Capitalization doesn't make it true. When the Waterfront Toronto Corp was started the commitment was $500M from each level of government some in land, some in money. About 1/5 to 1/4 of the land has been made developable and only half of the original commitment has been used. Not all the land which has been made developable has been sold yet which will bring in money for Waterfront Toronto to move to future stages. Private developers don't build free public amenities. The plan was always to start at one place and slowly build out the waterfront. If they sell all the land now they don't get the same amount of money which can be used for public spaces because the lands aren't desirable yet. The land in the West Don Lands and around Sherbourne Park have been made more valuable by the investments Waterfront Toronto has made. They have private investors already... they are just being methodical. Hines, Great Gulf, and Urban Capital have invested on the first properties.



So Canada's Wonderland must make Vaughan a real hot spot for tourists and development since it has way more rides than a ferris wheel.



Investors already know this. They also know that up until now the city had standards of what could be built.



So why would they keep mentioning it? It just shows that they are delusional.



Not if you want public spaces. Show me investors that would create and maintain a public park.



It is a building that takes money from people to pay for spinning a wheel with pictures and playing cards. If you aren't into that it offers nothing for free. The falls are free, no admission.



You are talking about private buildings, not public spaces. The Waterfront plan has space for private developments. The mayor could say they want X amount of the developable space to be retail without changing much of the plan. Of the 18 buildings approved so far only 3 are not privately developed. The largest property approved is packed with ground level retail and includes $800 million of private investment.

I wont comment on most your bs cause im tired, but I will say this.

Know what your talking about before you state incorrect or distorted facts. The Fallsview casino is free of admission. It is also surrounded by parklands and gardens that are well kept. There is a public foodcourt as well as resturaunts, a hotel, retail and shows.

This is the kind of thing that comes along with these sorts of private developments. You get lots of beautiful public space that is well maintained by private money.

The Vaughn comment pretty much proves my point seeing as a massive amount of development now surrounds the park including one of the largest malls in the GTA. attractions like these attract more investors, hence the name ATTRACTions. They attract ride warriors and investors alike.

Those city standards are exactly what holds major investors back. They have little freedom with what they can design. Dubai is so successful because they have a process in which the developers can get building quickly and are allowed to build large and unique megaprojects. Whereas most North American cities would deny architects these rights. Let them know we are open to these ideas and they will come.
 
The mall is an okay idea, but i would rather see a large casino with other amenities included. I would also like to see the idea of a four pad arena stacked on top of eachother returned to the table...?
 
The mall is an okay idea, but i would rather see a large casino with other amenities included. I would also like to see the idea of a four pad arena stacked on top of eachother returned to the table...?

How on earth is the mall an okay idea compared to what is currently devised?

When I refer to a whole I refer to the debt that Miller left the city with. Now Rob Ford is filling it back in. I dont care if he fills it with gravy as long as he fills it in so Toronto can get back on its feet again and actually earn a profit. The city may seem okay, but thats all the private investment you see, the infrastructure is what lacks due to Millers mistakes.

He is?

What debt has Ford filled back in?

Ford is using the exact same tactics as Miller and Lastman had to in order to balance the budget. It should be painfully obvious by now that Ford has little idea what he's doing.
 
Pantalone. Nothing to say but clearly yes.

Sure. Lets challenge the two to an IQ test.

I can guarentee you that McGuinty will not be voted back in.

You can't guarantee it. It may be true that he will loose but your premise that he is down in the polls from earlier on is incorrect.

The subway and Eglington Crosstown are actually cheaper.

A plan that is $13.8B cannot be cheaper than a plan that is $8.7B.

Im talking left hand turns here. When one of these monsters makes a left hand turn, it blocks the oncoming lanes and if the lrt is stuck behind traffic from another red light, it would be blocking the entire intersection.

The Eglinton Line didn't have any left turns. The Finch line had two. The Sheppard line two. They would have transit signals and would not be stuck behind traffic from another red light because they wouldn't be in mixed traffic.

Cities turn out much more successful with these than conventional buses and streetcars. Portland, Oregon is a great example of how it can sound great, but ends up getting more negative views than positive in the end. London and New York have fantastic subway systems and run very well.

London and New York also have buses. London also has LRT. Toronto also has a subway. You choose the technology based on the demand and the environment.

Now Rob Ford is filling it back in.

Reducing revenues and selling assets doesn't fill in a debt.

