HERITAGE TORONTO AND THE TORONTO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HOSTS MAYORAL DEBATE

Public forum to discuss the state of heritage On Monday, August 30th, Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Historical Association will host a public mayoral debate at St. Lawrence Hall to discuss the state of heritage in Toronto in 2010.

The debate will be moderated by former Chief Planner for the City of Toronto, and Adjunct Professor of City Planning at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, Paul Bedford. Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Historical Association have run a series of community consultations throughout the city which will result in a report of what Torontonians see as significant issues relating to heritage preservation. The information collected through the consultations and public input will be used to develop a heritage report card, with key issues being raised at the debate. The report card will also be accessible to the public and media in the fall. Issues raised so far at the consulations include a lack of: staff resources and funding that the City provides toward heritage conservation; understanding and education of our decision makers and senior levels of municipal and provincial government on the heritage designation process and; sufficient tools, such as strong protective statements in the City's Official Plan that will ensure heritage conservation is caught early in the development process. Candidates that have been confirmed for the event include Rocco Achampong, Rob Ford, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman and Sarah Thomson. The debate will take place on Monday, August 30th at 7:00pm at St Lawrence Hall, 3rd floor in the Great Hall at 157 King Street East (at Jarvis). The debate and report has been made possible through the support of the McLean Foundation and the Howard and Carole Tanenbaum Family Charitable Foundation.

UrbanToronto encourages you to attend the debate as the evening promises to be very interesting, and important for the future of our city. After the debate, (about 9 PM) join us at Betty's at 240 King Street East for a little decrompression, and to meet some of your fellow UrbanToronto members. We look forward to seeing many of you there!


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2010-08-25 04:14:57