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?
