World class? Atlanta says so
Is Toronto a “world-class” city?
The city loves to torment itself over how it stacks up against the rest of the world, and since it plays home to much of the country’s media, it’s a constant talking point. At the end of March, the
Globe and Mail ran a piece about “how to make Toronto a world-class city again,” which presumed the Big Smoke was once such a place and somehow lost it. A Toronto Star columnist declared last year, “we’re not there yet.” And Toronto Life has found a cheeky way to tap into the debate: it dedicates an entire page of its websites to stories about the subject, titled World-Class Watch.
But as the rest of Canada piles on the hate, calls Toronto cold and disconnected and full of craft-beer drinking, handpressed coffee-guzzling elitists, those outside our borders often laud the nation’s largest city.
In January, the Economist declared Hogtown the best city to live in, in the entire world. The honour prompted much hand-wringing and more than a few guffaws from within Toronto’s chattering classes, but it turns out, more and more places are looking to Toronto as a world leader in how to run a city.
That’s why the regional government from Atlanta, Ga., is choosing Toronto as its second-ever out-of-country municipal visit.
“Toronto is a world-class city. Lots of people talk about it. You read it in the newspaper,” said Rob Lebeau, a manager with the Atlanta Regional Commission, who helped coordinate the trip for more than 100 civic leaders from his city in early May. This is the 19th time they’ve conducted these municipal missions, and just the second time they’ve gone outside the country. (Vancouver was first, but don’t dwell on that too hard, Toronto.)
And they aren’t just coming to learn about Toronto proper, but the Greater Toronto Area. Their meetings will include leaders from Mississauga and Brampton.
As much as Torontonians can be hard on themselves, LeBeau said the city shines. After spending two separate two-week trips here, he said he was struck by the vibrancy of the downtown, the city’s diversity and “the amount of life on the streets and the activity oc- curring.”
It’s easy for city dwellers to walk past street gatherings or events that have become commonplace but, to an outsider, those random festivals display Toronto’s vibrancy.
The delegates also hope to learn more about such efforts as Diverse City, as Atlanta struggles to figure out its own settlement services.
Although the GTA has some employment issues, LeBeau said its economy is much stronger than that of the American south, specifically cities in Georgia, which were hard hit by the 2008 recession. He said delegates want to learn about the city’s “very diverse, very strong economy” and how the region has attracted new industries.
The Atlanta resident also conceded he has “got stuck in a lot of traffic” while trying to leave downtown to visit other cities, but also said all major metropolises combat congestion. LeBeau visited during the provincial and municipal elections and said he hears the same debates about transit back home, as people discuss buses versus light rail versus subways. But, he said, Georgia doesn’t fund it as much.
Last week’s provincial budget committed about $13 billion to transit in the GTA alone, and the federal government has offered up a new, permanent $1-billion-a-year transit fund for cities. Georgia just offered $900 million for the whole state.
Mayor John Tory said he’s excited about the money as well, despite the fact it’s not all allocated to just the Toronto Transit Commission.
“It’s time we got over this whole notion of trying to count pennies and see exactly who’s got what and somehow feel jealous about what Mississauga and Brampton are getting ... because an improvement to the overall regional transit picture” helps us all, he said.