The Ugly Canada Thread - Page 301

hipster duck · #**6001** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 7:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

I know it's probably somewhat irrational, but I can't help but find condo fees of $500 or more per month daunting and prohibitive. Once there was this one really terrific condo in an old mansion in Hamilton on the market that had fees of $1,100 per month. Per month! With no gym or pool or anything like that, just some nice gardens. And a 150-year-old building requiring upkeep.

It just feels like six, eight or ten thousand dollars per year burned into the ether. At least with stuff you do on your house you are witness to an immediate and tangible benefit. Some years you buy a furnace, some years you replace 40-year-old front and side porches that are falling apart ($20,000+ for us last year), and some years you do some exterior painting, but I have never sat down with a calculator to tally up twelve years' worth of repair costs because...I don't really care about knowing the exact figure.

We're happy with where we live. The intangibles outweigh the accounts. Though I do know we haven't spent anywhere near the equivalent of 12 years of condo fees x $8,000 = $96,000.

$1,100 for condo fees is exorbitant. And in Hamilton, to boot! At that price, I'd just buy a home and put aside a substantial budget to cover anything that might happen to the house. I pay $300 a month in condo fees but, then again, I also live in a city where owning a property without having to pay condo fees is financially impossible for me. Whether I like the convenience of condo fees, or not, it's sort of a forced choice.

Yes, many of those home improvements you'd have to make offer tangible benefits if you plan to sell. A new furnace or a lovely porch is probably worth the investment. Then again, spending tens of thousands because your foundation is cracked and your house is sinking? Well, that's something you would have been obligated to fix out of your own pocket and it offers no benefits upon resale. I know someone who went through that recently.

kwoldtimer · #**6002** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Here's a shitty gazebo donated as a 'gift' to Calgary from Quebec City. I don't want to sound ungrateful but this has to be the plainest and ugliest gift I can imagine. What's worse is its' location which sits on the Riverwalk by Fort Calgary far from everything else. I can't imagine a less dynamic performance space. How is this thing even newsworthy? If we donated a shed to Quebec City would big announcements be made?

Some large renderings in here:
http://calgarymayor.ca/stories/a-stampede-gift-to-calgarians

It's an even bigger joke to call it a music pavilion considering the National Music Centre at the opposite end of the East Village. To me it's more of a bandstand like they had the oompa-pa band on in Groundhog Day.

You sound ungrateful. And ungracious. That is not pretty.

rousseau · #**6003** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 8:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hipster duck

$1,100 for condo fees is exorbitant. And in Hamilton, to boot!

It was this place: http://freshbrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/incredible-inglewood-interior.html. Doesn't belong in the Ugly Canada Thread, to say the least. Though it was actually $1,000 per month, not $1,100.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Yes, many of those home improvements you'd have to make offer tangible benefits if you plan to sell. A new furnace or a lovely porch is probably worth the investment. Then again, spending tens of thousands because your foundation is cracked and your house is sinking? Well, that's something you would have been obligated to fix out of your own pocket and it offers no benefits upon resale. I know someone who went through that recently.

Well, you knock on wood when it comes to that kind of thing, no question.

HomeInMyShoes · #**6004** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 8:20 PM**

^^But funny.

Although dissing oompa-pa bands made raised the ire of my Polish-German heritage.

It wouldn't happen to be modeled after the Edwin-Bélanger would it?

Because setting and construction-wise this is not as nice. Well, setting it might be. On the river in Calgary will be nice.

The image is a bit large, but check the link...

Source: http://kioska.musik.free.fr/ Le Kioske Edwin-Bélanger

I think what we have here is a translation into what is believed to be the aesthetics of Calgary or that just don't translate into 2016 construction methods...

Acajack · #**6005** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 8:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

I know it's probably somewhat irrational, but I can't help but find condo fees of $500 or more per month daunting and prohibitive. Once there was this one really terrific condo in an old mansion in Hamilton on the market that had fees of $1,100 per month. Per month! With no gym or pool or anything like that, just some nice gardens. And a 150-year-old building requiring upkeep.

It just feels like six, eight or ten thousand dollars per year burned into the ether. At least with stuff you do on your house you are witness to an immediate and tangible benefit. Some years you buy a furnace, some years you replace 40-year-old front and side porches that are falling apart ($20,000+ for us last year), and some years you do some exterior painting, but I have never sat down with a calculator to tally up twelve years' worth of repair costs because...I don't really care about knowing the exact figure.

We're happy with where we live. The intangibles outweigh the accounts. Though I do know we haven't spent anywhere near the equivalent of 12 years of condo fees x $8,000 = $96,000.

