Ontario Place just one part of a revitalized western waterfront

With news breaking that a long overdue makeover for Ontario Place is finally going to happen, it’s time focus shifted to how this fits into the waterfront revitalization plan and how it can change the western end of the waterfront.

The west end doesn’t have the abundant space the east end has but had a fun and unique history with the old Sunnyside Amusement Park. The park was unfortunately torn down to make way for the Gardiner in 1955. 

The parts that remain have seen better days and, in some cases, haven’t seen an upgrade since the 1980s.

It’s time for the city, with help from the province, to do a complete update of the west-end starting with Ontario Place and revive the area’s rich history.

This area has a lot going for it. It has a few beaches and parks, the renovated Palais Royale building, the Humber Bay Arch Bridge and part of the Martin Goodman Trail. Unfortunately, all of these feel cut-off from the rest of the neighbourhood even though the area is busy on weekends. 

Any redevelopment should reintroduce the beach to the neighbourhood. Longer-term planning would probably see the entire neighbourhood around Jameson Avenue redeveloped much like Regent Park has been and Lawrence Heights will be.

It’s a challenge, especially with the Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard in between, but I’m sure something can be done to repair this situation. Here are my suggestions on what can be done in the immediate future.

Ontario Place would be the crown jewel in the makeover. It should offer more open spaces and places to sit. There should be more opportunities to get out onto the water. 

Attractions should bring people of all ages to the park to enjoy, not just kids, and get away from some of the Expo ’67 architectural look and design that partly plagues the park today along with high admission prices.

It should also allow for some kind of innovation not seen anywhere else in the city but not become similar to Toronto’s other amusement park, Canada’s Wonderland.

There should be less reliance on driving to get there with beefed-up TTC streetcar services with, at the very least, if it is to be a 365-day-a-year attraction, an extension of the 509 Harbourfront route from the Exhibition to the new park. 

The extension of the 509 should extend from Ontario Place further west connecting the beaches and the condos built in the area and eventually merge into the 508 Lakeshore route to Long Branch.

The beaches in the area are, by the looks of it, well maintained throughout the year but could use an update. 

Toronto has some recent success with beaches. HTO Park and Sugar Beach are a hit and manage to bring back some of that old-time fun to the beach while maintaing its modernity. Could this not be done in the west-end as well?

Walkways connecting neighbourhoods to the beach could be updated and improved by making it easier for people to walk or bike over to the beach. 

The smaller buildings and huts around the area should be redesigned to reflect the past and tie them into the remaining structures to offer visitors, young and old, a pleasant ‘blast from the past’. 

More benches and open areas should be added along with things like bocce and horseshoe lanes.  

Ultimately, there are many possibilities to redeveloping this area of the waterfront. I’m only offering one possibility. I hope a new and improved Ontario Place sparks development west.

The opportunity to do this couldn’t be better as the whole city is undergoing a major makeover. It’s time to bring back the history we lost when the city redesigned the neighbourhood for the sake of 1950s and 1960s modernity.

About Robert Kirsic

Poverty is not just about the money

Last week Catherine Porter wrote an excellent column in The Star titled “Playground politics are unfair” where she explained how Thorncliffe Park lacks a playground despite having the largest child population in the city. Actually they had one, which “was ripped out in 2006 after it was deemed unsafe by city inspectors.” Its replacement is slated for: 2015. Yes, 10 years to get a replacement playground.

By coincidence, this week as part of the work that I do leading the non-profit 8-80 Cities, we had presentations, workshops and interviews with the Thorncliffe Park community. Not only was I able to confirm this sad reality, but also visited an elementary school which has over 600 students in JK classes; how can you provide personalized education in that environment?

Parks and small schools are becoming a luxury that only the rich neighbourhoods have access to and this is wrong. It seems very Canadian to pride ourselves on being an egalitarian society, but the social and economic divide is growing in Toronto and across Canada. More than one in five households in Toronto lives under the poverty cut-off, in Thorncliffe Park it is 47 per cent, almost one in two, and there are poorer neighbourhoods.

Next door, Flemingdon Park does not even have a grocery store. Both are terrible places for pedestrians, cyclists and transit is proportionally extremely expensive. The bus stops are dirty and deteriorated.

