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One only need to look at American alt-left cities like San Francisco, Portland, NYC and Seattle to see what the next five years are going to look like in The Big Smoke.
Yea, these cities are generally some of the most bustling and attractive cities in the US and they all have at least an okay, at least by US standards, baseline of transit access and coverage. I'd add Chicago, Philadelphia, DC, and Boston to the list as well. I think similarly to Toronto, they should work on their transit systems and the politics of that have been hard to get the funding and regional cooperation necessary to make that work well, though Toronto does have a lot more improvements slated than their US counterparts for the most part and Canadian federal and state governments have seemingly been somewhat more active in funding transit expansions, so I'd say in some sense the future's looking relatively alright for Toronto.
Yea, these cities are generally some of the most bustling and attractive cities in the US and they all have at least an okay, at least by US standards, baseline of transit access and coverage. I'd add Chicago, Philadelphia, DC, and Boston to the list as well. I think similarly to Toronto, they should work on their transit systems and the politics of that have been hard to get the funding and regional cooperation necessary to make that work well, though Toronto does have a lot more improvements slated than their US counterparts for the most part and Canadian federal and state governments have seemingly been somewhat more active in funding transit expansions, so I'd say in some sense the future's looking relatively alright for Toronto.
Toronto is buzzing. Full of activity and a good energy. There are growing problems to be sure but you can feel that it is a place on the move and on the go. The biggest asset any city has are its people and if they are any indication Toronto's future is looking better than relatively alright. There are always downers who think it's too big, too much construction, too diverse and want to make it 'great' again etc but haters are just gonna hate if everyone isn't on 'their' team.
Transit investment in the city and region has to be top 5 on the continent.
Traffic and cost of housing are 2 problems. I would take it over any US city. My son lives there and my Dad came from there. Its such an amazing place with unlimited things to do.
Though by no means at the level of US cities, rising crime has got to be a major problem for Queen City to tackle. For instance, here are a few alarming incidents on the TTC in just the past few months:
Five+ separate stabbing incidents within a half a year, one of which proved fatal, and all of this on a system that had not seen such elevated levels of violence before the pandemic. The perpetrators all share common characteristics. They were often extremely troubled and lonely individuals, some having already committed other crimes, others were suicidal at one time or another. All needed help. So in addition to rising crime, a desperate need for more and better mental health resources remain pressing problems. I don't think any city in North America is the same as they were before the pandemic and Toronto is no exception.
(And no, crime is not going to deter me from riding the TTC again the next time I visit. I love public transit too much. It's a good idea to keep a more watchful eye these days than back in 2019 though.)
Though by no means at the level of US cities, rising crime has got to be a major problem for Queen City to tackle. For instance, here are a few alarming incidents on the TTC in just the past few months:
Five+ separate stabbing incidents within a half a year, one of which proved fatal, and all of this on a system that had not seen such elevated levels of violence before the pandemic. The perpetrators all share common characteristics. They were often extremely troubled and lonely individuals, some having already committed other crimes, others were suicidal at one time or another. All needed help. So in addition to rising crime, a desperate need for more and better mental health resources remain pressing problems. I don't think any city in North America is the same as they were before the pandemic and Toronto is no exception.
(And no, crime is not going to deter me from riding the TTC again the next time I visit. I love public transit too much. It's a good idea to keep a more watchful eye these days than back in 2019 though.)
Good points - I think the pandemic really did a number for a lot of people in terms of mental health. The random attacks on the TTC is concerning for sure. Toronto is a fast growing city and mental health services and supports are most likely not keeping pace. That said, homicide rates are actually trending downwards over the last 5 years and overall homicide rates are still very low compared to other N.A analogues
Other crimes however are going up - Assaults, Vehicular thefts, break and enters and sexual violations. Of particular note in terms of yoy increaes are auto thefts.
So all this is concerning but we can't lose sight of the fact that the city is getting big - its approaching 3 million in just the city proper. I'm not saying rising population invariably leads to higher crime rates but let's face it - bigger city bigger problems generally speaking.
Can you elaborate on this in terms of how you think Toronto will end up? Toronto has been a left of centre city for decades - nothing has really changed in that regard for a long time. I don't think you should conflate issues in other cities with Toronto. On the other hand, hard right states like West Virginny, Arkansas etc aren't exactly bastions of progress or prosperity
Toronto's most recent election had the MSM touting Chow's victory as a hard shift from the right that has dominated its political landscape for the past several years. Now, don't get me wrong, I agree that the idea that John Tory being a right-wing conservative is pretty funny... until you compare him to Olivia Chow that is.
