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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Automation Gallery said:
Come-on, have you been down by Commissioners/Villiers Rd. lately...20 years from now, it will still look the same unless we are willing to move ahead and negotiate with the private sector.
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AG, I know you're trolling, but what the hell. Have you been down to Unwin? Cherry Fields, Cherry Beach? Have you sat on the patio at the new resto at the corner of Cherry and Commissioners? Have you seriously contemplated the fact that Commissioners won't change until there's no longer a garbage depot and all the other industrial plants along Commissioner's?

Hey -- I'm all for developing the Portlands. But Dougie's plan is to screw this up on purpose and then add a Ferris Wheel. WTF? It really isn't hard to make something beautiful and profitable. Unfortunately, the Fords can't see that because they absolutely cannot abide any plan that came from the left wing. I've said elsewhere that this doesn't have to be a bad thing. Crap like what you propose makes it a guaranteed POS.

Many of your posts are ridiculous. But your creaming your jeans about Viking stadium drives me nuts. It won't happen there without the government spending a billion dollars. It won't ever happen here, unless our city spends money it doesn't have, which one would think the Fords would be against. And, to top it all off, it would be built so we could possibly, some day in the future, start paying through the nose to see LIVE the MOST BORING PROFESSIONAL SPORT ON THE PLANET. (And, yes, I'm not a soccer fan either and yet I think NFL football is worse, live. At least soccer fans sing and drink, rather than just drink.)

Not that I think you should stop posting, AG. It's good for my blood pressure. But could you at least post something before your eighth drink/frontal lobotomy?

Thanks.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
AG, I know you're trolling, but what the hell. Have you been down to Unwin? Cherry Fields, Cherry Beach? Have you sat on the patio at the new resto at the corner of Cherry and Commissioners? Have you seriously contemplated the fact that Commissioners won't change until there's no longer a garbage depot and all the other industrial plants along Commissioner's?

Hey -- I'm all for developing the Portlands. But Dougie's plan is to screw this up on purpose and then add a Ferris Wheel. WTF? It really isn't hard to make something beautiful and profitable. Unfortunately, the Fords can't see that because they absolutely cannot abide any plan that came from the left wing. I've said elsewhere that this doesn't have to be a bad thing. Crap like what you propose makes it a guaranteed POS.

Many of your posts are ridiculous. But your creaming your jeans about Viking stadium drives me nuts. It won't happen there without the government spending a billion dollars. It won't ever happen here, unless our city spends money it doesn't have, which one would think the Fords would be against. And, to top it all off, it would be built so we could possibly, some day in the future, start paying through the nose to see LIVE the MOST BORING PROFESSIONAL SPORT ON THE PLANET. (And, yes, I'm not a soccer fan either and yet I think NFL football is worse, live. At least soccer fans sing and drink, rather than just drink.)

Not that I think you should stop posting, AG. It's good for my blood pressure. But could you at least post something before your eighth drink/frontal lobotomy?

Thanks.
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Hahaha:D no comment on all that gibberish...i will just wait for you to eat your words.
 
Thanos said:
And the last thing toronto needs in such a prime location is another boring mixed use residential neighborhood.
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Of course, it depends on *how* they do said "mixed use residential". Like, if it were like the Greenwood redevelopment, it'd be authentically "boring": New Urbanist middlebrow. If it were like HafenCity, less so.

Indeed, if it were all about "mixed use residential", the Fords would be the sort who'd kill a HafenCity scheme on behalf of Greenwood-isms--or even worse, on something like the Stockyards redevelopments up on St Clair. Which, between the residential and big-box commercial, is a fair approximation of what the Portlands would look like under Ford if one factored out (or not) the NFL stadium, Ferris wheel, monorail, etc...
 
The pace on these lands is very slow. Achingly slow. However, we're seeing that WaterfronToronto can deliver - and deliver well - with the projects that are now coming to fruition. The bar has been raised quite high for design quality, and it is being consistently met.

