Toronto is Booming, but how?

[KamT]

I never argue or continue arguing when a thread gets off topic.... but I have one question..

Why can't we just let the pot stir it's self? I find these match-ups quite interesting, although I'm personally neutral. You can always get some info out of everything, and then you can make your own personal judgment, right Taller?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

+1 times ten.
What will be, will be. There is many a slip twixt cup and lip.

I wouldn't have posted it if I knew it would create such a shit storm. I guess it just takes one person to set things off. Sad really.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by KamT

You can always get some info out of everything, and then you can make your own personal judgment, right Taller?

You'd think so, wouldn't you? That was the biggest shock since joining online sites like this.

[Taller, Better]

In the old days they used to just let the pot stir itself, and most threads descended into mayhem. Same thing happened on SSP. Arguing becomes nasty fast and people fell to the lowest common denominator. Lots of members quit, especially in the Canada forums. Whenever we have threads here that go off topic by speculating extrapolations with NYC or Chicago, inevitably we get swarmed with angry posters from those cities. I'm not a baby-sitter so I just don't feel like editing and reprimanding people every five minutes.
If I don't moderate, and let threads here go all to Hell, people complain bitterly about it. If I intervene and nip it in the bud, they still complain about it. Can't have it both ways, I suppose.

Finding out how hard it was to try and please everyone was the biggest shock for me since joining as a moderator, but I've gotten over it.

[softee]

CTV news story about Toronto's condo boom.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=7...binId=1.810401

[Taller, Better]

The woman they interviewed on King Street in front of the PWT said that "People don't visit a city to see condos even if they are designed by Gehry", and seems to be missing the point that people come to see shows regardless of what theatre they are produced in; they don't really come to Toronto to see The Princess of Wales Theatre itself. The way I see it, this isn't about increasing bus tours from Upstate New York, anyway, it is about city building for the people of Toronto.... but there is a "Condos are Bad" movement that seems to be widespread.

[KamT]

Yupp, it's tough to moderate. Agree with erry thang you said Taller.

[Taller, Better]

It really isn't easy.... often people approve highly of scrappy threads until they personally get insulted, and then they send me a note to help out. If I close it before the point that they personally take umbrage, they are mad at me for intervening and claim the thread should just be left to its own devices. The thing is, a thread that is harmless to one person often can be alienating or insulting to another. I try to walk the fine line and keep most people reasonably happy; but no doubt someone else will be moderator here some day and perhaps things will be run differently!

[ACT7]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

The woman they interviewed on King Street in front of the PWT said that "People don't visit a city to see condos even if they are designed by Gehry", and seems to be missing the point that people come to see shows regardless of what theatre they are produced in; they don't really come to Toronto to see The Princess of Wales Theatre itself. The way I see it, this isn't about increasing bus tours from Upstate New York, anyway, it is about city building for the people of Toronto.... but there is a "Condos are Bad" movement that seems to be widespread.

I agree, losing a theater sounds bad on the surface, but I don't think anyone could criticize the Mirvish family for ignoring the arts in Toronto. If he's not filling a theater, and he has a plan to still bring people down to the area, then I say more power to him. This is not the end of live theater in Toronto. It's still one of the largest theater centers in the world.

[yin_yang]

Originally Posted by Epi

The problem with Toronto is that we lack the political will to build even more transit. More or less we're just maxing out what we've already got. As well, because houses dominate most of the landscape, you'd have to evict a LOT of people to completely recreate them into high density neighbourhoods. And as houses within the city get ever more expensive, it will be increasingly impossible get rid of these houses as they will be too expensive to buy up, and filled with too many rich and powerful people to expropriate.

nah brah, look at vancouver. same thing. eventually, people will cash out on their houses (i'm talking about four or eight neighbours deciding to make some dough) and you'll see five/ten-level apartments/condos going up on side streets. that seems pretty obvious to me.

[Epi]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

It really isn't easy.... often people approve highly of scrappy threads until they personally get insulted, and then they send me a note to help out. If I close it before the point that they personally take umbrage, they are mad at me for intervening and claim the thread should just be left to its own devices. The thing is, a thread that is harmless to one person often can be alienating or insulting to another. I try to walk the fine line and keep most people reasonably happy; but no doubt someone else will be moderator here some day and perhaps things will be run differently!

It's too bad that these forums do require such a high degree of moderation and that people actually do go complain to you TB.

I think people just CARE too much. I could care less if someone on an online forum insults me. But then again I'm naturally argumentative, so it doesn't really bother me when people I know in real life do it either, it just makes me argue all the more back, but at the end of the day it's just an argument that means nothing to my overall life.

I have to say though, that sometimes in these very heated arguments in my life (online and not), especially if the other party is well informed as well, we both end up learning a lot.

[Taller, Better]

Oh well! No big deal; we'll survive without another Chicago vs Toronto vs New York argy-bargy!

[yin_yang]

suck it, trebek. suck it long, and suck it hard. like you mother.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK1jpywBQLM

[yin_yang]

"My advice to people today is as follows: If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out."

- "Dr." Timothy Leary

[Taller, Better]

Someone is going to have a headache in the morning! hehe....

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

Finding out how hard it was to try and please everyone was the biggest shock for me since joining as a moderator, but I've gotten over it.

You're doing a good job and most people realize why things have to be the way they are. It's just sad that its like that.

[isaidso]

So when do people attribute Toronto's current boom to have started? 2006?

It seems like the condo boom isn't just confined to downtown Toronto either. That's a good thing as the outer areas could do with a lot of intensification. Here is a list of the % increase in the number of condo units built from 2007 to 2012 by area (Globe & Mail).

Oakville +700%
East York +261%
Aurora +261%
Etobicoke +116%
Scarborough +115%
Vaughan +88%
Toronto +84%
Markham +80%
Richmond Hill +77%
North York +57%
Brampton +4%
York -27%
Mississauga -30%

Full article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle4592690/

[isaidso]

Scarborough could do with double/triple the population that currently lives there. It's not very dense at all. They could keep the detached residential neighbourhoods as is, but convert the mile after mile of strip malls on the main arteries to an apron of far denser structures.

[icemachine]

I'm just upset that Harvey's sold their founding location on Yonge in Richmond Hill to become this http://www.xpressioncondos.com/thebuilding

[Epi]

Originally Posted by isaidso

You're doing a good job and most people realize why things have to be the way they are. It's just sad that its like that.

Agreed! +1 TB