Why Does Good City Building meet Resistance?

The current debate as to whether Toronto should get a world class casino, or expand the island airport to accommodate new whisper jets are further examples of our reluctance to think big.  Why do we appear parochial when a big project is in the works?  Our answer is that our ward based municipal government system is not good enough.  Councillors who excel at advancing their ward interest over the city’s interest are rewarded at the expense of city vision.

Take a look at development.  It seems every major redevelopment project in the city faces opposition from ward councillors whose main purpose is to satisfy local constituents. Well, we can’t complain too much about that – first, its their job to advance the interests of their constituents and second, we elect them. Be that as it may, we need growth and development to sustain the thousands of people that come into the GTA every year, yet we hunker down and fight to preserve the status quo.  So the question remains - who in city government has the larger picture at heart?  Who gets political points when the projects do move ahead?

Our way is not the only way.  Vancouver elects councillors at large.  Montreal has a parliamentary system in which the winning party governs.  In Toronto, the administration of government is a single vote mayor who has a limited arsenal of political clout.  Committee appointments only get you so far, and even the most persuasive of Mayors needs will have difficulty driving a vision while building legislative coalitions one issue at a time. Its not that ward interests ought to be ignored, they should not and they require champions, but they need to be balanced against City interests, with equally passionate political support. Right now, there does not seem to be anyone on the City side of the scale.  Yet, development goes on because someone is advancing big projects, which brings us back to the airport and the casino. 

Lets talk about the casino.  http://bit.ly/11e0Zu0  Everyone worries about the “health” of our citizens – moreover that a casino preys on the vulnerable. As though there aren’t busses leaving daily to casinos in Niagara Falls and Orillia.  If people want to gamble, they are going to gamble.  In Montreal, the city has not deteriorated as a result of the casino on Saint Helen’s Island.  It has merely added to the attractiveness to visitors to Montreal and boosted its tourism.  Montreal, even though it is behind us as a financial centre, is miles ahead of us as a tourist destination.  We desperately need some major attractions to put us on the map and attract those conventions that boost the economy in a significant way.  Its worth the conversation, n’est-ce-pas?

The 25 councillors that have expressed their opposition to a casino have not really suggested any other major initiative that is going to turn things around for the tourist industry and the economy of Toronto.  As a major bi-product, the casino complex, if placed in the right area, could generate significant infrastructure improvements.  Although the report commissioned on locations for the casino did not include the Port Lands, a mega entertainment complex in the Port Lands would spur redevelopment in the Port Lands, create transit and infrastructure that will take us years, if not decades, to achieve. So, what’s the plan for this town?

What about the airport?  Mayor Miller was elected on a surge of island airport opposition by killing the bridge (One of us supported him whole-heartedly and is an avid island user).  The island is a gathering place for tens of thousands of us. It’s a great place to be. The case against was that noise would wreck Toronto’s backyard because the bridge would lead to more air traffic.  In the interim, the bridge-less Porter has grown from a 3 city airline to a 10 or more city airline.  Has the island been wrecked?  Your Miller-backing author for one still attends the Island regularly.   Airplane technology is better, quieter.  The debate from the 2003 Mayoral race is based on old data.  Time to rethink it based on the fact and with open minds. Again, its not that immediate neighbours should not be heard, its that the rest of us have an interest in the airport too.  http://bit.ly/13ezgzY

Toronto is a great city.  It has had moments of great vision in spite of the system: Nathan Phillips Square, its amazing park system, RegentPark to name a few.  It also has some good committed public servants (both elected and staff) and citizen advocates who rightly make their voices heard.  But it still needs a consistent drive towards being a world-class city, World-class architecture, World-class tourism, World-class businesses, and the vibrancy and dynamism we should expect from a cosmopolitan city like ours.  To do that, we need a political system that rewards city vision.

So let the debate be: Is a casino part of a world-class city?  Is a downtown airport? and lets not have these choices made on the basis of old facts and attitudes