It's been twelve years since urban planning guru Richard Florida arrived, to much fanfare, at the University of Toronto.
His arrival coincided with a great awakening among Toronto's chattering classes as to how "world class" the city had become. The city was hungry for the "creative class" baloney Florida was serving up.
He's still serving. Check out Sidewalk Labs could make Toronto a world leader in urban tech in today's Globe and Mail. Richard's got the roadmap, just released by Alphabet-Google, "that can propel Toronto to the top of the heap..."
"...Sidewalk Labs can be the propellant Toronto needs to become a world leader..." and so forth. We've got cutting edge research, we attract the world's best talent, and there's a whole lotta catalyzing going on!
It's all about "Urban Tech," dontcha know (not to be confused with Turban Tech, although there is some overlap.)
And what's that?
This new sector involves the fusing of technology and urban living and spans a plethora of emerging industries such as ride-hailing, co-living, co-working, mobility, food delivery, real estate or property tech and construction tech.
Got it? Sounds like if we play our cards right, the Port Lands could be ground zero for the global gig economy!
Colour me sceptical, but isn't this more or less the same happy-talk we've heard from Florida all along? While he's been relentlessly trumpeting the pursuit of global greatness, the average price of a home in Toronto has more than doubled from under $400K to over $800K, the social housing wait-list stretches close to ten years, "affordable" housing remains much talked about but never built, and the rate of population growth going forward is expected to double.
Sounds to me like Florida is planning a city for the beautiful people sitting court-side at a Raptor's game, not the Uber drivers or the bicycle couriers delivering your shawarma to your co-working space.
No, looks like those folks will be "co-living," at maybe four or five to a studio rental.
What's not to like?
Showing posts with label Sidewalk Labs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sidewalk Labs. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Friday, October 20, 2017
Too big too fast, too much too soon
Big news in Toronto these days.
Google has got a lot of laudatory column inches re: their "Sidewalk Labs" development on the waterfront. Yup, the natives (and I mean native Torontonians, not native Natives) have been fumbling that file for as long as I can remember, so thank God some foreigners are finally coming in to put things right.
Because we need the Alphabet crowd to show us how real estate development can be done...
But that's nothing compared to the fuss being made over the Amazon HQ2 lottery. The Bezos empire is looking to put down roots somewhere for a second HQ, because one is not enough. From what I've been reading, at least 150 cities in North America are vying to be chosen as the home base for their second headquarters.
This is allegedly going to provide 50,000 high-end (60k/yr and up) tech jobs for a lot of really smart and hyper-educated millennials.
What does it mean, "vying to be chosen?"
A cynic might say it's gonna come down to who can a) bend over best, and b) provide the most lubricant. Because whoever manages that will end up with the prize.
That said, Toronto has some advantages. First of all, it's in another country, a country that conveniently has a substantially lower corporate tax rate than the US.
Secondly, it's a lot easier to get your hyper-educated India and China millennials into Canada than into the US. The reactionary regime in DC today can turn off the gushing tap of H1-Bs on a whim. In Canada, we "celebrate diversity." And even though a sixty thousand a year income won't get you on the lowest rung of Toronto's over-priced real estate market, that still looks like decent money to folks from India and China.
So I figure we're gonna bend over for the "disrupters," because tomorrow belongs to them.
And that's the problem.
Google and Amazon between them have hundreds of billions stashed in off-shore tax-havens. Why? Because they're run by new-age entrepreneurs who have been lauded for their "disruptions" all their lives and don't understand why they should pay taxes like corporations used to in the bad old days.
And "disruption" is good, isn't it?
Of course it is!
Look at Uber!
Instead of calling a cab, which is inevitably piloted by a first generation immigrant trying to make a go of it by playing by the rules, you can just call Uber and a college kid in a new Toyota Corolla will be there in a jiffy and will save you money to boot!
What's not to like about that?
Well, first of all, what's not to like is that Uber has pretty much bulldozed its way over taxi regulations in every city it operates in. With very few exceptions, cities around the world have rolled over for them, knowing that their meagre financial resources are no match to the billions available to Uber for protracted legal conflicts. In most places Uber operates, the rule of law gave up without even putting up a fight.
That's why we'd be wise to be skeptical of the Google/Amazon invasion of Toronto. Between them they've got hundreds of billions sloshing around in off-shore tax havens. Official Plans and zoning regulations mean bugger-all when your pockets are that deep, and the initial reaction of the political classes seems to be, "well, they're gonna have their way anyway, so we might as well save millions in legal fees and bend over now."
Welcome Google!
Welcome Amazon!