Plus don't forget that you do maintenance on your condo above and beyond the condo fees you pay. The condo fees only cover what's in common, not what's inside your unit. Plus they will ding you with extras above your condo fees if there is a special project that needs to be done and everyone has to contribute to.

I also doubt I've even spent 96k in maintenance and such on my current house in the 12 years I've lived in it. And I even put in an in-ground pool.

O-tacular · #**6006** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 10:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

It was this place: http://freshbrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/incredible-inglewood-interior.html. Doesn't belong in the Ugly Canada Thread, to say the least. Though it was actually $1,000 per month, not $1,100.

Well, you knock on wood when it comes to that kind of thing, no question.

Wow what a beauty! If I was rich I'd spend the money to live there.

O-tacular · #**6007** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 10:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^^But funny.

Although dissing oompa-pa bands made raised the ire of my Polish-German heritage.

It wouldn't happen to be modeled after the Edwin-Bélanger would it?

Because setting and construction-wise this is not as nice. Well, setting it might be. On the river in Calgary will be nice.

The image is a bit large, but check the link...

Source: http://kioska.musik.free.fr/ Le Kioske Edwin-Bélanger

I think what we have here is a translation into what is believed to be the aesthetics of Calgary or that just don't translate into 2016 construction methods...

It's almost insulting in a way. Like honestly that thing cost more to ship than it would to produce.

O-tacular · #**6008** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 10:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

You sound ungrateful. And ungracious. That is not pretty.

Well like it or not this gift belongs in this thread. It's completely incongruous with what is being built in East Village and it's location as far from everything else as possible tells me that CMLC probably felt the same way but didn't want to be rude and reject it outright.

lio45 · #**6009** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 11:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

It was this place: http://freshbrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/incredible-inglewood-interior.html. Doesn't belong in the Ugly Canada Thread, to say the least. Though it was actually $1,000 per month, not $1,100.

Gorgeous! I have a hard time imagining that they spend $12k per year per unit though -- maybe they're just being paranoid and intend to drastically cut the condo fees after a couple years when there'll be a couple hundred grand sitting in the collective coffers for the building.

lio45 · #**6010** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 11:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Here's a shitty gazebo donated as a 'gift' to Calgary from Quebec City. I don't want to sound ungrateful but this has to be the plainest and ugliest gift I can imagine. What's worse is its' location which sits on the Riverwalk by Fort Calgary far from everything else. I can't imagine a less dynamic performance space. How is this thing even newsworthy? If we donated a shed to Quebec City would big announcements be made?

This place doesn't feel like SSP without Spliff pointing out that this shitty gazebo was paid for by AB equalization money in the first place

O-tacular · #**6011** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 11:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lio45

This place doesn't feel like SSP without Spliff pointing out that this shitty gazebo was paid for by AB equalization money in the first place

Lol!!!

Gee thanks Quebec. Now approve Energy East and we'll call it even.

MolsonExport · #**6012** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 1:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lio45

This place doesn't feel like SSP without Spliff pointing out that this shitty gazebo was paid for by AB equalization money in the first place

O-tacular · #**6013** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 5:31 PM**

Hmmm.... I wonder if this is a rub and tug?

MolsonExport · #**6014** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 6:05 PM**

^hmmm, better ask Jack Layton. Whoops, too late.

MolsonExport · #**6015** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 6:13 PM**

it doesn't get uglier. Not even Chad Kroeger is this ugly.

http://www.yourwardnews.ca/YourWardNews_Summer2016.pdf

Proof Sheet · #**6016** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 6:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

it doesn't get uglier. Not even Chad Kroeger is this ugly.

http://www.yourwardnews.ca/YourWardNews_Summer2016.pdf

Wow..just wow. He seems to hate everybody. According to page 3 he has a wife. The poor lady.

Are those ads real or satirical. The farmer one near the end is quite unusual.

According to his newsletter alcohol is not good for testosterone levels.

SignalHillHiker · #**6017** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 6:39 PM**

I'll never eat souvlaki again.

Also, this:

kwoldtimer · #**6018** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 7:08 PM**

Can things be so gloriously ugly that at some level they just become glorious?

HomeInMyShoes · #**6019** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 7:35 PM**

No. They become 'classy'.

Probably my most hated word used by my parents' generation (specifically one of my aunt's) to describe what is at best suitable for a trailer park.

matthew6 · #**6020** Posted **Jun 8, 2016, 7:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

Wow..just wow. He seems to hate everybody. According to page 3 he has a wife. The poor lady.

Are those ads real or satirical. The farmer one near the end is quite unusual.

According to his newsletter alcohol is not good for testosterone levels.

I think he is a troll