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dunno said:
West Oliver has potential. So does McCauley, Alberta Ave, Ritchie, Downtown, and Garneau. But we're talking about where these cities are now, not in 5 or 10 years. This applies even more so to Blatchford, which may be an amazing development in time, but the story of that has yet to be written. I will say that Downtown/East Village, Inglewood, and Kensington are further ahead by a decent margin from West Oliver. West Oliver might be closer to a Bridgeland in vibrancy at the moment.
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I'll echo @Tropical about the West Oliver and Bridgeland comparison. I agree with your point regarding Downtown/East Village and Inglewood (albeit the latter's better direct comparison is with Old Strathcona, and then I believe they're pretty much level with each other), but I honestly see West Oliver much closer to Kensington than Bridgeland, especially with all of the new developments recently finished or in their final stages. Might not be quite there yet, but it is a much closer comparison.

dunno said:
Montreal's prices are getting there though. They're in the ballpark of Calgary's, last I looked (not too long ago).
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But that's what I mean by best bang-for-the-buck. Montreal is a whole order of magnitude above Vancouver in terms of urban experience, and Vancouver itself is above Edmonton and Calgary.
I'd gladly pay Calgary prices to live in a Montreal-like city here I could do without speaking French. Hell, if I could live in a place like MTL without being fluent in French I'd be WAAAAY more inclined to pay Vancouver prices to live there, than in Vancouver.

This only goes towards my point, regarding how crazy expensive Vancouver is.
 
Tropical said:
I've seen you try to make this argument before - must we keep making comparisons that make no sense?

For example:

Bridgeland, Calgary
# of Supermarkets: 0
# of Pubs/Bars: 0

West Oliver, Edmonton
# of Supermarkets: 3
# of Pubs/Bars: Over a dozen and growing
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I mean that's cute, but a very specific metric. Bridgeland doesn't have Safeway (though Superstore is right across the river) but does have small scale, specialty grocers, including bakeries, Bridgeland Market, and a Japanese food market. There are a couple bars too. But the areas focus is on restaurants, cafes, and shops. Does everywhere need to be a nightlife quarter?

West Oliver and Bridgeland, on the ground, have a very similar average of number of people out and about, enjoying the neighbourhood, and thus are similar in their vibrancies, even if the things creating said vibrancy are not identical.
 
ChazYEG said:
I'll echo @Tropical about the West Oliver and Bridgeland comparison. I agree with your point regarding Downtown/East Village and Inglewood (albeit the latter's better direct comparison is with Old Strathcona, and then I believe they're pretty much level with each other), but I honestly see West Oliver much closer to Kensington than Bridgeland, especially with all of the new developments recently finished or in their final stages. Might not be quite there yet, but it is a much closer comparison.


But that's what I mean by best bang-for-the-buck. Montreal is a whole order of magnitude above Vancouver in terms of urban experience, and Vancouver itself is above Edmonton and Calgary.
I'd gladly pay Calgary prices to live in a Montreal-like city here I could do without speaking French. Hell, if I could live in a place like MTL without being fluent in French I'd be WAAAAY more inclined to pay Vancouver prices to live there, than in Vancouver.

This only goes towards my point, regarding how crazy expensive Vancouver is.
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My last experience in Bridgeland, last year, made its vibrancy feel quite similar to West Oliver around the Promenade, Exchange, and lower 124th. It was quite nice and should probably be a model more for Ritchie than Oliver. I agree Inglewood is on Old Strathcona's level, but so is the Beltline-Mission. Kensington is somewhere between them and Bridgeland. West Oliver is approaching that level, but it's not quite there yet IMO.
 
"Montreal is the best bang-for-the-buck in Canada"
Gronk! said:
I believe more people may choose to live in Montreal if it wasn't for the decades-long sovereignty and language issues. I only know enough French to read the back of a cereal box but I'm not fluent by any stretch of the imagination. I'm only fluent in English and that is hard enough already lol! Having been a tourist in Montreal about 2 or 3 times, it's probably going to be awkward as hell trying to live there permanently.
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I like history and older buildings with character so I prefer Montreal too. It is great to visit and you actually don't need to know French well to get by as a visitor, but to live, or more precisely to work, there is a different story.

What I also like is Montreal has a more comfortable and more consistent density. The area around where I visited a friend was really not unlike that around Whyte Ave. It is not like Vancouver with a very dense core that fairly quickly turns into no so dense outlying areas. The area around the U of A is denser than around UBC. Montreal is also built for four distinct seasons, so probably a better more realistic model for us to follow.

Lastly Montreal has a rich culture, focuses on and embraces it, where as Vancouver seems to focus a lot on outdoor activity. I suspect it is not a coincidence that places that have some harsh winter weather focus more on indoor activities at least for some of the year.
 
David A said:
"I like history and older buildings with character so I prefer Montreal too. It is great to visit and you actually don't need to know French well to get by as a visitor, but to live, or more precisely to work, there is a different story.
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Just a quick point of clarification - you don't need to speak French at all to get by as a visitor. Not one word."
 
tkoe_ said:
There's worse things in the world than having to learn a few words another language. Montreal, Mexico City, Tokyo, we can all put in a bit of effort.
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Yes, I think we can get a bit lazy as Anglophones because we're so used to the world just orienting around our language.
 
tkoe_ said:
There's worse things in the world than having to learn a few words another language. Montreal, Mexico City, Tokyo, we can all put in a bit of effort.
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A different point than what the conversation was about, but very true. As some people have noted though, even as an Anglophone when you say hello in French, you are often greeted back with a reply in English. I'm sure the effort is appreciated though.
 
David A said:
"Montreal is the best bang-for-the-buck in Canada"

What I also like is Montreal has a more comfortable and more consistent density. The area around where I visited a friend was really not unlike that around Whyte Ave. It is not like Vancouver with a very dense core that fairly quickly turns into no so dense outlying areas. The area around the U of A is denser than around UBC. Montreal is also built for four distinct seasons, so probably a better more realistic model for us to follow.
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An interesting video out this morning about many of the things Montreal is doing to become even more livable. There are plenty of ideas Edmonton could adopt as it builds out the bike network

 
Perhaps if you were planning to buy in Windermere this isn't good news. I feel the market here is healthier than the more pessimistic give it credit for, but affordability is not being eroded too much at least so far.

However, I suppose everyone has their own perspective of what is good news and what is not.
 
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