Recent Articles
Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 5:52PM City Moves to Take Port Lands - Don Peat, City Hall Bureau Chief, Toronto Sun
Stop the gravy train, start the monorail. After hours of debate Tuesday, councillors on the executive committee voted in favour of pulling the Port Lands away from Waterfront Toronto and giving control over revitalizing the stretch of land to the city-owned Toronto Port Lands Co. Mayor Rob Ford heralded the new Port Lands plan as an opportunity to create jobs.
“The city of Toronto finally has right on its doorsteps a great opportunity,” Ford told the committee.
“What I want as mayor is for this prime area of Toronto to be developed in the next 10 years a phenomenal place for tourism and families, everyone that lives and visits the city. I do not want to wait a quarter of a century.”
City council will vote on the new Port Lands proposal on Sept. 21. (Full Article)
Latest Pland for the Port Lands Leaves More Questions Than Answers - John Michael McGrath, Open File
Sometimes it comes best from the horse's mouth: “This is not a plan,” says Eric Kuhne, one of the architects hired by the Toronto Port Lands Corporation to develop a new vision for the lands along Toronto's lake shore. Speaking to reporters before the afternoon session of Toronto's Executive Committee resumed, Kuhne was trying to emphasize how preliminary the TPLC's efforts to come up with an alternative to Waterfront Toronto's vision are. Nevertheless, there was more than a little dissonance when Mayor Rob Ford walked out of his office a few minutes later and said the TPLC plan was “a plan to create jobs.” So does the City have a plan, or not? The answer is maybe we've got too many plans, and that's not a good thing. (Full Article)
Ford Vows Port Lands Remake Within a Decade - Elizabeth Church, The Globe and Mail
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is vowing to make his vast makeover of the Port Lands a reality within a decade, saying the city can’t wait a quarter of a century to see redevelopment of the eastern harbour.
Lavish conceptual drawings commissioned by a city agency and endorsed by the mayor were made public Tuesday and include the much-anticipated Ferris wheel and mega-mall, as well as a few surprises. What the presentation did not include was a price tag for the remake or a plan for how it will be financed – those details were promised in a report in the next six months. (Full Article)
Plans for Port Lands Unveiled to Councillors - Mike Adler, Inside Toronto
There is no giant ferris wheel for now, but the newest proposal for the port lands is on a grand scale that consultants say is necessary to attract the world’s investors. The new vision, which is slated to include 30,000 homes and 45,000 jobs, will create a “gateway to the best planning firm CivicArts told Mayor Rob Ford’s Executive Committee. On Tuesday, Sept. 6 the firm unveiled images for councillors of what the port lands’ 1,000 acres – an area of what Toronto can be”, while protecting citizens and tourists from 200-year river floods, Eric Kuhne of theIt’s a great opportunity on the city’s doorstep, Ford said. (Full Article)
Ferris Wheel a Speculative Idea - Erin Criger, City TV
Doug Ford’s plan for the Port Lands was unveiled Tuesday at city hall, and part of his proposal involves taking back the land from Waterfront Toronto.
Eric Kuhne, an architect hired a few months ago, told the Executive Committee that the Port Lands would include a roundabout on Cherry Street with fountains, sculptures and cherry trees. (Full Article)
Going Round and Round on New Waterfront Plans - John Lorinc, Spacing Toronto
With Rob Ford’s executive committee set to view brother Doug’s plan to transform the Port Lands into an up-market playground, I’d like to add a pair of counter-narratives to the fractious debate about the latest twist in the waterfront revitalization soap opera.
Counter Narrative 1: Contrary to Doug Ford’s assertions about the ineffectiveness of Waterfront Toronto, the fact that deep-pocketed investors have come ‘a calling confirms the agency has been doing something right. But typically, the brothers are too blinded by partisanship to understand the dynamic that led Westfield to their doorstep. (Full Article)
Twin Mayors' Wow Plan for Port Lands Deceptively Attractive - Royson James, Toronto Star
The Brothers Ford strike a chord with Torontonians when they say, “Let’s get moving on the waterfront.” For, while a significant percentage of citizens often disagree with the Fords on major policy matters, there is near unanimity on the state of the waterfront — awful — and the pace at which it is being revitalized — slow.
As such, the Twin Mayors’ “wow” plan for the Port Lands that goes to the executive committee Tuesday is deceptively attractive. The prospect of a giant Ferris wheel, mega mall and water hotel linked by a monorail, could seduce all but the most mature, clear-thinking city councillors. (Full Article)
Doug Ford's Tourist Friendly Plan for Port Lands Faces Big Challenges - John Lorinc, Globe and Mail
Councillor Doug Ford’s new development scheme for the Port Lands risks a significantly revised environmental assessment, throwing into doubt the promised six-year timeline for his project while potentially adding millions of dollars in additional costs, according to several lawyers familiar with the regulations. (Full Article)
