Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Djesus777

How so? There are so many interesting areas and neighbourhoods within the downtown area (Chinatown, Koreatown, Old MTL, QdS, hell even Griffintown etc..). There's so much to do downtown, but I want to know why with all that, it's the least interesting area for you?

I do agree though, taller buildings won't do much, it all depends on the ground level and how lively everything is. I sincerely hope post-covid, downtown MTL becomes a true 24/7 place.

It's all about personal taste, but for me my favourite restaurants are not in downtown (they're in St-Henri, Mile-End, Verdun, Villeray, HoMa, park-ex, etc), the best spots for local food (smoked meat, poutine, bagels) are not downtown they're scattered across the city, the best night / party spots are not downtown they're in the neighbourhoods where the young people live (St-Henri, the pointe, Verdun, etc). Some of the best architecture and most unique places that make Montreal what it is are simply not downtown.

I worked at the Fairmont hotel for years and I often found myself dumfounded when young tourists asked me about the best spots to eat and/or party in the immediate vicinity. I found myself continously recommending places outside downtown for experiencing the "real" city.

I'm not counting Griffintown or the Village as downtown, I see them as peripheral or adjacent to dt hoods.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's what makes montreal a cool city, so many good spots all over.

The western part of downtown (what has since become known as "chinatown II" and now Koreatown) is the best part of downtown, no doubt. Having spent years there as a Concordia student I can vouch that it's a cool spot. Montreal's actual Chinatown is a cute little joke I suppose, Montreal's chinatown also has the city's best taco's and best Vietnamese food.

Basically, in my opinion, if you've spent only a 2-3 days in Montreal and all you've seen was downtown, you haven't really experienced the real city.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by harls

I quite like where I live in Aylmer. It's nice and quiet.

Damn Ottawa people keep clogging up my streets trying to get cheap beer though.

Aylmer is by far my favourite urban area in the region. I love living here, and I would live here even if it was the same price as areas of Ottawa. Nothing better than living between the river and the hills.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Though I'm pro abolishing the height limit on paper, in practice I really don't see the point. Downtown Montreal is one pf the least interesting neighbourhoods in the city I find, and I don't see how a bunch of 230m towers would help that.

Hey, don't talk bad about my neighborhood. I live near Guy-Concordia and I absolutely love it... effervescent, great places to shop and eat, full of students, multiethnic, close to Mont-Royal park... After living in le Plateau and Rosemont for many, many years, I would not go back.

Edit: just saw your last comment, so everything is good and I'm still friend with you ;-)

[Rico Rommheim]

Yeah but I explicitly excused the Guy metro area in my rant! It was given a pass.

[ue]

Downtown Montreal at least has the nicest downtown retail main street in Canada: Ste-Catherine.

[Monolith]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrstot...in/dateposted/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrstot...in/dateposted/

[esquire]

^ Lovely!

[WhipperSnapper]

Wow. skyline and then ships

[Hawrylyshyn]

Vancouver is seriously special

[giallo]

It's nice to see the gradual build up of some of Vancouver's arterial routes in the second picture. You can clearly see Cambie, Main, Kingsway and Broadway all feeding in to downtown.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Remind me of it at 1:20

• Video Link

Pretty neat. Marseille has a really cool tunnel system that runs right under the old port. I've driven it several times.

• Video Link

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Pretty neat. Marseille has a really cool tunnel system that runs right under the old port. I've driven it several times.

• Video Link

Nice!

[mr.John]

Originally Posted by ue

Downtown Montreal at least has the nicest downtown retail main street in Canada: Ste-Catherine.

I don't think you've walk down Ste-Catherine lately, the street is an absolute dump,it's filled with empty shops and homeless bums on every corner

[ue]

Originally Posted by mr.John

I don't think you've walk down Ste-Catherine lately, the street is an absolute dump,it's filled with empty shops and homeless bums on every corner

Nope, not since 2019. It still has a lot of the same stores and amenities, though.

As for "homeless bums" maybe instead of demonizing them you could help. Just a thought!

[WhipperSnapper]

The pandemic has had its effect on street retail that relied on lots of foot traffic to pay the bills. The lower rent commercial street closest to me is in decent shape. The next street over, the premier street with premium rents, has been devastated. At least a third of the street was vacant the last time I walked it. There's so many vacant storefront the BIA has put up custom window coverings .

I wouldn't be surprised if this is true about Ste Catherines. It's not just businesses. People got hit by the pandemic too; reduced income and real estate costs in Montreal likely still went up. Forget Toronto. Tents are everywhere.

Homeless have bums. That doesn't make them bums. Don't be an ignorant ass (bum).

[mr.John]

Originally Posted by ue

Nope, not since 2019. It still has a lot of the same stores and amenities, though.

As for "homeless bums" maybe instead of demonizing them you could help. Just a thought!

There's over a half dozen shelters that provide food ,clothing and beds for homeless people downtown , so there's plenty of help if they want it, unfortunately there's a small group of hard-core BUMS who think that the rules of society don't apply to them,those are the people I have a major problem with

[rakesh]

The unhoused get assaulted in shelters most of the time; there is no privacy; whatever stuff they have left gets stolen and there is a lot of drug use (not every unhoused person is an addict). Shelters are not an option for them. Our fellow countrymen need permanent supportive housing. The unhoused deserve their dignity. I am willing to pay more taxes if it guarantees housing for everyone.

[ue]

Originally Posted by rakesh

The unhoused get assaulted in shelters most of the time; there is no privacy; whatever stuff they have left gets stolen and there is a lot of drug use (not every unhoused person is an addict). Shelters are not an option for them. Our fellow countrymen need permanent supportive housing. The unhoused deserve their dignity. I am willing to pay more taxes if it guarantees housing for everyone.

Yep! Not to mention the shelters have had major covid outbreaks through the pandemic. Others may be unable to visit either due to threat of violence or inability to stop using substances without assistance. There's often not enough room at shelters for literally every unhoused person either.

A city like Toronto already has plenty of vacant condos that could easily house everyone and the fact that the city has been in a housing boom while the unhoused population grows is despicable.

[Sonog]

@jefrosonic

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by mr.John

There's over a half dozen shelters that provide food ,clothing and beds for homeless people downtown , so there's plenty of help if they want it, unfortunately there's a small group of hard-core BUMS who think that the rules of society don't apply to them,those are the people I have a major problem with

Undoubtably, Toronto is in worst shape than Montreal. I'm still confident to call this pure nonsense. We wouldn't have homelessness if the help every situation required was there as you say. No one wants to be homeless.

The ones that struggle conforming to society's rules are still your fellow Canadians. They need the most help of all. A temporary bed is not sufficient. They need stability with permanent housing and therapy. Nations around the world have no homelessness because they go above and beyond the bare minimum Canada offers to its own citizens. How fucking callous are you?