As some of you know, I am in Toronto for the next six months or so getting an LLM.
Over the past week, I carved out a little free time and saw a bunch of neighborhoods- Regent Park, Cabbagetown, St. James Town, Broadview- Gerrard (non-downtown Chinatown, less busy than the downtown one), Little India, the beginnings of a Little Ethiopia, Rosedale (old money WASP) and Greektown. (Photos not online yet). Some very interesting things:
1. Visited housing projects AND a neighborhood between two housing projects. Three surprising facts:
a) housing projects didn't seem nearly as scary as American ones- can't quite explain why (maybe its knowing that Toronto's murder rate is about 1/10 that of Atlanta's and 1/6 that of Jacksonville's!)
b) that Cabbagetown (gentrified area between them) is nice despite the fact that it is between the housing projects, and
c) someone is apparently trying to develop a high-rise condo just south of one of the projects (I saw it from said project).
2. In Rosedale, saw small apartment buildings in a basically single-family area- proof that if the rents are high enough the multifamily lion can lie down with the single-family lamb.
