Call me naive or call me an eternal optimist, but I don’t think there’s trouble lurking around every corner.
I’ve always said that any nice or affluent neighbourhood of Toronto is just a stone’s throw from a bad one.
A client of mine told me that the St. Lawrence Market area is “dangerous” because of places like St. James Park.
Excuse the lame pun, but this video proves that living in this neighbourhood is just a walk in the park…
I was watching the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Giants yesterday afternoon and the lights in the stadium went out. There was some confusion amongst the players, spectators, and event staff, but the game went on in a dimly lit park.
I thought absolutely nothing of it.
But then sideline reporter Pam Oliver told viewers that spectators were “scared” and “leaning on eachother” as if to suggest that a terrorist attack was imminent.
Why are Americans always on some kind of alert? Orange, yellow, or red alert? What day is it?
I find that some people always live their lives as if the end is near.
There are certainly a few dirty, sketchy pockets of downtown Toronto, but isn’t this the same for any metropolitan area?
I wouldn’t voluntarily walk through Moss Park shouting “free crack, come get it,” but it’s not like Toronto is the crime capital of the world. I just can’t understand buyers whose number one evaluation criteria of a neighbourhood is: how many dark alley-ways are there?
I’ve always maintained that there is an invisible fence on Richmond Street that the “sketchy people” do not cross. King Street East is one of the most beautiful sections of original, historical Toronto, and the “Queen & Sherbourne” types don’t come down to our version of Pleasantville, save for the one guy outside Starbucks on Saturday afternoon.
At 11PM on a Sunday night, you’re bound to get a sketchy character in St. James Park looking for cigarette butts, but maybe he was just trying to get away from the riff-raff at Queen & Sherbourne?
I should have asked him if he wanted to split a croissant…
moonbeam!
at 7:21 am
Exactly how I feel about Scarborough!!
LC
at 7:11 pm
I love the area of King & Jarvis. I actually worked on the project that brought RBC to that corner. Fun times, but finding parking for early site meetings was a pain. Other than that, one of my favourite corners of all Toronto. That park is just the icing on the cake.
I thought of buying at Vu, but had already bought at Radio City and didn’t have the cash at the time. Still kicking myself a bit about that. Oh well. I now live in another city, but I am in the position to buy an investment property and St.Lawrence neighbourhood is top of my list. St.James park and all.
Matt
at 12:24 am
Live right across from the park.
Love the area.
Can’t think of moving anywhere else!
It’s City living with the touch of residential, that you don’t feel enclosed by just buildings, just 3 blocks from the lake, a historic market that services the area and is an attraction to anyone who visits me, 4 block from the business centre of Canada. The DVP and Gardner 2 minutes away….I mean where else can you say that has these amenities in their community????
Walk my dog here EVERY night, even up to the wee hours of 2 AM, if I plan to wake up late on the weekend and I never find it intimidating at all.
I find it ridiculous that some people think it’s unsafe downtown. Anything can happen ….even if you live in Rosedale, the houses there get broken into all the time. I was “house sitting” my grandparents home one weekend and a guy peered into the front window and shook the front door trying to get in! And this wasn’t like South Rosedale, by Sherbourne/Bloor. This was North Rosedale! That was scary!
The only place I would never be in is Sherbourne and Queen corner and a little east of it ..but really that’s it.
When they fixed Britain Street and cleaned it up, it became much nicer too. I walk to Moss Park and around the park and into Britain around the vacant lot on Queen and I never feel unsafe.
Placing the VU, (although I’m not fond of the size of this monstrous complex.. especially that ugly piece of cement in red they call “ART” at the corner of Richmond and Jarvis)…. has cleaned up that Jarvis corner immensely and when the condos on Sherbourne and Queen come in, that place will be gentrified as well.
St James is such a beautiful park! Especially when it just snowed or the flowers are out in the Victorian garden!
The only thing I cant stand are the bums that use the gazebo as motel 8 in the summer. And the massive amounts of pot smokers at all hours of the day! But hey..everyone it seems smokes pot……
Phil
at 2:34 am
Toronto is still a safe place to live, like any other city there will be crime. Our city has way lower crime rates compared to example NewYork or even Van city. I live in T.dot, I feel safe to walk the streets at night, I just keep away from the back alley’s..
Frank
at 6:17 am
I’d be afraid of the guy with a camera talking to himself.