here's another article from today's National Post.....love the headline...
Will Mississauga be the next Chicago?
By Natalie Alcoba, National Post
Mississauga city council will be presented tomorrow with a vision for a transformed waterfront that could include a Chicago-like pier at the site of the former Lakeview generating station.
“When you think about it, every great city has got two things,†Jim Tovey, the spirited force behind the project, explained yesterday in the kitchen of his Lakeview home. “They have a really vital downtown core and they all have a natural feature that they enhance and make a destination spot to attract people from all over. This is Mississauga’s opportunity.â€
Mr. Tovey, president of the local ratepayers association, and landscape architect John Danahy have put thousands of hours into imagining an alternative legacy to the industrial, utility and military past of Lakeview, located east of Port Credit.
They will unveil their big ideas tomorrow, asking councillors to imagine a future in which people have full access to more than 200 hectares of prime waterfront real estate, occupied in part today by corridors of former industrial buildings that look desolate and forlorn.
Why not change the picture completely, the men ask, with tree-lined promenades and such amusement destinations as a Ferris wheel, aquarium, marine or ecological Great Lakes museum.
Their virtual tour illustrates the array of possibilities for such a large untapped parcel of land that can comfortably accommodate a development like Toronto’s Distillery District, Chicago’s famed Navy Pier, a baseball diamond or amphitheater, and still have room for mid- and low-rise residential and commercial development south of Lakeshore Road.
Under their plan, Lakeview’s population would double and more jobs would be created, Mr. Danahy said. The residents say there is a potential for almost $2-billion worth of development.
“The real issue is what should this be and what could it be if we thought big like Mayor [Richard] Daley in Chicago, people with real urban vision,†said Mr. Danahy, director of the University of Toronto’s centre for landscape research.
“It takes a mayor, it takes a provincial government, it takes a federal government.â€
Local councillor Carmen Corbasson contends that Lakeview, which used to be a weapons training ground and housed armament factories during the Second World War before it turned to generating power, has done its fair share for the community.
A water treatment plant and the landfill will remain, but she wants council to “strongly oppose†building another power plant where the old one used to stand.
The Ontario Power Authority is expected to announce later this year where it will put another gas plant, and Lakeview as a site is apparently a contender.
Ms. Corbasson wants staff to start looking at innovative ways to develop the lands without a plant. The vision put forward by Mr. Tovey and associates is well thought out, she said, but still needs to be evaluated by professional staff “as far as planning principles go.â€
It is clear to Ms. Corbasson that whatever happens in Lakeview will depend on the kind of future that Mississauga wants for its lakefront. “This is really our last opportunity to develop our waterfront into what I call a diverse multi-faceted community for the 21st century,â€she said. “Lets not waste it.â€