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  2. Sometimes, effective city building means you have to build something effectively.

    Of course, the current City governance has never made city building their concern, so I shouldn’t be surprised when they don’t start now.

  4. There is also Chicago’s Gehry-designed BP Bridge linking Millennium Park and the waterfront. It’s a real stunner. http://twitpic.com/4yumm0

  5. As if all of us have been to those places! It’s no wonder the writer (and those like him) make such little impact on City affairs when they are such a tiny elite crowd.   

  8. Dig the awesome streetcar crossing the second bridge in the background of the Prague photo. In TTC colours, too.

  9. Singapore is transforming its waterfront. Front and centre in that waterfront is the Helix Bridge (http://img.sgcgo.com/2010/04/double-helix-bridge.jpg). A pedestrian bridge connecting one part of the waterfront to the other.

    Sometimes spending a little more is worth it. This is no gravy train. This is city building. Sadly, it appears our current Mayor and his cohort of cost cutters are determined champions of mediocrity.

    The Fort York Bridge is important. Spend the fricken money. It’s worth it. Think long term. Not short term.

  11. It’s hard to get excited about the Fort York bridge, when a lot of the same people are fighting as hard as they can to prevent that other grown-up city thing — express rail to the airport.

  13. No, we need the bridge and we need a better Council. What we don’t need are a bunch of whiners and moaners who write like they haven’t yet resigned from the Students’ Union. Non-elite = non-phony. I’m for that.

  14. Nice piece of wit!
    Tell me if I’m wrong but won’t this bridge be more than just a connection between these two neighbourhoods? I thought this was also meant to be an integral piece between the Toronto Rail Path to the west and the pedestrian path that is slowly being created along the north strip of Cityplace.

  15. To make it a little easier to email the whole of council, this is (I think) a complete list of emails:

    mayor_ford@toronto.ca

    councillor_ainslie@toronto.ca, councillor_augimeri@toronto.ca, councillor_bailao@toronto.ca, councillor_berardinetti@toronto.ca, councillor_carroll@toronto.ca, councillor_cho@toronto.ca, councillor_colle@toronto.ca, councillor_crawford@toronto.ca, councillor_crisanti@toronto.ca, councillor_davis@toronto.ca, councillor_debaeremaeker@toronto.ca, councillor_delgrande@toronto.ca, councillor_digiorgio@toronto.ca, councillor_doucette@toronto.ca, councillor_filion@toronto.ca, councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca, councillor_dford@toronto.ca, councillor_fragedakis@toronto.ca, councillor_grimes@toronto.ca, councillor_holyday@toronto.ca, councillor_kelly@toronto.ca, councillor_layton@toronto.ca, councillor_lee@toronto.ca, councillor_lindsay_luby@toronto.ca, councillor_mammoliti@toronto.ca, councillor_matlow@toronto.ca, councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca, councillor_mcmahon@toronto.ca, councillor_mihevc@toronto.ca, councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca, councillor_minnan-wong@toronto.ca, councillor_moeser@toronto.ca, councillor_nunziata@toronto.ca, councillor_palacio@toronto.ca, councillor_parker@toronto.ca, councillor_pasternak@toronto.ca, councillor_perks@toronto.ca, councillor_perruzza@toronto.ca, councillor_robinson@toronto.ca, councillor_shiner@toronto.ca, councillor_stintz@toronto.ca, councillor_thompson@toronto.ca, councillor_wongtam@toronto.ca, councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca

  16. I despair at the comment left by Peter. The article was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it’s main point is that our current city government are unwilling to see the value of anything beyond its dollar cost. The Fort York Bridge is just a small example of what happens when vision is miserly and pointed inward. I’ve never been to many of those cities, but I am glad they are there for the people that live in them and for those that visit them. I’ve never been to the moon, either, but I am glad it’s there, too.

  18. Best Spacing post of the year.

    While we’re on the topic, this is the god-like icon to which any aspiring structural engineer prays regularly:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salginatobel_Bridge

    It’s pure engineering, and also pure beauty. And Rob Ford would be pleased to know it was also the low bidder. That’s often true of beautiful bridges — more elegance equals less material equals less cost.

  20. Venice as a relevant example for this story? Really? 

  21. To be fair to Mark Grimes, his comment appeared to endorse spending money on bridges but not ones for “just” pedestrians and “just” cyclists.

    How did Mayor Doug “Scrooge” Holyday of Etobicoke ever approve a Calatrava anyway?

