Jim Byers has an article in today’s Star about the lack of “sizzle on the street” for Toronto’s Expo bid:
So why is no one on College Street talking up an Expo bid over their cappuccino? Why is Bay Street not rallying behind the cause? Why is the mayor not out on the portlands demanding Toronto get its fair share from Ottawa and Queen’s Park before the Friday deadline for a Toronto bid to be registered overseas? Why is there so little passion?
Councillor Brian Ashton has been the Expo bid’s loudest supporter, and continues to do so in the article:
“The Olympics go on for two weeks, but this is a six-month enterprise,” he said. “You don’t build football stadiums you can’t use again. You put up structures that can be turned into housing and schools and community centres … We can do all sorts of things that just won’t happen if we let this opportunity slip away.”
Perhaps sensing that the bid needs all the help it can get, the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation sent an email to its subscribers asking supporters to follow this link. On the right hand side of the page there is a button that will lead you to a short form to officially inform the government of your support.
If you’re having a tough time generating much excitement, have a look at the official site for the Expo bid, which includes an interactive rendering of the site plan. With the deadline to submit the bid coming this Thursday, every bit of support counts.
Image courtesy of Toronto 2015 World Expo Corporation
6 comments
You didnt mention any of the suggestions in the story as to why there is zero interest in the Worlds Fair. Its very possible that the whole concept has become outdated as we have become more interconnected by ether, cheap air travel, and immigration. Look at Caravan which basically faded away beacuse it wasnt needed anymore. Personally I think this is just another boondoggle Fest in line with the Skydome and we in the GTA now live in real breathing version of a Worlds Fair so why do we need to build a fake one ? Oh of course Tourists, the answer to every political issue that cant be explained with common sense. Sadly the stuff that makes Toronto great cannot be shown or expressed in a pavillion; it must be lived.
OK, TEDCO projects, in their attendance estimates, that seven million people from overseas, or from the further parts of the United States, will attend the proposed expo 2015. Assuming they fly on a Boeing “Dreamliner”, that works out to almost 30,000 flights coming into the GTA, or over 320/day for the four “busy” months of the fair. That works out to a takeoff or landing every two minutes through the flying “day” from 7am to 11pm. TEDCO expects another three million people to drive, producing even more local pollution.
We have to ask ourselves whether a world’s fair makes sense in the age of the World Wide Web, and even more in an age of shrinking resources and finite carrying capacity. I have to wonder how a mayor who repeats endlessly that he doesn’t want any aviation in his cherished and coddled part of town dares to inflict this much air traffic on a part of the region where, conveniently for him, the local people don’t have a vote in Toronto elections.
I see any gains from this proposal as doubtful at best, and to put it mildly, I find the cost unacceptable. It sickens me that in a year when we have built virtually no affordable housing in Toronto, we have politicians wasting their time and energy on this nonsense. Let’s dump the Disney, and get back to work feeding and sheltering he people who badly need it.
I’ve never understood the arguments that world’s fairs were outdated. I’ve read this argument in historical documents from many decades ago… saying that radio, then television has rendered them moot. Recorded music and radio was invited, but people still go to concerts. Professional sports from around the world is available on satelite, yet people still go to the events in person. Web sites show art from around the world, yet museums are more popular today than ever. People still visit amusement parks despite video games.
Expos are about “being there.” It’s an experience and a place… and even though we haven’t had an international exposition in North America since 1986, they’ve been popular in Europe and Asia in those years.
I’m hoping that Toronto will, indeed, bid and win Expo 2015… and North Americans will rediscover the potential of the medium.
I couldn’t agree more with John Spragge – the environmental effects of people coming to Toronto are horrific! To extend his argument, we ought to close down the National Trade Centre, the International Centre and the Convention Centre, make sure that Pride and Carabana are banned, and perhaps charge out of towners exhorbitant fees to enter the ROM and AGO.
Our new tourism slogan could be, “Toronto – if you can’t walk to it, we don’t want you here!”.
Mr. Chappell:
Let us not overly romanticize the experience of a world’s fair. Except for the advantages of government sponsorships, which provide some exhibits that a private firm could not obtain, world’s fairs resemble theme parks; they offer an artificial experience. Touring the Indian pavilion does not offer nearly the same experience as going to India. As for the advantage of meeting people from all over the world, as Scott put it, we already live with people from all over the world. In any case, I do not see the experience of a world’s fair as an effective way of bringing about deep cultural understandings. In an ideal world, would we prefer world’s fairs over the World Wide Web? Possibly, although in a perfect world, we would choose real cultural exchanges, giving people an opportunity to meet and live with people from other nations and cultures, over either option. However, in a world of environmental limits, we have to ask ourselves whether the advantages of touring a set of pavilions over a series of web sites justifies the environmental consequences of a world’s fair.
Mr. Krawczyk:
An additional takeoff or landing every two minutes for four months at Pearson would have a significant effect on the people at Malton. Considering I last encountered you defending the claims of a pampered community that could not endure any airport within a kilometer of them, you seem to have developed a tolerance for the effects of aviation rather quickly. In any case, I don’t consider it at all environmentally responsible not to consider carefully the effect of a proposal which (by conservative estimates) will put six million short tons of CO2 into the environment.
Why the heck shouldn’t we romanticize Worlds Fairs? That’s what they’re all about — the magical experience of a CNE or a fairgrounds, but writ much larger. “Artificial”? Onky against some artificial standard of authenticity which has little to do with fairs. Of course the India pavillion is not the same as travelling to India! It is the India pavillion. And, like everything about an Expo 67 or an Expo 86, it can be an amazing experience.
As to the argument that tourism should be discouraged where possible as it pollutes … I am afraid you are not going to get very far with that argument. Better to try and green the tourism that does happen. If Expo 2015 can happen and can help kickstart transit-minded development, so much the better.