Who wants to live in a neighbourhood if you take your children to the park and you find out that there is no playground and its replacement will be installed in 10 years? How about in a place with no grocery stores, which means that you need to travel long distances just to buy eggs or milk, probably paying more for transportation than the milk itself? No wonder we found most people in a transitory mood, as if wishing to get a bit of money to get out of that neighbourhood as fast as possible. And this is very wrong.

Now the news is that the Harper government has decided to purchase 65 war planes at $160 million each for a total of $9 billion, which added the maintenance contract totals $16 billion. This is in the middle of an economic crisis and done by a government asking the citizens for austerity.

When we spend $16 billion in war planes and over $1 billion in security for the G20 meeting but does not have $120,000 for a playground in the neighbourhood with the highest rate of children in the city, we have a problem with our priorities. By the way, the money spent in one fighter plane could buy 2,051 playgrounds.

Last year the City of Toronto, the government of Ontario and the federal government joined forces to spend $2.6 billion to build 8 km of subway in Vaughan, which will not solve any major transportation issue in Toronto. A Bus Rapid Transit could have been done for 10 per cent of that cost or a Light Rail for 20 per cent, satisfying current and future needs and leaving money for all the pedestrian and protected bikeway infrastructure in the entire GTA.

Wouldn’t it be nice if they joined forces to end poverty in Toronto? They might not be able to provide housing for all in the short term, but relatively quickly they could provide magnificent public parks for all, as well as state of the art schools, safe and beautiful sidewalks, crosswalks, a grid of protected bikeways linking all places of origin and destination in the city.

This would certainly contribute to really having a more egalitarian city, with healthier and happier residents, who would strengthen their sense of belonging, for new and old Canadians alike. Along the way, they would also improve the transportation system, end up with a cleaner environment and have a more vibrant Toronto.

Ending poverty is NOT a technical or financial issue: it is political.

About Gil Penalosa

Mayoral debate: time to focus on the good?

I knew it would be painful to watch. The vacuous "youth-oriented" reporters with half a thought between them, the moderator who wasn't up to the job, questions that fell flat and answers that couldn't be heard as candidates hectored one another: Thank you CP24 for further dumbing down what might have been a useful exchange of ideas.

Pot shots, cheap shots, predictable and demeaning to all involved. Though we did get a preview of what a Toronto under Rob Ford might be like, what powers he's prepared to assume during the great fiscal dismantling, as he spoke of how he'd have asked the police chief to "move in" on protesters. It's black and white, he claimed, support for the cops or support for the demonstrators. Why he hasn't completely self-destructed is beyond me. His red-faced blustering, his reduction of the only female candidate to "nice lady", his heavy footed dance around the two full-time jobs he holds, and the two salaries. Tick tock tick tock, Mr. Ford.

George Smitherman has started to move, literally and figuratively, walking the streets of our city last week, appealing for votes, talking to real people, and that is all to the good. He can't refuse to participate in these ridiculous televised debates, but it's much better to see him on his own, he takes on more stature when he loses the ballast of the other candidates. He looks more like a real challenger for the office, maybe the only one in the field.

It might be useful for Smitherman to highlight some of the good that city hall does for its citizens, to counter the accusations of fiscal irresponsibility. There are, in the bureaucracy, some very intelligent, very effective people with great ideas, Rocco Rossi may concentrate on their salaries, but viewing some of the initiatives out there, some of the ways Toronto really makes a difference in the lives of its people, from public health to social services, would go a long way to renewing some faith in our local government.

Things like micro loans for youth: brilliant.

Poverty is such a huge problem in many neighbourhoods, encouraging local entrepreneurs is one way to ensure ways out. I have been part of a committee delivering a similar type program, one started by the sons of Dr. Reva Gerstein, who donated $10,000 a year for 10 years to psychiatric survivors with big ideas and empty pockets. Amounts from $500 to a few thousand have supported dozens and resulted in: foster parents for pets when people need to go to hospital, an on-line magazine for and by the poor, a documentary on emergency departments and their treatment of the mentally ill, even paid tuition for survivors wanting to continue their education.

Poverty is about lack of opportunity: given a chance, people really shine. So I hope that Smitherman will focus on the good that can be done, Ford and Rossi have enough to say on the bad.

About Pat Capponi

Open doors for persons with disabilities

I've noticed a lot about disability lately. I notice disability on a daily basis  - of course, since I have one  - but I think about it differently when it's in the public arena and people are open to new ideas.

