Globe Series on Tourism in Toronto

[FutureMayor]

Toronto to court tourists in halls of justice

Toronto to court tourists in halls of justice
Council plans to turn landmark into a visitor attraction and evict the judges when lease expires in 2016
JENNIFER LEWINGTON AND JAMES RUSK

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

May 29, 2008 at 4:39 AM EDT

Old City Hall is a long-time Provincial Court destination for those in trouble with the law or fighting a parking ticket.

But the city-owned historic landmark is poised for a new life as some sort of tourist destination, after council voted this week to boot out the province's largest court by 2016.

"The province should have their own court and the public should have greater access to one of the most premier heritage buildings in the country," Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) said yesterday.

Earlier this week, council voted 28-6 to serve notice on the province that its current lease at Old City Hall will not be renewed past Dec. 31, 2016. Council also asked for a report in one year on potential uses, such as a museum or other high-profile public attraction.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Attorney-General Chris Bentley said the city and the Ontario Realty Corporation are working together to identify sites that would allow the province to meet its need for courthouses in the city.

With nearly eight years left on the current lease, it "affords us the opportunity to look at these issues in a long-term way," spokesman Sheamus Murphy said.

A provincially owned parking lot on Armoury Street, immediately north of the Ontario Superior Court, has long been touted as the ideal site for a new downtown courtroom. But Mr. Murphy said there are no plans to build there "at this point in time."

Mr. Rae said the province has been "babbling for 30 years" about building a new courthouse on Armoury Street.

And with 52 million visitors a year to the Eaton Centre next door, he said, it's time to think of Old City Hall, with 164,400 square feet of rentable space, as a tourist attraction.

"The only reason you go into it now is because you have a writ or you have been subpoenaed," he said.

Toronto's third city hall, built in the Romanesque Revival style by architect E.J. Lennox, opened in 1899 as a city hall and courthouse.

In 1965, with the construction of New City Hall, the Queen Street landmark was saved from demolition by activists. By 1989, it was named a national historic site. The city spent $77-million on renovations completed in 2005 to restore the exterior and the 300-foot-high clock tower. Over the next two years, the city will spend $7.2-million on interior repairs to be completed in 2012.

At this week's debate, Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity Spadina) urged colleagues to protect Old City Hall as a place for the public.

"I fear either it will be turned into a mall or a condo," he said. "That seems to be the limit of our imagination in how to deal with heritage."

But Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), who opposed serving notice on the province, sees the future of the building as a gallery or a museum. "I don't think retail use would be appropriate," he said.

Not everyone cheers the end of Old City Hall as a courthouse.

With its classical architecture and cultural significance, Old City Hall was a place where new criminal lawyers cut their teeth and "made lawyers feel like lawyers," said Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association.

He said the courts at Old City Hall have a number of historic and unusual features, including a trap door in the floor of the arraignment court through which prisoners are brought into the courtroom.

COURT IN MOTION

The province will need a new home for one of its busiest courthouses when its lease on Old City Hall expires at the end of 2016. Speculation on a site has centred on provincially owned land behind city hall.

Louroz

 

[jn_12]

yes!

My little dream scenario posted before is slowly coming to fruition... Between this and the Malting silos, we could have two new top notch museums by 2020.

I really think this should be an art gallery, and I would even go as far as suggesting that we try and work some sort of deal with the British National Gallery and see if we can loan some of the paintings that they don't have on display. The Louvre also has plenty that aren't on display (some of which are in Quebec City right now for the 400th) but I don't know how much they'll have to share once the Dubai and Lens are open.

Either way, so many possibilities for such a fantastic building. It's only too bad the judges weren't booted sooner.

 

[carrefour]

3. Poor marketing of Toronto and poor image-recognition in general, whether overseas or throughout Canada. You can have the best city in the world but if nobody knows about it, or worse still if nobody 'cares' to know about it, then there wont be a lot of people wanting to come.

