__________________
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell)
Seriously? That has to be the only time I have ever heard that. Everywhere else trees add character and value to your home. Bizarre that they would feel that way. You wouldn't want a tree hiding the sight of the cookie cutter rows of vinyl sided houses now would you? No, of course not. Greenery would spoil the view of absolute, lifeless desolation.
Yeah that's the weirdest thing I ever heard. The houses in those SJ photos all look like subsidized low income housing, made much worse by the lack of greenery
One of my properties is in a lower income area of the Edmonton inner city and it's actually a really pretty neighborhood, with tall Elm trees lining all the streets. If you didn't know any better you'd think it was the same type of area as the affluent university neighborhoods across the river. Trees make such a huge difference.
Lots of factors - the main one is it's cheaper to clear cut, flatten the bedrock, lair a couple of inches of gravel, and throw down sod. And we do whatever's cheapest, for everything. However, we used to require developers to plant trees - and all areas of the city built during that time, at all elevations and classes, have decently-sized trees.
For example:
Churchill Park suburb, built in the early 1940s:
They're still much smaller here than the same species would be anywhere else. The landscape is bare bedrock or peat bogs at higher elevations, and then a thin layer of soil along the river valleys. The places where these houses are used to look like one of these three pictures:
Bare bedrock with thin, poor soil:
Peat bog:
Thin soil in valleys:
And then it's just preferences. Middle-aged people here, my parents included, think trees in the front is a lower-class or bush living thing. If they bought a house with a tree out front that was higher than the living room window, they'd certainly have it removed.
Much of the areas around the city that were developed in the 50s and 60s were previously farmland, so were not all bedrock and peat. In the sixties, the city had a joint effort with property owners to plant trees at the front of the property when the areas were developed, and most of these streets look half decent now, while many older ones and certainly newer ones look terrible.
Regarding Nflders dislike of trees, that has been changing, but how do your parents explain older areas and streets like Pine Bud Avenue, and Waterford Bridge Road, etc., where the most upscale properties are, and are quite full of trees?
Filmed at the high school my sister in law went to L'Amoreaux Collegiate in Scarborough. The scenes in the high school corridors perfectly encapsulate early 80's fashion with the feathered hair centre hairpart look quite prominent.
This is the street where they did the aerial shots 33 years later.
Never really noticed it until now but in Toronto street trees are quite common between the road and the sidewalk. In Ottawa most planted trees by the City are on the front lawn as a tree in the middle of the boulevard could get impacted by big snowbanks.
Yeah that's the weirdest thing I ever heard. The houses in those SJ photos all look like subsidized low income housing, made much worse by the lack of greenery
One of my properties is in a lower income area of the Edmonton inner city and it's actually a really pretty neighborhood, with tall Elm trees lining all the streets. If you didn't know any better you'd think it was the same type of area as the affluent university neighborhoods across the river. Trees make such a huge difference.
I'm pretty sure I recall something equally weird, that vinyl siding was regarded as higher-class than brick over there.
Newfie Real Estate Flipping: buy a brick house with mature trees, cover the house with cheap vinyl siding and raze all trees, then resell. Profit!
Brick is better than vinyl; it's just that notoriously run-down brick projects, when they're fixed up, and covered in vinyl, it's an improvement.
For example:
Doesn't this vinyl one objectively look better than any of its neighbours?
But stone is still nicer in general. The one on the left looks more expensive than the one on the right:
*****
Quote:
Originally Posted by Architype
Regarding Nflders dislike of trees, that has been changing, but how do your parents explain older areas and streets like Pine Bud Avenue, and Waterford Bridge Road, etc., where the most upscale properties are, and are quite full of trees?
My parents would never describe Pine Bud Avenue as upscale. And they're not even wealthy or snobby. It's mostly student rentals there.
Waterford Bridge Road, I imagine they'd like the large lots and excuse the trees for that reason. But, say, Circular Road behind Bannerman Park, they don't care for that. Like this link you shared: https://www.google.ca/maps/@47.54113...7i13312!8i6656
I guarantee you that tree would bother my mother as much as the pole does and she'd want both gone.
__________________ Note to self: "The plural of anecdote is not evidence."
I'm pretty sure I recall something equally weird, that vinyl siding was regarded as higher-class than brick over there.
Newfie Real Estate Flipping: buy a brick house with mature trees, cover the house with cheap vinyl siding and raze all trees, then resell. Profit!
