Ontario Place and a "Can-Do" Attitude
This may be controversial and almost certainly won't happen (I'm betting on the whole works being town down, one area becoming a casino and the rest of it becoming condos), but perhaps we need to aim sky-high for this. Dreams tend to get people into the spirit of actually doing things that aren't easy and expedient. We all know from the fact that Toronto has built one measly subway line since the 1970s that this city has been for a long time jammed in a malaise (and just FYI, Ford is a major symptom of this - where did that 'gravy train' go, guys?) that doesn't get a damn thing done with regards to projects. Harborfront is going places (a decade too late and still much too slowly), but Toronto's @#$% of a bid for the 2015 Pan Ams is another symbol. Toronto needs to really get its head into actually building. Cities and people adapt to the environments which they have to deal with.
Now, as far as Ontario Place goes, this is what I am proposing:
1) The Cinesphere and the Pods stay. Period. They are very much examples of landmarks. The Cinesphere IMO should be a place used for TIFF, among other events.
2) Merge the CNE Grounds and Ontario Place into one entity. There is no reason for both being the way they are, especially since Ontario Place is empty a heckuva lot of the time.
3) Ontario Place should be designated as a showcase for everything "Toronto". First portion of this is the idea of having a major showcase of restaurants, music clubs and the like down there. IMO, this should go where the current west parking lot, opposite from the the Pods, with pathways up to the pods themselves, which will also be home to these restaurants. Modify the pods somewhat to have each one have an outdoor cafe or restaurant on the roof of them.
4) Move the Marina someplace else. It doesn't belong there IMO, and just take up space. Instead, a medium-sized aquarium goes there, with fairly low cost of admission, enough to help cover the expenses of it. I'm thinking this facility will be built over the water, as well as stretching out towards the West.
5) Rebuild the water park, keeping the best of current attractions and replacing the others. Keep and update the big splash pads for kids, also build a "lazy river" type of attraction, wave pool and a couple new water slides. Enclose the whole works in a glass roof and have it be heated, allowing it to used in the Winter. In the summer, open major pieces in the glass roof to allow the water park to the temperature to the exterior temperature.
6) The whole area under the pods becomes the largest outdoor pool in the world, complete with a real sand beach. This pool is separated from the waters of Lake Ontario. The pool stretches from 50 meters west of the edge of the park all the way under the pods to the Brigantine Cove area. This pool will be designed to be at most twenty feet deep and with the water moved regularly.
7) Doug Ford's proposed huge ferris wheel is built here, on the west edge of the island, with the log ride being underneath it. A west entrance to Ontario Place is built here as well. Next to this is a back-and-forth roller coaster (think The Bat at Canada's Wonderland). Other adult attractions are built here as well.
8) Casino Toronto goes inside the CNE Grounds. It should be a roughly 16-story casino and high-end hotel, next to the old Automotive building.
9) The second of two roller coasters here is a big steel one, similar in design to Vortex at Canada's Wonderland and carrying the name Flyer Evolution. (Or whatever variation of the Flyer name seems most appropriate.)
10) Toronto should aim to have greater new events in the city to go with the completely revamped facility. "Speed Weeks" in Toronto should start with the Indycar event at Ontario Place, with a round of the F1 Powerboat World Championship the week after that in the inner harbor and then the Canadian Air Racing Trophy on the third week. The sports teams of Toronto should also use the BMO Field and Rogers Center (whichever is appropriate) for appropriate big events - European football friendlies, big-time Rugby matches, et cetera. The Toronto Maple Leafs should IMO hold three games a year outdoors at the Rogers Center.
11) Build a dedicated mass transit line to Ontario Place, if it is possible separated from street level to reduce traffic congestion. The parking lots along Lakeshore have to go - the West one becomes the beach area for the huge pool, and the east one gets a five-story car park built in its place, to handle the number of cars that will be displaced from the much-reduced parking lots.
12) Plant lots of trees in the area. They may be small now, but even in ten years they will be a lot bigger.
13) Keep the Molson Amphitheatre and if possible expand the number of major concerts there if possible. Toronto's Film Festival could also use this place, too.
14) Keep the Cinesphere, but modify the area around it to make the Cinesphere be the centerpiece of a whole bunch of IMAX Theatres. I am thinking dismantling the Sphere and moving up the hill slightly, giving the room to build eight other IMAX Theates there in a structure around it, and the clothe the outside of the Cinesphere in glass and with lighting effects, making the sphere itself look like a miniature version of the Planet Earth.
15) If the Marina must be built, expand it out by Coronation Park.
16) the East end of the park is anchored by a new building for the Canadian Air and Space Museum, and if it is possible, get another warship to park in at the Museum. Heck, built the museum around a destroyer in the middle of it, suspended above the water.
This idea is crazily ambitious, but this is what Toronto should be aiming for. I'm sure a lot of people though Bill Davis was a bit nuts championing Ontario Place back in the 1960s and 1970s. But such things are what help Toronto as a city. We have a lot of advantages, but we do not any more have the greatest attractions for Tourists. We should be, especially in this day and age, looking to have great attractions and things to do in the city.
Let's aim high for a change.