I dont care if he fills it with gravy as long as he fills it in so Toronto can get back on its feet again and actually earn a profit.

Cities don't make profit. Their revenue is tax dollars and if you reduce your taxes you reduce the money the city has to spend.

The city may seem okay, but thats all the private investment you see, the infrastructure is what lacks due to Millers mistakes.

The infrastructure such as a new Union Station, rebuild Victoria Park Station, rebuilt Pape Station, rebuilt Dufferin Station, a new Eglinton line, a Spadina line extension, a waterfront under construction, etc? Which Miller mistakes?

Home depot isnt mentioned in his plan and that is a past issue that was already turned down so stop bringing up the history of the waterfront and lets get moving on the future.

If you sell land to private developers without a master plan, and master plans take time, then you get a Home Depot. It doesn't matter what is in the Ford plan if the premise of the plan is to unload the land quickly to developers.

Private residential property is ABSOLUTELY included in the Waterfront Toronto plan. PanAmGames will be low income housing (great just what we need near the waterfront...NOT) as well as River City, Pier 27, Bayside development, Parkside development.

A small fraction will be low income housing. Most will be market price which with the improvements to the neighbourhood will not be cheap.

The Waterfront should be commercial and parklands that is more inviting than condos.

Not enough parks? http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/image_galleries/lower_don_lands/?9650

Nothing in the plan is anti-commercial. They had to give tax breaks to find a tenant for the Corus Quay building. Land that was right next to Union Station, the most accessible location in the city, has sat in private hands for decades and only recently got developed and you think the Fords can snap their fingers and have commercial developments all over the port lands?

Even if the grounds of these condos are accessable, theyre not as welcoming as public venues.

The Hines development is almost completely ground retail. How can that not be accessible?

Ford will get it done right and he'll get it done atleast 10 years faster than Waterfront Toronto. Not saying Waterfront Toronto is bad, but this proposal requires less tax money, will definately get done faster and includes a more grand vision.

Nonsense. The market demand dictates what is achievable. If there was a large untapped market for retail then you would see a developer buying up property to build one. If there was a large untapped market for commercial you would see a developer buying up property to build it. If the Fords are going to get a monorail and mall built in the port lands they are going to need to fork out cash.

Correct! Olympics bring in billions, maybe only millions but ill go with that. Problem is that the country, province and city pump in way more than they get in return. I have not heard of one profitable Olympic Games in my lifetime.

Los Angeles and Calgary made money didn't they? In any case investments in infrastructure don't create direct revenues, they create indirect revenues. When the property value goes up the amount of tax that can be collected goes up. When construction jobs are created 1/3rd of that becomes income tax. When more residents move into an area and more retail in an area both are paying more taxes.

I am all for the games, even though it would be a good year to apply for (2020), I dont think the city is ready for it with its current infrastructure and we cant suddenly pump billions of government money into temporarily useful venues if we are already trying to find our way out of debt.

There is no operational deficit and at what point in Toronto's history was there no debt? If there is a financial problem in the city why did Ford cancel a revenue generating tax immediately rather than saying he would do it immediately after the "financial crisis" is over.

People DO come to see a ferris wheel and a mall.

Sure they do.

Toronto is a great city, but it needs a vibrant waterfront of attractions, parkland, residential land, hotels etc. to be successful.

In the last few years we have added Trump, Shangri-la, Ritz Carlton, a new Four Seasons, and a whole bunch of smaller hotels downtown. Investments were made in ROM, AGO, Opera House, and now a new Aquarium. They have been building a lot of parks on the waterfront. The reason none of the hotels have been built on the waterfront is because there isn't any demand to be on the waterfront. The port lands are a contaminated wasteland and until an agency like Waterfront Toronto cleans it up it will not reach its potential. Attractions, hotels, and retail only locate where there is a sense of place and it will take time for the city to expand from Queens Quay and Yonge to the end of the port lands. The space is the area of Queens Quay to Dundas, and Jarvis to University... how can you develop that in a non suburban way in 10 years?

I honestly like Waterfront Toronto, but I believe that this is a far better option from what I have heard so far

A master plan with a new street grid, naturalization of the Don, parks and trails, and large areas made developable to private developers to pay for the public realm improvements is not as good as a plan Doug Ford came up with by himself in the last 9 months which has a monorail, mall, and giant ferris wheel financed by some kind of land fire sale?
 
