The Ugly Canada Thread

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Architype

I agree, obviously it's to provide parking, but just how much do you gain? After all, they are losing on-street parking spots in front of every setback with a driveway, and the city just gains another ugly patch of asphalt (suggestion: paving stones would be much better). This is like dental work gone terribly wrong.

The only gain is that private homeowners have their own parking spot that no one else can take, whereas the on-street parking in front of your house can be used by anyone else in your Downtown Parking Area (generally a few blocks in size).

So typical horrible urban planning for the slight convenience of people selfish enough to demand it.

RE: Litter. St. John's is by far the dirtiest city I've ever lived in. My neighborhood looks like there's stuff blowing in from a directly adjacent landfill, but there isn't one. People joke a plastic bag in a tree should be our provincial flag.

EDIT: Just took a picture from my window to show you. None of this is mine, and I clean up directly in front of my house every garbage day (Wednesdays). So this is less than a week's worth in front of my house alone:



Dad is going to help me add a window box next summer. That seems to be the only thing that helps because people will chuck garbage up against your house but not into a little garden thing.



EDIT 2: Annoyed now. Getting ready to go out and clean it up.

[MolsonExport]

Cleanest city in the world? Happens to be the largest city in the world. Tokyo is sparkling clean, compared to any city in the Western Hemisphere or in Europe.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Cleanest city in the world? Happens to be the largest city in the world. Tokyo is sparkling clean, compared to any city in the Western Hemisphere or in Europe.

It's not Tokyo that is clean, it's the entire country, small or big city.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

They are everywhere in Southern Ontario.

I think you could argue that commie blocks are one of the defining vernaculars in southern Ontario, without question. Every city of any size has them. Seems like they and ranch suburban homes were two of the most prominent architectural design trends from the 50s to the 70s.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

RE: Litter. St. John's is by far the dirtiest city I've ever lived in. My neighborhood looks like there's stuff blowing in from a directly adjacent landfill, but there isn't one. People joke a plastic bag in a tree should be our provincial flag.

:

Places that are very windy are more challenging to keep clean of litter.

That said, there is always some accidental litter but people doing it deliberately... I just can't get that mindset.

[Spocket]

Canada is shiny compared to most of the world. Our worst offenders don't even come close to the best of the developing and undeveloped world. Despite this, I'm happy to hear that people take offense at a (subjectively) dirty city even if it pales in comparison to so many other places around the world.

[MolsonExport]

The newlyweds and their wedding party of 12 were greeted with a cheer and smiles as they lined up to order.

“He wanted a coffee after he got married. It's the only thing he wanted, so I gave him his wish,” said Sarah. “That's all you get for the rest of your life.”

fucking sad.

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/06/23/wedding-sealed-with-a-tim-hortons-triple-triple

cruel but funny comment:

Only thing I'd want IF I were to marry a 6'2",buck tooth,300lb amazon is 1/2 a gallon of rye whiskey, but they say beauty is in eye of beholder & who am I to doubt one who gets married in running shoes

[MolsonExport]

so much ugly in just one shot

muckleans

[MolsonExport]

Burger Thing brings to mind to King:

popsurar

[Architype]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

The only gain is that private homeowners have their own parking spot that no one else can take, whereas the on-street parking in front of your house can be used by anyone else in your Downtown Parking Area (generally a few blocks in size).

So typical horrible urban planning for the slight convenience of people selfish enough to demand it.

RE: Litter. St. John's is by far the dirtiest city I've ever lived in. My neighborhood looks like there's stuff blowing in from a directly adjacent landfill, but there isn't one. People joke a plastic bag in a tree should be our provincial flag.

EDIT: Just took a picture from my window to show you. None of this is mine, and I clean up directly in front of my house every garbage day (Wednesdays). So this is less than a week's worth in front of my house alone:

[IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/1531ks3.jpg [/IMG]

Dad is going to help me add a window box next summer. That seems to be the only thing that helps because people will chuck garbage up against your house but not into a little garden thing.

[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/2yvq5ch.png [/IMG]

EDIT 2: Annoyed now. Getting ready to go out and clean it up.

I don't think adding setbacks which break the continuity of urban fabric on older streets is a good trade off for off-street parking. Eventually it might all look like this. The off street parking should be provided in some other way, whether by dedicated parking lots or by creating new access via back alleys. Any new streets which are added in the city with row housing density should have back alley parking.

