Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

BlogTO’s and Torontoist’s ideal reader. Image taken from The Hipster Handbook.

Differences in Perspective

While I agree with Torontoist writer Patrick Metzger’s statement that Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty’s refusal to “share any of the billions of dollars that the province sucks out of Toronto each year” is wrong, I think he’s out to lunch with his statement about the 2.8% rise in consumer spending:

The Canadian dollar rose to a 30-year high against the U.S. greenback yesterday, fueled by a 2.8% month over month rise in consumer spending. The numbers show that even with peak oil and climate change catastrophe just around the corner, we’re still willing to get out there and buy more unnecessary crap. Go, Canada.

Accordion Guy regular reader Chris Taylor called Metzger out on that statement:

Maybe they were out buying Energy Star stuff to replace their old, inefficient junk. Not that anyone has ever done that before.

And Metzger fired back with the stock sarcasm of someone who doesn’t work for a living:

It’s possible that the numbers reflect conscientious citizens buying solar powered cars, storm windows, and shopping bags made from organic hemp. However, the data shows it’s mostly SUVs, gas and Gucci handbags.

Ah yes, the old “money and progress are bad” canard. I’ll counter with this comic:

Comic from Reason. Click to see it on its original page.

Demographics

Back in the winter, I caught up with local tech community builder Will Pate for lunch. He was in the process of moving to Toronto and we were talking about the local blog scene.

One thing that came up in that conversation was that although the BlogTO and Torontoist served their demographic very well, their demographic was only a slice of the larger pie that is Toronto.

What is that demographic, you might ask? They’re mostly white, under 30, and only attend events that take place in an area bounded by…

• Dupont on the north
• The Distillery District on the east
• The lake on the south
• Roncesvalles on the west

(Here’s an idea: take the events listed in BlogTO and Torontoist for the past year and plot them on a map. I’m willing to bet that they’re concentrated in the zone I describe above.)

Another hipster, courtesy of The Hipster Handbook.

They can reply “Yeah, that’s me” to seven or more of the following statements:

1. You graduated from a liberal arts school whose football team hasn’t won a game since Mulroney was Prime Minister.
2. You frequently use the term “post-modern” (or its commonly used variation “PoMo”) as an adjective, noun, and verb.
3. You carry a shoulder-strap messenger bag and have at one time or another worn a pair of horn-rimmed or Elvis Costello-style glasses.
4. You have one Conservative friend who you always describe as being your “one Conservative friend.” [optional]
5. Your hair looks best unwashed and you position your head on your pillow at night in a way that will really maximize your cowlicks.
6. You own records put out by Matador, DFA, Definitive Jux, Dischord, Warp, Thrill Jockey, Smells Like Records, Drag City, Mint and Nettwerk.
7. You bought your dishes and a checkered tablecloth at a thrift shop to be kitschy and often throw vegetarian dinner parties.
8. You frequently complain about gentrification even though you are responsible for it yourself.
9. You have refined tastes and consider yourself exceptionally cultured, but have one pop vice (Laguna Beach, either Idol show and and anything on Slice are popular ones) that helps to define you as well-rounded.
10. You spend much of your leisure time in bars and/or restaurants with monosyllabic names like Plant, Bound or Shine.
11. You have kissed someone of the same gender and often bring this up in casual conversation.

(If these look familiar, it’s because I took ’em from 11 Clues You are a Hipster from The Hipster Handbook).

My Modest Proposal

Now don’t get me wrong: I’ve got nothin’ against twenty-somethings who like hanging out in charming local dives, listening to indie rock and buying things at thrift shops. If you’re a reader of this blog, there’s a good chance that you are (or were) one of them yourself.

I just think that there’s room for other “What’s going on?” blogs. Even Will Pate, who’s part of the BlogTO/Torontoist demographic says “Dude, there’s got to be more” (not a direct quote, but that’s exactly the way he’d say it).

We need blogs that cover events in areas outside the hipster core, whether they’re in the near-burbs like Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough, or out in the 905 area code. Blogs for people who work in offices, drop their kids off at hockey practice and have Costco memberships. Blogs for people who don’t look as if they were descended from the Family Compact. Blogs for people who both buy fair trade coffee and Harry Rosen shirts. Blogs for people who work the night shift.

Who knows, if this tech evangelism/computer programming thing blows over, I might start one of them myself.

On last night’s Colbert Report, Colbert did a piece on the current housing slump and a possible solution by way of a study that looks at the “Bohemian/Gay Index” (to which he remarked “that may sound like another name for the San Francisco phone book”).

The study says that artistic, gay and bohemian populations increase the housing values of the neighbourhoods in which they reside. It’s based on the theory that tolerant communities where gays and bohemians are welcome tend to nurture open-minded, creative communities which in turn are the sorts of places that drive prosperity for the cities they’re in.

While watching this segment, I thought “that sounds like something up Richard Florida’s alley!” Only seconds later, Colbert brought in Florida, whom he introduced as coming from “The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management“. That introduction was pretty surprising, seeing as the announcement of his coming to Accordion City is only days old and he hasn’t yet had his first official day on the job.

Near the end of the interview, Florida says “You know, we just sold our house on Sunday to move to Toronto, my wife and I”.