    I’d love to know what Department of National Defence think of this fiasco, given their stake in the fate of Fort York. Of course, given MacKay’s comments about the suitability of a single engine fighter for Arctic Patrol, he’d probably be happy with a rope and plank bridge with only every other plank present.

  22. You forgot Pickering and it’s 250 metre pedestrian bridge over the 401 that costs $22.5 million.

  24. “it’s main point is that our current city government are unwilling to see the value of anything beyond its dollar cost. ”

    Really? I thought the whole thrust of the “article” was snobbish and about showing prowess with words. Rob Ford was treated like a buffoon last year which propelled him to power. What is lamentable is that some persist in such failed tactics. If we are to succeed in changing how TO Council behaves the pinko elites will have to become teachers and write less clever stuff. Only then will the majority relax and not assume they will be pick-pocketed to death.

    Remember this, there are many TO residents who want a subway to run under their streets. They don’t mind how much it might cost. I’d say they aren’t cost cutters. They’re just having their say on the allocation of scarce resources.

    Funny, I’ve been to all but one of those cities and I’m still happy to live in Toronto.

  25. WOW – what a debate, what I read bottom line is that most commenters share a view that our council lacks vision and is extremely short sighted.To Jason – yes there was the connection to the development on the east side of Bathurst south of the tracks. To Andrew – yup i was one of the people involved in the Metrolinx debate but not to nix it – our focus was on the design of the Strachan bridge. We as a group support the rapid rail link – we continue to push for electrification. No way 100+ diesels a day won’t add to pollution. Imagine 100s of thousands of tourists coming to the Pan Am games on modern 1st class electric rails and then pass under the iconic Fort Yrok Bridge on their way in.What a modern city these Torontonians have!

  26. Peter> I’m a writer but I want to write in non-elite. Can you tell me how to say what I want to say without showing prowess with words. Thank you.

  27. C’mon guys, we’re talking about a gd footbridge not a monument to the incredible lightness of being. Enough with the hysterics. Also the project is 4 million dollars over budget and there isn’t a shovel in the ground. I’m all for city building and being proud of where I live but where do you folks think all this money comes from. It doesn’t grow on trees. Can we not just practice a little fiscal probity and maybe a modicum of common sense.

  28. We’d better watch out and not mention the Bloor Viaduct! The gravy train runs right UNDER that bridge!

    But seriously, Ford Flintstone is going to send us back to the stone age. 

  29. Patrick> I’m glad the anti-bridge side has used a word like probity now. Elite-word-prowess-balance restored.

  30. Shawn, I wouldn’t call you a writer at all. I’d say you are simply another blogger with a fixation on Rob Ford and that you are still pissed off that he became Mayor of Toronto. You’re one of those now known as a “downtown pinko elite” who never did consider the great unwashed in the nether places of Toronto. Well, now it’s their turn. Get over it. Try some humility.

  31. Are there particular words you don’t like? Really, I’m asking.

    Also, this book I wrote, 50% of it takes place in nether Toronto.

    http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/stroll

    If you read it, please compile a list of words that are too prowessy and/or elite. Especially the ones about the nether parts.

  32. Honestly I want to see the bridge built but why can’t they stop attacking projects that are started or in the ground running? Sometimes you spend a little more for the long run.
    Comment trolls who think the elite are downtown better look in their own backyards first. I moved to Toronto from Mississauga because I wanted more arts and better transit.
    Not sports and cars.
    We will never be looked at as a world class city by announcing great projects then killing them.
    I respect cost cutting but some people don’t think.

  33. Hold on second Patrick. I don’t mean to be too technical but this project is not overbudget. At the moment it’s completely on budget except the Public Works Committee is withholding approval of the contract. Council has already approved $22 million for construction of the bridge.  
    Re +$4 million, the difference is that the original $18 million was a reasoned estimate which city staff needed to provide before tendering the contract. $22 million is what the contractor has responded with in terms of more likely cost. Its a minor escalation based on a more accurate estimate that only the contractor could provide. It’s also a normal aspect of putting contracts out to tender. 

