Wednesday’s Headlines

7 comments

1. National Post misses the point as usual. No one cares about the Pan Am’s actual games, it is true. But the point is to provide motivation for city building that is so difficult to otherwise pull off in forever-poor, leaderless, visionless municipal Canada. Miller and the rest of the Pan Am supporters knew this and that is really why they went after the Games.

   Toronto, a city of millions, has very few Olympic sized pools. Because of the Pan Am games it will now have a proper aquatics facility. Pearson is one of the biggest airports in the world without a rail connection. Now, thanks to the deadline of the Pan Am games, it will finally get one. The Don Lands have sat abandoned and polluted for years. With the seed of the Athlete’s Village, you are now going to see an entire neighbourhood grow there.

   No one cares about the Games but their built legacy in sports (and increasingly transportation and community) infrastructure is important, is desirable, and worth whatever it costs to put on a few weeks of bread and circuses. Think about that the next time you watch a football game in Edmonton (1978 Commonwealth Games) or Hamilton (1930 Empire Games), or baseball in Winnipeg (1999 Pan Am Games), or soccer in Vancouver (1954 Empire Games).

2. If Toronto had gone after the Commonwealth games, it could have pulled in support from both UK expats as well as the large south Asian communities in the 905. Instead Hamilton bid – hardly a city on the scale of recent hosts like New Delhi, Manchester (UK) and Melbourne.

   My problem with the Pan Ams is that there isn’t a large, visible support base for this event. When was the last time a Toronto street was closed with flag waving fans (of any nationality, not just Canadians) on account of winning a Pan Am medal?

3. @ISkysscraper and also to J (but site didn’t seem to post message under Jan18/11)
   First off, to J, things are ALWAYS spun to suit the message of the day. That doesn’t mean spin shouldn’t be challenged, but it also doesn’t mean the spin is always wrong. Ford does way too much posturing…but in this case I don’t think he’s wrong to be pointing his fingers at some of the parties he is. To Iskyscraper, funding Pan-Am games and the city infrastructure that goes along with it may very well be a worthwhile public pursuit, but you seem to be saying it’s OK to hoodwink the public because the end will justify the means. That attitude may be acceptable in some rare instances… but I don’t think this is one of them. I’d say it is attitudes such as this that have made a sham of the public arena, a mockery our civic institutions and resulted in politicians having such a low level of credibility with the public. Individuals who sell a bill of goods to the public on the basis that it will only cost X when most in the know knew the estimate was highly questionable deserve to have there credibility challenged, if only for the sake of their future public pronouncements.

4. Summary missed story regarding reversal of former Councillor Giambrone’s restrictions of street parking along small section of Dundas W.
   http://www.thestar.com/news/article/924314–motion-passes-to-bring-back-parking-on-dundas-west#comments

5. SAMG, you have good points. I’m just trying to point out that the mayor’s executive committee knew these costs were coming. spin or not, we should be honest about the facts they know and the decisions they have previously made.

   – from a report in Jan/Feb 2009 on Pan-Am to executive council, and then approved by city council (everyone but Walker): “An adjustment will have to be made to the nominal contribution amount to reflect overall construction cost inflation that occurs between 2008 and the actual construction period for each proposed project.”

   – perpetual care of landfills is in the capital budgets on an annual basis. the money may shift around and be re-allocated from year to year, but they know its an ongoing cost.

6. Fair guess that any average citizen would know that estimates for big ticket items like Pan Am Games, Olympics, etc. are ridiculously low when first presented. So why wouldn’t all the councillors, many of whome are still there, know it too?

   The problem we have in this city is that we are all sheep willing to accept what we’re sold. Looks at the budget so-called “public consultation” that only happens in a rushed fashion at the end of the process whereby the budget is drawn up by thge powers that be, both elected and non-elected bureaucrats.

   I would wage that if put to any referendum or vote, 90% of Toronto would say NO to this, had they been given the chance.

   It’s always a spin job to say we will benefit down the road. Cancel the games. Let Markham or somebody else have it.

7. J, I agree with much of what you are saying. I just think it’s important to call people on stuff because many of these public figures go on to make handsome incomes as figure-heads, lobbyists, public speakers, etc. on the basis of their so-called integrity, credibility. Maybe if they were made to account for their past public statements more often, they’d be much more circumspect in terms of what they say because of how this would impact on future paydays. And saying all this, I’d also say that Ford had other choices in this instance (as Ken Wood pointed out) and has chosen not to make them.