Toronto West Don Lands: Blocks 17 & 26 | 141m | 43s | Aspen Ridge | Core Architects

Demolition has been paused until Wednesday as an act of "good faith"

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HA!! Steve Clark: "Quick, let's forge a bunch of heritage impact assessments over the weekend, and play nice with the City so that we look like the bigger man" What the hell is this? if you know you're offering a token of good faith now, then you know that you already look stupid because you didn't show people what you were gonna do here in the first place.
 
Is it really disdain, or is it just gross ignorance ? Let's call a spade a spade - it shows ignorance, perhaps even disdain, of the critical and fundamental importance and say of local participation in local planning discussions, and further, a gross disregard for cultural and natural heritage as seen through the extraordinary uptick in MZOs. It seems, that local democracy will not stand in the way of reducing red tape and creating economic opportunity in Ontario. I look forward to seeing Doug Ford at the groundbreaking ceremony for this site, providing they find a hard hat to fit the fat head. ( I would have used the word " gross' instead of "fat ", but I used it twice already ).

It isn't ignorance when they've gone out of their way to erode the underpinnings of local democracy.

Funny how great Ford's government is at reducing red tape exclusively when it suits them.
 
My read is that the so-called "good faith" is really about the courts and the legal process, not the City or residents. An astute move depending on the reasoning of the judge today, as well as if Justice Diamond did not seize himself of the matter, meaning a different judge will be deciding the case next Wednesday.
 
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The "OH we have to demolish because of the contamination" but not showing their homework is nasty behaviour. Hopefully this will get a reasonable hearing in court.
If this sails through, just wait for this to happen again. Who owns the Hearn again?
Worst case - a developer tries this tactic on their land - demolishing a heritage building...
 
The "OH we have to demolish because of the contamination" but not showing their homework is nasty behaviour. Hopefully this will get a reasonable hearing in court.
If this sails through, just wait for this to happen again. Who owns the Hearn again?
Worst case - a developer tries this tactic on their land - demolishing a heritage building...

Thank you for mentioning Hearn, of course: https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...lls-hearn-waterfront-site-for-16-million.html


Watch that one - closely.

AoD
 
Again, re the "not of provincial importance" on rather non-transparent and possibly creative-interpretation grounds: think of it as heritage gaslighting. And it's also not unlike how things started with the Ontario Place business, i.e. when the Ford gov't conveniently removed the provincial OP heritage statement page on behalf of offering the site up for bids--almost as if to say, "Heritage? I don't see any proof of heritage here".

Just imagine what Mayor Doug Ford would have been like--someone brought up Meigs Field in Chicago; imagine DoFo ordering the ripping up of streetcar tracks on a whim...
 
I would love to know what the Judges said to the province in the interim attempt to seek an injunction yesterday. Steve Clark and Doug Ford did not have a "good faith" moment after acting with arbitrary impunity from the start. Hopefully that means theres a strong case for halting the demolition in the hearing next Wednesday.

Hopefully these events lead to the province going about this site properly. Everyone can be winners. The area can refurbish a big potential asset. The province can get affordable housing. And a developer can earn profit from market rate housing on the site.
 
I would love to know what the Judges said to the province in the interim attempt to seek an injunction yesterday. Steve Clark and Doug Ford did not have a "good faith" moment after acting with arbitrary impunity from the start. Hopefully that means theres a strong case for halting the demolition in the hearing next Wednesday.

Hopefully these events lead to the province going about this site properly. Everyone can be winners. The area can refurbish a big potential asset. The province can get affordable housing. And a developer can earn profit from market rate housing on the site.
Yes, the government really seems to have shot itself in the foot over this rushed and rather secret process. There appears to be no great urgency in doing the demolition as there do not appear to be any actual plans yet and the government really holds most of the cards as they can basically do what they want if the City & community do not 'play ball'. My suspicion is that they have a buyer for the site (was it ever advertised?? Does it have to be??) and that this buyer will only buy it if it's cleared and ready for a building. If Ford and Co REALLY wanted to be transparent they would have advertised that the site is up for sale and requested bids and suggestions and then looked at them -possibly with the City and the neighbours. There may well be NO bidders who want an (apparently polluted) site almost covered in heritage buildings in which case the govt can (not TOTALLY unreasonable say that they need the maximum $$ and to get them the site needs to be cleared and decontaminated. If the City or the neighbours or some community groups want the buildings preserved THEY would need to raise the $$. In the current financial climate they would probably not be able to and .....
 
It is now looking like the government SOLD this site last fall. Anyone have a way to check land sales (and any adverts for disposal of public property)??? It is NOT listed on the government's standard land for sale or recently sold site https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/Properties-for-Sale/
 
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It is now looking like the government SOLD this site last fall. Anyone have a way to check land sales (and any adverts for disposal of public property)??? It is NOT listed on the government's standard land for sale or recently sold site https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/Properties-for-Sale/

Were you looking at this list?


Because that's just properties currently deemed surplus, not necessarily those being actively marketed.

Interesting list though.............

This link shows properties for sale: (by the province)


The Foundry site isn't on that list, so far as I can discern.
 

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