Originally Posted by megadude
DT Milton is not charming to me. It's decent yes, but I reserve charming for Oakville, Unionville, Burlington and some other GTA DTs like Newmarket and Georgetown ahead of Milton. The few times I have passed through or stopped in DT Milton, I never felt that IT factor. And I don't like how the main street and the residential area end so abruptly. And they have a gorgeous city hall too.
But I'd wager that 8 or 9/10 Milton residents from teen up to 30 years old don't even go DT Milton for entertainment or something to do. And I'd guess the vast majority don't even know what city hall looks like.
The problem with Milton is that tract housing is what dominates the image of Milton because it's so pervasive. So even though they have a decent downtown and nature aplenty outside the developments, the perception is always suburban hell hole. And their employment lands isn't very big. And I don't think there's really any office of note there. Just some industrial, which to me isn't as big as I thought it would be.
As for Paris and New Hamburg, they are pretty small in terms of downtown. I find Paris' to be more attractive (the main street), while I find New Hamburg's to be more interesting due to the architecture. Mind you, I've only been to Paris twice and New Hamburg once. And both being on an attractive river is nice.
By the way, those towns outside Ottawa or some places between Kingston and Ottawa are surprising to me. I knew of a couple but I see there's a couple more I didn't know were that decent.
As for Lindsay, yes, fairly nice main street, but ya, the one time I drove around away from that main street and saw the quality of many of the people around the apartment buildings and on the balconies... it was eye opening.
And for Mississauga, while I think they technically call Square One area downtown or city centre, the fact that residents don't call it either makes it suspect. Yes, it has much of the density and infrastructure of a DT, but in practice, no one calls it that. They say I live around Square One. And of course, they don't have a traditional main street lined by an eclectic mix of businesses and/or buildings. The epicentre of their "downtown" is actually the mall. But, yes, due to the density of highrises, and some offices, plus school that exist there, Mississauga does have a downtown, just not a traditional one.
Will agree that Markham is more downtownless, but I think Brampton has more of a downtown due to it's organic origins of a downtown. To me at least. It's not a nice downtown, but if you start at the Four Corners, as in Hurontario (Main St.) and Queen, and walk in any direction, it feels like a proper downtown. Though, it is quite undersized given Brampton's population, which is why Brampton is seen as a suburban hell hole. It's DT is more akin to a small city or big "town".
Anyway, it's got that historic aspect that Mississauga's doesn't. Of course, Mississauga chose not to make Port Credit their downtown or Streetsville, otherwise, it would have some of that heritage we associate with downtowns.
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