Google has got a lot of laudatory column inches re: their "Sidewalk Labs" development on the waterfront. Yup, the natives (and I mean native Torontonians, not native Natives) have been fumbling that file for as long as I can remember, so thank God some foreigners are finally coming in to put things right.
Because we need the Alphabet crowd to show us how real estate development can be done...
But that's nothing compared to the fuss being made over the Amazon HQ2 lottery. The Bezos empire is looking to put down roots somewhere for a second HQ, because one is not enough. From what I've been reading, at least 150 cities in North America are vying to be chosen as the home base for their second headquarters.
This is allegedly going to provide 50,000 high-end (60k/yr and up) tech jobs for a lot of really smart and hyper-educated millennials.
What does it mean, "vying to be chosen?"
A cynic might say it's gonna come down to who can a) bend over best, and b) provide the most lubricant. Because whoever manages that will end up with the prize.
That said, Toronto has some advantages. First of all, it's in another country, a country that conveniently has a substantially lower corporate tax rate than the US.
Secondly, it's a lot easier to get your hyper-educated India and China millennials into Canada than into the US. The reactionary regime in DC today can turn off the gushing tap of H1-Bs on a whim. In Canada, we "celebrate diversity." And even though a sixty thousand a year income won't get you on the lowest rung of Toronto's over-priced real estate market, that still looks like decent money to folks from India and China.
So I figure we're gonna bend over for the "disrupters," because tomorrow belongs to them.
And that's the problem.
Google and Amazon between them have hundreds of billions stashed in off-shore tax-havens. Why? Because they're run by new-age entrepreneurs who have been lauded for their "disruptions" all their lives and don't understand why they should pay taxes like corporations used to in the bad old days.
And "disruption" is good, isn't it?
Of course it is!
Look at Uber!
Instead of calling a cab, which is inevitably piloted by a first generation immigrant trying to make a go of it by playing by the rules, you can just call Uber and a college kid in a new Toyota Corolla will be there in a jiffy and will save you money to boot!
What's not to like about that?
Well, first of all, what's not to like is that Uber has pretty much bulldozed its way over taxi regulations in every city it operates in. With very few exceptions, cities around the world have rolled over for them, knowing that their meagre financial resources are no match to the billions available to Uber for protracted legal conflicts. In most places Uber operates, the rule of law gave up without even putting up a fight.
That's why we'd be wise to be skeptical of the Google/Amazon invasion of Toronto. Between them they've got hundreds of billions sloshing around in off-shore tax havens. Official Plans and zoning regulations mean bugger-all when your pockets are that deep, and the initial reaction of the political classes seems to be, "well, they're gonna have their way anyway, so we might as well save millions in legal fees and bend over now."
Welcome Google!
Welcome Amazon!
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The new face of real estate development in Toronto
Move over Bratty and Muzzo and Del Zotto.
There's a new sheriff in town.
Google.
Yup, Google's "Sidewalk Labs" is touted as the saviour of the portlands. They're gonna put fifty millions into their new development on the Toronto waterfront.
Ironically, this announcement comes hard on the heels of another announcement that three levels of government are combining to sink 1.25 billions into an infrastructure upgrade for the portlands.
Hmm... the taxpayer is putting in one and a quarter billion.
Google is investing fifty million.
Who do you think will walk away with the profits?
We're setting the stage for Google to "disrupt" the development industry the way Uber "disrupted" the taxi industry.
That is, they'll break all the rules and then put the onus on their victims to prove wrongdoing. And, like Uber, they'll get away it with because, after all, they've got a bottomless pool of off-shore capital that's locked and loaded to blow the traditional legal bulwarks off the zoning maps.
Some of the locals may have deep pockets, but they've got nothing compared to the Googlites.
Surrender now!
Resistance is futile.
There's a new sheriff in town.
Google.
Yup, Google's "Sidewalk Labs" is touted as the saviour of the portlands. They're gonna put fifty millions into their new development on the Toronto waterfront.
Ironically, this announcement comes hard on the heels of another announcement that three levels of government are combining to sink 1.25 billions into an infrastructure upgrade for the portlands.
Hmm... the taxpayer is putting in one and a quarter billion.
Google is investing fifty million.
Who do you think will walk away with the profits?
We're setting the stage for Google to "disrupt" the development industry the way Uber "disrupted" the taxi industry.
That is, they'll break all the rules and then put the onus on their victims to prove wrongdoing. And, like Uber, they'll get away it with because, after all, they've got a bottomless pool of off-shore capital that's locked and loaded to blow the traditional legal bulwarks off the zoning maps.
Some of the locals may have deep pockets, but they've got nothing compared to the Googlites.
Surrender now!
Resistance is futile.
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