Toronto is Junky!

[TOreality]

I just got back from New York., I was there on business. Every single day in Toronto, I constantly hear comparisons to New York. Whether it is the Subway (Which doesn't compare AT ALL), whether it is dundas vs Times Square or whether it is City vs City., I always hear Torontonians comparing.

Let me tell you, when I was driving into the city after getting back.. OH MY GOD!!!

Toronto seems like a DUMP! Literally., I'm sure the landfill in New York is prettier. I don't know what people are comparing, maybe downtown Toronto with South Bronx or East Harlem. Heck, even these places seem better. I took a taxi to my place at yonge and bloor when I got back, I never thought the yonge strip was so disgusting until I left and came back. Its pretty sad considering this is our face. This is the main thing people come to see. Its GROSS!

The convenience of beer in 7/11's was pretty sweet too. When I got back to TO, I went to the Rabba next door and the absence of beer made me quite sad. It made me realize how much this city/country rips everyone off. All I can say is, WOW!

I thought Toronto was a great city. That is until I left and came back. Now it seems like a pile of decrepit buildings and disgusting architecture with a bunch of people who just sit there and STARE at you as you look at the city in disgust. I moved here from a tiny city in northern Ontario and let me tell you, This is just a stepping point. This is NOT home for me.

 

[jn_12]

You've never thought Toronto was a great city. Looking at your prior posts, you seem to have a hate-on for Toronto, or at least a longing to be elsewhere. No one compares Toronto to New York. Chicago, sure, but never New York. If comparisons are ever made it is more along the lines of "what are they doing that we can maybe do here?"

Also, just an FYI, it's neither the city nor the country that determines whether you can buy alcohol at 7/11.

 

[adma]

A Northern Ontarian who longs for beer in our convenience stores. Sounds like a hick to me;-)

 

[TOreality]

It was a convenience store though. 11:00pm, I was able to go and buy a 6 pack for 7 bucks. In Canada, NO Way!. You cant buy beer or anything past 9pm anywhere and never mind less than 10 bucks. It's just another thing that Canada needs to control. There are many, MANY other things also.

And as for comparing.... You have got to be kidding me. I constantly hear TO vs NY everywhere I go. Its always TO this, NY that., blah bla bla.

Lets face it... Vancouver wants to be Toronto. Toronto wants to be New York and Canada wants to be the USA.

Never mind my past posts. I thought Toronto was okay. Compared to Sudbury, or Barrie. But as a world class city, I think not. You cant even compare it to Chicago.

I was actually embarrassed driving back into Toronto after being south of the border. It's amazing compared to upper Canada, but disgusting compared to south of the border.

EDIT: And furthermore, I do NOT understand how anyone would agree with getting rid of the Gardiner. Coming into the City, the Gardiner is probably the best part of it all. If you want to get rid of something, get rid of Yonge between Bloor and Gould. Especially since an article I read recently about Toronto being one of the worst cities to commute.. Yeah!., Get rid of the Gardner.. that will make commuting a hell of a lot easier....

 

[urbanboom]

Which, once more, begs the question, what type of pathetic life are you living that keeps you in such a pathetic place? And also what brings you to a Urban Toronto to share such a lack of imagination constructiveness?

 

[TOreality]

Cant anybody in this damn country have a debate?!?! As soon as someone states the slightest negative remark, people jump on the defensive faster than flies to sh*t. Come one people, surely you can have a debate without resorting to childish, inane remarks!

I am merely giving an observation about the city IN WHICH I RESIDE. It would be a different story if I was an outsider trashing a city Ive never lived in!

 

[adma]

It was a convenience store though. 11:00pm, I was able to go and buy a 6 pack for 7 bucks. In Canada, NO Way!. You cant buy beer or anything past 9pm anywhere and never mind less than 10 bucks. It's just another thing that Canada needs to control. There are many, MANY other things also.

Get lost, vulgar trash.

