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Re: Proposed museum

ganjavih, did Taiwanese supermodel Lin Chiling immigrate to Toronto?
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Is that who that is? I think I just did a google search on "sexy ethnic model" or something like that. It was tough sifting through all the porn trying to find a picture I could post.
 
Re: Proposed museum

Personally, if our natives want to be included, they might have thought of that a long time and made something interesting and durable. Peru and Mexico - now, those places had natives! Temples, pyramids, bloodthirsty rituals, all preserved in stone and bone. You couldn't ignore those remains if you tried. What do we get? A few skins stretched over some twigs, a smallish ditch outlining the remains of a great house, a few arrowheads. Has anything ever been less interesting than an arrowhead?

My response to the natives is: too late! You should have thought of that a long time ago and given us something to be proud of.

[This is meant tongue in cheek, by the way, though I do think the complaints - one week after the announcement of the project - are grossly premature].
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Hey, why not another arbitrary jpeg
don-imus.jpg
 
Re: Proposed museum

It was tough sifting through all the porn trying to find a picture I could post.
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I can imagine how tough it was to look through pictures of sexy ethnic women. Thanks for making such sacrifices for the forum. :)
 
Re: Proposed museum

Letter to the Editor, Toronto Star
T.O. eyes waterfront for history showcase
Martin Knelman, Monday, April 2, 2007

Martin Knelman's front-page Toronto Star story about Rita Davies' plan to create a City of Toronto museum at the Canada Malting site was more than a disappointing surprise.

Metronome's current campaign for provincial and federal funding is doomed without the visible support of the City of Toronto. With the city's Executive Director for culture announcing plans to use the site, we would not get to first base. After competing unsuccessfully for Millennium and SuperBuild funding and being lost in Olympic/Expo bids and Robert Fung/Dennis Mills waterfront plans, we were optimistic that the time had finally come for the three levels of government to support "Canada's Music City" on Toronto's waterfront.

When we made our first request for an extension in Metronome's lease, Rita Davies recommended to city council that it not be granted. Seven days after we announced Panasonic's unprecedented $5 million Lead Sponsorship, she and other city staff instructed us to immediately vacate the presentation centre we had created at the Canada Malting site. Ms. Davies never supported Metronome. That she has put a stake in its heart should have been no surprise.

With an official close to the Prime Minister asking in Robert Benzie's April 4th Star Story if Mel Lastman's Bad Boy outfits would be exhibited at a City of Toronto museum, Ms. Davies may be in for a challenge.

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the over 6,000 companies and individuals who helped for all the right reasons. It has been an honour to get to know so many extraordinary Canadians who selflessly contributed.

Thank you Bruce Kuwabara and Shirley Blumberg for the award-winning design and for your help over many years. Thank you Ian Kilvert and Eddie Esaki for the leap of faith when Panasonic became Metronome's Lead Sponsor and, Ian, for your steadfast support. Thank you Rod Seyffert and Gowlings LLP; your legal work and advice were invaluable.

Thank you to the 26 construction companies who committed $4.3 million to the project, with special thanks to Ed Hansen and Smith and Long who sponsored Metronome's Pavilion at the CNE, the fundraiser with Bryan Adams at the Molson Amphitheatre and the Metronome virtual tour at the Toronto Board of Trade dinner, and to Jeff Meirovici (Circon Construction), Pat Corapi (Novel Mechanical) and Ron Houle for coordinating the campaign.

Thank you David Miller for your encouragement and thank you Toronto City Council for voting on three occasions to overwhelmingly support Metronome (including overturning staff recommendations). Special thanks to Pam McConnell, Kyle Rae, Brian Ashton and former councillors Chris Korwin-Kuczynski and Jane Pitfield.

Thank you to the 245 media patrons from across Canada who donated $5.7 million in print, TV, radio and billboard advertising. I wouldn't have believed in the beginning that that was possible.

Thank you to an extraordinary creative team who donated some of their best work: KPMB Architects, Design Workshop 2, Pilchner Schoustal International, Imagenius 3D Studios, Cystane, Joseph Gault, House of Kevin, Roots Canada and Rocket Power. Special thanks to Metronome's most recent creative team member, Istvan Fujkin. His exceptional talent will be broadly recognized.

Thank you to the 24 current and past volunteer Board Members for their diligence and input and to the thousands of artists from across Canada for their support, with special thanks to Loreena McKennitt, the late Domenic Troiano, Oscar Peterson, Maureen Forrester, Jann Arden, Jane Bunnett, Michael Burgess, Michelle Wright and The Diamonds.

