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Waterfront Toronto: 10 years and $864M later
Waterfront Toronto, founded in 2001, turns 10 this year. So far it has not been a happy birthday. Mayor Rob Ford, who sits on the agency’s board, has skipped all its meetings; this week three members of Mr. Ford’s executive committee and his brother, Doug Ford, have asked tough questions about the agency’s pace, productivity, salary levels and tendering processes.
“That was the biggest boondoggle, the feds, the province and the city has ever done,” Councillor Ford told reporters at City Hall. “You let the private sector buy it and let them develop it.”
On Friday as Mayor Ford picked up litter at a 20-Minute Makeover at Fairbanks Memorial Park near Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue, reporters asked him about Waterfront Toronto. “Obviously, you guys heard what my brother said. I have a problem with the amount of money we’re spending and the results were getting from them,” he said. “It’s problematic so we’re going to review that, and take it from there.”
The agency’s 10th birthday seems a good time to ask the question: what do we have to show for the $864-million that Waterfront Toronto has spent, between 2001 and December, 2010, of our money so far on the waterfront?
