It’s 416 vs. outer-416 vs. 905 week on the Ethnic Aisle. We’re going to be writing about downtown, the suburbs, the much-ballyhooed divide between them, and what ethnicity has to do with it.
After coming out in favour of downtown, Renee Sylvestre-Williams stumbles onto a kickass fashion party--in Woodbridge: "Drummers, cage dancers and fire dancers stalked the stage warming up the crowd who happily started whooping and cheering as each model strode down the catwalk. Wine was drunk, cameras flashed and when a shirtless model came out the screams just increased in volume."
Jef Catapang assures us that life in Mississauga without a driver's license is still worth living: "Not caring about cars is one of the many ways I often feel like a downtown spirit living in the suburbs. I like concerts, film festivals and used bookstores and I always thought I would end up living nearer to the core to accommodate my interests. Money issues kept that from happening, but a funny thing happened in the meantime — I started to not hate it here."
Canice Leung, who grew up in Richmond Hill: "Here are two events in my life that explain urban planning in Richmond Hill: 1. The time I was 14 and tried to visit the local bike shops to buy a bike. 2. The two separate incidences, at the same York Region Transit bus stop, in which I had two men, in two separate incidents, show me their penises."
Romantic nostalgia for the 905? Yes indeed, via Chantal Braganza: "Want to watch 25-year-olds live out their 2001 dreams of The Fast and the Furious in neon-lit cars with wire spoilers? Wendy’s, Hurontario and Britannia. Or some helmeted daredevil stand on the handles of a motorcycle as he (or she, never found out) rips down Dundas at 140 km/h? Tim Hortons, Dundas and Winston Churchill. Make-out point? Wherever you could park a car."
Today's Downtown vs. Suburbs post comes via Simon Yau, who advocates for life north of Eglinton: "I love my Costco membership. I love living in a spacious house. I love the silent privacy of my street. I love eating meals for $4 at Chinese food courts. I love being close to an Ikea. I love free parking. And to top it off, I could care less about bike lanes."
Trinidadian expat Renée Sylvestre-Williams lived in the GTA suburbs with her parents and now prefers downtown.
When people talk about the Great Downtown/Suburb Divide, they are also talking about ethnicity.