At the end of June, a number of organizations jointly sponsored a mayoral debate about disability issues. One issue discussed was jobs, which is a huge issue for youth (and all people) with disabilities like myself. Some ideas proposed at the debate were to provide financial incentives to companies to hire people with disabilities and use new technologies to create telecommuting-type jobs for them.

Telecommuting may very well have a time and place, but it can be isolating and you don't always get the full working experience.  Whatever the solutions, they must be flexible and put individual needs first, as opposed to making people with disabilities fit into one homogeneous mold.

The things I needed most when I was job hunting were encouragement and opportunities.  My experience of trying to find a job really challenged my confidence. First of all, I didn't know what I could do physically.  I don't have fine motor control in my hands, and my speech is unclear. Would I be able, for example, to work a cash register or stock shelves? It would have been helpful for me to be able to work at different places (for example, stores) for a couple of days on a trial basis to get a sense of my abilities. 

As well, I was getting mixed messages from people supporting me regarding whether I could work with the public because of my speech. (Eventually, I got a great job as a fundraiser, talking to people all day).

I went to a couple of agencies that assist people with disabilities to find jobs, and some of them required me to take their job skills course.  I had done co-op in high school, as well as other courses, and so I found these courses to be repetitive and elementary.

I agree that we do need money to help people with disabilities to find work, but there has to be more. In this competitive job market, it has to be about encouraging all people that they can be contributing members of society.

About Sarah Evans

After the G20 party's over

Feeling a bit exhausted by all this, as many are, I'm sure.  The G's have gone, and the streets are slowly returning to normal, and the citizens of Toronto are shaken up and wondering what the hell happened. 

We have seen leadership of a sort over the last few days, and it's a good time, maybe the best time, to ask ourselves and each other, what does this great city need in a leader?  Who can speak for us, who can protect and defend us, who can bring out the best in us? 

I like and admire David Miller, I like and admire Bill Blair.  I think both men are good, decent people.  Maybe that's why its so hard to see them fail their city, forget their responsibilities to all citizens of Toronto. 

This nonsense of forcing people to stand for hours in a deluge of rain, shivering, sick, frightened, while the Mayor and the police chief hid from the media, instead of declaring it an outrage. This public scapegoating of a few hundred mostly uninvolved individuals out of some residual need to punish someone for the deeds of a pathetic few, to try and shame and hurt and humiliate these folks, these citizens, your neighbors and friends, is indefensible, and the more both men try, the more they lose my respect.

I want a mayor I can count on, in good times and bad, to do the best he can for the city.  I want a mayor who can represent all the people, who is equally comfortable with the well-off and the poor, with the banker and the addict, with the homeowner from the Bridle Path and the tenant in a Parkdale rooming house.

I want a politician who doesn't put his entitlement first, who doesn't feel he should be coddled and courted to do the right thing, I want a mayor who takes the subway and walks the streets.. 

I want a leader who is consistent and who is capable of empathy and deep thought, a leader who is action oriented, who cares and is committed, and who can listen and who can learn.  I want a Mayor I can be proud of, who I can call by his first name, whose hand I can shake cause he's not surrounded by staff whose sole job is to keep real people at bay.

I want a leader who can talk about his own struggles, and what it took to overcome them.  I want someone capable of inspiring those who need inspiration, who respects people whatever their walk of life and who will be there when these same people need them.

I want a mayor who puts the people of his city first, even before what's good for him, what's politically safe or smart.  I want a mayor who stands for his people, all his people, all the time. 

The election cannot come too soon.

About Pat Capponi

I heart canvassing

An article on the BBC News website explored the strange and rather sadistic concept of door-to-door canvassing, in the context of the British election. With our own municipal election heating up, the weather (mostly) glorious, and a good few registered candidates out there, I think it’s time to make a plea for the old-fashioned door-to-door canvass in our own city.

First, a confession: I love canvassing.

That’s not to say that I do it very much these days… over the last few provincial, federal and municipal campaigns I’ve faced the reality shared by all those 30- or 40-something politicos that came before me: kids make life more complicated. Despite my pre-pregnancy visions of toddling door to door with my brood in tow, the reality is that most kids just don’t want to hang out on doorsteps while mom talks to strangers about the future of Medicare.