  34. Peter, have to disagree with your comment about Shawn not being a writer. You’re entitled to disagree with him but c’mon, he does write about these issues in a much more engaging manner than most of scribes toiling for our local dailies. That said, I think this issue has (pardon the pun) become the bridge to nowhere… as in those making a fuss about it are simply not resonating with many people. The bottom line is that most Torontonians really don’t give a rat’s $#@$$ about this bridge. Is that because they have no appreciation for history? Maybe. But maybe it’s because they don’t think this represent a good way to spend $22m, especially given other priorities and challenges. Maybe they think the cost is out of proportion to the number of people who will be served — and hence want to see a more modest proposal come forth. This bridge is far from being the litmus test for which side of the political divide one is on. Supporting it (or not) doesn’t mean you are a progressive or enlightened (or not)…

  35. Peter – you may have good intentions, but you are being pretty trollish about what you are saying. “I thought the whole thrust of the “article” was snobbish and about showing prowess with words” Oh noes! Someone writes good words. They is smart. And being smart is a terrible thing to be in Rob Ford’s Toronto.

    But being smart is never a bad thing, okay? That’s just part of the whole messed-up Fordist worldview. Being selfish or unselfish is a bad thing. Being *uncaring* is a bad thing. Rob Ford does not care. He is bad. Shawn cares. He is good.

    Therefore, spend less time chastising your fellow leftists (if you are one!) and go tell Rob Ford and his supporters that they are bad because they do not care about other people. All they care about is *money.* You know – the defining feature of greed? That is how we will win against them – reminding them they are being amoral monsters. We will not win by telling each other that we are too smart. Or getting all high-and-mighty on prowess-y writers. That just makes you the Rob Ford of Spacing commenters.

  36. Regarding Mimico Creek and Humber Bay Bridge, which are Toronto’s best/only contemporary ped bridges, a little background:

    Humber Bay – many people think this was a Calatrava bridge because it is in white steel and has curves. It was actually designed by Montgomery and Sisam Architects and Delcan Engineering. (1996)

    Mimico – Delcan then built on their success with Humber Bay and entered the competition for Mimico in 1997. Somehow they were able to juice their entry by getting Calatrava to join their team, and he had “input” into the bridge design. i.e. Delcan basically was allowed to reuse and rescale his design for La Devesa Bridge in Spain (http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0000320) The city went nuts over the Big C being involved and Delcan won the commission. But Delcan claims design credit and considers Calatrava a consultant. It’s not a true Calatrava project the way BCE Place was and I am not sure you will find Mimico in any of his coffee table books. Look at the photos in the link above closely and you’ll see the rust at the cable supports — Calatrava would never be so sloppy in his detailing.

    All of this is context to say that swoopy white steel bridges can be done in Toronto, and they can be done for a reasonable cost (engineer’s reasonable, not political ideologue reasonable) by local professionals. Mimico is a baby bridge, and Humber is certainly a decent feather in the city’s cap. But Fort York would be a significant structure with high visibility that would certainly raise the bar. It’s a shame the city’s current leaders are so closed-minded that they would spitefully block it in the name of “gravy trains”.

  37. Here’s what I find so interesting about Peter’s position…

    By arguing that the behaviour of the downtown elite prompted those in the suburbs and outlying areas to vote for Ford, he’s treating that part of the electorate with the same lack of respect that he ascribes to the pinkos.

    Surely the suburbanites voted for Ford because they liked him, not simply as a reaction to the downtowners. If not, then the idea that the downtowners have ultimate control of the city is oddly reinforced. Either the pinkos elect the mayor directly OR the pinkos provoke others to elect the Mayor. In both scenarios, those in the regions surrounding downtown aren’t thought of as intelligent or well-considered, rather they’re just grunting animals, reacting to their master’s indiscretions. 

    I know that’s not what Peter means, but that’s what he and every other “rub-it-in-your-face” righty is saying when they blame the election of Rob Ford on the pinkos. Not that the right revolted and picked their Mayor, but rather they reacted and picked the guy they knew the pinkos would hate. 

    It’s paternalistic, stupid and just the kind of thing the righties claim to hate about the left.

    Funny. 

  38. Shawn has a very good point about showpiece bridges being very important to all world cities. I believe that Toronto already has one great example of such a bridge: the Bloor Viaduct. The Viaduct is functional, carrying 5 lanes, sidewalks, bike lanes, AND the subway. It is beautiful, with its soaring arches and stone piers. If you’ve ever walked over it, you know there’s a great view of the Don Valley.

    The Fort York bridge is lacking many of these features. Seriously, take a good look at the renderings. The “view” from this bridge consists of a gigantic railway corridor, industrial lands, and a ten storey tall billboard. Not exactly the same as the Seine River or the Don Valley.

    With another bridge for crossing the railway (Strachan Ave) just 150m away, this one is not functional. While it is a great looking bridge, I just think the money could be better spent elsewhere.

