Post some pictures of your city! II

[Dwils01]

Can anyone recommend a good image hosting site. I have photobucket but I'm ready to switch to something better because the service on that site is horrible.

It takes multiple tries to upload photos, my titles and comment on the photos don't save, it takes multiple tries to delete a photo, and when I try to edit the photo and save it, it loads 80% and just stops there.

[Nouvellecosse]

^ I never have much trouble with imgur. And there are a number of smartphone apps and browser extensions across various plaforms that are made to interface with it.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Gorgeous. And I understand, yeah. I couldn't live in a part of town that was build post-1949 - and not just because that's also beyond any residential construction era here that's at all urban.

I'd never, ever have been able to recognize the two buildings were the same based on the picture from my post. Good eye, assuming it's not a very, very obvious street.

I gotta say I do have a very good eye for real estate in the very limited number of cities that are seriously on my radar (all of which I know very well), but it's ALSO a pretty obvious street.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Dwils01

Can anyone recommend a good image hosting site. I have photobucket but I'm ready to switch to something better because the service on that site is horrible.

It takes multiple tries to upload photos, my titles and comment on the photos don't save, it takes multiple tries to delete a photo, and when I try to edit the photo and save it, it loads 80% and just stops there.

Flickr if you're not afraid of commitment. Imgur or Tinypic if you just want to upload something quickly and share it. On Imgur, click the Edit box beside the picture once you select it but before you upload it if you want resize. Can't do it, I believe, after you've already uploaded it.

[Rumors]

Originally Posted by Dwils01

Can anyone recommend a good image hosting site. I have photobucket but I'm ready to switch to something better because the service on that site is horrible.

It takes multiple tries to upload photos, my titles and comment on the photos don't save, it takes multiple tries to delete a photo, and when I try to edit the photo and save it, it loads 80% and just stops there.

I have a great one but it isn't free?

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Flickr if you're not afraid of commitment. Imgur or Tinypic if you just want to upload something quickly and share it. On Imgur, click the Edit box beside the picture once you select it but before you upload it if you want resize. Can't do it, I believe, after you've already uploaded it.

With imgur you are able to edit an image after upload if you have an account and are logged in. This is what the edit screen would look like (after clicking advanced):

[franktko]

Originally Posted by lio45

I was looking very seriously at buying that building on the right hand side with the yellow windows a few months ago, but we ultimately decided to pass.

It got sold since then. I wasn't really fond of that empty huge commercial unit (the four residential apts were fine, but you almost need to run some type of retail business yourself in the commercial unit for such a building to make financial sense), so that was kind of a deal-breaker.

Here's the listing.
http://www.epeladeau.com/fr/commercial/fiche/12558501/6_petit-champlain_(du)_rue.html#proprietes

I would've LOVED to possess a pre-1759 building (which this is). That thing was built while this was New France, and it's still there. I find that absolutely fascinating.

Jesus Christ! With a municipal evaluation of 870k you pay 27k taxes a year?? —???

Here in Mtl, with an evaluation around 580k I pay around 5k taxes a year...

It's because of the commercial part?

[lio45]

Originally Posted by franktko

Jesus Christ! With a municipal evaluation of 870k you pay 27k taxes a year?? —???

Here in Mtl, with an evaluation around 580k I pay around 5k taxes a year...

It's because of the commercial part?

Partly, but it's also because the proper apples-to-apples comparison is between similar properties, not similar valuations.

What the city costs to run per year is mostly completely unrelated to the market value of its real estate. Municipal taxes reflect the former, not the latter.

For example, when real estate in Sherbrooke doubled over a few years, the new valuations reflected that, but the tax rate was pretty much halved, so with a whole bunch of buildings (i.e. a large-ish sample) my overall taxes stayed relatively similar even though the municipal valuations went up by more than 100% in many cases.

The wrong way to look at it (as I recall explaining to st7860 many times -- now that he's banned, I thought I wouldn't ever have to do it again ) is to say "nice, my tax rate got halved! I now pay only half the municipal taxes that I used to!".