Thank you to all the music industry associations who helped lobby and contributed funding. No thanks to the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), who after multiple requests to successive regimes to get involved, chose to announce their own exhibit at Yonge and Dundas to open in June 2007. The Toronto Star should follow up on its front-page stories.

Thank you to Metronome's dedicated office staff, Jodie Lewis and Joanne Ovitsland, and to the 300-plus volunteers whose enthusiasm at trade shows, special events, stuffing envelopes, etc. was unbounded. Special thanks to Clinton Somerton, who was a full-time volunteer during Metronome's formative years and became its longstanding media and community relations director.

Thank you to an incredibly generous project team, with special thanks to Geoffrey Johnson (en Ville Event Design and Catering), Tim Bristow (Colliers International), Rowan Faludi (urbanMetrics), Howard Zerker (EvansMartin), Jim Norris (Norris-Whitney Communications), PricewaterhouseCoopers, Michael Greenspoon, John Thompson (Wright Display), Howard Ungerleider (Production Design International), Joanne Smale and Jane Harbury (Planet3 Communications) and Metronome's 62 Founding Patrons.

It has been an enchanted adventure to share a dream with so many. Supporters should be proud; we made our best effort to do something special for Canada.

John Harris
President, Metronome Canada Foundation
www.metronomecanada.com
 
Re: Proposed museum

Why shouldn't Mel Lastman's Bad Boy outfit be displayed in a City of Toronto Museum? It is a cultural artifact that represent late 20th century Toronto just as much as the gold face mask in the ROM's Sican bling exhibition represents Peru a thousand years ago.
 
Re: Proposed museum

How long has Metronome been trying to garner up enough money for their project?
How much longer do they honestly expect everyone to wait until they put shovels in the ground?
From my understanding of things, it has been YEARS and YEARS since Metronome was first announced. If it hasnt happened yet, what is the liklihood that it will happen anytime soon? Why should the city sit there on a prime piece of waterfront waiting for the possibility that 20 years from now enough money will have been donated to build something that will likely just falter a la Olympic Spirit?
 
Re: Proposed museum

garden of evil, you are exactly right. Its not Rita's fault and to even mildly suggest it, is obnoxious. If it was not dead before the letter (and it was), it is certainly dead now, due to the letter.
 
Re: Proposed museum

So true. There's a Rime of the Ancient Mariner feel about this project - like a panhandler who reaches up and grabs you as you walk past and demands "Remember me?" The Trump Tower feels like another example of something well past its consume-by date that refuses to go away.
 
Re: Proposed museum

I was surprised too that there were still Metronome rumblings going on in the background - Harris makes it clear that this whole project went further than we (or at least I) realized. I don't think we have enough information to say for certain that Rita Davies did not help kill this project.

I regret that this is no longer on the books. I really wanted to see KPMB's plans for the silos come to fruition; they were rather exciting.

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Re: Proposed museum

The plan for the silos was indeed intriguing, but the concept I think was flawed and did not capture the imagination of people. With that kind of support, I think it is their own fault for not figuring that the Metronome concept wasn't going to happen, and trying for something more modest in a different location.
 
Re: Proposed museum

I would really prefer something architecturally similar to Metronome would be built on the site. The function of the site wasn't very inspiring as it didn't have much appeal to those outside the industry. Add to that the fact some key industry players weren't interested and the project was somewhat doomed from the start. Its too bad that whatever ends up being built on the site is unlikely to do as much with the silos as this project would have.
 
Canada Malting Co. Ltd.

Although I think the silo near Lakeshore and Cherry can go without fanfare... this one's gotta stay.

(pic taken this morning)

maltco.jpg


(On Queen's Quay just east of Bathurst)
 
I spent three summers working at Canada Malting during my high school/university days. 82-84. Best paying job I had for many years. When it started to close down I moved to the Molson plant across the street. Three more years at a great paying student job. And this one provided free beer.

We used to grab beer at both plants (fresh beer from Molson was a regular offering at CM) and then head up to the roof to watch the airshow or fireworks. Great times.
 
I'm a fan of both structures, the Malting Plant being the cooler of the two because the whole complex is still standing. The other is known as the Victory Soya Mills silo. In 1943 E. P. Taylor built a complex to alleviate the wartime shortage of fats and oils caused by food and petroleum rationing. Most of it, save for the silo was demolished in the 1996. It would be unfortunate to see either lost.
 
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