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Seven ways to make Toronto a world-class city again

I work at an event space at the Bell Lightbox and yesterday served a group of city and hospitality planners from Indianapolous. Apparently, they take a trip every year to a new city they look up to, and to see what makes them so successful.

I found out that they all have major crushes on Toronto. they toured Kensington, the subway system, the waterfront, islands, St. Lawrence Market, etc etc.
I heard not one complaint from them about the city, or the people. In fact, they were commenting on how everyone they met were so hospitable... it kind of shocked them coming from such a large city.

A spokesperson from City Hall (TO) was also present saying that this year Portland and Houston are also coming to this city to do the exact same thing. Also he had a presentation on the mass amount of development the city has done for culture, tourism and the economy in general.
I never realized how much it was until he put it all on the table (ROM, AGO, Aga Khan, Ripleys, Waterfront revitilization, Union Station, West Donlands, Distillery District, Liberty Village) as well as major, yet not connected contributions (Ryerson's massive DT transformation, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Scotiabank's many sponsored festivals, etc)

From all of those things listed above we've managed to get international regognition from every major hotel chain, many five star chef's, corporate headquarters as well as G20 (not saying it was good) World Pride, Pan Am Games, 2016 Microsoft Convention and many future possibilities (World expo)

I had a definite sense of pride for seeing everything that has been going on since I've lived in this city, it was almost overwhelming seeing how much progress has been made and the rewards we've already recieved. There's still a lot to do (DRL, bike lanes, etc) but we've come so far from 10-15 years ago.

Also, everyone loves Drake.... like remaking his music videos at Harbour 60 type love.
 
Interesting post... I'd say it's akin to those who think Drake is one of he greatest rappers ever...while others think he's a complete joke....there are good points on either side. I see the Toronto-world class debate the same way.
 
I'm not saying we are world class, I just felt this was probably the best section to put it under. I could care less about world-class. There's a bakery across from me called "World Class Bakery" and it's anything but.
 
ryguy7787 said:
A spokesperson from City Hall (TO) was also present saying that this year Portland and Houston are also coming to this city to do the exact same thing. Also he had a presentation on the mass amount of development the city has done for culture, tourism and the economy in general.
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Was the City Hall guy a big, tall drink of water with his nose all over his face? If so, that's Mike Williams, a good friend of mine and a real booster for the city. He was really, really proud of how well the Pan Ams went -- it was his pet project for many a year.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Was the City Hall guy a big, tall drink of water with his nose all over his face? If so, that's Mike Williams, a good friend of mine and a real booster for the city. He was really, really proud of how well the Pan Ams went -- it was his pet project for many a year.
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Is that why RRR you take offence to me calling David Millers handling of the Pan Am games a fiasco? I am happy we had the Pan Am games and went to several events. But the point in getting the Pan Am is that its a step to the Olympics. If we aren't going for the big show then I don't see the reason in hosting the Pan Am especially if it meant that we had to make a deal with the garbage union during a strike just to get the city looking good to win the bid.
 
sixrings said:
Is that why RRR you take offence to me calling David Millers handling of the Pan Am games a fiasco? I am happy we had the Pan Am games and went to several events. But the point in getting the Pan Am is that its a step to the Olympics. If we aren't going for the big show then I don't see the reason in hosting the Pan Am especially if it meant that we had to make a deal with the garbage union during a strike just to get the city looking good to win the bid.
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No, I was against the Pan Ams for the same reason I am against the Olympics: In my opinion, hosting those kinds of events is a huge waste of money. The Olympics happens to be a much bigger waste of money, so I'm much more militant about them than I was about the Pan Ams (although IIRC I was pretty adamant that they were a terrible idea as well.) We got very lucky that the Pan Am athlete's village didn't turn into a fiasco, and I think Mike and his fellow organizers did very well to make the Pan Ams a really fun time for all. But I've had all these discussions with Mike, no reason to hash them out here (again.)

And, the point of the Pan Ams does not have to be 'it's a step to the Olympics'. That's your fantasy. Maybe the point of the Pan Ams should be 'let's put up some really, really big tents for next Caribana like they did for the Pan Am village restaurant and have an even better blowout than usual!'

Last, I didn't take offence to you calling Miller's handling of the Pan Ams a fiasco. I asked you why you thought that, and your reasoning was that it was tied up in your mind with the garbage strike. Since the garbage strike didn't affect the approval of the Pan Am games (we won the right to put them on, correct?), there was no 'Miller-Pan-Am-Games-fiasco'. So, my answer to you then, as now, is to say thanks for explaining your reasoning as it puzzled me.
 
ok fair enough.... I do think though that when you failed to get the Olympics on two separate bids and then you decide to go the Pan Am route it is natural for those around to think that Toronto is taking the Rio approach of Pan Am fist, Olympics second.

The thing is we must admit no one is going to broadcast those intentions if they have them. Its a big chess game with whatever you want as the prize.