And I suppose that’s true not just of children, but of most adults too. Some of the most-seasoned political activists and campaigners that I know shudder at the mention of it. I’m not alone of course in liking the canvass. There are many of us out there… though certainly not everyone who comes a-knocking at your door this municipal campaign will be keen on the prospect.

Here’s why: as a society we are being drawn inward. Years of being bombarded with television ads, billboards, marketing calls have forced us to erect invisible walls just to maintain our sanity. Add a dose of scepticism about politics and politicians, and it’s no surprise that most people bristle at the appearance of a stranger at the door, leaflets in hand, true-believer gleam in their eyes.

I get it. It’s not always fun to be on the receiving end. My neighbourhood is crawling with canvassers, out to sell me on the need to preserve the moraine, save the caribou, ditch the water bottles. And given the number of dinners I’ve interrupted with my own canvassing, I cannot in good conscience turn them away. Not a great position to be in with kid crying, dog dying for a walk, and pot on to boil.

But here is why I love canvassing, and why you should too: there are few better ways, very few, to engage with fellow residents of this city. There is no substitute for eye to eye, face to face contact with a real person, however annoyed or fed up they may be. And for every one person who is really hostile (I’ve met a few, but surprisingly few that were really rude) there are fifty who will tell you what they think. Briefly, maybe, but you will come away with something.

The traditional reason for campaign canvassing is to “identify the vote”. In other words, know who your supporters are, and make sure they make it to the polls.

But, for me, while I dutifully feed my marks back to the campaign mothership, my motivation is to engage. Because I want to know what people are thinking. I’d like to know what irks those residents, what makes them tick. And you should too…

There’s been a lot of talk by my fellow bloggers of the lack of engagement by many Torontonians, and particularly young people, in city politics. While we need to explore new means of engaging those voters through media they are interested in (and make it easier for more people to vote, period) we shouldn’t diminish the importance of actually getting into the place where they live, hang out, reside.

Get out there with whatever candidate you support…go with a friend or ask them to pair you up with a more experienced canvasser. Pick a part of your ward that you really don’t know, and start to talk to folks. What you hear, see and learn about the City will never fail to surprise you.

All the technology, the social media in the world does not replace this. And every single one of the candidates running in your ward should make it to your door between now and election day.

About Marit Stiles

Getting Over Our Fear of Religion will Enrich City's Diversity

City Hall came close to the divine a couple of times last week. Last Monday, the Toronto Area Interfaith Council hosted a mayoral debate, where the candidates proposed ways to increase faith in the life of our city.

A few days later, we were debating whether to allow shopping on statuary holidays. Someone suggested we keep Christian holidays sacred, and controversy seemed to break out immediately.  We have to stop panicking every time we talk about faith, especially Christianity, and start embracing it as part of our diversity.

We can start with George Smitherman's suggestion of calling a Christmas tree a Christmas tree. We are supposed to now call it a holiday tree so we don't offend anybody or make them feel left out, but it has the opposite effect on me!  As a Christian who enjoys celebrating Christmas, I don't feel welcome to publicly acknowledge and celebrate my beliefs in this culture of political correctness. I  (and I'm sure many others) would enjoy seeing other symbols like menorahs in public spaces as well. 

There was also a suggestion of having an interfaith day or week. Rob Ford and Joe Pantalone said they wouldn't know how to be fair in acknowledging all belief systems, but I think this misses the spirit of the idea. Our faith is an important part of who we are as individuals, and we should use it as an opportunity to learn about and celebrate with each other. 

This sounds so elementary, and yet we won't do this because we're too afraid to offend someone.  We talk about tolerance, but that has a connotation of reluctance.  We really need to start talking (and thinking) in terms of acceptance  - maybe even enjoyment!

At the mayoral debate, Smitherman proposed bringing together faith groups to help the city's less fortunate, such as the homeless and those struggling with addiction.  I think this is an excellent idea that brings out the best of what many beliefs have to offer.  Many faith groups (and their smaller study groups)  volunteer to help others. 

A great example of what can be done when people work together is the Out of the Cold program. For this program, different venues, including places of worship, take turns offering homeless people safe shelter and a warm meal.

