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Perceptions of Accesible Retail Downtown

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DSC said:
You clearly have too much money - or think others do.
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Quite the opposite, I probably have less money then anyone on this board. Hence the reason I don't feel sorry for anyone if they don't have a grocery store that's walking distance from them when they chose to live downtown to enjoy the many perks living downtown has to offer that I would like to enjoy.
 
C-mac said:
much cheaper then having to own a car.
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For a typical, middle or lower-middle income earner (never mind a low-income earner) living downtown, any savings from not owning a car are fully allocated to the increased cost of housing whether owning or renting.

The budget of many households is sufficiently strained than adding the above, even on a weekly basis would be a burden ($68 per month); but many downtown residents have smaller fridges, fewer cupboards, no storage room/pantry, and no chest freezer, and as such, shops will be at least 2x per week; making the taxi cost more like $136 per month.

****

With great respect, I think you have a very suburban world view. The vast majority of urbanites in Toronto, Vancouver, NYC, London or Paris would not consider 3km a reasonable distance to grocery.
 
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Guys we can sit here and go back and forth all you want. New buildings in the area didn't cause every home in DT to have an "unwalkable" supermarket. This issue that was brought up was the OP is concerned that a cluster of new people in his area will cause the current supermarket to break under the new found business in 5 years. The current locations of the supermarkets and there distance is nothing new and people DT are apparently making work as I don't see to many complaints. So this is now suddenly a problem?
 
C-mac said:
Quite the opposite, I probably have less money then anyone on this board. Hence the reason I don't feel sorry for anyone if they don't have a grocery store that's walking distance from them when they chose to live downtown to enjoy the many perks living downtown has to offer that I would like to enjoy.
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I'm sure one of those perks of living downtown that you'd love to enjoy is having a supermarket within walking distance. The idea that people should be ubering to get their groceries when they live 3 blocks from Yonge street is one of the strangest takes I've heard on this forum. Living downtown is a financial trade off too. It's not like people that live downtown automatically also have enough money to afford ubering everywhere. Living downtown you also avoid a lot of expenses, such as a car, maintaining a large property/living space, etc. So to say that "people who live downtown can automatically afford ubering to get groceries" is ignoring the reality of downtown living for a lot of people.
 
C-mac said:
Guys we can sit here and go back and forth all you want. New buildings in the area didn't cause every home in DT to have an "unwalkable" supermarket. This issue that was brought up was the OP is concerned that a cluster of new people in his area will cause the current supermarket to break under the new found business in 5 years. The current locations of the supermarkets and there distance is nothing new and people DT are apparently making work as I don't see to many complaints. So this is now suddenly a problem?
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Not many of us disagree with your assessment that the market will likely take care of that particular point and indeed grocery stores will likely open up nearby as density increases. I think we all just find it strange that you suggest ubering to get groceries when living downtown is actually reasonable.
 
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Northern Light said:
For a typical, middle or lower-middle income earner (never mind a low-income earner) living downtown, any savings from not owning a car are fully allocated to the increased cost of housing whether owning or renting.

The budget of many households is sufficiently strained than adding the above, even on a weekly basis would be a burden ($68 per month); but many downtown residents have smaller fridges, fewer cupboards, no storage room/pantry, and no chest freezer, and as such, shops will be at least 2x per week; making the taxi cost more like $136 per month.

****

With great respect, I think you have a very suburban world view. The vast majority of urbanites in Toronto, Vancouver, NYC, London or Paris would not consider 3km a reasonable distance to grocery.
Click to expand...

Okay, and with great respect back, there are pros and cons to living in DT and suburban living. For example, the only thing that keeps me living in the suburb is I like to go golfing once in a while, and I need a car for that. Otherwise I would ditch my car and move DT. Between my presto pass, and the $136 taxi fair to get my groceries, I still come out way a head then it cost me to run my car. Between my lease payment, insurance, gas, and maintenance on the car, my budget is sufficiently strained and I can't live DT like I want to, so we all have challenges and make sacrifices based on what's important to us.

I still don't understand the solutiion to how it's possible that every single home DT can be walkable to the full service supermarkets.
 
SKULL_KRUSHER said:
Not many of us disagree with your assessment that the market will likely take care of that particular point and indeed grocery stores will likely open up nearby as density increases. I think we all just find it strange that you suggest ubering to get groceries when living downtown is actually reasonable.
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I find it's strange that everyone think it's reasonable that every single home DT should be walkable from a supermarket. *shrugs shoulders*
 
SKULL_KRUSHER said:
I'm sure one of those perks of living downtown that you'd love to enjoy is having a supermarket within walking distance. The idea that people should be ubering to get their groceries when they live 3 blocks from Yonge street is one of the strangest takes I've heard on this forum. Living downtown is a financial trade off too. It's not like people that live downtown automatically also have enough money to afford ubering everywhere. Living downtown you also avoid a lot of expenses, such as a car, maintaining a large property/living space, etc. So to say that "people who live downtown can automatically afford ubering to get groceries" is ignoring the reality of downtown living for a lot of people.
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So you think the past bunch of decades everyone downtown lived within a walking distance of a supermarket?
 
C-mac said:
So you think the past bunch of decades everyone downtown lived within a walking distance of a supermarket?
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Never have I ever said that. Regardless of how crappy it might've been in the past, I stand by what I think we should strive for now. Walking distance to a supermarket when you live 3 blocks from Yonge street makes sense to me. Downtown rent is also a lot more expensive than it used to be. There is more traffic downtown than there used to be. Things change. Our ideals shouldn't.
 
SKULL_KRUSHER said:
Never have I ever said that. Regardless of how crappy it might've been in the past, I stand by what I think we should strive for now. Walking distance to a supermarket when you live 3 blocks from Yonge street makes sense to me. Downtown rent is also a lot more expensive than it used to be. There is more traffic downtown than there used to be. Things change. Our ideals shouldn't.
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but what makes sense to you and what you think we should we strive for is a completely different conversation no matter how "Loves" DSC gives your posts.

The fact of the matter is, it's not realistic. Not every home in DT Toronto can be within walking distance from a supermarket, it just can't be. I think every home in the suburbs should be walking distance from a supermarket too as lots of people can't afford a vehicle in the suburbs, and that's not possible either. These are for profit companies, and if it doesn't make business sense for them to open up a location, the won't.

So what exactly are we discussing here?
 
C-mac said:
Okay, and with great respect back, there are pros and cons to living in DT and suburban living. For example, the only thing that keeps me living in the suburb is I like to go golfing once in a while, and I need a car for that. Otherwise I would ditch my car and move DT. Between my presto pass, and the $136 taxi fair to get my groceries, I still come out way a head then it cost me to run my car. Between my lease payment, insurance, gas, and maintenance on the car, my budget is sufficiently strained and I can't live DT like I want to, so we all have challenges and make sacrifices based on what's important to us.

I still don't understand the solutiion to how it's possible that every single home DT can be walkable to the full service supermarkets.
Click to expand...
You seem to think it's not unreasonable to take a cab to get groceries if you live downtown, so why not ditch your car and use an auto share when you want to golf? Couldn't be all that much if it's only once in a while.
 
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