Toronto: Love it or hate it?

[Ostrozac]

If you are casting your net over the entire GTA for crime stories to post, with a population of over 6 million ( that was back in 2011 ), you should be able to find plenty.

Agreed. While there are lots of criminals in the GTA in terms of raw numbers, there are many, many more law-abiding people, and on a per capita basis, the GTA is actually quite safe. Stats Can's most recent numbers list Toronto as 41st in the country in terms of violent crime, when measured per capita; Thompson, Manitoba is #1 and the only city in Ontario to even make the top 10 is Belleville (at #8).

 

[Jarnhamar]

Seems to me like the GTA is turning into a shooting gallery. Whole cities aren't on fire mind you but shootings are steadily on a rise.

Editing to add: Have you noticed when it benefits an argument "Toronto" quickly gets lumped in with the rest of the GTA which is 6 million people and 7100 km2, so a pretty big deal.

When it doesn't, Toronto shouldn't be confused with the GTA who are essentially other cities.

 

[mariomike]

Not to play "house porn". But, this is what a million $ buys in Toronto,
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/this-toronto-house-just-hit-the-market-for-1-million-1.5040276

 

[observor 69]

A Million $ isn't what it used to be.  :not-again:  Especially in GTA real estate.

 

[mariomike]

A Million $ isn't what it used to be.  :not-again:  Especially in GTA real estate.

Guess not.

It sold for $800,000 over asking price. $1.8 million. 
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/this-tiny-toronto-house-just-sold-for-800k-over-asking-1.5072243

On the market for 17 days.

 

[shawn5o]

Toronto - the copy-cat city of America. Now the citizens are mimicking(?) the rioters stateside.


Toronto mob swarm and attack police cruisers

Videos of the incident show members of the mob climb and surround officers who were responding to reports of stunt driving near the Toronto Zoo

BY TRUE NORTH WIRE
SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

A mob of people swarmed and attacked Toronto police cruisers responding to illegal street racing on Saturday.

Videos of the incident show members of the mob climb and surround officers who were responding to reports of stunt driving near the Toronto Zoo.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1305622084060471296

“Three Toronto Police Service (TPS) scout cars were surrounded by the motor vehicles, and by others who were on foot,” a police source told the Toronto Sun.
“A few members of the crowd climbed onto the TPS scout cars and began jumping on top of them. Others in the crowd kicked the scout cars.”
True North

However, the crowd soon dispersed when police arrived. How typically Canadian, eh

 

[mariomike]

However, the crowd soon dispersed when police arrived. How typically Canadian, eh

Gotta love Progress Ave. and Kennedy Rd. 

This is one method of crowd control. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABBQw6Ffbb8

"The troops are on their way! I repeat, the troops are on their way!!!"

 

[shawn5o]

Gotta love Progress Ave. and Kennedy Rd. 

This is one method of crowd control. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABBQw6Ffbb8

"The troops are on their way! I repeat, the troops are on their way!!!"

Are you sure it wasn't "the scoops are on their way!"?

Love those football helmets

[

 

[mariomike]

What $3.5 million gets these days.

Breathtaking house in Toronto famous for Google Home ads hits the market at $3.5 million

A Toronto triplex, known for appearing in Google Home ads and for its renovation from a traditional single-family home to a three-unit modern buildin…

www.blogto.com

 

[FormerHorseGuard]

I lived in Toronto every summer from age 4 till 13 with my grandparents in Willowdale ( Willowdale and Shepard area near the park close to the 401) then to Downsview on Keele Street right across from what is now the former Officer PMQs. Then I was on Class B for better part of 5 years at CFB Toronto. So I consider myself a kid who grew up in Toronto but went to boarding school in the Ottawa Valley ( at my parents home) .

I loved Toronto as a kid, could not wait to be allowed to go off and explore the city the summer I turned 12 on my own. I went every where, rode the subway every Sunday night after supper till dark, just exploring the stations and the city. I enjoyed my time on the Base from 20 till 25. I have taken my kids there for day trips and events. But I have a hard time sleeping there now, the noise , the changes in the neighbourhood where I grew up. Nothing was the same, I did not really expect it to be the same and sound the same but wow. What was empty space one summer was a construction site the next, then 25 000 homes were built behind the apartment building. The local plaza is now almost as big as some malls in Ottawa. The Jane Finch area was never nice but it seems to have changed and not for the better. ( Who puts a major University in a high crime and low income area?) The subway system I need 2 days of just riding it to see it all again and learn how to get around again. The downtown core is now so different and changed, not sure where to go any more. I love Toronto, I will visit but never sleep there again.

 

[PL90]

Never been there, would like to visit one day.

 

[mariomike]

The subway system I need 2 days of just riding it to see it all again and learn how to get around again. The downtown core is now so different and changed, not sure where to go any more. I love Toronto, I will visit but never sleep there again.

Toronto has the busiest highway ( by far ) in North America running through it. It moves over half a million vehicles every single day. It's 22 lanes wide now. That's because the Greater Golden Horseshoe is home to over 9.5 million Canadians. Almost a third of the country's population. The 401 is the only free highway crossing the region.

The 407 helps, but it is a private toll highway, so many don't use it.

I can't tolerate traffic, and need my peace and quiet. Our area is hilly terrain shaded by massive oak trees. It's a secluded enclave where traffic is so scarce there are no sidewalks. Exactly the way I like it.

 

[lenaitch]

I lived in Toronto every summer from age 4 till 13 with my grandparents in Willowdale ( Willowdale and Shepard area near the park close to the 401) then to Downsview on Keele Street right across from what is now the former Officer PMQs. Then I was on Class B for better part of 5 years at CFB Toronto. So I consider myself a kid who grew up in Toronto but went to boarding school in the Ottawa Valley ( at my parents home) .