Another example of this is that people complain David Miller did nothing on the DRL front and did TC instead. Well perhaps that's because he thought that eventually the Yonge line would be over capacity and then the provincial government and the feds would be forced to help fund it. So in this scenario it isn't that Miller didn't want a DRL it is just that he was using other transit (LRT) to make yonge more busy so that the other levels of government who don't usually help, would need to fund the DRL which Miller wanted to begin with. Why pay for it all yourself when you can do certain things in order to get others to come to the table with their wallets as well. I hope I explained that well enough.
 
sixrings said:
ok fair enough.... I do think though that when you failed to get the Olympics on two separate bids and then you decide to go the Pan Am route it is natural for those around to think that Toronto is taking the Rio approach of Pan Am fist, Olympics second.

The thing is we must admit no one is going to broadcast those intentions if they have them. Its a big chess game with whatever you want as the prize.

Another example of this is that people complain David Miller did nothing on the DRL front and did TC instead. Well perhaps that's because he thought that eventually the Yonge line would be over capacity and then the provincial government and the feds would be forced to help fund it. So in this scenario it isn't that Miller didn't want a DRL it is just that he was using other transit (LRT) to make yonge more busy so that the other levels of government who don't usually help, would need to fund the DRL which Miller wanted to begin with. Why pay for it all yourself when you can do certain things in order to get others to come to the table with their wallets as well. I hope I explained that well enough.
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I know this is getting off-topic, so I'll stop after this, but I really feel the need to defend Miller, again. Seriously, Miller was a left-wing but mostly reasonable politician who really got up some people's noses. I'm not sure why, but it was the zeitgeist at the time. But, the guy was nothing if not transparent. He wanted Transit City because he wanted the lowest income neighbourhoods, where more people would benefit from better transit, to get a disproportionate share of better transit. He put money into the 'fix the Towers in the Parks' and 'green roofs' things because that's where Toronto's poor live (and it seems he's more than a little bit of a Green, given his current job.) He stuck the garbage collector's union (and all the other folks in that union who don't collect garbage but thought that was the right way to put pressure on the City, to their detriment) with a terrible contract, but not terrible enough for the rabble baying for blood.

And, when he wanted to get more money for transit from higher levels of government, he campaigned for it (remember the Quixotic gas tax and 1% of HST campaigns-to-nowhere?). It didn't work, and might have been a dumb way to play the game, but it was transparent.
 
For the record I voted for Miller, then furious George, then tory. If I could have voted for Miller again I would have. He was transparent but I think at times people need to read between the lines or connect the dots. This is my belief in regards to the DRL and Olympics
 
This might help with Toronto's world-classiness. For the first time in history, Toronto-area artists have taken 5 of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, and for the first time 4 Toronto-area artists are in the top 10:

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In early 2015, there were more songs by or featuring Toronto-area artists than any other city in the world. I haven't bother to check again since then, but I wouldn't be surprised if the situation hasn't changed since Torontonains are even more prominent on the Top 20 then they were earlier this year. Toronto also has a handful of emerging artists, such as Alessia Cara, who have great potential to crack the Top 10 in the near future. If we keep this up, this will have a palpable impact on Toronto's music scene.

This is such a turnaround from just 5 years ago, where having any artist from our city at the top of the Hot 100 would be a rare event. I'm hopeful that this is just the beginning of something great.
 
Honestly, who cares about music charts as a basis for determining greatness? They are absolutely irrelevant. The popularity of an artist means nothing; especially when one looks at the names that are on these lists (Justin Bieber?! What a poet and force to be reckoned with). Basically everyone on there is a product. Their entire purpose for existing in the music industry is to make money. There is zero artistic integrity in mainstream music. How many of these people even write and perform their own music, instrumentally (actually sing live, not lip synch)? How many of them would perform to a crowd of 3, in a cafe, for no money and hardly any attention, but just for the sheer love of the music? There is far more substantial music out there that isn't given the level of exposure as the artists (if they can even be called that) that are force-fed to the culture via radio, the media, etc. Just because something is popular and talked about a lot, that doesn't mean it is something that is deserved to be lauded. Nicki Minaj is not more important to music or worthy of greater praise than Traveling Wilburys, for example, because discussion about her far outweighs the latter.
 
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Armour said:
Honestly, who cares about music charts as a basis for determining greatness?
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One of the reasons Toronto has had such a difficult time retaining musical talent was the belief of that nobody from our city could see musical success unless they left the city. Drake and The Weekdn have largely shattered that belief, and news like this only confirms it. These two have opened doors for Toronto talent, especially in Hip-Hop/R&B, that didn't exist before. Thanks to their successes, Toronto won't have as much difficult retaining smaller, less popular artists. This is why this news is relevant.
 
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I don't even think people are aware how things like this affect their psyche. For instance if you live in New York the Yankees constantly winning makes you think even when they have a bad team, somehow they will pull it together. This optimism spreads to other parts of a persons life and how they view the city. In Toronto though who is use to constantly losing sports teams we are down 0-1 and many of us have given up hope subconsciously. That also affects how we view the city as well. For years we always heard of our best actors and musicians moving to LA. As a result, on a subconscious level, we felt like our city isn't the best. This helps us think twice about what we have to offer. Anytime our city or its people is mentioned in a positive light, especially from an outsider, it naturally brings us pride. I don't even like Drake yet it does make me smile when I hear ESPN people debate him in a conversation with Jay-Z.
 
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