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Old Posted May 24, 2012, 12:19 PM
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telyou telyou is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Mafialand aka Montreal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wharn View Post
One of my best friends from High School lives near St. Clair and Dufferin, and I still visit that area occasionally. From what I can see not much has changed, aside from a centre median that annoyingly blocks access to several sidestreets. Business owners still seem pretty pissed off about it, because even though things are back to normal (emphasis on "normal"), the construction caused them a lot of grief. The street is beginning to come back, but a lot of St. Clair West still looks like shit. It still takes about 30 minutes to get to Yonge from Keele, which is better than what it used to be (something around 45 minutes) but is still not great. To put things into perspective, a typical subway would take 10-15 minutes to cover the same distance.
This is obviously BS. Yes there are a few business owners who are not happy but that is mainly due to their closed mindedness. The street is a lot more vibrant then it used to be and has become a destination for many people around the city.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wharn View Post
Now Sheppard... my has that street ever changed. I guess if you were not regularly tootling around North York in the early 2000s you wouldn't know, but back then it was almost universally low-density, home to a Canadian Tire warehouse, with a few commieblocks scattered around. Now, there are dozens of new condo towers that have gone up in the past 10 years. But as soon as you hit Victoria Park Avenue everything goes back to normal... no new investment, no major construction, nothing happening at all, because you're back to the same old lousy Sheppard Avenue East, complete with vacant lots and sparsely placed apartments. Finch and York Mills (Ellesmere) have also undergone very little change in the same timeframe. It's clear as day that all that densification and investment took place because of the subway. A high-cost item indeed, but one that produces tangible and noticeable positive externalities. And boy am I ever glad to see the 85 Sheppard put out to pasture.
I've been there many times. Thank you Ikea. And all i see is a suburban wasteland. Towers in the park type condos. Absolutely no pedestrian activity. Big box stores. Nothing remotely attractive about the area. Everyone gets out of their cars and drives everywhere. Even to get milk.
Obviously there's a lot of new development. There was absolutely nothing there but empty land. St-Clair on the other hand was already heavily developed.
I'll take CityPlace over Sheppard any day. At least you can walk to King Street and other hotspots.
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