The right way is "A given building with X units and Y square feet and Z stories used to cost $xxxx.— in municipal taxes in Sherbrooke. How does that compare to now and to other cities?"

I suspect that if your property, exactly as is, got teleported to Quebec City, you'd actually now pay less than ~$5k in municipal taxes for it. It seems high for what I suppose is a single family residential property. Then again, taxes in Montreal are pretty much the highest in the province, so it's not that surprising.

[SignalHillHiker]

December 19, 2015

Mummering in Georgestown! It's been such a wonderful, cheerful weekend thus far.

And tonight will be even better:

• Video Link

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Stereotypical Georgestown residents on the left. They're not mummers.

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

Mummering 2015 by R C, on Flickr

[someone123]

Originally Posted by lio45

The wrong way to look at it (as I recall explaining to st7860 many times -- now that he's banned, I thought I wouldn't ever have to do it again ) is to say "nice, my tax rate got halved! I now pay only half the municipal taxes that I used to!".

One related thing that tends to happen though is that municipalities try to capture revenue when assessments go up. They will peg the mill rate such that they can announce a "tax cut" while still collecting more money. I haven't seen many cities where rising assessments didn't cause at least a bit of inflation in taxation on similar properties. Maybe Sherbrooke is the exception, but I wouldn't be surprised if your tax bills went up by more than general inflation, even if they didn't go up in lock step with your assessments.

Often too municipal politicians will defend their decision by saying they don't control assessments, which is essentially irrelevant as far as municipal budgets are concerned (although the assessments do impact the relative tax bills of different properties).

[Rumors]

Mine:,,,,

[SignalHillHiker]

Gorgeous lighting, Rumors.

****

Alick's photos with people are always so nice. I wish I could do that.

2015 Mummers Festival Randoms by Alick Tsui Photography, on Flickr

2015 Mummers Festival Randoms by Alick Tsui Photography, on Flickr

2015 Mummers Festival Randoms by Alick Tsui Photography, on Flickr

2015 Mummers Festival Randoms by Alick Tsui Photography, on Flickr

[Rico Rommheim]

Crisp photos rumors!

[matthew6]

Georgestown is my kind of neighborhood. — gorgeous !

[Hali87]

Great drone tour of downtown Halifax:

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Annoying music, but otherwise some interesting views of downtown:

• Video Link

[Echoes]

A few from Saskatoon this past summer:


IMG_8631 by Echoes Saskatoon, on Flickr


IMG_8655 by Echoes Saskatoon, on Flickr










IMG_8807 by Echoes Saskatoon, on Flickr


IMG_8795 by Echoes Saskatoon, on Flickr


IMG_8611 by Echoes Saskatoon, on Flickr


IMG_8786 by Echoes Saskatoon, on Flickr

[Hali87]

Very nice! Interesting how Saskatoon seems dominated by/built around the Bessborough - really reminds me of Victoria and QC.

[Hali87]

Pizza Corner, a small section of downtown wedged between Spring Garden and the Argyle strip, famous for late-night eats and formerly notorious for late-night violence and general drunken chaos (Alice Cooper used to reference it on his radio show). There is less violence these days (nights?) than 5-10 years ago, more paint, and less pizza (originally the intersection of Blowers and Grafton had pizza shops on 3 of 4 corners, hence the name).



Pizza Corner 1 by Hali87, on Flickr


Pizza Corner 2 by Hali87, on Flickr


Pizza Corner 3 by Hali87, on Flickr


Pizza Corner 4 by Hali87, on Flickr


Pizza Corner 5 by Hali87, on Flickr


Pizza Corner 6 by Hali87, on Flickr

[1ajs]

one of the first shots from my new lens that came today on my new camera i got a few weeks ago...

canon 17-40 on my 6d at 17mm

[SignalHillHiker]

Mobile pics, but went to a few bars outside of the main entertainment district tonight.

• Video Link