Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza

I apologize that this topic has taken us from discussing Aura, so I will limit my response.

Perhaps my comment regarding the playground of the rich was too strong, but I hope you can admit that there is a kernel of truth there. Certainly Singapore and Hong Kong have poor people, but they are both closed city-states that limit "undesirable" immigration. They are both primary destinations for the east Asian headquarters of global businesses, which comprise a large portion of new business in the two cities. Most of the people who have moved there recently who are poor have difficulty obtaining citizenship and are merely itinerant labourers. It is in this context that I suggest these two cities are not typical and are, in fact, oriented toward the needs and interests of the global elite.

Of course Singapore is highly diverse, with Tamils, Maylays, Chinese, etc. - many of whom are not rich. And Hong Kong is as well not only for the rich (though I know it less well, and perhaps have had my image of it coloured by the mainly wealthy Honger friends I had growing up in Vancouver).

Nonetheless, to compare closed city-states to other cities in the world is at best a poor comparison, and this was the main intent of my comment.
 
balenciaga said:
Speaking of crime in general, here is a source: http://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp

As you can see, Canada's safety index is in the middle of the pack at about 60. On one hand you have Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong ect at about 90, on the other, Venezuala and S. Africa at 15-20. USA is at 35.
It is pretty clear that Canada is not an exceptionally safe country. It is average. Toronto would fare similarly I suppose, but I don't have more specific data yet.
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Toronto is one of the safest urban areas in Canada and has a lower overall crime rate than almost everywhere else in the country. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/120724/dq120724b-eng.htm
 
Huh... A seemingly innocuous comment, if misinformed, sure turned the subject of this thread around.

Any consideration of personal safety related to violence should take into account not only what other people might do to you but also what you might do to yourself. To this point, some of the cities that have been cited with low homicide rates have astronomical suicide rates - if country suicide rates are a good proxy for city suicide rates. In particular I'm thinking about South Korean, Japanese and Chinese cities (although Hong Kong doesn't seem to be anywhere as bad as the rest of China and there may be some regional heterogeneity within China outside of Hong Kong). The same applies, although not as significantly relative to East Asian countries, to Belgium, Sweden and Finland.

Meh, suicide is irrelevant. Alright, you might want to think about that drive to work you take every day. It is a significantly greater risk than homicide in all of Canada, the U.S, China and Japan for premature death.

It is pretty clear that Canada is not an exceptionally safe country. It is average. Toronto would fare similarly I suppose, but I don't have more specific data yet.
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Yeah, what exactly does and DOESN'T the index you cited measure. It seems to be measuring undefined "crime" as a proxy for "safety".
 
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I hope they start building tomorrow again so we can get back to the thread. Curve coming up!!!
 
Construction sites will be active and back to normal tomorrow after the regular holiday break, weather permitting.
 
qwerty1 said:
Huh... A seemingly innocuous comment, if misinformed, sure turned the subject of this thread around.

Any consideration of personal safety related to violence should take into account not only what other people might do to you but also what you might do to yourself. To this point, some of the cities that have been cited with low homicide rates have astronomical suicide rates - if country suicide rates are a good proxy for city suicide rates. In particular I'm thinking about South Korean, Japanese and Chinese cities (although Hong Kong doesn't seem to be anywhere as bad as the rest of China and there may be some regional heterogeneity within China outside of Hong Kong). The same applies, although not as significantly relative to East Asian countries, to Belgium, Sweden and Finland.

Meh, suicide is irrelevant. Alright, you might want to think about that drive to work you take every day. It is a significantly greater risk than homicide in all of Canada, the U.S, China and Japan for premature death.
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OK, murder rate is not enough, so we look at crime rate; now crime rate is not enough, we look at suicide rate. What's coming next?
Plus, the drive to work risk you mentioned is silly. Chinese, Japanese and Korean cities have far superior transit system to the TTC. The vast majority of the working force don't drive to work. Well, unless you argue their subways/buses are not as safe as the ones in Toronto either.

My first argument was "Toronto is not THE safest city in the world, and there are plenty of cities which are safer". It is the truth supported by solid statistical evidence that many European and Asian cities do have much lower crime rates, end of story.
 
Toronto is not THE safest city in the world, and there are plenty of cities which are safer... It is the truth supported by solid statistical evidence that many European and Asian cities do have much lower crime rates, end of story.
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Last comment: I realize the argument was initially strictly limited to murder. I'm not arguing Toronto is one of the safest cities or THE safest city in the world if murder is the only thing you believe reflects an individual's safety within a society. I'm just arguing that people's perceptions of risks are distorted. Any examination of "safety" needs to look at way, way, way more than murder and crime. In fact, given it's frequency, murder should be well down the list of risks in all but the most violent of societies. That's what I'm arguing against: The original posters assumption that safety = relative lack of murder.
 
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No more off topic posts in this thread. Anyone continuing with that will be banned.

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Don't remember when I took this picture. Everything has been a blurr the past few days, all the liquor and partying.... lol!

8331911944_cb29a352c1_b.jpg
 
If that's true, you're drunk pictures are better then my pathetically out of focus, half cut off sober ones! Lol! Thanks for the pic, she's getting taller and taller, can't wait until it's topped out some time this year, happy new year!
 
those last 2 pics of someMidtowners are great vantage points! incredible impact Aura will have over the next few months,
L tower makes a subtle (though awesome) impact too.
 
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