underemployed often driving cabs or working several minimum wage jobs at convenience store level when they possess medical licences, or are professional engineers etc because Canada can't get it's act together to find a way to get these peoples'credentials validated. Guns and gangs are a huge problem. Violence is rife in schools and we hear about a school in lockdown mode almost every week. The transit system is a joke - it takes hours to get from one place to another or is very expensive because you must transfer and pay from one municipality or region's transit to connect with the TTC of Toronto, hence the gridlock we experience on all our roads in and out of the City using our cars as an only alternative - everything is too far to walk or too dangerous to bike. We have 2 rush hours - all day and all night! However, the leisure activities available, concerts of all genres in fanatstic venues like the Air Canada Centre (ACC) or Molson Amphitheatre on the lake or Rogers Centre, formerly Skydome, live theatre, fine arts,TIFF,dining, pubs, bars, clubs, theme attractions (Canada's Wonderland), waterfront, the Beaches boardwalk, the Toronto islands are all absolutley fabulous. Yes it's butt freezing cold in winter and hot, humid and smoggy in summer, but you get used to that. I'd rather this climate than that of the UK - rainy and damp to the bone chilling with one good day in July to get your best burn. The best thing really is that in comparison to the UK, eveything is half price - take any UK price and slap a dollar sign on it.We have better quality homebuilding with far more mod cons, built ins and space than is offered back home. I could never afford the home I have back there. As much as I miss wandering around the National Gallery, cruising the Thames, having a glass of wine at El Vino's or knocking back a pint at a "real" pub, the overall standard of living and amenities offered by Toronto and across Canada is still vastly superior and I would really recommend Toronto to any visitor regardless of what I've said here. I guess we all become jaded and down on our own towns no matter where we live.
Posted by Claire from Toronto on January 18, 2008 8:06 PM

Neil thinks Vancouver is Canada's most beautiful city? I don't think so. It's dismally ugly but has the great fortune to be in a beautiful geographical location. Had the city fathers used some imagination to fit the city into the surrounding sea and mountains, things might have been different. If you want to see Canada's most beautiful city, in the most beautiful spot, come to Victoria! Or visit Quebec City.

Oh, and Toronto........just a big grey city in a big gery place.
Posted by Stephan Larsson on January 18, 2008 7:39 PM

Toronto's best days are behind it.

Gun crime(by guess who), poverty and increasingly higher cost of living are making it much different from the Toronto of my youth.

"Diversity" is celebrated like a religion by the usuual Left crowd and all it brings is civil disunity and ethnic tension. Our European/Christian heritage is quickly being eradicated from the public square. Do we really need another Chinatown?

Is Toronto in the cultural class of London or New York? Not even close. But it used to be a fine place to raise a family and live a happy middle-class life.
Posted by Chubby on January 18, 2008 7:09 PM

 

[junctionist]

Jason Paris' comment sounds like this thread's opener.

Claire's comment is humorously bizarre. It follows the standard Toronto bashing script, but, without even a paragraph break shifts to the message that Toronto is recommendable and offers excellent amenities.

 

[Hydrogen]

"Butt-freezing cold" in the winter and hot and humid in the summer. Shouldn't that complaint apply to eastern North America?

Toronto certainly ain't the coldest city in Canada.

 

[JasonParis]

Jason Paris' comment sounds like this thread's opener.

Yah, smart guy that one!

 

[Edward Skira]

Very smart lol

 

[junctionist]

My comment is also quoted. Guess which one it is.

 

[Hydrogen]

^"Mike" of January 19th?

 

[unimaginative2]

Think about it. What kinds of people are writing these comments? Either ex-Torontonians living in the UK or Torontonians reading a rather ordinary London daily. Of course they're going to be wildly insecure! Comparing Toronto to London in terms of museums or history is obviously absurd. What's with the complaints about the dreary weather? Fine if you live in Sydney, but London?!