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Know what your talking about before you state incorrect or distorted facts. The Fallsview casino is free of admission. It is also surrounded by parklands and gardens that are well kept. There is a public foodcourt as well as resturaunts, a hotel, retail and shows.

What can I do or see in the casino for free? This parkland and gardens you are talking about is a path in the backyard of the casino and is barely wider than the street in front of the casino.

The Vaughn comment pretty much proves my point seeing as a massive amount of development now surrounds the park including one of the largest malls in the GTA. attractions like these attract more investors, hence the name ATTRACTions. They attract ride warriors and investors alike.

So your vision of the waterfront would be something like Vaughan Mills plus Canada's Wonderland plus a monorail? Doesn't sound like a great urban spot to me.

Those city standards are exactly what holds major investors back. They have little freedom with what they can design. Dubai is so successful because they have a process in which the developers can get building quickly and are allowed to build large and unique megaprojects.

No. Dubai is successful because the leaders are dumping money into the developments. Developers are building boxy buildings in Toronto because that is what the market wants. The city is trying to elevate the standards which is why there have been design competitions. That does reduce interest because building cheap crap gives better returns than requiring good design. The naturalization of the Don plan is the result of an international design competition. The Monde condo being designed by a renowned architect is the result of Waterfront Toronto's influence. The plan for Queens Quay was the result of a design competition. The developers in the rest of the city are not given architectural guidelines so when they build crap it has nothing to do with restrictions.
 
Waterfront Toronto's plan, which is backed by years of economic and social research, is to make the Bayfront into a "Copenhagen" style community, where people can live, learn, work and play. From what I've heard it looks like Ford's plan, which seems to be backed by some of his suburban developer friends, is to make the Bayfront into a mini-Atlantic City, where tourists might come for a few years before they get bored and move to the next popular destination. The Waterfront Toronto plan is about building a city to the benefit of everyone. It looks like Ford's plan is about building a theme park as a get rich quick scheme for a few rich developers.
 
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Who cares about stats and mathematics right now and give it 3 more long years...
Let me know in 2015 when he wins his 2nd term ...Come-on, the only people that the Fords are driving crazy, are a new crop of fanatic NDPers, and a bunch of wannabe centre-left Liberals, and we all know what they are all about.

It's 2014, not 2015. I'd be very surprised if he wins a second term. He has nothing to offer 'Ford Nation' once he cuts the 'gravy' he can't find.
 
Given how much UT devotes itself to "design matters", I think it's worth focussing upon StCatharinesCitizen's "taste values" for a second...

Look at the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls. Almost as much of a gem as the falls themselves.

fallsview_casino.jpg


THIS...is a Gem?!? Let alone "almost as much as the falls themselves"?!?

So, if you want proof that StCatharinesCitizen is a philistine piece of garbage, there it is.

And I'm thinking to a post I made in the other waterfront thread...

A lot of this pro-Doug-Ford-scheme argument seems to hinge upon the notion that he can get things done, fast, without bureaucracy & stuff getting in the way.

I guess it's all like nostalgia for the 1960s, where a private consortium could replace old Penn Station with a spanking new ultra-modern complex including a new Madison Square Garden within a few years time. These days, they'd have to work around hysterical preservationists and likemended special interest groups and figure out how to thread so many urban-planning needles that nothing'll get done, and NYC would be stuck with that dingy old hulk forever to this very day.

Of course, it's more likely that the Ford-scheme cheerleaders don't even have a clue about the 60s Penn Station controversy; and they don't care a whit. Ignorance is bliss.

So, to the likes of StCatharinesCitizen, this
penn-station-31.jpg

was worth sacrificing on behalf of this

madison-square-garden-address.jpg


to the point where "yeah, if they had to do it over again, they would".
 
Thank you Adma, but unfortunately StCatharinesCitizen probably feels MSG probably IS better then old Penn. You just can't account for a lot of peoples bad taste and ideas of "what it is that makes a great city".
 
My other question is how does the NFL stadium he wants fit into all this?
I heard the interview yesterday on AM640 and this plan does not include any stadium plans.

Malls like Galleria and Honeydale are especially thriving! A mall on our waterfront is a wasted opportunity. I think people would much rather see an outdoor 'main street' type of shopping district than another soulless indoor mall. *Gasp* - that requires vision and planning! We can't have that!
Right, because Galleria and Honeydale is what they have in mind with Macy's as an anchor tenant? I don't disagree that outdoor shopping would be great there also, and there's no reason why they couldn't both exist. There are some great indoor/outdoor possibilities with the space available.

