[TheTigerMaster]

Rob Ford pushes selling Metro Hall

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/06/11/rob_ford_pushes_selling_metro_hall.html

What is Metro Hall used for at the moment?

 

[JWBF]

Keep in mind, a lot of the "folks" don't care about civic unity or pride. They care about their lawns, garbage pickup and low taxes. A good 1/3 of the city to be exact. This is not going to be a cake walk for Olivia Chow.

It tickles me everytime, a cosmopolitan city that wants to be just a collection of city states.

 

[Gavin]

That's just excellent. A series of these with a positive theme that showcases the beauty and diversity of the entire city (not all downtown stuff) would be what a successful candidate could use in their campaigning.

A solid candidate should run with just this as the core of their campaign:

[video=youtube;9W6Jl3beOlY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W6Jl3beOlY[/video]

 

[Jonny5]

What is Metro Hall used for at the moment?

There are city offices and there is space leased by private firms. I think the 311 call centre is in the old metro council chamber.

It also has a lot of PATH retail that has substantially increased in prominance since the RBC Centre was constructed beside it with almost no retail and (iirc) no food court of its own.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

It should be sold, but not on his terms and definitely not allowing him to dictate how the proceeds are to be used.

And yes, given how little time his worship spends at City Hall, I would say he is a prime candidate to get moved to cheaper digs. I think Etobicoke Civic Centre still got space. Besides, it's a closer drive to a certain house on a certain street...

AoD

 

[christiesplits]

Any commercial real estate experts here? How much do you reckon Metro Hall could fetch?

 

[TheTigerMaster]

A solid candidate should run with just this as the core of their campaign:

[video=youtube;9W6Jl3beOlY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W6Jl3beOlY[/video]

Is it just me, or is Toronto becoming more prevalent on the music scene?

To name a few, artists such as The Weeknd, Kardinal Offishall, Justin Bieber, Deadmau5, Drake and K'naan are quite popular outside of Canada and all originated in Toronto. Most of these guys didn't exist five years ago. There are also quite a few smaller Toronto artists who I've noticed are growing in popularity.

 

[Gavin]

Is it just me, or is Toronto becoming more prevalent on the music scene?

To name a few, artists such as The Weeknd, Kardinal Offishall, Justin Bieber, Deadmau5, Drake and K'naan are quite popular outside of Canada. Most of these guys didn't exist five years ago. There are also quite a few smaller Toronto artists who I've noticed are growing in popularity.

You're about ten years behind

This past weekend was Arts & Crafts 10th anniversary party at Fort York, which featured sets from Broken Social Scene, Feist, Stars (part-Montreal, part-Toronto), Dan Mangan, Bloc Party (UK-based, but affiliated with A&C), Hayden, Timber Timbre, Trust, Cold Specks, and many more. Toronto blew up on the music scene a while ago.

This is a really good read: http://www.thegridto.com/culture/music/inside-torontos-indie-evolution/

Also, this: http://exclaim.ca/Features/Research/this_is_torontopia

 

[Johnny Au]

Is it just me, or is Toronto becoming more prevalent on the music scene?

To name a few, artists such as The Weeknd, Kardinal Offishall, Justin Bieber, Deadmau5, Drake and K'naan are quite popular outside of Canada and all originated in Toronto. Most of these guys didn't exist five years ago. There are also quite a few smaller Toronto artists who I've noticed are growing in popularity.

Bieber was from Stratford, actually. The Barenaked Ladies and Rush are also from Toronto and are very popular outside of Canada as well.

 

[Silence&Motion]

It could be sold as long as there's a good business case for it - which didn't exist when they considered selling it in the Lastman era. One potential problem is that staff constantly go back and forth between Metro Hall and City Hall for meetings - and the PATH connection makes that very convenient. Moving everyone out into cheaper territory may end up costing more in the long run in terms of productivity and logistics.

Of course knowing Ford, he's doing this purely as a publicity stunt because he desperately needs something to champion. When has he ever had a good business plan behind any of his policy proposals? My guess is that it's not going to happen.

 

[christiesplits]

Is it just me, or is Toronto becoming more prevalent on the music scene?

To name a few, artists such as The Weeknd, Kardinal Offishall, Justin Bieber, Deadmau5, Drake and K'naan are quite popular outside of Canada and all originated in Toronto. Most of these guys didn't exist five years ago. There are also quite a few smaller Toronto artists who I've noticed are growing in popularity.

Going off topic but yes, particularly in hip hop, dance and R&B Toronto's scene has never been more commercially successful. Drake's latest album went double platinum (unheard of in today's industry) and outsold the collaboration album from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Kanye West by nearly 500,000 records. The Weeknd (along with Frank Ocean) is credited with breathing new life into an otherwise stagnant R&B genre and will be headlining the O2 Arena in London soon. Kardinal Offishall is still fairly local, had one or two Billboard hits a few years ago but is no where near the level of the latter two artists despite still being credited as one of Canada's hip hop icons.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Bieber was from Stratford, actually. The Barenaked Ladies and Rush are also from Toronto and are very popular outside of Canada as well.

Yeah I know he is. When I meant Toronto, I meant the Toronto area. Stratford is "close" enough for me to amalgamate it with Toronto for these purposes

 

[jje1000]

Keep in mind, a lot of the "folks" don't care about civic unity or pride. They care about their lawns, garbage pickup and low taxes. A good 1/3 of the city to be exact. This is not going to be a cake walk for Olivia Chow.

IMO this election cycle should not be Olivia Chow's turn to shine. The city needs a gentle tug back to the centre of the swing, not a yank. Otherwise, those entranced by Ford's populism will continue resisting and we'll have mayor Ford for another four more years.

 

[BurlOak]

It should be sold, but not on his terms and definitely not allowing him to dictate how the proceeds are to be used.

And yes, given how little time his worship spends at City Hall, I would say he is a prime candidate to get moved to cheaper digs. I think Etobicoke Civic Centre still got space. Besides, it's a closer drive to a certain house on a certain street...

AoD

Letting Ford decide how the proceeds of a property are used is about as stupid as letting Councillors decided how Section 37 proceeds are used.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

You're about ten years behind

This past weekend was Arts & Crafts 10th anniversary party at Fort York, which featured sets from Broken Social Scene, Feist, Stars (part-Montreal, part-Toronto), Dan Mangan, Bloc Party (UK-based, but affiliated with A&C), Hayden, Timber Timbre, Trust, Cold Specks, and many more. Toronto blew up on the music scene a while ago.

This is a really good read: http://www.thegridto.com/culture/music/inside-torontos-indie-evolution/

Also, this: http://exclaim.ca/Features/Research/this_is_torontopia

Yeah I know I basically listed the last few artists I've seen hit the top charts.

I'm in the habit of searching artists I come across on streaming music services on Wikipedia and I'm always amazed at how many of them come from this city. Hopefully this trend continues. Gives us one more reason to be proud of Toronto.

Going off topic but yes, particularly in hip hop, dance and R&B Toronto's scene has never been more commercially successful. Drake's latest album went double platinum (unheard of in today's industry) and outsold the collaboration album from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Kanye West by nearly 500,000 records. The Weeknd (along with Frank Ocean) is credited with breathing new life into an otherwise stagnant R&B genre and will be headlining the O2 Arena in London soon. Kardinal Offishall is still fairly local, had one or two Billboard hits a few years ago but is no where near the level of the latter two artists despite still being credited as one of Canada's hip hop icons.

Frank Ocean and The Weeknd are simply breathtaking. It was a relief to see something new in what was otherwise a stale genere.