[Acajack]

Originally Posted by phil235

It's this kind of silly negativity about Ottawa that drives people crazy. Yes Ottawa has its shortcomings, but the Market is not one of them.

The idea that a lot of cities have something similar is simply not true. I lived in the St. Lawrence Market area in Toronto, and can say without any doubt that it is not even close to the Market here, in terms of variety of offerings, in terms of patio culture, in terms of nightlife, in terms of historic character, in terms of walkablility. It's not even really a coherent area, beyond the streets immediately abutting the market building. And Kensington - please. The Market here is something that people are rightly proud of.

Where are all of these other similar areas of which you speak? Because I can tell you that I've lived in Toronto and Montreal and have spent considerable time in most major Canadian cities (Edmonton excepted), and I've never seen one.

I don't think the market should be discounted or dismissed either. For the purposes of this discussion anyway, I'd say that the vast majority of cities in Ottawa's size-range in Canada and the U.S. don't have anything even close to the market. Even many much larger cities don't. I've said on SSP before that the market is somewhat overrated, but it's nonetheless a huge plus for Ottawa that as I said, you don't find in most places on this continent.