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EDITOR<\/strong>: The following is commentary by Jon Robson, cross-posted from his tumblr<\/a>. Robson is an amateur photographer and close municipal politics watcher. He lives in Leslieville. Photo by spDuchamp<\/a>. There are a number of different positions from which to criticize the development proposal put forward by the Toronto Port Lands Company and the Ford team, and it\u2019s only natural that the ones which make the best headlines\/jokes garner the most attention. But, these aren\u2019t the same critiques which matter the most. It\u2019s been said before but it bears repeating: This isn\u2019t about the ferris wheel, or a monorail.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s true that a lakeside hotel\/mega-mall served by boat and monorail with a ferris wheel in its backyard is a laughably good example of the Ford\u2019s well-documented capacity for city planning by astral projection, it and the somewhat more modest proposal delivered to the Executive Committee meeting yesterday afternoon, are a sideshow. Whether or not the Fords are deliberately misleading public opinion with their outrageous razzle-dazzle, or earnestly believe they\u2019re on the right track, is beside the point. At this stage, what matters is that the Mayor and his inner circle are effectively hijacking the Toronto Port Lands Company\/ TEDCO and pulling the rug out from underneath the current process of waterfront development in Toronto, a process which has a demonstrable track record of success and is earning the City money, right now. \u00a0It also matters that they\u2019re doing so in a tremendously opaque manner. <\/p>\n TEDCO, which has operated as the Toronto Port Lands Company<\/a> since 2009, has a narrow and highly specialized mandate to arrange short-term leases for the lands which belong to City in the Port Lands, and to ensure that the industrial businesses which lease those lands operate within strict new environmental standards. This \u2018caretaker\u2019 role forms part of the overarching development strategy for the Waterfront – short-term leases ensure that the City will be able to develop the lands when the time comes, and because the lands will all need to be cleaned up prior to their eventual development, stringent environmental standards need to be enforced now to keep the extraordinary costs of soil remediation to a minimum.<\/p>\n Waterfront Toronto<\/a>, meanwhile, has a mandate to partner with private sector developers to turn the underused lands along the bottom of Toronto into desirable and integrated components of our city. It has successfully been working towards that very goal for some time now, and the results are finally, finally being seen in the East Bayfront and West Don Lands (Corus Quay, Sugar Beach, Sherbourne Common\/water treatment facility, a new condo designed by Moshe Safdie). Build Toronto works similarly, partnering with developers to re-zone and re-develop parcels of land which belong to the City, then leasing or selling them with an eye to increased ROI for the City. Profits from this process flow up to the City through annual dividends, and stand to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in profit for the City, over many, many years to come. This will help provide a long-term, though not indefinite, source of revenue for the City, as well as actively growing the tax base of the City (and the Province, and the Country) in a responsible and measured manner.<\/p>\n The guiding principle behind both Waterfront and Build\u2019s mandate is that land is worth more —\u00a0both at the point of sale and going-forward through property taxes and development charges — when it has been properly serviced and can be developed to maximum value, and maximum benefit to the City as a whole.<\/p>\n Much has been made, by the Mayor and his team, of the fact that there presently exists \u2018no plan\u2019 to pay for the flood protection work which is required as a basic prerequisite to the intensification and development of the Port Lands, but this is, perhaps unsurprisingly, an utterly dishonest half-truth. Waterfront has concluded a long-term, multi-million dollar Environmental Assessment of the Port Lands and the Don River flood plain and delivered the completed report in December of 2010.\u00a0 Additionally, Waterfront held an international design competition and has fully incorporated the input and advice of various stakeholders and community group in the region of the Port Lands in order to produce its plan<\/a>. The \u2018half-true\u2019 part is simply what remains \u2013 lining up financing and starting to shape the mouth of the river.<\/p>\n The only reason there is \u2018no plan\u2019 for this yet because Waterfront Toronto wasn\u2019t planning on bringing the Port Lands on-line this soon. The projects in the East Bayfront and West Don Lands are the first priority, and as anyone who\u2019s ever taken an economics class will tell you, if all of the land in this corner of the city was made available at the same time, the resulting abundance of supply would wreak havoc on the profits the City stands to earn. Moreover, we wouldn\u2019t have any more land to develop down the road. Last I checked, Toronto was planning on staying here, oh, indefinitely. City council voted <\/a>unanimously<\/a> <\/em>to amend the Official Plan<\/a> to meet Waterfront\u2019s proposal for the mouth of the Don River, about a year ago. Today, the Chairman of Waterfront Toronto said: \u201cThere\u2019s no question that the money is there to do it.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Why hasn\u2019t the Mayor, who is a board member of Waterfront Toronto by right, asked for the current plan to be stepped up? Why hasn\u2019t he bothered to attend any of Waterfront\u2019s board meetings since he has been in office?<\/p>\n At the Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong made much of the fact that TPLC operates with a budget of $1.5M dollars and only employs a staff of 15. Given that the company is only supposed to arrange leases and implement environmental standards, I don\u2019t suppose that\u2019s too hard to believe. To be clear, TPLC is not<\/strong> intended <\/strong>as an alternate development agency along the lines of Waterfront Toronto, or Build Toronto.<\/p>\n Acting more-or-less unilaterally, the Fords appear to have authorized this corporation to retain CivicArts<\/a>, a private-sector developer with a reputation for planning fantastical mega-projects in Kuwait (a one-kilometre high tower<\/a> with a mosque, synagogue and a cathedral<\/a> on top of three separate spires, anybody?) and Abu Dhabi, to run up an alternative development proposal\u00a0which, in theory<\/em>,\u00a0 will bring the Port Lands into play much more quickly then the 25 year build-out set out in the existing Waterfront Toronto plan. Did TPLC comply with the City\u2019s rules and regulations regarding sole-sourced contracts when it awarded this gig to CivicArts? Is CivicArts taking the project on on spec? Where does Westfield<\/a>, the Australia-based international mall developer fit in? What do local businesses<\/a> think of these new plans? Has anyone asked the nearby BIAs? You see how quickly things get confusing when you don\u2019t follow the rules or usual process?<\/p>\n Yesterday, the Toronto Star<\/em> reported<\/a> that a private citizen has filed a complaint under the City\u2019s lobbying regulations seeking clarification of the relationship between Doug Ford and Westfield. Tonight, Westfield acknowledged<\/a> that they were starting the paperwork to become registered lobbyists under those same regulations.<\/p>\n The Executive Committee also voted on Tuesday to ask Build Toronto, Invest Toronto and the TPLC to produce a list of senior management and their compensation, so that they may be added to the Province\u2019s so-called \u2018Sunshine List,\u2019 the annually published list of the City\u2019s employees and their salaries. Some would argue there\u2019s never anything wrong with a little extra public disclosure, and generally, I wouldn\u2019t disagree. However, entities such as Build and Invest are intended to be arms-length from the City, and consequently, the request is largely inappropriate and will likely serve to make those same senior management roles less desirable. I am inclined to believe there may be some tension between the management at Build at the Mayor\u2019s office. In early August Build CEO Lorne Braithwaite gave an interview<\/a> to the Star <\/em>which ended:<\/p>\n
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