gristle said:
The neglect of public spaces is done in the belief that it shows frugality. In effect, we are told that planned spending on reasonable projects that bring public realm improvement are not worth it. In effect, we are not worth it.
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I tend to agree with you. Who could blame Ford or anybody for inferring that the people of Toronto simply don't care about design, infrastructure, preservation, urban planning or the grand gesture in general. But for a small minority of us at UT these issues consistently fall on deaf ears and the vast majority do not value them or want money spent on them. Just be seen to be throwing more money at health care, welfare and social problems and you'll get the votes! Short term thinking is the order of the day and the ticket to office in Toronto.
 
Fair enough, that is a left-wing stance... for a right-wing stance just be seen to be cutting taxes or 'waste'.
 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-to-save-the-fort-york-bridge/article2016168/

The battle is on to save the Fort York bridge

PATRICK WHITE
TORONTO— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, May. 10, 2011 3:00AM EDT

In 2007, city council voted to build a foot and bike bridge reconnecting the Fort with the city it once protected, timed for bicentennial celebrations next year. But at a public works committee meeting last month, budget-conscious councillors allied with Mayor Rob Ford deep-sixed those plans with a late-night motion to send the $22-million bridge – which was $4.4-million over original estimates – back to the designers for cost trimming.

Now, an unlikely patchwork of Torontonians are speaking up in the bridge’s defence.
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“I would love to see the bridge happen,” said former Conservative politician John Tory, who sits on the fundraising panel for the Fort York Foundation, a group devoted to building a visitors centre on the site. “People have put a lot of thought into this. It didn’t just get approved in the middle of the night two weeks ago.”

The foundation has pledged to raise a quarter of the funds need to build a $23-million visitors centre.
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At city hall, Councillor Mike Layton says he has convinced roughly 50 per cent of his political counterparts to reject the public works decision when it goes before city council next week. He’ll need two-thirds support to successfully overturn the decision.
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He’s also trying to enlist the help of Jim Flaherty, federal Finance Minister and friend of the mayor’s, who’s been supportive of projects across the Toronto waterfront.
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Mr. Layton has also enlisted help from condo developers around Fort York. At least one of them, Steve Diamond, has met with the mayor’s office about the matter.

“I think the cost of the bridge is a legitimate issue for the city to consider,” he said. “But I do think this bridge provides a very useful and practical amenity to existing neighbourhoods and new neighbourhoods in the area.”

Mr. Diamond estimates that his development would contribute around $2-million in development fees to the city, money he would be happy to see go toward the bridge.
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The issue is pressing: If construction doesn’t start soon, the city will miss a narrow construction window provided by Metrolinx, pushing the building calendar months or years past the bicentennial.

“I’m sensitive to the timing with the bicentennial, but I don’t think it’s prudent to make a $22-million decision for a celebration that’s going to come and go very quickly,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the public works committee. “There were concerns from the mayor’s office and the budget chief and so we decided to take another look at this.”
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This is a reminder of one of the interesting things about the Fords' brand of conservatism: plenty of self-described conservatives don't share their antediluvian views. We are seeing this also with Denzil Minnan-Wong's unapologetic cycling advocacy. It gives me some hope.

One of the best things that could possibly happen to Canadian politics would be for urban issues to no longer break along left-right lines, and making possible the rise of some Bloomberg-style technocratic urban conservatives. I think we may see a bit more of this now that the federal Tories have breached Fortress Toronto.

Also, for guys counting on ''private-sector developers'' to provide all manner of goodies at zero cost to the sainted taxpayer, the Brothers Grimm sure do seem to be pissing off a lot of those exact developers.
 
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allabootmatt said:
This is a reminder of one of the interesting things about the Fords' brand of conservatism: plenty of self-described conservatives don't share their antediluvian views. We are seeing this also with Denzil Minnan-Wong's unapologetic cycling advocacy. It gives me some hope.
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Well, take a closer look at Minnan-Wong's cycling advocacy. There's a big difference in being an advocate for something (lip service) and a advocate who promotes intelligent ideas.
 
So if Mike Layton has got 50% of council on his side, while he needs 2/3rds to dismiss the public works decision, if the approval of the bridge comes to a vote, it'll need just a simple majority which Layton has.
 
What the left wants for a bridge near Fort York:

Fort-York-bridge.jpg


What the right wants for a bridge near Fort York (?):

Carrick-a-Rede-Rope-Bridge-3.jpg
 
Actually, the right will want it to be a troll, sorry I mean a toll bridge.

troll-bridge.jpg


Make the user pay, as they say.
 
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