We forget in Canada, because we are smarter than the average bear, that image is everything. Sure, Canadians will go visit Iceland or Swaziland because we read about it or know someone who comes from there, but this sort of multicultural intertwining doesn't happen in most other countries. People visit places because of image, marketing, because some ad told them so. Why do people visit Montreal? J'aime Montreal. That campaign is sexy. Why do they visit Vancouver? Well, Vancouver is just gorgeous. Beach and Mountain and laid-back attitude. Toronto needs good marketing - and I mean really good, not bland like Toronto Unlimited.

I once worked for a advertising firm where we produced ads for an liqueur by sending cool, hip people to the cool, hip bars and ordering the drink and buying it for others. By the end of the sales quarter, sales were up at the LCBO.

Like red = stop, Toronto must = something. Any major tourist destination = one or two words.

Paris really hasn't changed for the last century, but people keep going, come hell or high water.

 

[Evan]

"To do it without poisoning the minds of Toronto's hockey fans would require a large miracle"
What hockey fans? This writer must be from the 905 or somthing.

 

[syn]

Toronto tourism marketing has never focused enough on the strengths of the city and it's unique neighbourhoods, etc. Everything is focused on specific events or attractions.

I would also agree it's interesting the CN Tower area has remained relatively free of development. My cousins from the US went to the CN Tower and briefly walked around the area and go the impression Toronto was a very quiet city.

 

[insertrealname]

[...]
But Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), who opposed serving notice on the province, sees the future of the building as a gallery or a museum. "I don't think retail use would be appropriate," he said.

Not everyone cheers the end of Old City Hall as a courthouse.

With its classical architecture and cultural significance, Old City Hall was a place where new criminal lawyers cut their teeth and "made lawyers feel like lawyers," said Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association.

He said the courts at Old City Hall have a number of historic and unusual features, including a trap door in the floor of the arraignment court through which prisoners are brought into the courtroom.
[...]

Good Lord, is Case Ootes actually thinking about the charms of urban design? He's the city councillor who has let a somewhat generic but still good for the Danforth street-scape funeral home (N. side, W. of the Albany Clinic) be razed in favour of a completely non-descript single level Shopper's Drugmart building.

Re. courtrooms with trap-door: sounds like the basis for a small theatre-in-the-round! Maybe the Old City Hall could be converted into a multi-purpose public cultural building: museums, galleries and theatres! (And a good Viennese style café too--with a summer courtyard!) Toronto needs more affordable subsidized small theatre space, and I'd put the AGO European collection overflow there as well.

 

[Tewder]

Why do people visit Montreal? J'aime Montreal. That campaign is sexy. Why do they visit Vancouver? Well, Vancouver is just gorgeous. Beach and Mountain and laid-back attitude. Toronto needs good marketing - and I mean really good, not bland like Toronto Unlimited.

Don't forget the whole "I 'heart' New York" campaign.

My sense is that T.O. always tends to get a little too 'cleavor' about these things, design by committee etc. Just doesn't work. Simple and clear should be the message, and you shouldn't need a degree in media studies to get it ("Toronto unlimited"???)

 

[TrickyRicky]

I appreciate how people are concerned with marketing and advertising etc. and I say go to it but really this aspect of the tourism industry is all about creating a want. Wants can be great in terms of generating short-term sales on the one hand but they are fickle and weak arguments. The underlying and powerful aspect of the equation is need. Need is what you build your house on. People want to go to Vegas for a good time for instance, but underrighting this is and was a need to go there to gamble because that industry is regulated or absent elsewhere. TIFF and say gay pride as mentioned by a previous poster are powerful not because people want to go, but because they need to. Sure there are film festivals and pride celebrations elsewhere but for a huge catchment market both in Canada and internationally you must come to Toronto to experience that calibre of event. So by all means concentrate on wants but to me the real issue is need. Why do people need to come to Toronto? Sure we want people to like us and enjoy themselves here, but really from a tactical perspective focusing on those kinds of emotions is not productive. So the question I put out is why do people need to come to Toronto and how do we enhance those strengths?

