Why they're staying

[McBoo]

On those days you despair for our fair-town, pull this up and read:

Why we moved to Edmonton and why we’ll stay: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...458/story.html

[booster]

And this is what EEDC should be pumping out in eastern Canada. As one poster here said, "Come for opportunity, stay for community".

[Cal76]

We are now the second fastest growing metro area (2006-2011) according to Statscan , so, the days of despair are fortunately far behind !!

[Blueline]

even the article comments were positive
ARE YOU LIstening EEDC ?

[The_Cat]

I think it would be great for the city to publish stories about newcomers' experiences on the city website. Stories like these would be a great marketing tool.

[Sonic Death Monkey]

^
http://www.edmontonstories.ca/

[The_Cat]

Originally Posted by Cal76

We are now the second fastest growing metro area (2006-2011) according to Statscan , so, the days of despair are fortunately far behind !!

Here are Edmonton's census statistics (1991-2011, Statistics Canada):

1991: 614,655
1996: 616,306
2001: 666,104
2006: 730,372
2011: 812,201

Here are Edmonton CMA's census statistics (1991-2011, Statistics Canada):

1991: 841,132
1996: 862,567
2001: 937,845
2006: 1,034,945
2011: 1,159,869

[Replacement]

I liked this article for a number of reasons:

1)It seemed to capture some of the reasons people would actually come to live in Edmonton. i.e. wide open spaces, not crowded, opportunities for nature experiences in and around or outside the city, family values, friendly place to live, good economy, work opportunity, university, etc.

2)That it doesn't focus on how many watering holes/block there are and that "city life" is defined by that which seems so often portrayed here.

3)I didn't see one of these people saying we need more trendy bars, chic shoppes, or more downtown expenditure or fancy new arena's as a reason for their settling or staying here. I doubt its even relevant to them.

I think the views from the article are much more representative of values that are out there.

Normal people just wanting a solid place to live and call home. Not looking for world class, looking for a place thats comfortable and easy enough to call home.

Seems like Edmonton is doing fine. Look at all those newcomers.

[brett-]

Now to get Edmonton to the next level where we still can be very comfortable while providing some urban amenities to serve everyone and make our city that much better to live in. . Although I think the city is a decent place now, I don't want to stop trying to make Edmonton a better place simply because it is comfortable to live in now.

[Transplanted_Edm]

Originally Posted by Replacement

I liked this article for a number of reasons:

1)It seemed to capture some of the reasons people would actually come to live in Edmonton. i.e. wide open spaces, not crowded, opportunities for nature experiences in and around or outside the city, family values, friendly place to live, good economy, work opportunity, university, etc.

2)That it doesn't focus on how many watering holes/block there are and that "city life" is defined by that which seems so often portrayed here.

3)I didn't see one of these people saying we need more trendy bars, chic shoppes, or more downtown expenditure or fancy new arena's as a reason for their settling or staying here. I doubt its even relevant to them.

I think the views from the article are much more representative of values that are out there.

Normal people just wanting a solid place to live and call home. Not looking for world class, looking for a place thats comfortable and easy enough to call home.

Seems like Edmonton is doing fine. Look at all those newcomers.

It's great that at the present time, our economy is strong and we are attracting new residents. But I would be wary of trying to attract residents just based on generic factors like "good place to raise a family" or "friendly place" because there is no shortage of competition in that category.

If the economy slows, you better believe that people who aren't interested in a unique and vibrant city will just pack up and move out almost as fast as they're moving in now.

If you have people who fundamentally just want to live in a generic suburban area, and don't care about local character, what is stopping them from moving out to another such area?

[Replacement]

Originally Posted by Transplanted_Edm

It's great that at the present time, our economy is strong and we are attracting new residents. But I would be wary of trying to attract residents just based on generic factors like "good place to raise a family" or "friendly place" because there is no shortage of competition in that category.

If the economy slows, you better believe that people who aren't interested in a unique and vibrant city will just pack up and move out almost as fast as they're moving in now.

If you have people who fundamentally just want to live in a generic suburban area, and don't care about local character, what is stopping them from moving out to another such area?

We're always going to be a city on the prairies. If theres one sexy city in all of the NA prairies feel free to name it. (Well other than Las Vegas)

Yeah people are here for the economy, job opportunities, and standard of living. Its the history of this city. We've managed to add some significant sidelines to that with it also being a great post secondary town, an Educational hotbed. Of course it also being the provincial capital. Actually it was more the U of A, than the economy, that was cited specifically with the families cited in the article.

But thinking that we build a vibrant downtown fascinating enough to retain huge amounts of people if economy goes down the toilet is misguided.

People, lots of them, leave Vancouver because a lack of job prospects and excessive cost of living factors.
Having a spruced up downtown is rarely a factor in convincing those people to stay.

The whole notion of build it up perfect downtown so people will stay is a false economy connected with no substantiated benefit. People not committed to this city will leave anyway. Those that decide its home will stay.

I really think the whole notion of an uber downtown magnetic force is presumptious.

Now if you instead want to talk about meaningful diversification of the economy then I'm on board with that. But not some notion that we can just fund a downtown that eventually people take interest in. For instance over a half billion funding the latest arena.

[Replacement]

Further to the thread, and I think this is an interesting exercise, I don't think it wiould be at all OT for people to post some of what keeps people here, or causes people to be here.

For me: (Brorn here so parents made the decision for me. But I never decided to leave. Philosophically I don't think location changes much of anything and don't see much of a point leaving. Although I do see a point in continued travel and this being my homebase. )

1)Friends, family.

2)Employment

3)Mountains. Really I'd miss this so much. Some of my very favorite places and memories being located there. I hit the mountains every chance I get and have for my whole life.

4)River Valley network and extensive parks.

5)Alberta. An outdoor playground. So much to see and do.

6)Standard of living.

7)House and neighborhood that we like.

8 ) Just a feel right mindset here. Not snobby, not uppity. I'd really miss that.

9)Festival City.

10) Beautiful long summer days where this is the best climate on Earth.



Really, and I'm not trying to stir up anything, just being honest, but downtown isn't even in the topten and it is largely irrelevant in why I choose to live here. I would easily put Old Strathcona on the list before downtown. If I got that far.
I don't know that I'm completely atypical either, maybe just on this site.

[Sonic Death Monkey]

Leave it to Replacement to turn a rave into an anti-downtown rant.

[Replacement]

Originally Posted by Sonic Death Monkey

Leave it to Replacement to turn a rave into an anti-downtown rant.

How was that an anti-downtown rant? Just saying its largely irrelevant and I imagine most Edmontonians agree.

In anycase my posts in this thread are on topic, and are contributions to the actual content of this thread.

So go away.

[Hilman]

It's too bad, I used to love this site but a few posters on here are ruining it, I used to read HF Boards a lot too for Oiler news but one of their administrators ruined it.