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Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian
1) I don't think living in hi-rises is the pinnacle. There are houses on the peninsula. The north end is as a affordable as most mcmansions. To play this off as rich vs poor is more so a choice issue. Living in a huge house should cost money, duh. Note: I don't consider Fairview even suburban yet.
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Your post is implying that all houses in the "suburbs" are "mcmansions". That is not the case. There are areas where large houses are prevalent (just like on the peninsula) but they definitely do not constitute the average dwelling in these areas.
By the way, what is "suburban" in Halifax? "Halifax" is now made up of what used to be independent cities, towns, and the county. Bedford and Sackville were once towns unto themselves, with history going back almost as far as Halifax itself. Dartmouth was a city basically founded the same time as Halifax, give or take a year or so (growing up in Dartmouth, we were quite aware of our distinct identity and were somewhat proud of it - we even had a separate "Natal Day" than Halifax). People inhabited these areas for various reasons and typically lived their lives somewhat central to where their house/work was located. That said, Dartmouth was linked to Halifax from way back via the ferry, and thus people living in Dartmouth could work in Halifax as my Grandfather did, commuting to the Moirs chocolate factory each day from downtown Dartmouth. For most living outside the core of the city, getting around was cumbersome due to poor roads and horse and buggy conveyances, so each centre of population tended to be somewhat autonomous.
With the advent of the automobile came a level of mobility never before experienced by humans. As better roads were being built we became aware of the possibility to live in one town while working in another. Planners/engineers were fascinated by these new amazing horizons and tailored infrastructure to facilitate such things, perhaps innocently not seeing the potential downside of this (i.e. traffic congestion, infrastructure costs). They bought into the concept just like everybody else.
Expansion had occurred in the West End and Dutch Village/Fairview, and new places to build in traditional Halifax were running out. At this point the population of traditional Halifax was basically "maxed out" for standard housing whereas the other areas had room for development. The only way to increase population on the peninsula was to build "up", which did start to happen in the fifties/sixties, but at that point apartment living was more a way to live cheaply rather than a lifestyle choice (the concept of condominiums hadn't been realized yet).
So Bedford and Sackville grow, Dartmouth expands to fill the demand for housing. People can get around easier now, so they are less bound by their work location and have newfound freedom to live where they want to in the situation that they want to. Also keep in mind that the downtown area of Halifax during that time was becoming somewhat "gritty" as much of the housing was becoming rundown and there was always that element of unruliness related to bars/taverns, incoming sailors wanting to have a good time, etc. etc. In other words, the downtown had become an area that many people would not choose as a place that they wanted to raise their kids, and they wouldn't if they could afford to live somewhere else.
Meanwhile, some areas of the city such as the south end, didn't experience that decline and continued to remain more upscale and expensive.
So we have some areas of the downtown becoming "undesirable" and some remaining expensive, while areas like the North End being more stable. At this point, with populations increasing, the concept of supply and demand kicks in and the price goes up. That opens up the opportunity for profit in a free market situation, where developers can now make money building on previously "worthless" land in those other towns/cities. Expansion (or "sprawl" depending on how you want to label it) continues.
The purpose of this rough "history lesson", is really to question the concept of "the suburbs" as being some modern phenomenon that just appeared out of nowhere and has no link to the past. Like some evil, selfish people suddenly decided to create the suburbs as a cheap place to live at the expense of the good, all-knowing urban dwellers.
In reality, it has been a long, complex process, and one that has been more market-driven than planned.
The attitudes expressed here sometimes confound me somewhat, as it's almost as if the writers don't understand how it all happened.
Obviously, now that we have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, we should try to plan differently for the future, but rest assured that every decision today's planners use will not necessarily be viewed in a positive light in the future.
I guess all I'm hoping for here is a greater level of understanding and acceptance for all areas of "Halifax", that's all.
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2) I'm talking about balancing the taxes a bit more to make it more affordable to live on the peninsula... not to make it unafforable to live off.
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I don't think that in itself is a bad idea, but I would want to see some hard numbers to ensure fairness, as there are benefits that the peninsula sees that other areas pay for (i.e. Keith's favourite building). If the tax structure were to be changed, I think full transparency needs to be part of the process (not that I would ever expect to see it).
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3) There should be more options for affordable downtown living. If you work downtown, you can likely afford to pay a bit more if you live off peninsula.
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Don't quite understand what idea you are trying to convey here.
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The amount of people, not just geography, play a role in the congestion around bottlenecks.
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The point I was making was to compare Halifax to other medium/large cities. Our geography creates challenges that other cities don't have, or have dealt with in a better manner than Halifax has.
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Everybody pays for roads. The argument about subsidizing public transit is moot. We're all subsidizing your car driving. Look at all of the most successful cities: they all have good public transit.
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Everybody uses roads, either directly or indirectly. As has been pointed out here before, how do you think the goods/groceries that you buy arrived at the store where you purchased them? What do buses drive on? Where are bike lanes located?
To say that you are subsidizing everybody's car driving is narrow-sighted. I agree that we should have better transit, and I am open to the idea of paying for it in my taxes even if I didn't use it because I know it will make Halifax a better city. I don't consider that I'm subsidizing everybody's bus trips because I know it is another necessary element to having a vibrant city that is functional and useful for most of its citizens.
So why don't we stop dumping on everybody who doesn't fit into our mold of what we view as the perfect inhabitant of the city? The sooner we do that, the sooner we develop a greater understanding on how to make it better for everybody.