Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Google may not have been the best partner After how they acted in New York City, I can't believe any city would even pick up their calls.
Could you describe what Google did in New York City for those of us not in the loop?
Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
91–100 of 217 posts
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#92The biggest driver of poor housing affordability in Canada is immigration, with 300,000 people migrating to the country annually. Here are the top 10 migrant sources: Philippines India China Iran Pakistan United States Syria United Kingdom France South Korea Migrants from the poorer countries on this list are moving to Canada to undercut the wages and conditions of local workers, whilst driving up the cost of housing…
I thought it was foreign investment in property that skewed the market toward high end, and often vacant, investment properties?
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hilarious for me to see > Toronto was left without a good restaurant on the water which should actually be > The business owner was either unwilling or incapable of making his business succeed.
Q: Is there any kind of open market in moorings? If a normal restaurant gets threatened with a big rent hike, they can close at one location and open up somewhere else. Does that approach work if you're effectively renting your location from the Port Authority?
Of course it does. There are many, many cities by the water.
Oh, his boat couldn't be moved? Is that somehow an imposition on him by the city, or simply lack of forethought?
This guy put his own back against a wall.
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Instead of moving out, couldn't you get involved with politics and try to change things?
3 million people live in Toronto. This is like asking if you can get into politics in Chicago and change things.
Forgive my naivete but yes, that's how change happens?
If we look at social movements of the past century, they weren't easy on the members but many of them were successful in bringing about change.
I don't know when it became fashionable to only do things that guarantee success within your lifetime and openly dismiss any other way of life but that's not how people who actually make a difference live.
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
"A down payment on a Toronto house should take 24 years to accumulate", reading the article this seems to be based on a severe case of dyscalculia. If the apartment costs 1 million and you want to save until you have 6% (which is 60k), and you only save 10% of your annual 170k salary, meaning you save 17k per year so after 3 years plus you have the down-payment. In addition to proper math one also should probably sav…
Anything over a million requires a 20% down payment. Also, prices doubled over the last 5 years so if trends continue then a million dollar home today will take a 400k down payment if it takes 5 years to save
Something makes me think that ain’t gonna happen...
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not that it was "too different", it's that it was "too evil". Google was trying to use public resources to build a Google-owned neighborhood where they controlled the lives of everyone within, and were interested in being able to levy their own taxes and exempt themselves from existing laws.
Lol, did you just make that up?
He did not make that up.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/alphabets-sidewalk-labs-want...
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t speak for every industry, but many Bay Area technology employers have set up satellite offices in Toronto and Waterloo and are paying significantly higher wages (note: I represent one of them). This is having a net effect of driving wages up; I see it in the candidates we lose to other companies who are doing the same. Consider looking for a new gig. Also, Sentry is hiring in Toronto: https://sentry.io/jobs .
Maybe they should consider doing an early cap on property taxes and property values before it becomes like the Bay Area where even if you work at Google you can't afford a house. There is rent control where I live, but no buy-house control, and there's almost nothing available below $2M USD.
Google doesn't have an office in Toronto but Amazon employees don't make enough to buy houses. It doesn't matter though because most people in Toronto now make more money on real estate appreciation than they make from their jobs. Real estate gains are tax free so a modest 10% home price increase (it was 30% last year) is like earning at least an extra 150k pre tax
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
3 million people live in Toronto. This is like asking if you can get into politics in Chicago and change things.
Forgive my naivete but yes, that's how change happens? If we look at social movements of the past century, they weren't easy on the members but many of them were successful in bringing about change. I don't know when it became fashionable to only do things that guarantee success within your lifetime and openly dismiss any other way of life but that's not how people who actually make a difference live.
It's a million times easier to just move away than it is to change anything about a global problem in a city with millions of people. Making a difference doesn't solve personal problems.
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe they should consider doing an early cap on property taxes and property values before it becomes like the Bay Area where even if you work at Google you can't afford a house. There is rent control where I live, but no buy-house control, and there's almost nothing available below $2M USD.
Google doesn't have an office in Toronto but Amazon employees don't make enough to buy houses. It doesn't matter though because most people in Toronto now make more money on real estate appreciation than they make from their jobs. Real estate gains are tax free so a modest 10% home price increase (it was 30% last year) is like earning at least an extra 150k pre tax
That's kind of sad though. It seems people own houses to sell them, instead of owning houses to own them.
I feel like the whole point of owning a house is to customize it into a fairytale home of your dreams and never want to sell it. Otherwise I'd just rent.
Re: Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision
#100As someone that lives in Toronto and is moving out in the middle of the month to go back home near family. The idea that Toronto is going to focus on "affordability" is laughable. It's one of the most expensive cities to live in in the world, and the incompetent city council, mayor and all the way up to the provincial government are doing absolutely everything they can to keep it that way - mostly without even realiz…
Are there any cities where the citizens don’t think the city council, government, etc is all “incompetent”? Like what is a city which is well functioning, where the citizens like the government?
Some cities do have good governments and high popularity ratings, to the point where politicians get fairly re-elected for decades straight. Mississauga (part of the GTA) is apparently one of them, because Hazel Mccallion served as mayor for 36 years straight and only stopped because she was 93. I'm not exactly sure why she was so popular (I'm not from there), but her endorsement is still mayor 6 years later, so they must be doing something right.