If the city were to develop and co-ordinate more of these initiatives, our help could be spread around and it would cut down on administrative issues for organizations.  We would also be creating services for the countless individuals who currently fall between the cracks.

Many people acknowledge a spiritual side of themselves, and the sooner we stop being afraid to talk about it, the sooner we will be able to see the best in each other and enrich our diversity.

About Sarah Evans

Finding Our Identity

What does it actually mean to be a Torontonian?

Recently, the issue of identity has been on my mind lately. When I read through the newspaper and catch the on-line headlines that seem to continuously flash before my eyes, issues and events are defined in certain perspectives; the liberal perspective, the conservative perspective, the global consciousness, national interest, municipal benefits. Each article identifies with a certain group of people, beliefs and ideology.

So when we talk about Toronto and what we want to see our city become, is it really for the collective good or individual? We are an extremely multicultural city and will always be very proud of the number of languages and cultures that fill our city streets.

I feel that we need to think about what actually brings us all together. What connects our city? Leafs nation is still going strong (don’t ask me how or why), but let’s face it, although it’s a big group of people it still doesn't define our city.

My vision for the future of Toronto is finding our identity and embodying what it means to be a Torontonian. What are our values? We all know what our own values are, but as a community what do we stand for?

Is it too radical to suggest we should have community animators in every part of the city strengthening the bond that holds us all together through local centres, libraries, schools and businesses.

I’m not talking about pricey government supported programs, which I truly believe we need more of, but going back to grass roots; people helping people. Whether this is a "learn to play" night for kids at the local community centre or a book/movie exchange at the library, the importance is consistency.

We must continue to bring people together and I believe and would expect my provincial government and those who govern us to do just that.

About Alexandra Orlando

Wanted: One serious advocate for artists

Stroll along Bloor between Dufferin and Lansdowne, and you see change a-comin’… Art galleries popping up in long-vacant storefronts. New design shops, bars and cafés so hip they don’t need signs (or keep the retro signage of previous occupants).

Artists began moving to this neighbourhood as they were priced out of other areas like Queen Street West and Parkdale. Some were even able to buy houses in this somewhat affordable corner of the downtown.

Like many Toronto neighbourhoods before, this one seems set for a renaissance, perhaps evolving into a creative centre, a hub for the entire City. Most recently, big-time videogame developer Ubisoft announced it will set up shop just north of the Lansdowne subway, with a plan to hire 800 high-skilled employees over the next few years.

A 2009 study by Hill Strategies Research mapped out where Canada’s artists reside. It’s no surprise that Toronto has the largest community of artists and cultural workers. Cultural workers in Riverdale, Beaches and Danforth represent between 13 and 15 per cent of the labour force residing east of the Don. The highest concentration of artists is in the downtown west-end, from Parkdale to Bathurst and north to St. Clair.

Actors, visual artists, dancers, musicians, writers. The City is crawling with them. We take for granted the depth of artists’ contribution and for too many Torontonians arts funding is an "extra," relegated to the backseat. In other big cities, like New York, artists are fleeing to smaller centres where they can afford a roof over their heads and studio space. New York is freaking out. They've glimpsed the future and the potential impact on their culture and economy, and it ain't pretty.

Luckily, in David Miller we had a mayor who understood the creative economy. The arts and cultural sector had an advocate. It’s no coincidence that Toronto’s film and television industry has experienced a healthy bump lately. That’s thanks in part to Mayor Miller’s responsiveness to the industry’s list of asks, largely met, not the least of which was making it easier to obtain film permits by reducing red tape.

And there was the recent budget decision to ensure the billboard tax finally went to the arts. Finally, Council is living up to its commitment to the Culture Plan by increasing Toronto’s per capita spending to a competitive level. In short, Miller created a “Film Friendly Toronto” in the worst of economic times… and we will reap the benefits well into the future.

There is so much more to be done, and it’s going to require a Mayor willing to advocate for Toronto’s artistic community by demanding change at the provincial and federal levels.

First, we need a Mayor willing to fight for Income Tax Averaging, ensuring more fairness for artists and other self-employed workers who would be taxed based on their average income over a set number of years. Far better than being penalized for one good year amidst, say, four really lean years.

