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You are correct, I just want a grocery store near where I live as quickly as possible! But it's been an interesting Friday afternoon discussion. Who knew that a grocery store discussion can connect to themes of cultural elitism, heritage, culture, the immigrant experience etc. Thank goodness...

Ask new immigrants whether they think Toronto is banal and ugly - you'd be surprised at the answers. To a lot of new immigrants I've spoken to - Toronto is a beautiful city. The Lalani Group story was very interesting - but I didn't really see a huge turnout demanding that the heritage...

Did someone actually make this argument?

Yes, I do have a distaste for cultural elitism! And trust me, all "cultures" are guilty of cultural elitism - all of them give me indigestion.

You're correct in that in this case the direct economic cost would be borne by Loblaws (putting aside the fact that it probably increases the time in which the store can be turned around and the indirect cost will be passed onto the consumer). However, the larger point I was making is that it...

Now now grey, I hope we can have a discussion more nuanced than what your summary above portrays. It's intellectual laziness to confuse racism with cultural-elitism.. I view discussions equating culture and "old" buildings to be cultural elitism - not racist. The overall discussion had...

Grey - now things get more interesting! :) Your counter illustrates the point that I'm trying to make - that when normal folks hear the term "cultural value" in reference to a building made in the 1920s - the "stop the gravy train" part of the brain kicks in. For most people, it is just about...

I don't advocate tearing them all out either - just the ones where the utility of the proposed "new" building is more than the additional cost of retaining the "architectural heritage". Further, I'm making the larger point that "heritage talk" feels like elitist talk - which works against the...

Rebecca, that's exactly my point - heritage should be on the short end of the stick. At it's best, it's a romantic notion filled with very iffy words like "history", "past treasures", "culture". At it's worst, it's an elitist puff of smoke similar to people arguing over trends in women's...

FAC33 - There's definitely some value in making the attempt to preserve "heritage" (I'll use the term heritage - but I mean it in the specific context of this topic). My issue is that there's a cost to preserving heritage, and for me (admittedly, not a historian, but a resident of the area who...

I'm with you on the definition - I'm questioning why is "architectural value" important in the first place? I am suggesting that utility (in this case a grocery store in an underserved area of the city) should ALWAYS trump "architectural/historical value". The reason is that...

But I want to understand why these are "treasures"? What purpose do they serve that couldn't be served better by just looking at a picture of them? I don't know about you, but I have better things to do than to stand outside an old/heritage building and "admire" the history of it. It's like...

Can't wait! But seriously - all this talk about preserving heritage buildings is getting silly - should we try to preserve heritage toilets that stain and barely flush in our homes? Personally, I think the old buildings look UGLY - I want steel and glass and modernity. I want buildings...

Who cares? It's an old building from when people were barely getting pulled around in horse-drawn buggies. Tear the old crap down - we need a grocery store there as quickly and as cheaply as possible. I won't miss something that I had no personal connection too - my name ain't Galen!