2006 was a year of ups and downs for the Waterfront. We saw an innovative design competition announced for the Central Waterfront with a widely popular winner. We saw an all-too-brief (and heavily criticized) glimpse of the fruits of that competition through the Quay to the City in August. We also witnessed expanded service at the Island Airport and the Federal Government’s endorsement of the Toronto Port Authority through the Tasse report, a report many had hoped would bury the Waterfront agency. Popular parties on Cherry Beach proved that the Waterfront was already revitalized in certain areas, but complaints forced them to be shut down by police, and temporary sports field construction had some up in arms about the felling of several trees in the park. The Feds failed to submit a bid for an International Expo that many hoped would kick-start revitalization of the Portlands, but the TWRC went ahead and announced a design competition for part of the area, anyway. In terms of water cleanliness, many of Toronto’s beaches remained closed during some of the hottest days in the summer, but City hall is considering making the downspout disconnection program mandatory, which could reduce the amount of sewer runoff heading into the lake.
2007 promises more of the same: HtO Park on the Central Waterfront is nearing completion, the airport is still expanding, and the Waterfront remains a central point of discussion in Toronto news. A number of other Waterfront parks and projects are underway and it seems that large sections of the paperwork are complete and the implementation phase of revitalization is on the horizon. Perhaps the best of the Waterfront in 2006 will be the results created by the preliminary groundwork and planning accomplished during that year.
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> but complaints forced them [Cherry Beach] to be shut down by police
I was chatting with David and Irving from Promise tonight, and here is a funny tidbit you may find interesting:
When David asked the bylaw enforcement officer why he was there, he said the police called him. When he asked the police who called them, they said they said they had a noise complaint on file. The caller? The bylaw enforcement officer, who called in a “noisy party” complaint hours before they even set up.
There is still no clear answer as to why the Cherry Beach parties were shut down, and we may never know.
The Toronto Public Space Committee may take this on as a campaign.