  39. I guess you cringed at the word “humility”? Not in your lexicon I suspect. You’re more of the psychogeographer and flaneur type, eh?

    I liked these words from you last year – “The rise of the Ford Nation is as much a communication problem of the progressive side of Toronto as it is Ford’s regular-guy charisma.”

    Let’s hope the downtown pinko elites use the 4 years from last October to rejig their effective writing skills and that they pick their battles wisely. Only then will they have a chance of convincing others that one bridge over a railway track could put Toronto on par with Dublin, London or Berlin.

  40. There are streets nearby Jeremy, the trick with the bridge is it’ll be a key part of a bike-superhighway network that will all connect at the Fort. A hub, of sorts. That’s not there now, so it’s hard to see. There’s no room on the Bathurst bridge for bike lanes, and Strachan is narrow. The Fort York bridge connects up to Stanley Park, and will create a new corridor.

    I saw the Seine. I like the railway better. 🙂 The land underneath in the triangle of land on Ordinance Street can become parkland too. Go down there, it’s actually quite dramatic — two railway corridors split into a V. Industrial Toronto panorama, as important as the Don Valley and old French stuff.

  41. Looks like Peter M. has found a new place to troll after getting blocked from the ‘All Fired Up in the Big Smoke” blog. Don’t bother trying to engage with him, it’s not worth it.

  42. Joshua – “I know that’s not what Peter means…” you are right about that but wrong to label me a rightie. I subscribe to Shawn’s notion mentioned in my last post.

  43. It won’t truck to admonish people for being morons. You have to prove them wrong, kindly but comprehensively, so that they can silently change their ideology. That’s simply prideful human behaviour that that’s in everyone but Jesus and Buddha. I know it feels good but you can’t win a battle of ideas by upping the self-righteousness. Shawn, Peter is right, in a backwards fashion.

  45. Whokebe> I actually don’t know what he’s on about. I was writing about Toronto. Not downtowners, or uptowners, or Ford voters or non-Ford voters. I was looking at Toronto in comparison to other great world cities. I don’t care who a Torontonian voted for, all Torontonians deserve a nice city.

  46. Presumably that such a project would put Toronto closer to the acknowledged great cities of the world is not an obvious good in itself. I don’t agree that has to be proven, but, if necessary, it can be proven at length through maieutic exchange and for some people it may have to be.

  47. Josh,
    I think Peter is making more sense than you are regarding Ford’s appeal — and how ‘progressives’ might want to shape their strategy over the next few years. Some may have voted for Ford because the ‘liked’ (whatever that means). But the bulk (ahem) of his initial appeal had to do with the fact that he positioned himself as the anti-Miller which resonated with a significant portion of the electorate. The fact is that, not surprisingly, the pundits and professional scribes writing on urban matters who pride themselves on reading the electorate’s mood were quite late in recognizing how fed up with Miller and Co. many Torontonians (including suburbanites and urban folk and also some people who would consider themselves “progressive”) had become. Ford resonated with many of these people who thought the last emperor (Miller) had no clothes (despite the generally positive reviews by media folk for his administration). Now, some of Ford’s supporters have changed their mind and have since come to see him as another emperor with no clothes. But the likelihood is probably that he has been able to maintain substantial public support despite the barrage of negative press over issues such as this bridge… which few people really care about. What would turn his supporters against him would be something like seeing him caving in to the police on paid duty service (as for the new collective agreement, I don’t think most people see him as the cause for an offer many would consider to be too generous). PS. Can people please stop talking about what would make Toronto a “world class city” and focus on liveability? All too often, the term has been used to justify and champion priorities that are at best questionable and do little to enhance quality of life. Folks, it’s time to put away your inner Mel.

  48. SAMG, that’s a good explanation but I think you mischaracterize the nature of those questionable priorities. I think it stands quite well on its own to observe that embarking on projects that will raise Toronto’s “world class” status – from “beta” to “alpha” or whatever ranking metric or rubric you want to use – increases livability. Now I don’t mean livability in a purely aesthetic sense as most would probably assume. Aesthetic value is a self-evident good to me, yes, but more importantly to people worrying about their bank accounts and wallets, it’s through aesthetic value that we produce a great deal of economic value. That greater economic value enhances livability in an indirect way that is largely invisible. People see only taxes but there are much more complicated, compounding causes of profit and loss.

