Yeah. It's basically infill. But infill which just happens to be substantial in size and height. I'll take infill rather than a parking lot.

Yes. I think as the US slowly pulls itself out of the economic doldrums in the coming years, Canada will experience a second brain drain like it did in the late 90s, early 2000s. For a while, Canada has seemed to have had better prospects. But upwardly mobile people -- the smartest people --...

No. Don't get me the wrong way. I wasn't trying to make a completely selfish argument. I was merely refuting the idea that *I* have something to lose by moving to the US vis-a-vis the social safety net -- as it seemed was being suggested. I don't mind paying more. Even in the US, I'd pay more...

The people making like $150-$250k get a total kick in the pants. We don't qualify for ANY tax deductions for our kids, save for the new Child Arts Credit, and Sports Credit, which is really a drop in the bucket. I think if you're household income is above $91k, you're automatically disqualified...

What makes me absolutely nuts is when I hear from people that those in my income bracket aren't paying their fare share. Because more than 50% isn't enough.

It's also the people in my income bracket who are the most mobile. If I was making $500k/year, I probably wouldn't care. Higher taxes, whatever. I'm in that area of income where I make enough, have a large enough family, want to live downtown and feel strained to save money. Which sounds crazy...

Nah. Toronto is more expensive than the US. You can't just factor in real estate prices. There's other angles to cost of living. My wife and I are thinking of moving out of Canada right now -- I make six-figures, and my company is willing to relocate me to the US. At the same salary, in even...

Have you been to the UAE? I have. Do you know how hot it gets there? I do. I'm thinking people appreciate the shade.

I have a standing bias that I'm more than willing to admit to here, however: I'm not generally a fan of city planners as a matter of course. In particular, I am fond of Edward Glaeser's ideas. Which I know drives a certain group of urbanists into convulsions.

Yes, and when I badmouthed the DRP saying that is is staffed by fools re: their decision on the Massey Tower, some urban planner on Twitter got all hissy and blocked me, saying I had "insulted [his] profession". This only adds to the case.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/toronto-area-home-sales-drop-15-per-cent-from-feb-2012-1.1181924

This is predicated on the idea that potential income from rental demand is matching the sale prices of the condos. The rent-price ratio in Toronto condos is horrendous. Rental prices have gone up around 6% in the downtown core in the past 5 years, while prices have gone up many many times...

Depends how big the deposit is. If it's less than 10K, it might be a lot easier to walk away from if you're scared of the market than you might think for a lot of these foreign investors, especially. But even if it's near 20K, if the market falls off say 10% in the next 6 months, I think you'll...

We'll see. How many of those pre-construction sales are investors? I'm betting the majority. How many of those investors will stick it out if it's clear that condo prices are tanking? I'm betting not very many.

Nah. Just a few more months of these worsening condo sales figures and this and every other project without shovels in the ground will be put on indefinite hold.

Sure, but this is where I would suggest the bad side of democracy comes into play. When a local councillor stops development because it makes local constituents angry, this isn't necessarily a win for everyone. There's a thing called externalities. - When a property owner is told they can't...

Yeah, don't chalk up to something else which is better explained by political expediency. The fact is, there was nothing in it for Wong-Tam to oppose this development as everyone except the planning department was enthusiastic about it. But if there had been any serious constituency of residents...

I'll be honest: for the most part, the concept of zoning does, in fact, elude my senses. City planners declaring that "people live here, people work there" was actually one of the great travesties of the 20th century North America. The blame is often almost entirely put on the automotive lobby...

Many people are still holding out hope that human beings will all collectively realize we're all better off if we work together and not for ourselves, while singing Kumbaya. When I used to work on policy, I used to get into arguments with people all the time. They'd go something like this...

That's all interesting. But the project does not have approval from the city at this time. It may be your opinion that it is in for a rubber-stamp for the reasons you state, but that does not change the fact that as of right now the current status is that the proposed amendment to the zoning...