I loved Toronto as a kid, could not wait to be allowed to go off and explore the city the summer I turned 12 on my own. I went every where, rode the subway every Sunday night after supper till dark, just exploring the stations and the city. I enjoyed my time on the Base from 20 till 25. I have taken my kids there for day trips and events. But I have a hard time sleeping there now, the noise , the changes in the neighbourhood where I grew up. Nothing was the same, I did not really expect it to be the same and sound the same but wow. What was empty space one summer was a construction site the next, then 25 000 homes were built behind the apartment building. The local plaza is now almost as big as some malls in Ottawa. The Jane Finch area was never nice but it seems to have changed and not for the better. ( Who puts a major University in a high crime and low income area?) The subway system I need 2 days of just riding it to see it all again and learn how to get around again. The downtown core is now so different and changed, not sure where to go any more. I love Toronto, I will visit but never sleep there again.

The Jane/Finch area started out just as typical '60s suburbia with some public housing. As a teen I drove delivery for a restaurant and we would often venture into the area at 0200 with a pocket full of cash and thing nothing of it. When York U was first built it was largely surrounded by fields and people wondered why they would put a university 'way up there'.

As kids, we thought nothing of going downtown late at night and just wander around. If we missed the last train, we'd walk home - to Finch and Bathurst (oh, to be that young).

 

[Weinie]

The Jane/Finch area started out just as typical '60s suburbia with some public housing. As a teen I drove delivery for a restaurant and we would often venture into the area at 0200 with a pocket full of cash and thing nothing of it. When York U was first built it was largely surrounded by fields and people wondered why they would put a university 'way up there'.

As kids, we thought nothing of going downtown late at night and just wander around. If we missed the last train, we'd walk home - to Finch and Bathurst (oh, to be that young).

I was in TO from 1990 til 2002. When you went to Wonderland, you drove up the 400 through a bunch of farmed fields on each side, and then could see the roller coasters from miles away, which heightened the anticipation.

Went back about 5 years ago, anticipating/expecting that same feeling. Drove up the 400, with now massive subdivisions built on both sides of the road. Couldn't see Wonderland until we were about 1/2 a klick away, and then only the very tops of the rides. It has been swallowed by the sprawl.

 

[mariomike]

I think real estate prices will continue to increase because the Greenbelt is protected. That effectively turns Toronto into an island.

Also the zoning laws.

The future has arrived and you don’t have to go far to see it. Just look up. They call it Manhattanization.

​

 

[FJAG]

Grew up in Toronto (all but one year in Scarborough) from 1958 to 1969. My last time there was passing through on the 401 in 2009 when I moved from Ottawa to Blenheim. I live 200 kms away now and have absolutely no desire to ever go back (although I drove the same distance from Brandon to Winnipeg at least monthly). Not that I hate the place; I just couldn't be bothered. There's nothing there that interests me enough to put up with the drive.

 

[lenaitch]

I think real estate prices will continue to increase because the Greenbelt is protected. That effectively turns Toronto into an island.

Also the zoning laws.

The future has arrived and you don’t have to go far to see it. Just look up. They call it Manhattanization.

​

Although it seems the current government is trying punch holes in the Greenbelt.

Grew up in Toronto (all but one year in Scarborough) from 1958 to 1969. My last time there was passing through on the 401 in 2009 when I moved from Ottawa to Blenheim. I live 200 kms away now and have absolutely no desire to ever go back (although I drove the same distance from Brandon to Winnipeg at least monthly). Not that I hate the place; I just couldn't be bothered. There's nothing there that interests me enough to put up with the drive.

I'm the same (about 160km). The odd trip down to visit the FinL at the Sunnybrook Vets Ctr and to Lee Valley. Left in '73 - was posted back from '83 to '95 but always lived north of the city and commuted.

I'm just not a city person. Not even really a town person - haven't lived in one since '83.

 

[Weinie]

Although it seems the current government is trying punch holes in the Greenbelt.

I'm the same (about 160km). The odd trip down to visit the FinL at the Sunnybrook Vets Ctr and to Lee Valley. Left in '73 - was posted back from '83 to '95 but always lived north of the city and commuted.

I was there from 90 til way after you left. Worked in Base HQ and then LFCA. We may have crossed paths. (sports, bars, mess etc.) Where did you work?

 

[lenaitch]

I was there from 90 til way after you left. Worked in Base HQ and then LFCA. We may have crossed paths. (sports, bars, mess etc.) Where did you work?

Sorry - OPP. Haven't been in a mess since we hung around CFS Sioux Lookout in the late '70s.

 

[Halifax Tar]

After a particularly ruckus post match rugby "social" where as an 18 year old after having played my first snr mens game I had to be poured out of a cab at 8pm and swiftly carried by the scruff of my neck and then chucked on to my bed by my prison guard father, who I will admit had been patient with my growing rebelliousness. But that needed it.

I woke up in the morning and he threw a news paper and letter at me and told me find a place to live he will pay my first and last, my mother told me to go to mass. Gotta love the Irish lol

After mass I came home to search the paper and opened the letter first and it was an acceptance letter to George Brown College in TO. Well I thought, I guess I'm going to college.

I still had to leave the house to go live with my OPP uncle lol. August rolled around and Dad had the Ford Areostar loaded and drove me to TO.

That was 1998. I learned so much in Toronto for that year. Dropped out of college, hooked up with the Tor Nomads Rugby Club, they found me work in demolitions, butchering and bartending. I had a blast in that city. And learned allot of life lessons. After a year or so I came back to Kingston and joined the Naval Reserve and the rest is history.

I have driven through a ton going up to Borden and I still love the city. I visit when I can. But I do love big cities.