 

[FutureMayor]

Toronto plays itself in two new CTV fall shows

I thought this related to promoting Toronto. Sounds like CTV are saying and actually doing the right things in helping promote the city to Americans.

Louroz

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toronto plays itself in two new CTV fall shows as network focuses on Cdn fare
5 hours ago

TORONTO — CTV, the private broadcaster often criticized for padding its primetime TV schedule with American hits, focused on its made-in-Canada programming on Monday, bidding an emotional adieu to the beloved "Corner Gas" while celebrating two new and unmistakably Canadian dramatic series.

"Our strategy is to originate more of our own programs, in order to better control our destiny," Ivan Fecan, president and CEO of CTVglobemedia, told a crowd laden with advertisers at the network's fall launch.

Last summer, Fecan said, CTV put a lot of money into four new pilots so that "foreign" stakeholders wouldn't insist on diluting the Canadian flavour of the shows.

"These pilots were proudly all-Canadian - cast, writers, producers - and they were visibly all set here," Fecan said. "Two of them - 'Flashpoint' and 'The Listener' - were home runs and we immediately gave them series orders."

Those shows, in fact, have been picked up by two major American networks. "Flashpoint," about a crack response unit inspired by Toronto's own emergency task force team, premieres next month on CBS and CTV. "The Insider," about a young loner who hears the thoughts of people around him, is slated to air on NBC some time next year.

The producers of both shows said earlier Monday that they were determined that Toronto - from its leafy neighbourhoods to its rattling streetcars and gleaming skyscrapers - played itself instead of standing in for an American metropolis.
"We really are taking a feature film-ic approach and we're showcasing Toronto in a very beautiful way which we're very proud of," said Anne Marie La Traverse, executive producer of "Flashpoint."

Her co-executive producer, Bill Mustos, said CBS officials asked him if he was determined to set the show in Toronto when they were negotiating a deal with the network amid the run-up to the prolonged Hollywood writers' strike earlier this year.

"We said it's how we envisage the show moving forward and we have no desire to relocate it," Mustos said, adding the network was fine with his decision.

Christina Jennings, executive producer of "The Listener," was also adamant about celebrating Toronto and not trying to disguise it as an American city once it sold to NBC.

"We're showing the streetcars and the CN Tower and the beaches - we're showing Toronto as Toronto, not as any other city," said Jennings, head of Shaftesbury Films.

This year's fall launch from CTV was in stark contrast to previous years, when a parade of Hollywood stars came north to promote their shows to a Canadian audience.

Because of a potential strike by the Screen Actors' Guild in the weeks to come, many U.S. shows are currently in production and frantically trying to finish shooting in time for the fall. Luring stars to Canada likely would have proven difficult for CTV, although network officials say they had no plans to invite U.S. celebrities to the launch this year.

Susanne Boyce, head of programming for CTV, said the private broadcaster made a conscious decision this year to celebrate its Canadian success stories.

"We love doing Canadian shows," she said. "It's kind of the year of Canada for us because we've been building shows, and creating shows for MTV. We've got more stuff happening - it's all part of our plan."

The day also marked another "Corner Gas" love-in, as the stars of the beloved sitcom kicked off the launch festivities to discuss the final season.

"We wanted the last season to be the best one ever," Brent Butt, creator and star of "Corner Gas," told a news conference. "I was tempted to do a major cash grab and do another season, but outside of a bank heist, it's never a good idea to do something just as a cash grab."

Butt has another comedy pilot in the works for CTV, and added that a "Corner Gas" film was a definite possibility.

"I would not be surprised if at some point in the future there's a 'Corner Gas' movie - it should come together," said Butt, who became emotional later in the day at the downtown opera house as he thanked the cast of the show.

Also airing on CTV and its complementary A channel this fall:

"So You Think You Can Dance Canada," the Canadian version of the hit international show;

"Fringe," a sci-fi mystery/drama from J.J. Abrams of "Lost" fame, starring Canadian actor Joshua Jackson;

"Eleventh Hour," a drama from Jerry Bruckheimer about what happens when biology is placed in the wrong hands;

"The Mentalist," about a man who uses his acute observational skills to solve crimes;

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars," a new animated series.