  49. Man is someone quoting Don Cherry on a non-hockey topic? Really? Even on hockey he’s about 10 years past his prime.

  50. SAMG > I wasn’t trying to explain Ford’s appeal…and for that matter neither was Peter. 

  51. Jeremy, the same was said about the High Line before it opened.  Had it been publicly funded it might never have been built.   “Who would ever go there?” “The views are industrial and ugly.”  “It’s a bridge to nowhere”.  “There are big avenues a half block away that make for an easier way to go from 14th St to 30th St.”  All of that negative thinking was proven shockingly wrong after it opened, and next month you will be bombarded by more media as Phase II opens.  Quod erat demonstrandum.

    http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/high-lines-next-phase-less-glitz-more-intimacy/

  52. Great title, and just got better! Here in Tokyo, despite the ‘urban renewal’ of fleets of American bombers, there are these:
    http://www.molon.de/galleries/Japan/Tokyo/Bay/images01/09%20Bay%20of%20Tokyo%20with%20Rainbow%20bridge%20at%20night.jpg
    http://www.wired.com/images/index/2008/12/Tokyo_Bay_Aqualine_580x.jpg
    http://www.solarnavigator.net/geography/geography_images/Japan_Tokyo_Nijubashi_bridge.jpg
    http://redhotbrides.com/blog/media/blogs/redhotbrides/RedItems/red_bridge_tokyo.jpg
    One a bridge AND a tunnel!

  53. A friend of mine was over last night to show his photos from a trip to Prague, Rome and the south of France. Aside from the historical architecture (bridges included), I was struck by the ordinary, useful things that were rendered beautifully – a bank of pay phones (payphone you say? what’s a payphone?) divided by Lucite like Flemish lace, a stairway punctuated by human size statues, a wall in the subway in a geometric pattern. Either way, they are still phones, stairs and walls. They still function as such. But they are more than that, and that, is what is missing when the dollar cost of something is the only consideration.

    And Peter, as a leftist kook (I like that word more than pinko), I want better transit in this city, too – what burns me is that after having the various levels of government wrangle through the Metrolinx project only to have that thrown to the wind, those costs be darned. And why? – the impression I get from our current administration is that it was the previous administrations project, and therefore must be scrapped. In one motion, we’re behind in having a comprehensive transit plan, again.

    Do people who supported the current administration want to pay for more subways? I don’t see that as self-evident. After all, the new government was elected partially on the promise of scrapping the the $60.00 for owning a car. As so it was done. Too bad. It was simple, easy to administer and could have gone a long way towards paying for new transit. And compared to what we’re gonna pay for those subways, relatively cheap. Short-sighted as it is, that’s gone too.

  54. whokebe… my issue was with the phrase “world class city” and suggested people stop using it because its use is all to frequently associated with a rather questionable Toroonto boosterism from Sun/Star endorsed civic leaders. I never said that a project such as this bridge didn’t increase liveability. I think it does (thought I also think another more modest proposal would do the same). What I did say is that most Torontonians (and most of Ford’s supporters) really don’t care about this bridge. Some of them may feel this way because they don’t care about liveabilty… but some of them may care about liveability and feel that $22M could be put to much better use to make this City more liveable.
    Josh, Whether or not you (or Paul) were trying to explain Ford’s appeal, your comments certainly more than touched on that issue…so I feel entitled to comment on that topic

  55. Liza, I’m a leftist kook too (don’t like that bad name the pinkos have given us) and want the same great stuff as you. I’m just trying to set the focus right and debate the meaningful issues. Like is TO lacking in management skills at the Staff level? Why have we allowed the Planning Department to be so weakened as to render it a political football for woefully ignorant City Councillors? What the Ford Administration is doing is no different than previous Administrations, except now it’s reached an all-time low. This is why Toronto Council has been wasting opportunities.
    We need Councils that can execute $18million projects like the “bridge” within reasonable time frames. We spent all that time and money and it could all be wasted today. (Is Rob Ford really to blame?) It took six years to come up with a plan for the TTC Lands at YE. (Still a ways away from actually developing anything) Look what happened to the open space at YE Square (closed-in with The New Development Party’s approval despite overwhelming public opposition) Why is Council now repealing the harmonisation ByLaw? (It was passed unanimously by the Last Council in August 2010) Why did it take from 1998 to craft it and only make it to Council on the very last Council Meeting of the Miller era? (That was 12 years!) Karen Stintz promoted Transit City but now sits atop the TTC and is helping dismantle it. (Get the picture?)

    “Do people who supported the current administration want to pay for more subways?” I could ask, did those who would have paid for Transit City really want/understand it? Was the plan and its merits properly communicated? You would deny the people in Scarborough a subway based on cost. How does that differ from the anti-bridge argument?

