are we missing out?

2007 June 25

by EH

An article from the Saturday Star: “The Wander Years: Has this generation missed out?”

When I was a kid, growing up in Mississauga, I didn’t walk to school. School was strictly a busing affair. Or I’d get dropped off. But after school, I’d get on my bike and ride around the subdivision, but never really go too far, or else I’d be riding on a major street. Welcome to suburbia. We had AC, I liked to stay in and play computer games or Colecovision (ooh, there’s a blast from the past), so I didn’t experience the ability to wander the city growing up in the late 70s and 80s. I didn’t move to the city until midway into my twenties and married, but it was a definite decision that we made to stay in the city and not live in the suburbs. Even with children, we sought out a house that was in town. It’s hard to talk about being in the city, since T.O. is so huge, but I guess if you can say that you’re serviced by transit, you’re in the city… Anyway, it’s only a 15 minute drive to the downtown core, no traffic. Which is only on Sunday. But not in the summer, because of the countless marathons, parades, road construction, etc. Anyway. We qualify as city dwellers, the new urbanites.

Living in the city with two kids, one of whom is about to start school, we have the luxury of being able to walk to the school, right around the corner. Literally. We don’t have to cross the street to get there, which I think is great. Our street is very family oriented, with lots of “eyes on the porches” and it’s something that I’m not used to, but I cherish. If each street becomes a little community, I think our whole city would be a lot safer. But it’s a dream, I guess. There are few real neighbourhoods any more. Hopefully, as more people choose to live in the city, the neighbourhood will see a resurgence.

So, where are you livin’ at?