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Is it time to move to the suburbs?

Homeless people are the only group of people I admire: true pioneers and free spirits! As a Libertarian idealist, I love their attitude towards life!

I love chatting with homeless people--the other week on the danforth some guy outside an lcbo asked me for change. So I asked him what his favourite beverage was and promptly bought a round of drinks for us! A very amusing bit of community service don't y'all think?

I have a feeling many of you kids ranting about downtown still live with your parents, probably are middle class suburbanites and venture outside of your "ghetto" less often than a homeless guy changes his underwear!
 
I'm quite bothered by the attitude of most non-city dwellers that homelessness is a "Toronto problem" or a "downtown problem". The homeless in our cities originate in all parts of the country: in the suburbs, rural areas, small towns, and reservations. They migrate to the city because it offers at least some semblance of support, a shelter system (inadequate as some feel it is) and anonymity to blend into the background without feeling like the town's freak show.
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lordmandeep said:
of course they like Toronto because we have laxed rules here and they have free reign here.
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I think "free reign" is an exaggeration; cities have always held more anonymity, because of the population density, and that's a key reason why you always see homeless in cities and rarely in rural areas. A "homeless community" emerges and becomes more visible, and therefore harder to ignore, which leads to the creation of shelters, soup kitchens, and other kinds of support -- because although many of us may be annoyed by some homeless, most of us aren't willing to stand by and watch them freeze to death en mass every January.

And to clarify a bit, I'm not implying that having a large number of homeless is good, of course, or that we should let them harass the public at will: the same laws apply to homeless people as anyone else. We need to find a way to fix these serious problems.
 
I think it is stupid to say people are homeless simply because the law is not tough enough, that the law should deal punishment to people who are homeless.
 
"When you have young children, just going out to see a movie and dining at Casey's is a treat. Dining out at Susur's and going to the opera would be something you could probably do once or twice a year. You definitely don't need to live downtown or mid-town in that case."

It's not so much the big ticket amenities that matter but try to put yourself into the perspective of a young mother with a baby. It's the walkability factor that matters. Being able to walk to a park or coffee shop or store with your baby/child without having to suit up the car, pack and unpack the vehicle etc. is extremely liberating. It's not that you can't find this quality of life factor in the suburbs or a small town but that it is less likely you will have access to such simple daily pleasures as getting out of the house for a few hours.
 
Walkability is certainly a consideration. However, as it's been suggested in other posts, you also don't want to walk around with a small child and get harrassed by people asking you for money at every corner or feel in any way threatened by the behaviour of others. It will be very interesting to see whether we will have more families who decide to live downtown in the next ten years or whether families continue to move out to the suburbs.
 
Other than the occasional beggar outside the Bloor West LCBO and the slumbering High Park bum (i hate the park it's boring--but all the Russians seem to love it--they control the tennis courts there--ugly and in decay) High Park/Bloor West/Junction is empty of panhandlers. As for downtown, walk down any residential street (far more interesting imho) instead of Yonge, Bloor, Queen etc and you'll be lucky if you see more than 10 people period. No bums on Robert or Delaware St!

Out here no bums on Mavety, no bums on Glenlake, no bums on Quebec! (err...wait a minute: u mean i don't have a bum?;)

Scared of those less fortunate than you? Then check out the homeless people in Mexico City!
 
That's true, there are certain areas of downtown where there aren't a lot of people asking you for change. I guess I can only speak about the area of downtown that I'm in. You don't want to be pushing a stroller down Yonge St.
 
urbandreamer said:
Homeless people are the only group of people I admire: true pioneers and free spirits! As a Libertarian idealist, I love their attitude towards life!

I love chatting with homeless people--the other week on the danforth some guy outside an lcbo asked me for change. So I asked him what his favourite beverage was and promptly bought a round of drinks for us! A very amusing bit of community service don't y'all think?

I have a feeling many of you kids ranting about downtown still live with your parents, probably are middle class suburbanites and venture outside of your "ghetto" less often than a homeless guy changes his underwear!
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i was talking to a homeless guy for about an hour or more. we were shooting the shit and i was asking him how he ended up on the street, what he does in the wintertime etc. it was pretty depressing. what put him on the street was an injury and the ability not to work anymore. he can't afford to pay such high rents. he sometimes finds shelter in abandoned homes but often looses that shelter because kids come into the place while he is gone and cause serious damage.


while i was talking to him he offered me a beer and didn't ask for any money. he actually felt very sympathetic toward my disability and struggle and offered to get me an electric mobility scooter through one of his contacts.

after talking to this guy, i got the impression that the reason why he ended up on the street is because of his good nature, being taken advantage of. i told him not to worry about me and to focus on his own problems and struggles rather than those of others. i also told him where he could find free things in the area such as clothes. when we parted our ways, he was very glad that i took the time to talk to him because most people treat him like shit.
 
Is that a violin I hear? sniff sniff :rolleyes:

Certainly there are people living on the street that have issues and they need to be treated with compassion. But there is clearly another segment simply too lazy to work. Like those 2 losers who live behind me in their half-million dollar Riverdale home. They are full of shit and people just suck it up.

Now please, turn off that violin music !!
 
Yup, homelessness has many sources, so a blanket condemnation is hardly fair.
 
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