It recently struck me that my Toronto neighbourhood (I divide my year between Toronto and Newfoundland) is kind of an experiment in mustachianism.... or, at the very least, gives a rough idea of what things would look like if everybody behaved in a fairly mustachian way. I thought it would be useful to describe it... especially given how often people say, "What if everybody behaved like you?"
The neighbourhood is a cluster of residential apartment towers that were converted from (fairly transient) rentals to cheap condos for sale about 15 years ago. The neighbourhood's old reputation stuck around, as reputations do, so we haven't been overwhelmed by wussy-pants bargain hunters. Instead, the condos have sold and re-sold mostly to fairly recently arrived well-educated Bengali immigrants (middle class by Bengali standards, just getting by in Canada). We're the most densely populated square kilometre in Canada.
What's the neighbourhood like?
* The most obvious thing: nobody owns a car. I mean nobody. The subway's a five minute walk away, always busy, and several bus routes run every two to five minutes through the neighbourhood.
* People walk in the street, because there are so few cars. At least on the smaller streets.
* It's always busy out, so you can safely walk around at midnight.
* Many people shop locally, so there are many supermarkets and a small mall within a couple of blocks. But many people take the bus to buy groceries at giant Asian supermarkets, so the bus is always full of people with six shopping bags. Lots of bus courtesy, as we're all in the same boat.
* There are few local convenience stores, because almost nobody buys lottery tickets, cigarettes, or junk food. There's a Hasty Market in the building complex, but it sells 40-pound bags of rice. The month I moved in, their weekly special was "a goat".
* There are very few bars or cafes in the neighbourhood. Partly because Islam, but also because people don't waste their money buying coffee or alcohol from shops. This means there's a bit less of a cool street vibe.
* There are some empty store fronts (more than typical for Toronto), because the businesses that catered to the neighbourhood's previous residents (transient anglos) have closed.
* The parks are absolutely packed, with people picnicking or playing sports (cricket, basketball, soccer) or just hanging out.
* The local library is crazy busy. Especially Saturday morning, when they give out free tickets to the museums and people start lining up, no shit, at 5 am.
* You regularly see people foraging for greens or berries in the wooded ravine nearby. Luckily nothing endangered.
* My building's hallways smell great, because everybody cooks from scratch.
* The crime rate is below the city average.
Now, it's hard to be sure how much each of these things is due to people's attitudes towards money and life, and how much is due to cultural stuff that they brought with them, or even how to tell those things apart, but I think the general take-away message is clear: if "everybody did" mustachianism, things would be pretty good!
