Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldrsx
Temper it with the fact I am in the antithesis of Edmonton, but the generality and responses remind me we get what we 'want'.
It is what it is, I guess, bravo.
Or, maybe, I could, we could 'we' would do more... or not?
What kind of place do you want to live, can you walk to much or most of it, do you want cheap/easy/quick? ok.
thanks
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The vast majority of people want it cheap/easy/quick. There's no time to walk to the patisserie & fishmonger every second day when you have to get one kid to soccer practice, the other to dance class, get to yoga plus cook dinner, pick up the dry cleaning, walk the dog, change the oil & do 3 loads of laundry so the family can go to work/school tomorrow in something clean. People have lives to live, stuff to do & like to have lots of private space to do it in, hence our spread out city.
You're a childless male in your mid-late 30s who likely uses his kitchen less than 90% of your fellow Edmontonians. You lead what appears to be a relatively uncomplicated life (the social calendar that resembles someone ten years your junior notwithstanding). You're fortunate enough to work a job close enough to home that you can walk while simultaneously facilitating many international vacations per year. You're hardly the Edmonton Everyman & as I've alluded to earlier today, all of this shapes your opinions, wants & desires into something dramatically different from the average folks. I'm not gonna make any kind of qualitative judgement here about your personal preferences, I'm just pointing out the differences between you & most folks in order to make a point (heck, except for your proclivity for pints & patios, we're honestly not that different, demographically-speaking).
Edmonton is amazing at providing the suburban experience many people seem to really enjoy. Nobody is putting a gun to anyone's head and making them move to the far side of the Henday. Unfortunately, there's a finite limit to how far the traditional suburban model can expand before it collapses under its own weight & while there is a definite need for change in how this city moves/grows/lives/works/plays over the next 20 years, lifting urbanist ideas from cities orders of magnitudes denser, hundreds of years older & culturally distinct from Edmonton doesn't really seem like the best option. We need a solution that works for Edmonton & as much as I hate to say it because it hinges on one of our weakest traits civically, I think it needs to be a home-grown one. There's a lot of amazing stuff in Edmonton, and a lot of that is due to the efforts of the people who've got stuff to do & wanna do it differently than you do, with all the diametrically opposing beliefs & choices that entails.
Like Matt said in his response to Dan, you profess to love Edmonton, but look down on, openly show contempt & disdain for your fellow Edmontonians, who make this city the great place it is. I don't get that.
And that's what I've got to say about that. Done with this topic for the foreseeable future.