It's the most fucked up plan ever to be conceived. Doug Ford admitted to the press that he's been involved in back room discussions with private financiers. Not only is the plan completely bonkers ... it appears that the Fords are corrupt.

It's like old-fashioned corrupt politics out of the 1950s. It's no wonder Ford keeps mentioning Chicago ... is any US city as corrupt as Chicago?
Reaching a little, are we? It's funny how often Chicago is held up as an example of the kind of waterfront Toronto should strive for, the public spaces, the fantastic architecture, a mayor who got things done - but it's the scourge of the earth if it can be used in any way to compare with Rob Ford.

As for the backroom discussions with private financiers - that's part of any mayor's job. As long as no contracts were signed in private, it makes complete sense for civic leaders to actually gauge or confirm legitimate private sector interest before making all sorts of grand development plans. Perhaps if WT or other previous "grand waterfront visions" actually had investors lined up to make things happen, more would have been done by now. As it stands, we have idea people teaming up with councilors to come up with lots of genuinely beautiful ideas, but no means to implement them.

I think Ford should expand on the Ferrris Wheel and create a second CNE type thing with rides. That along with a mall could pay for itself and make this work.
No. This doesn't need to become a Coney Island type thing, or needlessly create another activity park like Ontario Place. I could understand a one-off attraction like a Ferris Wheel (though I don't necessarily support it), but not a carnival or midway type thing. Not there.

EnviroTO said:
If you sell land to private developers without a master plan, and master plans take time, then you get a Home Depot. It doesn't matter what is in the Ford plan if the premise of the plan is to unload the land quickly to developers.
To be fair - it doesn't sound like the proposal gives free reign to developers. It does sound exactly like there's a master plan, it just happens to be more concrete than the concepts proposed for these same lands and that have been put off for another decade or more.

EnviroTO said:
A master plan with a new street grid, naturalization of the Don, parks and trails, and large areas made developable to private developers to pay for the public realm improvements is not as good as a plan Doug Ford came up with by himself in the last 9 months which has a monorail, mall, and giant ferris wheel financed by some kind of land fire sale?
Again, to be fair - nothing so far indicates there will be any kind of fire sale. Also, the items listed are highlights of what this new idea will contain but likely not the only things. If it is revealed next week that a workable, sustainable mix of residential, commercial and public space is included in the plan - would your opinion change?

Thank you Adma, but unfortunately StCatharinesCitizen probably feels MSG probably IS better then old Penn. You just can't account for a lot of peoples bad taste and ideas of "what it is that makes a great city".
Yeah - I'm not seeing much from SCC that I agree with either, and I happen to be optimistic that this new plan might be something that can be made to work once it's opened to debate and any necessary tweaks are made. Doug Ford did say that it's going to go to executive, then to council, so it's not like they're ramming some kind of Niagara Falls schlock onto the city. The potential involvement of Macy's or Nordstrom indicates at least some measure of tasteful implementation.

Worst thread ever!
Not off to a good start anyways.
 
Chicago has parts where you daredn't walk, based on your skin colour. Is this the kind of city that the Ford's want? Probably ... they don't seem to walk much anyways.

I'm black so I don't care about that. But according to the SUN, so does Toronto. Chicago also has a bigger economy. And for the record, many people like on the southside indlcing the Daley family.

I heard the interview yesterday on AM640 and this plan does not include any stadium plans.


The Globe was talking of the stadium and the private costs. But if that's the case, do you think think they have given up on the dream? Or is this on the temporay economy.
 
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I'm black so I don't care about that.
You don't care that there are parts of Chicago that are too dangerous to walk?

But according to the SUN, so does Toronto.
The SUN isn't a real newspaper. Unlike every other paper in the city, they don't have to tell the truth, as they are not part of the Ontario Press Council. I've never heard of a part of Toronto where it is too dangerous to walk; I frequently wander through Regent Park; I used to live in Flemingdon Park, and when I've been wandering near Jane/Finch, it's seemed very quiet and blase. Stuff happens ... but not safe to walk?? Come on ... I've known people wandering through US cities that have had the police approach them and warn them that they just weren't safe ... and then escort them around. Have you EVER heard of anything like this in Toronto?
 

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