[bluejays]

As someone currently living in Markham, I don't know what to think of this plan. I'm actually a 10 minute drive from the proposed location, and it's so-so. Markham isn't what a lot are saying. It's known as the technological capital of Canada, with Apple, and IBM headquarters within about a KM of the proposed site (not to mention other headquarters). It has its factory "district" tucked away closer to the West of the city, so it's by no means a dump like Edmonton where everywhere is one giant factory. I'll describe the proposed site a little more.

Basically, for those not in the know, the proposed site is for the most part undeveloped except for a few homes which came up recently. The plan is to not have any building over 15 stories or something like that (so no skyscrapers). It's actually pretty neat IMO, where to the North of the proposed rink will be residential. To the east is the existing GO Station (which should prove to be huge for transportation to the rink). To the West is the proposed outdoor mall, and business downtown (where there will be very limited parking and more of a walking around concept). To the South is the already there 407 toll highway, and South of that is already residential which has been built for years.

Markham may as well be called a town because of its lack of downtown, but there's a huge difference between places like Hamilton, simply because of the demographic. Hamilton for the most part is very much blue collar. Markham is middle to upper class. What is concerning to me, is Markham's road infrastructure. As a resident I really hate the traffic as development went into overdrive the past 10 years, and the small town feel has been lost to a lot of congestion. An NHL team in the area would need roads to be widened from 2 lanes to at least 3 and I don't know if that's possible. As well, Markham is predominantly Asian, which I am as well (East Indian), but sometimes I wish it wasn't becoming so segregated with certain nationalities bunching up in certain areas (it's not ghetto, but it has areas where singular nationalities congregate). Currently the area where the proposed site is, is 90% Chinese, so it would be nice if they were more proactive in promoting more multicultural-ness. At the end of the day though, I hope they expand the "downtown" boarder, because it is really small. More like 1 KM (East-West), and about 750 M (North-South). Not exactly large when they're putting up town houses and stuff in the downtown, as opposed to condos, and that's taking up about half the aforementioned downtown space. As well, it's no more than 30 minutes drive to downtown Toronto when there's no traffic.

It's an interesting concept, but they have to think of the infrastructure more. Besides that, I think our house value would go up pretty nicely.

Edit: Just to add one more thing, Markham is to Toronto what the NE Calgary is to downtown Calgary - much more suburban, but from my time in Calgary, I don't think it's ghetto. Just similar to proximity (maybe Markham is a little further), but more of a place to reside as opposed to the hussle of your average downtown. If I wanna go out for a drink, Markham isn't bad. If I want to party and go clubbing, I'll go Downtown Toronto. I imagine if they ever land an NHL team, the players will just party it up in Toronto anyway - again, 30 minute drive.