Vinyl is still ubiquitous here, and not just on tract housing and suburban developments. Most of the infill in Edmonton, even the really expensive stuff uses either vinyl siding or acrylic stucco.
Much of the areas around the city that were developed in the 50s and 60s were previously farmland, so were not all bedrock and peat. In the sixties, the city had a joint effort with property owners to plant trees at the front of the property when the areas were developed, and most of these streets look half decent now, while many older ones and certainly newer ones look terrible.
Regarding Nflders dislike of trees, that has been changing, but how do your parents explain older areas and streets like Pine Bud Avenue, and Waterford Bridge Road, etc., where the most upscale properties are, and are quite full of trees?
Filmed at the high school my sister in law went to L'Amoreaux Collegiate in Scarborough. The scenes in the high school corridors perfectly encapsulate early 80's fashion with the feathered hair centre hairpart look quite prominent.
This is the street where they did the aerial shots 33 years later.
Never really noticed it until now but in Toronto street trees are quite common between the road and the sidewalk. In Ottawa most planted trees by the City are on the front lawn as a tree in the middle of the boulevard could get impacted by big snowbanks.
The streets of snout-house-land definitely look better for the trees (maybe this wouldn't be the case in newfoundland ), and yeah, the 80s soul-sucking high school scenes bring me right back to my high school days of 82-87. Fashion, corridors, cliques...the whole shebang.
__________________
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell)
The tress definitely help but that's probably as ugly as it gets for a GTA subdivision. It doesn't really look very GTA to me actually, the vinyl maybe?
I always had fond memories of this street in Oakville that my friend lived on growing up because it was perfect for playing street hockey. Was back in town for the first time in a year and drove by and realized how depressing a street full of garage doors is.
That being said, having every other street be dedicated to parking actually allows for the front side of the street to look somewhat decent by Suburban standards. No driveways, smaller setback from the street, nice tree cover in the summer This is the same subdivision.
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Discontented suburbanite since 1994
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small,
Then we can never get away from the sprawl,
Living in the sprawl,
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains,
And there's no end in sight...
I won't even bother bringing the whole Les Résidences Soleil monster family...
I agree with you (except for some parts of the fugly "downtown", Port Credit and Streetsville)
Here's some new homes in an area that should've been built out years before (These homes must be less than twenty, even though nearby, you'll find 35 or so year old homes) https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.60946...=en&authuser=0
Here are some very VERY run of the mill homes....these 80's subdivisions are EVERYWHERE in Mississauga, they're probably more common than the 60's or 70's subdivisions: https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.61450...=en&authuser=0
This is true. Yes much of Sauga is like any suburb. Lots of cookie cutter going on. And also has some ghetto like in Malton or commie block across from Sqaure One to the SE. Or Hurontario and Dundas. Sauga also has a trailer park on Dundas east of Dixie. And used to have another at Dundas just west of Hurontario.
But there are quite a few nice places. In addition to those places you mentioned, I'll include much/all of Meadowvale Village, Lakeview, Clarkson, Lorne Park, Mineola, Erindale, anywhere close to UTM, and basically anywhere along the Credit.
Still though. Way too many cars on the road now in Sauga and Brampton. Just so damn congested. Two places I wouldn't want to move back to unless someone bequeathed to me a nice home in one of the nice neighbourhoods.
Vinyl is still ubiquitous here, and not just on tract housing and suburban developments. Most of the infill in Edmonton, even the really expensive stuff uses either vinyl siding or acrylic stucco.
Must be an Alberta thing cause we have the same in Calgary.
I always had fond memories of this street in Oakville that my friend lived on growing up because it was perfect for playing street hockey. Was back in town for the first time in a year and drove by and realized how depressing a street full of garage doors is.
That's not a street. That's an laneway. That's an alleyway. Streets are in front of the houses. Those garages are behind the houses not in front of the houses. How is this different from normal cities? Laneways and alleys behind houses for garages are very common in older parts of Toronto as well. Do you seriously think it looks better to have garages in front of the house? I don't understand why single out Oakville for building in the same way as older cities.
I don't mean to single you out, your post is just an example, because this thread is just full of ignorance. Even Port Credit and Streetsville aren't good enough for some people here, apparently.
I literally spelled out the benefits of having laneways right after that picture. The difference in Oakville is they are just as wide as the adjacent street and make no attempt to blend in.
Pretty big difference:
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Discontented suburbanite since 1994
saying all alleyways are alike is like saying all apartment blocks are alike.
Some are lovely and full of charm, others are banal and purely functional.
__________________
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell)