The void in Calgary: How office towers emptied in a once bustling downtown
I grew up in Calgary, and after spending the last 14 years in Toronto I have decided to move back.<p>Income taxes are way lower in Alberta than Ontario; moving my remote-ok tech job to calgary was equivalent to getting a five-figure raise.<p>Cycling in Toronto is a life-threatening activity, and Calgary has something like 150km of paved urban pathway.<p>The politics are toxic in both places.<p>Calgary is just quieter and I like that. I’m sick of listening to construction, sirens, street car clattering, and apt hvac systems.<p>The water in Calgary looks appetizing - I spent a lot of time in the outer harbour in Toronto and am acutely aware of the water quality advisories.<p>The shoreline of Toronto’s harbour front is ugly as sin. Chunks of the Gardiner is falling on peoples’ cars, and is a source of horrible, dementia-inducing noise pollution. Anyone with a balcony in Fort York or City Place probably used it for the first time during the pandemic, and otherwise is just their storage locker.<p>Calgary has a stunning river that glows with mineralized rocky mountain water, and you can walk or cycle along it for exercise because it isn’t so oversubscribed as the pan am path.<p>Transit is terrible in both towns but living on the subway was great.<p>I can afford a 1700sqft inner city calgary home with a garage and a yard for the price of a 900sqft 2bed downtown toronto condo.<p>The recreation opportunities in Calgary are year round, but in Toronto I felt like the onot things  to do in the winter were restaurants and the ago.<p>The food scene in Toronto is amazing. I miss sushi. The music scene too. But Calgary has world class examples of all this, and this stuff is a lower priority than it once was.<p>Everything is 8 minutes away from me in Calgary. Try getting anywhere in 8 minutes in Toronto, what with the choking traffic, and the fact that all your friends have to move to orangeville and whitby because of rising prices.<p>Both cities have incredible energy. I was in calgary for the red mile, and at yonge and dundas when the raps won.<p>Calgary for me is a better place on balance.