Toronto has elected the worst possible choice for leader at the worst possible time. Her campaign stated she intends to raise taxes which she will undoubtedly do. However we just came off a pandemic where surviving businesses proved beyond any doubt whatsoever that they can maintain their operations without the need to pay a fortune for downtown office space, electricity, internet, heating, amenities, janitorial service and everything else that goes hand-in-hand with maintaining an expensive downtown presence. Raising taxes may just be the proverbial straw that convinces some of those downtown corporations to leave the city for good and take all that potential revenue with them.
Furthermore, the City of Toronto in its infinite wisdom has applied to the federal government to decriminalize hard drugs within the city for adults and youths providing the amount is 2.5 grams or less. This will undoubtedly inspire addicts from surrounding communities to relocate to Toronto so they can use dope without worry about being hassled by the cops. With a swelling population of drug addicts, you will start seeing more tent cities, open defecation, crime and HIV infection rates. In short, Toronto will quickly start looking a lot more like other cities who have enacted similar hands-off approaches to undesirable behaviour, such as Seattle, San Francisco and NYC. This in turn will make people question why they would want to pay exorbitant rent and taxes for the "privilege" of living in a cesspool, which will cause even more money to leave the city.
Again, this is just one man's opinion. I'm sure there are plenty of left leaning Torontonians who would consider such a scenario "progress".
Toronto's most recent election had the MSM touting Chow's victory as a hard shift from the right that has dominated its political landscape for the past several years. Now, don't get me wrong, I agree that the idea that John Tory being a right-wing conservative is pretty funny... until you compare him to Olivia Chow that is.
Toronto has elected the worst possible choice for leader at the worst possible time. Her campaign stated she intends to raise taxes which she will undoubtedly do. However we just came off a pandemic where surviving businesses proved beyond any doubt whatsoever that they can maintain their operations without the need to pay a fortune for downtown office space, electricity, internet, heating, amenities, janitorial service and everything else that goes hand-in-hand with maintaining an expensive downtown presence. Raising taxes may just be the proverbial straw that convinces some of those downtown corporations to leave the city for good and take all that potential revenue with them.
Furthermore, the City of Toronto in its infinite wisdom has applied to the federal government to decriminalize hard drugs within the city for adults and youths providing the amount is 2.5 grams or less. This will undoubtedly inspire addicts from surrounding communities to relocate to Toronto so they can use dope without worry about being hassled by the cops. With a swelling population of drug addicts, you will start seeing more tent cities, open defecation, crime and HIV infection rates. In short, Toronto will quickly start looking a lot more like other cities who have enacted similar hands-off approaches to undesirable behaviour, such as Seattle, San Francisco and NYC. This in turn will make people question why they would want to pay exorbitant rent and taxes for the "privilege" of living in a cesspool, which will cause even more money to leave the city.
Again, this is just one man's opinion. I'm sure there are plenty of left leaning Torontonians who would consider such a scenario "progress".
I think we have to move away from becoming a society that constantly labels groups of humans and start looking at problems as collective societal and human problems. We've become far too judgemental and almost angry at different. There was a time Conservatives in this country were considered Progressive. Progress doesn't have to be a left or right thing. It sometimes can be about just making the right decisions.
The city of Toronto does need money. This isn't Olivia Chow's fault. While i'm not big fan of increased taxes, i'm not sure what other alternative there is. We lived under Tory in Toronto for what almost 9 years and his incredible fiscal management, but yet Toronto is in the hole a billion dollars. We are living under a Conservative Premier for what over 5 years now and yet Toronto the engine of the Province is struggling fiscally under Ford's watch as well. So this is something Chow is inheriting. I therefore find it kind of rich those who talk about how well conservatives manage finances that often times they are equally if not more responsible for putting us in the red. Socially I would agree with you though, Tory was not really a Conservative and fiscally I have no idea what he was. Putting Toronto in the black he was not. Perhaps he, one of the good ole boys was too busy with other pursuits...
As for decriminalization of drugs - I don't know if you live in Ontario or not but I live in a small city in Southwestern Ontario. It is a pretty blue city - M.P and M.P.P are both Conservative and yet it suffers heavily from those addicted to drugs, particularly fentanyl and meth. There are available naloxone kits at Shoppers Drug Mart here for example. This is an issue that plagues blue cities, red cities and everything in between. Decriminalization isn't something you should dismiss wholesale. Drug addiction is incredibly complex issue and solving it isn't about locking addicts up in jail. We need holistic solutions that reduce stigmatization and increase mental health supports for them in a non-judgemental and supporting environment.
