海角社区官网

Toronto鈥檚 best days are ahead of us, but we鈥檝e got to get a bunch of things right to get there.

Think of 海角社区官网as a teenager. Teenagers have growing pains and are awkward. They act out, make wrong decisions. Mistakes and missteps. Sometimes they need to be punished. They can have tempestuous relationships with their parents who boss them around, sometimes unfairly, and control their allowance.

It鈥檚 also the most exciting time of life, because the future is full of potential and could be great. Teenagers are works in progress, and so is Toronto. But living through the teenage years can be frustrating and fraught.

Toronto’s civic youthfulness can鈥檛 be understated. Parts of the city were still farmland in living memory of boomers and some gen-Xers. Scarborough City Centre, along with the Scarborough Town Centre mall, went from farm to 鈥渄owntown鈥� almost overnight in the 1970s.

Considering the age of some other major cities (thousands of years compared to Toronto鈥檚 couple of hundred) the speed at which 海角社区官网has grown is remarkable. The challenges that came with that growth can make quieter days in the recent past seem like better days. But were they?

I think about old photos of Yonge Street before the subway opened in 1954. Yonge was absolutely jammed and streetcars were backed up in traffic, much like today on other streets. 海角社区官网has always been a city that grows fast and then infrastructure catches up, fixing it for a while. There always has been an infrastructure lag here.

I also think of other old photographs from the 1990s, when 海角社区官网was a sea of parking lots. Like a lot of North American cities, 海角社区官网cannibalized itself, destroying its thick urban form to make room for cars. If we could go back to mid-1990s 海角社区官网we鈥檇 be shocked at how much empty space there was.

海角社区官网is lucky because the quarter-century-long building boom filled most of them back in. That alone is a reason 海角社区官网is better now: there鈥檚 simply more of it. It used to be a thinner city. Related, and in living memory too, was a city where it was possible to drive and park very close to destinations relatively easily. That鈥檚 an impossible expectation now, but it still exists and explains some of the resistance to transit priority lanes and other projects today.

Of course, some people pine for that smaller, quieter, thinner Toronto, and that鈥檚 fine. A big city may not be for them, but 海角社区官网has always had ambitions to be bigger.

Nostalgia plays a part here. People’s聽memories of the past aren鈥檛 always trustworthy: a聽good period for one person might have been terrible for somebody else.

For instance, many people are fond of early-to-mid-1990s 海角社区官网because it was cheap and easy to find housing or artist and workshop space, but that happened partly because a devastating recession and deindustrialization destroyed local economies and put thousands, especially the working class, out of jobs. Nostalgia doesn鈥檛 always see the bigger picture as it鈥檚 a personal view.

Today there鈥檚 never been more to do in Toronto, with more people from more places around the world doing interesting things. We are filled with arts, culture and sports: when people say there’s nothing to do in Toronto, that’s on them. 海角社区官网may have been better in the past for some, but it was also considered boring and downright provincial by others. Remember, the 鈥満＝巧缜偻鴗he Good鈥� nickname wasn鈥檛 always meant as a compliment. The food scene alone is another reason to love 海角社区官网today versus its meat-and-potatoes past.

Other low marks in the report card hint at why people are pessimistic: not everyone gets to participate in all of today鈥檚 good stuff. Particularly the affordability problem: if you can鈥檛 afford to live in the city, it makes enjoying it or being a creator or independent entrepreneur difficult and joyless. Thinking of 海角社区官网as a teenager puts the report card results into perspective.

海角社区官网needs to grow up in some areas, like allowing more forms of housing and density in all neighbourhoods. As a young adult, 海角社区官网needs more independence too. Maybe we鈥檒l get a provincial government that doesn鈥檛 meddle in local affairs as much.

Of late, Queen鈥檚 Park is behaving like an overbearing helicopter parent, one who is especially miserly and controlling when it comes to the allowance. In 海角社区官网this translates into a long list of 鈥渦nfunded projects,鈥� ones that would help the city grow up and get better report card grades.

Teenage 海角社区官网has everything it needs to be cool and fun now, but it needs some help to get to adulthood successfully.