Tag: happy holidays

• Merry Christmas

  For those of you who celebrate, I wish you a Merry Christmas.

  This year has been a hectic year for many; certainly for those of us in real estate. I’ve heard a lot of people tell me that they’ve “never worked so hard only to feel like they have accomplished so little.”

  Looking back at what I wrote on the first day of this year, I was wrong about many of my 2023 predictions. I thought the interest rate hikes would be over by the first quarter of the year and that the spring would bring greater optimism for new development projects.

  This was partially true — we did see some buoyancy around spring — but then further increases over the summer really quashed the pre-construction condominium market and overall developer sentiment for basically the rest of the year.

  I also thought that we would see distress within the industry in the first half of the year. That didn’t quite play out, as far as I can tell, and I now think that 2024 will be the year for this.

  All of this said, I do feel that 2023 was a highly productive year. I’m proud of what I accomplished both personally and professionally. And this holiday season, I’m looking forward to slowing things down, spending time with family and friends, and catching up on some life management.

  Hopefully you are all able to do something similar. Merry Christmas, everyone.

  2023.12.24

• Merry Christmas, everyone

  The frenetic run-up to Christmas has come to an end, and I’m looking forward to relaxing and taking it easy with family and friends. I hope that all of you are able to do the same, however you spend the holidays. This is the one time of the year when the email firehose completely shuts off and it’s a lot easier to do exactly that. I think that’s important for all of us.

  This past year I found it particularly difficult to disconnect. And 2020 is on deck to be an even bigger year. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am, however, going to take this time to slow down, read, write, travel, and likely drink a bunch of wine. As always, you’ll find me here on the blog every morning. Merry Christmas, everyone.

  P.S. The Toronto Raptors are hosting their first ever Christmas Day game.

  2019.12.24

• Maple Valley? No.

  At this time of year, I am always amazed by the number of mass emails that I receive from unknown people and companies. They have my email address, clearly, and yet I only receive one email a year from them – a happy holidays email. I am not opposed to holiday cheer. I love Christmas. But if you’re looking to build any sort of meaningful rapport with an audience, my sense is that you ought to send more than one email a year.

  In other news, the Economist published an article this past week talking about how Toronto is attracting disaffected (Indian) tech workers from the US and, more particularly, Silicon Valley. It is largely a story of immigration and diversity. But at the end of it, the Economist also reports that some people are now calling Toronto, Maple Valley. Toronto immediately reacted to this moniker – negatively.

  Nobody refers to Toronto as Maple Valley. And these sorts of names are stupid. In the 1990s, the Flatiron District in Manhattan started being called Silicon Alley (at least by some). That name was also stupid. New York is New York. And Toronto is Toronto. If you’re going to assign a nickname, it should not be derivative. And in the case of Toronto, you probably also want to avoid kitschy Canadian stereotypes.

  2018.12.22

• Merry Christmas from post-tribe Toronto

  

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  Merry Christmas and/or happy whatever you happen to celebrate around this time of year.

  Hopefully things have slowed down for you all and you’re relaxing with family and friends either at home or somewhere on vacation. I’ll be doing that here in Toronto and making pancakes for breakfast, because that’s what I like to do on Christmas morning.

  If you’re in the market for some long form reading material while you relax, I recommend you check out an article in The Walrus called, After the Troubles. It’s by Toronto-based planner Joe Berridge – who is a partner at Urban Strategies – and it’s the story behind his team’s Belfast City Centre Regeneration Strategy and Investment Plan.

  It’s a fascinating and entertaining read, and there are lots of comparisons between Toronto and Belfast. Here’s a little taste:

  “IT WOULD BE HARD to conceive of two cities more different than Belfast and Toronto. One old world, one new; one grand, one utilitarian; one barely ticking over, one growing like topsy. And of course, one tribal, the other the epitome of post-tribe. Belfast is 96 percent white—forget about Catholic-Protestant, that’s the critical urban statistic. And yet it’s important to remember that Toronto itself was once the largest Orange town in the world. (Wikipedia asserts that every mayor of Toronto since its founding was an Orangeman until Nathan Philips, a wonderful Jewish mayor, was elected in 1954.) Even the current mayor, John Tory, draws his name from a bunch of brigands and royalist cattle thieves in the Irish backcountry.”

  I spent a bit of time in Belfast when I was working in Dublin (2007) and so it was particularly interesting for me to read about his assessment of the city. Like Berridge, I found the city eerily empty during off-peak times. But it’s an architecturally rich city and a fascinating city for urbanists because of all that has happened.

  Though now we are talking about “after the troubles.” Things are progressing. And that strikes me as a positive thought while I make my pancakes on Christmas morning.

  2015.12.24