Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
Careful what you wish for though! While its easy for "inner city" (which seems to be a moving line at the best of times) residents to say the suburbs should "pay their fair share" (whatever that means), the reality is that if you start this the city had better be prepared to offer better amenities to the suburbs.
I know that this won't be popular here, but I'm of the opinion that the suburbs don't have everything that the city should be providing; the transportation network is not up to par, transit is not great once you get away from the LRT and of course there are other amenities that the city provides such as public ice rinks, swimming pools, libraries, etc. If the city is going to take a position that people need to pay their fair share, thats fine. Once that deal is struck though, the city better have some spare change around to address all of these concerns in all of the areas of the city.
I also wanted to make a point that seems largely forgotten here. People simply don't want to raise families in multi-family dwellings. Can it be done? Of course. Some here are doing it and there is nothing wrong with that; its just that there are a lot of us who just don't want that.
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On point one: I am fine with better amenities for the suburbs as long as they are paying for them. Why wouldn't I be? Of course, that would be a larger "fair share" than the "fair share" for the current service level.
On point two: it's is important to maintain the distinction between
demand and
quantity demanded. Quantity demanded is price dependant - i.e. influenced by supply and by taxes/subsidies. Demand is the curve of quantity demanded vs. price. Most people want to live closer to downtown, but end up living further than they'd like because we penalize them economically if they don't.
Just because you want something doesn't mean you should or shouldn't have it. I may want a Peace Bridge on every block, that doesn't mean the city should build them. The question is not what do people want, it's "what are we, as a society and as individuals, willing and able to pay for?" As a city, it makes no sense to pay for sprawl. But if you're willing to pay for it as an individual, by all means you can have it.