Great Lakes Cities

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Docere

Meanwhile, the other Great Lakes megacity will be having an election in June to replace the disgraced John Tory. Tory was a boring establishmentarian technocrat who had easily been elected to a third term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tory

Tory looks/acts like a Rosedale WASP out of central casting. Sometimes, boring is good, after the Rob Ford chaos.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Tory looks/acts like a Rosedale WASP out of central casting. Sometimes, boring is good, after the Rob Ford chaos.

The populist constituency of Ford Nation is no longer a force in Toronto politics it seems. It was an odd coalition of minorities and immigrants, the WWC and very conservative ideologues.

Tory won the first time with establishmentarian/business-oriented vote and anti-Ford strategic voters.

The municipal left base in Toronto is mainly in the gentrified west end, running from Kensington Market to Roncesvalles. They haven't broken out of that area and their core base (20-25%) in years. Progressives have not won the mayor's office since David Miller was mayor (2003-2010). Miller was a good mayor imo, it's unfortunate he didn't go for a third term and Ford got in.

But it's unclear whether there's anyone that can reproduce Tory's broad-tent coalition which includes both downtown and midtown professionals and suburbanites. This was a complete surprise.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Docere

Meanwhile, the other Great Lakes megacity will be having an election in June to replace the disgraced John Tory. Tory was a boring establishmentarian technocrat who had easily been elected to a third term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tory

New York is the only Great Lakes state with a megacity.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by edale

Why would someone from Pittsburgh drive all the way up to these little podunk UP towns when there are so many better little towns and cities in the lower part of Michigan with warmer water? Come on...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictur...onal_Lakeshore ?

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Forget Costa Rica or Hawaii-- apparently, Duluth is the new surfing destination.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/vi...near-duluth/#x

surfing the great lakes is nothing new -- better have a wetsuit and strong constitution tho!

• Video Link

[pj3000]

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

New York is the only Great Lakes state with a megacity.

You're using the human population definition.

In the great lakes region we define "megacity" as a city with >100 towers over 500' tall.

So we got 2 of the 3 of them in north America!

Great Lakes & Great Skylines.




Barry Butler from yesterday morning

[mrnyc]

climate proof duluth — climate refugees people are seeking the great lakes:



Out-of-Towners Head to ‘Climate-Proof Duluth’

March 10, 2023


DULUTH, Minn. — Surfing in Minnesota is just like surfing in Southern California, John Jenkins says, as long as you ignore the icicles on your wet suit.

Mr. Jenkins, 38, is a child of Orange County. But a decade ago, looking to escape overpopulation and intensifying wildfires, he took a chance and settled in Duluth, Minn., where temperatures can dip 30 degrees below zero.


more:
https://dnyuz.com/2023/03/10/out-of-...-proof-duluth/

[Docere]

Re: Chicago election, it seems the pattern is white working class then Latino then white gentrifiers. Wicker Park went from Polish to Puerto Rican to artsy/creative and is now one of the most gentrified areas of the city. Next out is Logan Square, less Latino than it used to be and more gentrifiers coming in. Latinos have meanwhile moved to the old white ethnic bungalow belt.

[Steely Dan]

^ that's generally how the great urban gentrification machine has been grinding in chicago over the past handful of decades, but with some other intersting sidebars that are worth noting too:

black gentrification: though not talked about nearly as much, the inner southeast side lakefront neighborhoods are starting to grow again, not because white hipsters are taking over, but mainly because black people with money are moving in, spurring a wave of new development.

latino movement: while the outward move into the white ethnic bungalow belt is the general pattern, on the west and south sides there's also been movement into some formerly black neighborhoods like humboldt park/austin and chicago lawn/west englewood, as they simultaneously experience some of the worst of black flight.

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by Docere

The populist constituency of Ford Nation is no longer a force in Toronto politics it seems. It was an odd coalition of minorities and immigrants, the WWC and very conservative ideologues.

I hope you're right about the bigger picture, but this constituency is still alive and well in Etobicoke. Where else would dumb-as-an-anvil suburban yokel Michael Ford be elected? He's even dimmer and less qualified for government than his uncles.

[Docere]

Doug Ford seems to be supporting former police chief Mark Saunders for mayor.

I'm backing Josh Matlow who seems to be emerging as the center-left/progressive choice.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Docere

Doug Ford seems to be supporting former police chief Mark Saunders for mayor.

I'm backing Josh Matlow who seems to be emerging as the center-left/progressive choice.

Christ, if a mediocre retired police chief and an anti-development NIMBY are the best choices that can be mustered for mayor, so help Toronto...

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Christ, if a mediocre retired police chief and an anti-development NIMBY are the best choices that can be mustered for mayor, so help Toronto...

Mediocre and retired don't cover nearly half the shit Saunders did as police chief.

I like to think Matlow isn't quite as NIMBY as his past actions indicate and that he was mostly doing that at the behest of voters in his Ward. I'd probably still prefer Penalosa over either, but i'd easily take either over Saunders. Or Bradford.

[Elkhanan1]

Originally Posted by Docere

Doug Ford seems to be supporting former police chief Mark Saunders for mayor.

I'm backing Josh Matlow who seems to be emerging as the center-left/progressive choice.

Matlow's centre-left / progressive? Awesome. Now I know which candidate not to vote for. Hopefully, there will be a bunch of candidates to choose from besides Saunders. Otherwise, I might have to hold my nose and vote for him.

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I like to think Matlow isn't quite as NIMBY as his past actions indicate and that he was mostly doing that at the behest of voters in his Ward. I'd probably still prefer Penalosa over either, but i'd easily take either over Saunders. Or Bradford.

I would consider casting a ballot for Penalosa or Matlow. If Holyday wins, this city is truly a lost cause, but he won't.

[Docere]

I voted for Penalosa last time, but he's not likely to do as well with Matlow in the race. Penalosa would make an excellent chief planner.

[mrnyc]

do you like scary great lakes stories?
if so here is a ripper …


Lake Inferior: The Underground Lake Beneath Lake Superior

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman)
May 08, 2021


Exploration Timeline

June 1679

I have lost the reference, but I read somewhere that when the French explorer Sir Duluth heard rumors of an underground lake beneath Lake Superior, he quipped in his native tongue, “Lac d’Enfer” (literally: “Lake of Hell”). This nomenclature was mistranslated by English-speakers, becoming anglicized as “Lake Inferior” — an insidious malapropism that replaced the original meaning.

Sept. 8, 1870

Copper-helmet diver William Bitter found an entrance to Lake Inferior. He was working by the breakwater wall for the city of Duluth, offshore of what is now the Lakewalk. A large storm had damaged the wall, and he was conducting an underwater survey at the end of a 20-foot lifeline.

Working the winch and the air pump, his support team on the wall heard Bitter cry out through the speaking tube, then noticed a whirlpool opening up. They winched Bitter out as loose boulders and timbers were sucked into it.


read on if you dare:
https://www.perfectduluthday.com/202...lake-superior/

[Wigs]

mrnyc, April Fool's isn't for 12 days.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

black gentrification: though not talked about nearly as much, the inner southeast side lakefront neighborhoods are starting to grow again, not because white hipsters are taking over, but mainly because black people with money are moving in, spurring a wave of new development.

This sounds a lot like some of the Villages and Boston Edison in Detroit, although this has been the case for a long time.