The Best Little Whorehouse in the Don Lands
“There will be a lineup from here (the Port Lands) to City Hall wanting to invest in this area”
That’s Councillor Doug Ford, brother of Mayor Rob Ford, talking about their grand waterfront plans for Toronto. To be honest, it sounds like a brazen, neon-filled tribute to the worst parts of Vegas (okay maybe not the worst parts, I don’t know if they’re advocating prostitution and copious drugs…though their not not advocating them, and Team Ford cheerleader Georgio Mammoliti wants a brothel out on the island) right here on our own waterfront.
Say, isn’t that what they said about the subway extension, that private investors would be chomping at the bit to get a piece of that action? Though, to be fair a hotel/mega-mall on the shore would likely garner a little more interest than a subway to nowhere I still don’t see it as too likely they’d up and drop a couple billion on Toronto’s waterfront.
Oh. Also: monorail. Yeah that’s right. Why? Probably because the Ford’s think they’re cool. They’ll trash a fully funded multi-billion dollar invest by the federal and provincial governments for transit across the city, but want to build an overly-expensive monorail on the waterfront. I’m actually a bit surprised the Ford’s didn’t throw in an NFL stadium in their grand scheme for the waterfront.
Never mind that there’s already a body that oversees the development of the region, The Toronto Port Lands Committee (TPLC). Their plan for the land, which has been in development for the better part of a decade, involves bike trails, hiking paths, light rail transit and plenty of park space. Sue-Ann Levy, the beacon of journalistic integrity that she is, dismisses this as a “Socialist Utopia” as though that were some sort of dirty word. The fundamental difference here, in my opinion, is between an area that everyone in the city can go and enjoy, and a place where the well-to-do can go play.
Their rationale is that their development plan will actually make the city money, where the parks-and-trails plan won’t. Is that really what it’s come down to? Do we have to whore some of the nicest real-estate in the city, with unparalleled vistas and aesthetic to make a quick buck for the city’s ailing budget?
Maybe they are trying to bring the best part of Vegas to the waterfront after all.