American favourites like "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," "CSI: Miami" and "Desperate Housewives" are also returning to CTV.

Shows in development include the new Butt series and "The Marilyn Denis Show," a new daytime show airing on CTV and starring Gemini Award winner Marilyn Denis. On the A channel, there will be all-new season of "Canada's Next Top Model."

The new projects join "Spectacle," the previously announced CTV music/talk series starring Elvis Costello, currently in production and set to premiere later this year.

 

[carrefour]

Toronto as Toronto.

Those are the 3 most important words in that article.
It ties in with the movement afoot to film things in the city they are set in as opposed to finding a generic burb to stand in. In France, they have a movie out set in the North near Belgium and tourism instantly went up. Sex and the City did wonders for NYC. Hell, even The Office has put Scranton, PA on the map!

As for tv shows, I've always thought that people watch whatever you tell them to watch. And if you are excited about a project, as opposed to saying we made it because we had to, others will be excited too.

 

[Malthus]

I appreciate how people are concerned with marketing and advertising etc. and I say go to it but really this aspect of the tourism industry is all about creating a want. Wants can be great in terms of generating short-term sales on the one hand but they are fickle and weak arguments. The underlying and powerful aspect of the equation is need. Need is what you build your house on. People want to go to Vegas for a good time for instance, but underrighting this is and was a need to go there to gamble because that industry is regulated or absent elsewhere. TIFF and say gay pride as mentioned by a previous poster are powerful not because people want to go, but because they need to. Sure there are film festivals and pride celebrations elsewhere but for a huge catchment market both in Canada and internationally you must come to Toronto to experience that calibre of event. So by all means concentrate on wants but to me the real issue is need. Why do people need to come to Toronto? Sure we want people to like us and enjoy themselves here, but really from a tactical perspective focusing on those kinds of emotions is not productive. So the question I put out is why do people need to come to Toronto and how do we enhance those strengths?

Very good point.

 

[urbandreamer]

So the question I put out is why do people need to come to Toronto and how do we enhance those strengths?

Because they want free health care and to live in the biggest city in the country with the largest population of their (insert ethnic group) kind.

We enhance these strengths by voting Liberal. (Explains why I don't.

 

[jn_12]

uhh... we're discussing tourism

 

[Just_Chris]

I for one agree with those articles. Toronto needs to do one of two things. Either:

1) Market its unique "urban" experience to attract the type of tourist that would enjoy strolling through historic neighbourhoods like College St. or the Annex. This sector will only grow as the city matures.

I don't know how "unique" this is. I live in The Annex, and there's really nothing about it that makes it different from what you can find in almost any other city. And there's really nowhere right on Bloor St. where one can linger outside (like a square with benches) other than private businesses (bars and restaurants). Though there are lots of people here, very few of them seem to be tourists. And if I was a tourist, I couldn't see myself visiting this area unless there was a specific restaurant or other business that I heard was worth going out of the way to see.

 

[jn_12]

Well you have the ROM on Bloor and the Gardiner Museum practically on Bloor as well. You also have a number of bars, restaurants and live entertainment venues that many would and do frequent in the evening. I don't think tourists are seeking out benches when they come to a city (Although, to satisfy that need we have the little square at Spadina with the domino benches), so I wouldn't be too concerned about that. From my experience having worked for the city and province in tourism, people are interested in our neighbourhoods and Bloor/Annex has as much or more to offer than St Lawrence, Distillery or Kensington.

The problem is that its hard to sell neighbourhoods. The way to do this tends to be through word of mouth. Part of the problem is that you can't sell the feel of a neighbourhood. You can show pictures of people walking around but they either come out looking fake or generic. So you need to make sure that publications that people use to entice them to travel to our city make our neighbourhoods something prominent that should be enjoyed. Visually you sell the Tower, ROM, AGO etc, but in guide books and articles you try and sell the neighbourhoods.