Dispatches From North Of The Border

Toronto Restaurants and Clubs of the 1970s & 1980s

Clubs: 

Restaurants: 

The Beijing Subway is one of the largest in the world. It carries over 5 million people every day, and hundreds of trains run on 228kms of track and service 147 stations. It is a feat of engineering, planning and coordination every single day. It is a network that Beijing commuters should be proud of, it represents the forward-thinking and development of the city.

Yet even the current nine lines, and the rapid expansion that took place for the 2008 Olympics, is not enough for the city’s growing needs. Local government in Beijing recently announced to Beijing news providers that the Beijing Subway would be further expanded, with an extra ten lines and an additional 333km of track.

This is a monumental undertaking, which government has slated for completion by 2015. That’s four years from now, which may seem a long time, but consider the challenges and effort that has had to be channelled into the building of the subway so far, and this has been done over the last few decades, since 1971.

It’s taken since then to create the current 228km of track, which puts in perspective the challenge the government has set itself. Essentially, the plan is to do 60% more in four years, than what was done in almost 40 years.

Much of this is possible because of new technology in construction, which has vastly improved since the 1960s (when construction on the first subway line began), as well as new finances which are available to the city of Beijing, which has grown considerably in the last few decades, in terms of both size and economic activity.

For example, the expansion of the Beijing Subway for the 2008 Olympics cost around $8 billion, which is a significant amount, but not so much when one considers the city’s financial revenues, or local GDP, which is around $100 billion. This was not the case a few decades ago, when the city was struggling through low-growth periods when revenues were as low as $10 billion.

The expansion of the subway, in a sense then, correlates to the expansion of the city, the two can’t be separated, and it’s difficult to say whether one has caused the other. In most cases though, the growth of Beijing has had to be matched by the subway, the local government is playing a constant game of catching up with the city.

By 2015, when all fifteen lines are operational, and an additional $29 billion has been spent, it is likely that the needs of the subway will still need to be readjusted. Work is unrelenting and never stops, new stations are always under construction, and new lines are always being planned and mapped out, moved to accommodate national landmarks, and then moved again to increase efficiency.

The construction of the subway has not had a solely financial cost. Thousands of construction workers are always working in the massive expansion plans, and as it is heavy mechanical work, which is often carried out underground, the dangers are real and close at hand.

There have been far too many work-related deaths in the history of the subway’s construction. Several fires have occurred at stations under construction in recent years, killing workers and badly injuring others, and while safety conditions and procedures have improved, there’s no doubt that, like the mines, the conditions in the subway’s construction need to be improved further.

This is because while the subway represents the growth of Beijing, it is also a source of national pride. It is one of the most efficient, and one of the biggest. In times of need it can also be used for national defence purposes, for the mass movement of troops and people.

The various lines of the subway, in a sense, are the arteries of the city, along with the major highways and roads. The subway carries 4.9 million people each day, while the city has a population of around 11 million, it is therefore the most utilized transport system in the country, making the price paid in terms of human and financial resources heavy, but worth it for the future of the capital city.

via Beijing.News.net http://www.beijingnews.net/digest.php

Today, the Town of Oakville has 41% of its households with incomes greater than $100,000 per year and nearly two-thirds of all Oakville households have incomes greater than $70,000 per year in 2001 dollars. Only 11% of the households have incomes of less than $20,000 (Oakville Economic Development Association).

This extremely large household income level places Oakville as the most affluent city or town in Canada. Oakville will periodically rank a close second to places like Markham, ON, Vancouver, BC or Victoria, BC (where new money wealth is growing rapidly). Almost every year during the last 30 years, Oakville has been the leading household income community in Canada.

To better illustrate, this prosperity oxymoron of my current home town, the average selling price of homes in Oakville in 2005 according to the Oakville, Milton and District Real Estate Board (OMDREB) was $520,000. The average Ontario home sold for only $205,000 during this same time period. This provincial average is less than one half the value of an average Oakville home.

Less than one kilometer down the street from me is Canada’s most expensive single family home. It took over two years to build, is a massive 32,000 square feet and when completed the Edgemere Estate was listed for sale at $45,000,000 Canadian. (This dollar amount is equal to the TOTAL building cost of the last two secondary schools built in the Region of Halton in 2002 and 2003.) This is affluence run amok! Couldn't the guy who built it as a family home live in it or was it too small?

As you well may have guessed, Oakville is THE executive bedroom home to many of Canada’s large corporate CEO’s and senior executives. It also attracts the homes of many professional sport team athletes, as well as many of the partners in Canada’s largest legal firms and senior executives of Canada’s banks. The owners and senior executives of Canada’s publishing and financial communities reside here (newspapers, banks, investment banks, investment markets and insurance) as well as key partners aqnd principals in such areas such as consulting and accounting firms can be found here. Many senior executives make Oakville their domestic bedroom community. Oakville is the suburban home to much of Canada’s old money.

Get on the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), drive east for 20 minutes and you will arrive at the Central Business District (CBD) of Toronto. As for commuting to Toronto daily, I did the one hour plus commute into the city for too many years and do not miss the stop and go traffic grind one must tolerate each way.

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Photo from Patrick's Photoblog

Oakville, Ontario is celebrating its official 150th anniversary as a town/village in 2007. It is a unique suburban environment which I both live and teach in. A city with a small town flavour and small town promotion but one of the most affluent cities in Canada and in North America. As an educator living and working in Oakville, this affords me the opportunity to see what North America views as economic success and to also experience first hand the huge differences still found in one of Canada's wealthiest cities. Poverty and an underclass still exist here however the community has avoided or purposefully marginalized them from the eyes of these citizen elite who believe their community is immune from social stratification.

Since the early settlement days of the 18th century, Modern day Oakville was first located and known by being establishing at the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek. This would have been a sixteen mile traverse by land along the lakeshore from the "Toronto Carrying Place". at the mouth of the Humber River. The "Town of Oakville", which is still its official name designation, has an estimated population of 174,000 persons in 2007.

GPS Locator:

43°26'44.74"N 79°40'05.36"W

Oakville, overall, has a gratuitous annual income per household. In 2006, this household income was just over $90,000 per year per household income compared to the provincial average of about $62,000. This extremely large household income level places Oakville as the most affluent city or town in Canada. It will periodically place a close second to other locations where new money wealth is growing. Oakville and in particular many of the people living in south Oakville (you can most certainly leave me out of this group) are barometers of the thriving essence and decadence of old and new money in Upper Canada!

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