EDIT: And furthermore, I do NOT understand how anyone would agree with getting rid of the Gardiner. Coming into the City, the Gardiner is probably the best part of it all. If you want to get rid of something, get rid of Yonge between Bloor and Gould. Especially since an article I read recently about Toronto being one of the worst cities to commute.. Yeah!., Get rid of the Gardner.. that will make commuting a hell of a lot easier....

Get lost, vulgar trash.

 

[gristle]

Lets face it... Vancouver wants to be Toronto. Toronto wants to be New York and Canada wants to be the USA.

Never mind my past posts. I thought Toronto was okay. Compared to Sudbury, or Barrie. But as a world class city, I think not. You cant even compare it to Chicago.

Hearing voices in your head is no excuse to slag the city or the country.

 

[Peepers]

I think "junky" is a good characterization of Toronto when you consider the deplorable condition of many of our PRIME commercial areas and in particular the condition of our Heritage buildings. Our "main street" Yonge street is a disgrace. I don't know how anyone could argue otherwise. The heritage buildings that once gave the street its character have - with a few exceptions - been butchered over the years. The stretch from Bloor to King is one long eyesore and has been like this for decades (if we are not going to fix these buildings up we might as well bulldoze them and start over) Queen East and West may have their share of trendy shops at street level but gaze upwards and you will see again the heritage facades have long been destroyed by either neglect or inappropriate "renovations" e.g. ugly windows replacements. Crumbling sidewalks greet visitors to our version of Rodeo drive - Yorkville. Toronto doesn't just suffer in comparison with cities like New York and Chicago but MANY MANY MUCH SMALLER Canadian cities which have done a good job of preserving their Heritage buildings. Of course it is not all bad - pockets of the city, for example, King west, the Entertainment district, St Lawrence Market, have for the most part been nicely maintained but too much of the city remains an embarrassment.

 

[christof53]

It seems to me that you are not giving a genuine critique of Toronto, nor are you interested in a serious debate. You are merely trying to get a rise out of everyone.
Go home, troll.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Cant anybody in this damn country have a debate?!?! As soon as someone states the slightest negative remark, people jump on the defensive faster than flies to sh*t. Come one people, surely you can have a debate without resorting to childish, inane remarks!

I am merely giving an observation about the city IN WHICH I RESIDE. It would be a different story if I was an outsider trashing a city Ive never lived in!

You are not offering a slight, negative remark (singular?), you skewered and trashed our city - the one I grew up in and happen to love.

You are trolling, your not trying to have a credible debate.

 

[Mystic Point]

Take a walk through Queens Park this week. It should be a show piece. But it's a nightmare of neglect. It's Junky. And the virus spreads from there in all directions.

I guess there isn't any civic pride here. Or if there is, the bar is so low as to be barely visible.

 

[TO City of Light]

All of the characteristics of a first rate world class city?

Multiply this by dozens of little incidents every day and you start to realize why some people may regard TO as a junky city even though they live there and were brought up there.

Vulgarians? Hicks? Trash? Hearing voices? Trolls? Slaggers? Hate-ons?

Maybe not.

Back to Crowds overwhelm single Toronto Island ferry
Crowds overwhelm single Toronto Island ferry
April 04, 2010​

Jennifer Yang


TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR

In his 29 years of ferrying people to Toronto Island, boat crew member Frank Corbin never saw passengers as agitated as they were this weekend.

There was pushing, profanity and even punches thrown; at one point on Friday, the police had to be called in to help regulate the crowd.

Just blame it on the potent combination of unseasonably warm weather, a holiday weekend and thousands of Torontonians trying to get to Toronto Island.

That, and the fact that just one puny, puttering ferry was available to haul everyone across.

"It was very busy, much busier than normal," said Corbin, the first mate of Ongiara, the 220-passenger ferry. "We were not really prepared for the crowd, basically."

Lineups at the ferry docks stretched past the ticket gates as people waited for up to three hours before leaving dry land.

People became so frustrated they were rushing onto the boat or jumping queues.

At least one fist fight broke out Friday, Corbin said.

"(People were) very impatient," he said. "Rude to me, rude to the captain. They were swearing at the deckhand, calling him a lazy bum and using the f-word."

