LIVING JUST ENOUGH FOR THE CITY
Toronto’s east end, the perpetually aggrieved middle child to downtown’s successful eldest and the west end’s cooler youngest, recently threw itself into a tizzy over an article that suggested it “hates everything.” It is grossly unfair, east enders have decided.
I mean, sure, a group of them recently got a gaggle of toddlers kicked out of a local park because the sound of children playing on a sunny afternoon was simply too much to bear. And, yes, that came after others managed to shut down the renovation of a high school soccer field because it might cause more people to use it. And, okay, it also came after locals tried to close a nearby brewery because the conversational noise of people buying beer was a burden. And there was also the time east enders forced the Afrofest musical festival to wrap up early because all that music was annoying. So it is not fair to say Toronto’s east enders hate everything. They love quiet. And parks without people in them. That stuff is wonderful.
The truly unfair thing is probably limiting the hater designation to only the east end. Across the city, there are groups of Torontonians who love nothing more than to complain about the fact they live in a city. Wellheeled Lawrence Parkers act like $ 500,000 town homes are barbarians at their gates. Westend businesses can brook no change to the street that might affect even one parking space. And god forbid anyone outside the subway loop should build a condo or open a restaurant.
Essentially anything that suggests that people might want to, you know, live in a city will be shouted down by some concerned group. To them, the ideal city is apparently a yoga retreat with free parking, where people do nothing but sit at home quietly, and sort their recycling.
The precise appeal of cities, for those of us who have chosen to live in them, and aren’t just bound here by an ancient curse, or whatever reason these people have for not moving to Moose Jaw or at least Ajax, is that there is lots of stuff to do there. There is lots of stuff to do because there are people. People sometimes make noise, and they need places to live and ways to get around.
If this bothers you so much, might I suggest getting the hell out. With this real estate market, there’s never been a better time to sell.