Quote:
Originally Posted by Hali87
This is basically 100% semantics, but I'm just wondering what you mean when you say "an actual city". This is a question that I've been asking a lot of people lately, especially the more that I see of Canada, because different people are looking for different things, and have varying degrees of familiarity with their own region and others. I think you'd be surprised how much Halifax has to offer compared to almost every city in Canada outside of the largest five. Ultimately, the only things that Toronto and Montreal have that Halifax doesn't, at least as far as the average citizen is concerned, are subway systems and major league sports. I guess for a lot of people, these are the deciding factors, but based on those criteria Quebec City wouldn't be a real city (anymore) either. I agree that a major, tangible investment in public transit, beyond just incrementally adding more bus routes and replacing subpar infrastructure, should be prioritized above a stadium, and if we're being real here, is probably a more realistic short term possibility since it would be much more likely to receive federal funding. I'm talking about LRT or something equivalent in terms of both functionality and appeal.
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Density. Walkability. Strength and versatility of public transit. Variety of retail. Parks. Multi-cultural. Exciting. Festivals and occasions. Sports. Concerts. Post secondary educational institutions. Lights, lights, and more lights.
Whenever I've managed to bring friends from Central and Western Canada (to Halifax for their first time), upon traversing the peninsula and giving them a detailed tour of the downtown, their reaction
has always been: "Cute. But is that it?..."
Yes, Halifax has some urbanity to it, some nice neighbourhoods in which you can live, work, and play -- but the City's quantity of urban assets is very limited. What you can do in Halifax, you can do much,
much more in Montreal and Toronto...
When I say I want Canadians to see Halifax as an actual city, I initially mean physically, from our cityscape. I want the downtown to sport as many towers as possible, to the point people begin feeling as though Halifax is a mini-Vancouver.
It sure would be nice if Halifax had some of Vancouver's modes of public transit.
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