  56. I hope the views of the likes of Mark Grimes don’t bear out – it was a pain in the behind having my Porter flight land early on Friday and then wait interminably for the ferry to depart, losing all the time gained – the pedestrian only Airport Tunnel would have been very welcome at the time. But Grimes logic says structures that only carry people not cars are not worth 22m so a tunnel that costs 50m+ will surely draw his scorn.

    Incidentally – how can a destination which can draw *50* taxi cabs at 10am not be worth a TTC bus rather than a dinky shuttle which doesn’t access the streetcar ROW? (yes, I counted on my way to my outbound flight, lugging my bag down from Queens Quay/Bathurst streetcar stop) Inquiring minds want to know…

    @Peter MacQuarrie, I’m intrigued as to why you are here. Spacing has used high falutin’ $3 words since day one so you must be new.

  58. Mark, you must be used to getting things wrong? I’ve been a reader at Spacing for a long time. I come to express my opinion and not just to let off steam because somebody pissed in my cornflakes. I see beyond my own nose.

  59. The bridge lost. Sad times. Now all we can look forward too is Mammolitti’s flagpole to nowhere.

  61. I’m sorry I didn’t read the blog yesterday. I’m sorry I didn’t do something, I don’t know what, lead a parade on City Hall or….? I’m sorry Toronto isn’t looking so shiny and hopeful as it did when I returned after a long time living in Europe.
    I’m glad people around care.
    .
    I’m glad that Spacing is around, an that you write so excellently, shawn

  62. (Nancy Reagan)… ‘she’d have went’? Sloppy isn’t fun sometimes. Otherwise, for me, reading your article was a blast. Thanx.

  63. It’s looking more like the New Development Party got a haircut on Wednesday. They lost the benefit they reckoned was coming their way if the bridge was built as intended. Ford and his boys have cut them off at the pass and we need only wait now to learn what was really behind all this. When that comes out no doubt everybody will run after that ball too and the real structural problems within the City Administration will again go unnoticed.

    Who owns the land that was about to be enriched? Who was going to benefit? What is really going on here and what role are Staff playing?

  64. skandhala> For some it’s the $3 words, other’s it’s the Windsor patois. One tries to navigate the middle!

  65. I’m late on this thread, but wanted to thank you Shawn. Your post helped me articulate why this bridge is so important. I’m utterly discouraged by its loss. Most of what makes Toronto great, it’s neighbourhoods, parks, festivals, and street life is made by Torontonians themselves, privately or in small groups. But what citizens can’t do for themselves is build infrastructure.

    That bridge would connect neighbourhoods and reactivate three tourist sites (and be a tourist attraction in itself), it would have made a statement about our past and our future. It’s about liveability and tourism. It would have been a bold gesture of pride at the same time. A bridge is public space in a way no park or building can be: its vistas deliver the city in a new way, and make us see it differently. As Shawn says, it’s not Paris, it’s something else, dramatic and wonderful.

    The money came from the province and the federal govt, as I understand it, and must be spent on the waterfront. There isn’t another project that would deliver so much.

    And in all the talk of suburb vs downtown what gets lost is that tourist don’t come to the city to see the suburbs, they come downtown, and they WALK around, and spend money and that in the end benefits us all, downtowners and suburbanites alike.

  66. Sorry Shawn, some of your comments are unsavoury.  If I didn’t know the source, I would have guessed these comments were made by Doug or Rob Ford:

    “… a fey Jane Jacobs cuddly urbanist’s wet-dream project or more dipper waste.”

    “…when I was a kid, I only really respected cities with teams in all 4 major North American sports leagues (Toronto was an exception because I knew [and know] we’d get that goddamn NFL team one day).” 

    Sorry, but the NFL is not coming to Toronto, I suggest supporting the football team that has contributed so much to the history of our city — the Argos.  And maybe the Fords could do that too.

    Why align yourself with the Fords?  Just doesn’t make any sense to me.

  69. I’ll respect our city LESS if we get an NFL team, because it means we’ll have shovelled hundreds of millions into a sport which maims its participants and some of that WILL be public money, no matter what Mayor Doug says.

  70. I would’ve thought Calgary’s inclusion on the list would have made Torontonians take up torches and march on City Hall. A backwater burg like *Calgary* gets a Calatrava bridge, planned and approved before the election of Mayor Nenshi? Stunning. Not only that, but Edmonton gets this connecting Fort Edmonton and residential communities on the other side of the river: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurt-b/5233445618/