The city's economic development department has been working on the idea for months and a leading architect and a designer have also been retained.
So they've been doing this behind people's backs the whole time, and spending city money to do it. I have a hard time believing the plans were drawn up for free. How much have they cost so far?
It is
still a project conceived and hatched in private. It is still a backroom deal, showing it's face after the fact. It is still contingent on disrupting the reliability of Waterfront Toronto's tax-payer funded, and council-approved, long-range plans. It will still throw confusion into the stability of Waterfront Toronto, and it's government funding. It will still be a land grab by the Ford(s), benefitting his campaign contributors. It will continue to give credit to the Ford's "profit at any cost" style underhanded assault.
No matter how pretty this plan turns out to be - and who's to say it won't have enough redeeming features that will make it hard to merely laugh at? - the methods of it's making are bad news. These are devious methods we don't want to gain political credibility and see repeated in the future.
We already have plans that need funding down there.
Transit: The
entire Queen's Quay Boulevard LRT, and Cherry Street.
Flood Protection: The mouth of the Don River.
The Waterfront Bridges and Piers.
The remaining slips and wavedecks.
All the remaining real estate between Lakeshore and the Gardiner, from Jarvis to past Parliament.
For starters.
This, uh, monorail, er, overhead transit. It looks like it's at the expense of interest in the Queen's Quay Boulevard revitalization and transit right of way. Right there, that should stop it. We need to finish what we have started!
Is the TTC going to be building and operating this monor-
er, overhead transit? Doesn't sound like it. Who's going to be building it, and who's going to be operating it? Will it be compatible with the TTC regarding transfers, stops, etc.? The word boondoggle comes to mind.
Less pretty pictures and diversions, please - and let's stick to carrying through on our commitments. Soon, it will be a decade before we've even seen one tree planted on a revitalized Queen's Quay. Let's see the Fords get after that, instead of playing Toys-R-Uzs for cash in pocket.