Quote:
Originally Posted by Yuri
What about Edmonton? I follow some urban and transit channels on YouTube and they usually say nice things about it.
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Surely you know better than to believe everything you see on Youtube?
The 2 cities are just 300km apart but they might as well be on the opposite side of the planet. Calgary is robust, youthful, safe, clean, with a vibrant downtown and a lot of very walkable areas stocked with great shopping, tons of restaurants, and cafes with high population density. Great parks, hyper clean, wealthy, fantastic transit for it's size, close to the Rockies, the winter Chinooks, massive cycling infrastructure, all with none of the arrogant attitude you get in Vancouver.
Edmonton is very boring, an ugly downtown that is as dead as a doorknob after 5PM...it's not called Deadmonton and/or Ed-mono-tone for nothing. It has a very high crime rate, huge social issues, not a single block of a complete street in the entire downtown, and the architecture is ugly and the streets are dirty. Yes, it has an exceptional River Valley, one nice neighbourhood over the river near UoA, a decent transit system, and does have some great festivals, but overall it a thoroughly dislikeable place which is why it is the butt of jokes across the country.
Old joke.............why did Edmonton build it's original airport so close to downtown?............because if there was a plane crash it wouldn't kill anybody.
Old joke.............First prize, a week in Edmonton, second prize, 2 weeks in Edmonton, 3rd prize, 3 weeks in Edmonton.
Classic quote from ex-Calgary Mayor.........................."Edmonton is not the edge of the planet but you can see it from there"