Quote:
Originally Posted by biguc
But people already live on the Islands. Why shouldn't that be possible for more people? The rest of the islands would still exist for a natural getaway for the rest of the city--it's not like anyone enjoys Billy Bishop.
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What TorontoDrew said.
Also, the appeal of the Islands is precisely that it is inconvenient, albeit a democratic form of inconvenience.
I mean, it wouldn't cost much for the city to build a drawbridge
here, but the capacity of the ferries limits the number of people who can be on the island at any given time leaving relatively uncongested beaches and public spaces that anyone can enjoy at any time.
Same with the housing situation. The city could have put these up for sale on the private land market, ensuring that nobody but the richest oligarchs build summer homes, but their wait list system ensures that anybody can buy a modest cabin, they just have to be patient.
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Before this pandemic, I lamented how all the great places on earth were crawling with tourists and nothing was a secret any more. There were too many people on earth with enough money and I was saddened to think that the only way we could regulate this was to charge more money to access these things. I mean, I'm not rich, so if we did that, I'd probably be on the outside looking in as well.
The Toronto Islands proves that you can make a place enjoyable yet accessible to all, even if it's on the doorstep of a city of millions.