The average earnings of Toronto’s 22,265 artists are nearly 40 per cent less than the average of other local workers. Depending on the particular form their art or craft takes – writer, screenwriter, actor, poet, painter, sculptor, filmmaker, dancer, etc – an artist may be lucky enough to belong to a union or guild that provides some insurance or retirement benefits, negotiates minimum rates and working conditions, and secures for them a little piece of the pie if their work is shown, used, sold in the future.

But even for those that benefit from such representation, most artists face enormous income insecurity throughout their career.

Our Mayor could demand that the Feds make the new EI benefits for self-employed workers REALLY work, and expand them to full benefits. The introduction of these benefits was a (rare) step in the right direction, but the criteria are such that – as currently envisioned – most artists won’t be able to take advantage.

Our Mayor could stand up to the province and demand fairness for film and television production in Toronto… So workers don’t have to truck out to distant locations just to film something that could more easily be made here, while producers take advantage of higher tax credits outside the City.

Our Mayor could continue and expand use of the planning process to ensure no net loss of artistic space in areas of dramatic change, like Queen St. West. And our Mayor could explicitly link cultural wealth to neighbourhood diversity by continuing to support affordable housing initiatives in the city core.

We need someone to continue along the path Miller laid out for us. As a City we need to embrace artists for what they bring to our lives, our neighbourhoods, and our economy. We need, in short, a Mayor willing to stand up for artists.

About Marit Stiles

Should cars be banned from Queen St.?

There is much talk about creating cities for people and not just for car mobility. There is lots of talk about improving pedestrian safety, promoting cycling, improving public transportation, but not much doing.

The World Car Free Day celebration presents a wonderful opportunity to be innovative and actually do something relevant and bold in Toronto. Why not open Queen Street to pedestrians, cyclists and street cars and close it to motor vehicles during the week of September 20th to the 26th?

Queen Street is already poor for car mobility. It’s narrow, has too many parked cars and the street car makes it even slower. The amount of cars using this street could easily be absorbed by Richmond and Adelaide, from Niagara Street in the west to Parliament Street to the east. It’s just 3.8 kilometres but could be a magnificent pilot project that if successful, could become permanent in 2011.

Queen Street is a good street, but it can be better. It can become a world class street. The transformation of Queen Street, along with car diversion to parallel streets, can be a learning experience for many communities. Similar actions in comparable cities have proven to be extraordinary for local business, and magnificent for people of all ages and levels of ability who enjoy a great public place. In the process, we can imagine what a Toronto for people can look and feel like.

A great complement to this pilot project would be to do a ped/bike friendly treatment on Yonge St., by opening the right lanes in both directions exclusive for bicycle riders from Bloor St. to Lake Ontario, leaving the two centre lanes for cars and buses. This would complete the east-west and a north-south bicycle connection.

Smaller interventions should also be used to connect these two arterials to educational institutions, parks, Union Station, and other points of origin and/or destination.

This would be a celebration of Car Free Week with a great deal of impact, which would get everyone thinking about the role of the pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and cars, in a sustainable city. Special projects could be developed from elementary schools to PhD students, media coverage, public forums, etc. The monetary cost is small, as all you need are some signs, pylons, and politicians who have guts and aren’t afraid to think and act big.

Other cities have taken similar measures.

• In Bogota, Colombia, Car Free Day is celebrated on a Thursday in February by not allowing circulation of cars anywhere in a city of 7 million people (approved by referendum);
• in Brussels, Belgium, they also have a total ban on cars one Sunday per year.
• NYC transformed Broadway around Times Square into an exclusive pedestrian and cycling way.

Copenhagen, Paris and Portland also enjoy car free streets and closer to home, one of the nicest experiences for Vancouverites during the Winter Olympics was to have multiple streets open to people and closed to cars during the games; the experience was so successful for community building as well as for the business owners that Administration is evaluating the possibility of making it permanent.

Change is hard and it does not happen by consensus. We must change if we want to combat global warming, the obesity epidemic, economic crisis and traffic congestion, elements that are creating a perfect storm. We cannot expect different results by doing things the same way.

Why not take up this challenge and together, elected officials, city staff, and community members look for solutions to the problems that might arise with this pilot project and not for problems to the solutions and make it a wonderful celebration of life in Toronto?

Queen St. could really become the Jewel of the City, and in the process, contribute to having a cleaner environment, more vibrant business, nice recreation for all, real alternative transportation modes and more physical activity improving public health.

About Gil Penalosa