I haven't noticed that much garbage when I've been there, but I see more of the suburbs with their pristine walking trails, perhaps, but I know that Newfoundlanders have always had a Littertarian streak, that is, feeling unrestricted freedom to litter. It's probably because the land itself was not considered very valuable and there was plenty of it, also traditionally garbage was just thrown into the ocean. In the outports garbage collection was largely unknown before the 1960s.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Spocket

Canada is shiny compared to most of the world. Our worst offenders don't even come close to the best of the developing and undeveloped world. Despite this, I'm happy to hear that people take offense at a (subjectively) dirty city even if it pales in comparison to so many other places around the world.

A bit of an exaggeration there.

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Places that are very windy are more challenging to keep clean of litter.

That said, there is always some accidental litter but people doing it deliberately... I just can't get that mindset.

I get a kick out of the people who will open their door and lay their empty cup upright on the ground. As if properly laying it on the ground isn't littering...

[MolsonExport]

What about assholes that have their dogs shit on your property, and neglect to collect the said shit? Big problem in my nice little circle, which has little vehicular traffic but ample pedestrian traffic (from nearby condominium tower). One day, I will catch somebody red-handed, follow them back to their residence, and return the shit to the rightful owner.

The world is full of assholes. litterbugs, night-riding (motorcycle) assholes racing with their gaspack mufflers, pickup truck-driving and Rim Whoreton's-swilling suburban rednecks that don't give two shits for the environment....

these people are a liability on society. why do we as a society tolerate their egregious behaviors? There should be major consequences for chronic assholery.

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

A bit of an exaggeration there.

Except it's not. I guess it's an exaggeration if you factor in the Pyongyang-style social orders of the world. Otherwise, been to Indonesia, India, China, or Africa lately ? How about Brazil or Peru ? If you have then you weren't wearing your glasses while there. Presumably you also had a cold and your nose was stuffed up.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

What about assholes that have their dogs shit on your property, and neglect to collect the said shit? Big problem in my nice little circle, which has little vehicular traffic but ample pedestrian traffic (from nearby condominium tower). One day, I will catch somebody red-handed, follow them back to their residence, and return the shit to the rightful owner.

The world is full of assholes. litterbugs, night-riding (motorcycle) assholes racing with their gaspack mufflers, pickup truck-driving and Rim Whoreton's-swilling suburban rednecks that don't give two shits for the environment....

these people are a liability on society. why do we as a society tolerate their egregious behaviors? There should be major consequences for chronic assholery.

Unfortunately the consequences seem to be at a societal level. Just look at the rise of Trump in the U.S.

I got a kick out of this statue that was anonymously erected in Union Square NYC one evening though.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/18/125386...atues-union-square-los-angeles-indecline

[MolsonExport]

I was in China this summer (Shanghai, Wuxi, Suzhou, and environs). While it is true that some people live perhaps one step above what we would call squalor, air pollution aside, the cities themselves were on the whole rather clean.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Unfortunately the consequences seem to be at a societal level. Just look at the rise of Trump in the U.S.

I got a kick out of this statue that was anonymously erected in Union Square NYC one evening though.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/18/125386...atues-union-square-los-angeles-indecline

heheh, the Asian women is trying to get a shot of Tronald Dump's privates, but she has to really zoom in on account of how shriveled they are.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I think you could argue that commie blocks are one of the defining vernaculars in southern Ontario, without question. Every city of any size has them. Seems like they and ranch suburban homes were two of the most prominent architectural design trends from the 50s to the 70s.

Calling tower in a parks "commie blocks" is naive and foolish. Moving on, the tower in the photo was built in the 2000s and the developer has built dozens across a number of cities.

This recently developer tower in a park community in Burlington has a slightly "updated" look.

here


Talk about ugly for 2016.

[Daveography]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

What about assholes that have their dogs shit on your property, and neglect to collect the said shit?

The weirdest trend now is people who pick up and bag their dog shit, but then leave the bag on the ground.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Daveography

The weirdest trend now is people who pick up and bag their dog shit, but then leave the bag on the ground.

WTF is up with that, someone did that in my yard last summer, and it just happened again earlier this month.

What kind of dim witted mouth breather do you have to be to do something like that?