HIV for example will still be spread via sharing needles regardless if it is decriminalized or not, but with decriminalization it will reduce stigma and more people do actually seek help for these issues. HIV is highly treatable and those on treatment will not be able to spread it. Those who are afraid and stigmatized by a society due to legal ramifications of their addiction, will simply suffer with it and their drug habit and actually spread the disease and are less likely to seek help for a complex problem causing their drug addictions. Sweeping things under the rug doesn't make them go away and for all the criminalization of drugs - not just in Canada but in the U.S and other countries where has it gotten us? They are rampant so jailing addicts and pretending they will be afraid acquiring their drugs due to it being a crime is pretty naive. Do you not also find it ironic and almost ridiculous how Doug Ford is outraged at this debate about decriminalization. I mean talk about total fake.
A final note about U.S cities such as S.F, NYC and Seattle that you cited and how they are. Our American friends in these forums constantly remind us of how wealthy these very cities are. NYC and S.F metro's both have a larger GDP than Toronto metro so are they failed city states?
I think we have to move away from becoming a society that constantly labels groups of humans and start looking at problems as collective societal and human problems. We've become far too judgemental and almost angry at different. There was a time Conservatives in this country were considered Progressive. Progress doesn't have to be a left or right thing. It sometimes can be about just making the right decisions.
The city of Toronto does need money. This isn't Olivia Chow's fault. While i'm not big fan of increased taxes, i'm not sure what other alternative there is. We lived under Tory in Toronto for what almost 9 years and his incredible fiscal management, but yet Toronto is in the hole a billion dollars. We are living under a Conservative Premier for what over 5 years now and yet Toronto the engine of the Province is struggling fiscally under Ford's watch as well. So this is something Chow is inheriting. I therefore find it kind of rich those who talk about how well conservatives manage finances that often times they are equally if not more responsible for putting us in the red. Socially I would agree with you though, Tory was not really a Conservative and fiscally I have no idea what he was. Putting Toronto in the black he was not. Perhaps he, one of the good ole boys was too busy with other pursuits...
As for decriminalization of drugs - I don't know if you live in Ontario or not but I live in a small city in Southwestern Ontario. It is a pretty blue city - M.P and M.P.P are both Conservative and yet it suffers heavily from those addicted to drugs, particularly fentanyl and meth. There are available naloxone kits at Shoppers Drug Mart here for example. This is an issue that plagues blue cities, red cities and everything in between. Decriminalization isn't something you should dismiss wholesale. Drug addiction is incredibly complex issue and solving it isn't about locking addicts up in jail. We need holistic solutions that reduce stigmatization and increase mental health supports for them in a non-judgemental and supporting environment.
HIV for example will still be spread via sharing needles regardless if it is decriminalized or not, but with decriminalization it will reduce stigma and more people do actually seek help for these issues. HIV is highly treatable and those on treatment will not be able to spread it. Those who are afraid and stigmatized by a society due to legal ramifications of their addiction, will simply suffer with it and their drug habit and actually spread the disease and are less likely to seek help for a complex problem causing their drug addictions. Sweeping things under the rug doesn't make them go away and for all the criminalization of drugs - not just in Canada but in the U.S and other countries where has it gotten us? They are rampant so jailing addicts and pretending they will be afraid acquiring their drugs due to it being a crime is pretty naive. Do you not also find it ironic and almost ridiculous how Doug Ford is outraged at this debate about decriminalization. I mean talk about total fake.
A final note about U.S cities such as S.F, NYC and Seattle that you cited and how they are. Our American friends in these forums constantly remind us of how wealthy these very cities are. NYC and S.F metro's both have a larger GDP than Toronto metro so are they failed city states?
Not saying they are failed cities but many Americans would argue that that is the case, or are heading in that direction. Certainly you hear that a lot about SF.
Not saying they are failed cities but many Americans would argue that that is the case, or are heading in that direction. Certainly you hear that a lot about SF.
They definitely have their issues but when it comes to drugs and addictions, this is something that is a problem across N.A regardless of whether it is in conservative or liberal areas. This is in an environment of criminalization as well so I don't think that decriminalizing alone will increase problems but sure, its also the manner in which it is done and ensuring a proper support network is in place. I can't however imagine spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money per head, putting addicts through the legal system and then jailing them in a penitentiary system that is more about punishment than rehabilitation, is a good answer for the problem.
fiscal management of a city is a different thing and as I stated - we've had 9 year of John Tory management and that wasn't fiscal brilliance either. How is Plante doing in Montreal vs Coderre? Ideologically I imagine she is more Chow like than Tory or Coderre. Interesting too that Canada's largest cities are now run by women. Maybe not a bad thing.
Last edited by fusion2; 07-18-2023 at 11:01 AM..
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