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Montreal is what North America could be

loukidelis.com

91–100 of 119 posts

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can argue against someone's opinion, but you shouldn't degrade their intellect to make your point. There's a growing demand for mid-density mixed-use land because younger generations cannot afford SFHs, more incline to take public transportation, more things to do, pub/bars/live music than SFH with backyards that caters more to families with kids. Urban sprawl happened for many decades because of cheap and abunda…

> There's a growing demand for mid-density mixed-use land because younger generations cannot afford SFHs, more incline to take public transportation, more things to do, pub/bars/live music than SFH with backyards that caters more to families with kids. These are only unmet demands limited to a few cities that young wealthy educated surburbanites flocked to as a group, thereby making them very expensive. Instead of de…

> I'll just say that not everybody has to live in SF, Seattle, Austin, or whatever the next desirable place is.

That's easy to say, but prior to the pandemic and the sudden shift to WFH, the trend was flying in the face of this droll advice. Tech hubs are consolidating. But since then, we've seen transplants buy up housing in other markets and simply spread the same issues of traffic and housing prices there too, as we've seen in markets like Phoenix, Boise, Salt Lake City, (though admittedly some of these are starting to fall). Take people out of Austin and they just end up flooding Nashville, or Raleigh, or Charlotte. New Yorkers are resettling in Philadelphia. Peter Thiel says Florida real estate prices are comparable to California now. And so on.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#92

I like Montreal and Toronto. I live in Toronto because I like the diversity, but I'm sure I would happily live in Montreal too. That said, it isn't fair to compare housing costs between Quebec cities and Ontario ones. Land tax is much, much higher in Quebec to the point where even just across the river from Ottawa you'll see 2x housing differentials. Add in language laws of Quebec which, I'm actually in favour of, an…

The scale on the maps I showed is the same, which is the point. Toronto, as you point out, has a built up core, but Montreal spreads its density wider.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#93

As a Chicagoan, I don't understand this critique of North America. This seems to be a critique of the suburbs. > They are dominated by detached homes, often set back from the road by lawns. Multi-family housing is generally confined to the downtown, and mainly comes in the form of high-rise towers. This certainly doesn't describe Chicago at all, or even nearby suburbs. It seems like a third of the makeup of Chicago n…

> This certainly doesn't describe Chicago at all, or even nearby suburbs.

Probably because a good portion of things were built pre-WW2:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar_suburb

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWsGBRdK2N0

Anything post-WW2, which is probably most of (North) America, had a more car-centric design.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn’t too impressed during my visits for conventions there. Love Quebec City though, even if they were burning American flags there the two times I visited on Jean Baptiste day.

Same people,under order of British gov, also went down south and burned the white house in 1812. True story. Not the point at all. Montréal is unique. It's the only American city with both french and english cultures living hand in hand. It's also great for novel cuisine, micro. It has 4 full seasons do you can practice almost any sports and neat mountain ranges with amazing wildlife just an hour away to the north.

Brits ultimately lost that one due to a hurricane anyway.

I’ve enjoyed many months in Quebec (I went to Med School in Vermont and went up there many times) but I never got Montreal. Totally acknowledge I might have just not have spent enough time in the right areas.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#95
post #2

Corrupt and slowly dying city without any strong industry to keep it grounded including some pretty intense language laws. I think Montreal was amazing in the 60s and has been slowly dying since. Great to visit in the summer though!

Aerospace and Video Games seem like 2 massive industries for the city?

Montreal was also home to MindGeek, the tech company that owns the largest pornographic sites in the world. They still have offices, but moved HQ.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#97
post #10

something the author doesn't point out is new development in Montreal. you can see the patch of green to the east of the Montreal housing map where Griffontown and North Verdun (the more recently developed areas of the city) are moving towards condo style housing. rent prices have been trending higher too, but I suppose you could say that about the rest of the country too. not criticizing the post, and it's one of my…

I think you mean little burgundy, north Verdun is full of older triplexes. You're right though, the previous two mayors really screwed up the new developments around Griffintown, Lachine's first avenue and the Children's Square. I'm also not very hopeful about the future RoyalMount project even though that's technically not part of the city of Montreal.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#98
post #96
post #21

Quoted post unavailable.

Whatever it is they are speaking, French it ain't. It's a _superthick_ accent. I have the same with many a Brit btw, they can produce some of the most ununderstandable English I've ever heard.

The Québecois, and French Canadians as a whole, speak perfect French. Of course they have an accent, but so do Texans and the Scottish, yet it's still English.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#99
post #26
post #10

something the author doesn't point out is new development in Montreal. you can see the patch of green to the east of the Montreal housing map where Griffontown and North Verdun (the more recently developed areas of the city) are moving towards condo style housing. rent prices have been trending higher too, but I suppose you could say that about the rest of the country too. not criticizing the post, and it's one of my…

So the problem is the new development or what? Aren't more people people require more hosing? Or you have something different in mind by ' the problems are coming here too'?

The previous mayors allowed areas to be rezoned to dense residential without investing in public infrastructure so you end up with neighborhoods full of condo towers with no schools or hospitals and very little public transit.

Re: Montreal is what North America could be

#100
You can do a lot of reading on the subject. One thing you'll find repeated is the FLQ crisis' effect on housing. Around that time a large movement of anglophones resulted in a huge drop in housing demand in Montréal. The city continued building at a reasonable pace but all those old apartment buildings/low-rises/row houses are kept maintained and thus haven't dropped out of the housing stock. The unfilled housing ratio is higher in Montréal as a result. That is simple economics.
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