Forward Vision

My favorite thing to do nowadays is surf around TorontoNeighborhoods.net. I’m always clamoring for more widespread alternative maps. What I mean by that is maps that show more than roads, highways, and major attractions. This category includes neighborhood maps, pedestrian maps, and arcological maps.

I wrote a letter to Google asking if they would add a neighborhood compenent to their popular Google Maps service. It would overlay color-coded regions with their own histories and cultures. The maps could evolve organically as the neighborhoods changed — perhaps by submissions from city residents.

Neighborhoods are fascinating because they are apolitical designations. They are free-market cultural associations. Often, the best way to know if you’re in a particular neighborhood is to look at storefronts. If you pass Rosedale Cleaners, Rosedale Diner, and Rosedale Bakery, you’re probably in Rosedale. Those who are willing to map such an ‘unofficial’ but meaningful phenomenon have to have a healthy dose of the apolitical postmodern worldview. TorontoNeighborhoods.Net provides one of the most comperehensive examples of neighborhood cartography on the internet. It shows the different part of the amalgamated Toronto Megacity. Old Toronto has subsections: Uptown, Midtown, Downtown, East End, and West End. Each of these breaks down into individual neighborhoods with their own histories, present conditions, housing prices, schools, recreational opportunities and the like.

I highly recommend that any Toronto resident or urban design student take a gander at this no-charge work of art.

On another note pertinent to residents of The Good, Toronto Libertarians are having a Meetup:

What: The Toronto Libertarian Party August Meetup
When: Wednesday, August 8 at 7:00PM
Where: Fionn MacCools Bar & Grill
21 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto
Toronto ON M4V 1K6
(416) 925-7827

You prolly don’t know the myriad ways in which every level of government screws you on a daily basis, even when you think they’re helping you. It’s worth finding out. If you can’t attend, buy a copy of Give Me A Break by John Stossel. It’s a refreshing and informative read from a former typical statist network-tv type who slowly started to understand that government and business often collude to defraud and steal from regular people. Now, Stossel is targetted by the same statist clique of which he was a member. Kudos to him for his bravery.