Bring the city's boring streets back to life

Throughout the older parts of Toronto there are remnants of small stores that dotted neighbourhoods. Needed a cup of sugar? Decades ago there might have been a corner shop a block away. Now many of them have been converted to residential buildings, and new ones aren't permitted. That may change soon, and the city will be better for it.

- SHAWN MICALLEF

New developments in Toronto have a habit of sanitizing commercial spaces, often creating bigger units than independent businesses without deep capital can afford, writes Shawn Micallef.

There are a lot of headaches that come with city life. Traffic, cost of living and other aggravations are a pain. There's a grand bargain, though: We put up with hassles because of the upsides such as interesting and useful things nearby like shops, services, cafés or daycares.

If all that is harder to come by, people will start questioning if it's even worth living in a city. This is why the current anxiety around the arts in Toronto is vexing. If individual artists can't afford to live here, and the big arts organizations are struggling to survive, the quality of life here declines.

A lot of the interesting "stuff" that makes life worth living is found along Toronto's great commercial strips. Some of them are kilometres-long, unique as most North American cities go. Toronto residents who live near one or more of those strips have it great: most everything they need on a daily basis is nearby. That proximity means hassles like traffic or wasted travel time aren't a concern.