But many were angry at having to wait hours for a boat when several larger ones were sitting nearby.

"I wonder how long it takes to get a boat ready for water?" said Emma Ditchburn of Hamilton. "The city knew the weather was going to be brilliant and that meant more people going across (to the island). Why not get the other boats ready?"

Yona Joo, a Korean student learning English in Toronto, and her friends waited two hours Saturday afternoon before reaching the front of the line. Even then, they weren't able to make the next ferry.

"Why is there only one (boat) in use ... why not these?" she asked, pointing to three others docked metres away.

"It's so unfair," she said. "I won't be able to go (back to the island) again and I'm leaving for Korea soon."

Ongiara is still running on its winter schedule, which means one trip every hour, but because of the crowds, crew members were running the boats every half-hour. It takes roughly 15 minutes to get to the islands, with a round trip taking 30 minutes.

For crew members, this meant working straight through their eight-hour shifts. Captain Tom Millard said he empathized with the passengers but there was little he or his crew members could do.

"It's understandable they're annoyed. However, we can't make the boat bigger," he said. "As front-line service providers, we are not responsible for the decisions made by management."

Some employees working the docks said it was possible to have one of the bigger boats running this weekend but management never made the call.

But according to James Dann, manager of waterfront parks for the city, there is little flexibility to change operations on short notice.

Ferry schedules are drawn up six months in advance and, at that point, "you are not expecting the first week of April to be so beautiful and sunny."

"Our boats are yet to be certified by Transport Canada and the bulk of our staff recall will be in the next two weeks," Dann said. "We have some full-time staff but most of our staff is seasonal."

Referring to Friday night's incident on the Ward's Island dock when police were called, he said passengers usually don't get unruly.

"I guess when the weather turned (cooler), there was a crush of people wanting to go back home," he said. "There were some people who jumped ahead in line and there was chaos."



.

 

[kettal]

You only realize now that Yonge Street is junky?? Of course it's ugly, but when it's full of life on a warm night, it's a great atmosphere anyways.

 

[LowPolygon]

Cant anybody in this damn country have a debate?!?! As soon as someone states the slightest negative remark, people jump on the defensive faster than flies to sh*t. Come one people, surely you can have a debate without resorting to childish, inane remarks!

I am merely giving an observation about the city IN WHICH I RESIDE. It would be a different story if I was an outsider trashing a city Ive never lived in!

"Come one people, surely you can have a debate without resorting to childish, inane remarks!"


Yes Mr. uh, "TOReality", you've set the bar REALLY high when it comes to debate. i think people are just intimidated by the CHILLING POWER and THUNDERING INTELLIGENCE of your debating 'style'. Maybe you should rejoin the board when you graduate from Grade 9.

"Toronto is Junky!"

"I just got back from New York., I was there on business. Every single day in Toronto, I constantly hear comparisons to New York. Whether it is the Subway (Which doesn't compare AT ALL), whether it is dundas vs Times Square or whether it is City vs City., I always hear Torontonians comparing. Let me tell you, when I was driving into the city after getting back.. OH MY GOD!!!"

"Toronto seems like a DUMP!"

"Literally., I'm sure the landfill in New York is prettier."

"I don't know what people are comparing, maybe downtown Toronto with South Bronx or East Harlem. Heck, even these places seem better."

"I took a taxi to my place at yonge and bloor when I got back, I never thought the yonge strip was so disgusting until I left and came back."

"Its pretty sad considering this is our face. This is the main thing people come to see. Its GROSS!"

"The convenience of beer in 7/11's was pretty sweet too. When I got back to TO, I went to the Rabba next door and the absence of beer made me quite sad. It made me realize how much this city/country rips everyone off. All I can say is, WOW!"

"I thought Toronto was a great city. That is until I left and came back. Now it seems like a pile of decrepit buildings and disgusting architecture with a bunch of people who just sit there and STARE at you as you look at the city in disgust."

"I moved here from a tiny city in northern Ontario and let me tell you, This is just a stepping point. This is NOT home for me."
​

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