I would like to see the Fords being more enthusiastic about making financing available to complete the central portion of the Waterfront Plan - especially Queen's Quay Boulevard, the proposed continous boardwalk, bridges and piers network, and the East Waterfront Lands north of Queen's Quay and south of the Gardiner. Completion of this central stretch would be an enormous boon to the city and it's attractiveness - and a signal that the city is indeed, "open for business".

This latest malarky by the Ford(s), following on their earlier musings to derail WaterfronToronto (until taken aside by Mr. Flaherty), is more acquisitive nonsense that could gum up the works. Remember the unease felt by Hines when the Mayor started musing out loud about screwing with the stability of their massive waterfront financial investment? Bailing on WaterfronToronto's already-approved zoning for the Portlands could be another signal that the city is a fickle and untrustworthy partner for large investments and public-private partnerships. It could definitely cut across the notion that the city cares about long-term planning, quality design and consistency - and make the city look unreliable in it's relationships with both government, business and it's own internal planning processes.

The reocurring attempt by the Fords to hijack the Waterfront Corporation for fast cash is a pretty reliable indicator that consistent design quality and unity with the rest of the Waterfront plan is not going to be high on their list of priorities. In fact, their haste seems to indicate that not only would they hijack the process as already set up, but they would have no problem trying to push through unattractive, low-quality or lousy plans for the area if it would offer them a quick return. Their constant push for "fast profit at any cost" would not stop at simply acquiring the land. It stands to reason that someone would stand to benefit from a personalized Waterfront land grab by the mayor - and it would not necessarily be anyone reigned in by civic, aesthetic or visionary considerations.

As with the Sheppard Subway, Ford seems to be making some big miscalculations here. One, that it is not happening fast enough. Two, that the existing plans are crap. Three, that big business is just lining up to make a vast investment that will take care of startup - and make sufficiently vast investments on top of that to carrry through the actual developments. Four, that he's politically reliable enough on his own to make cancellation of contracts, stalling of progress and betrayal of public expectations come with no consequences or fallout. All of these are false.

Hopefully, with three levels of government involvement in the area, it will not be easy for Ford to just pull out and do what he wants. You'd think he would have learned from the Sheppard Subway debacle that when you renege on your city's public promises, betray your higher-ups and then go asking them for help, that it is strangely not available. Hopefully he will be asked to give hard evidence to back up his claims this time, and held to account, instead of just inventing names and numbers.

I want to see progress happen more quickly in the Portlands. But I also want it to be of the same excellent quality that we are seeing in things like Sugar Beach, HTO, The Wave Decks, and Sherbourne Common. I don't want to see a repeat of the dread wall of Condos that blighted Harbourfront's reputation - a mistake that the Waterfront Corporation is now doing it's best to ameliorate.
 
adma said:
Of course, it depends on *how* they do said "mixed use residential". Like, if it were like the Greenwood redevelopment, it'd be authentically "boring": New Urbanist middlebrow. If it were like HafenCity, less so.

Indeed, if it were all about "mixed use residential", the Fords would be the sort who'd kill a HafenCity scheme on behalf of Greenwood-isms--or even worse, on something like the Stockyards redevelopments up on St Clair. Which, between the residential and big-box commercial, is a fair approximation of what the Portlands would look like under Ford if one factored out (or not) the NFL stadium, Ferris wheel, monorail, etc...
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I would love a big time ferris wheel!
 
speaking of which I'm pretty sure I saw Muammar Gaddafi operating the ferris wheel at the cne on the weekend
 
I wonder if Ford's muse is Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys?

"I try to be a role model for kids around the park. If some kid wants to grow dope, they can come talk to me, instead of growing dope 6 or 7 times through denial and error, they're going to get it right the first time and have some good dope."
 
Here's the youtube video on the contest:

[video=youtube;eXBvThFSZuE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXBvThFSZuE[/video]

I don't want a lunch with Mr. Bumble...
mr-bumble.jpeg

..., sorry, I mean don't want lunch with Mr. Ford.
rf9.jpg
 
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