Behind the Headlines

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For those who measure cities in terms of megaprojects, Toronto's waterfront is bound to disappoint. The big-thinking crowd advocates creating a "City of the Future" on the waterfront. Their demand to "get it right" has been voiced by so many that attribution is impossible.

Not to nitpick but just what are we to get right? Is it to be one big idea that will encompass the entire shoreline, cost billions and strait-jacket the city for decades? Just who will tell us when we've got it right?

Often included in this type of waterfront discussions is a reference to our diminishment in some contest to be world class. We are compared unflatteringly to rapid successes in cities such as Shanghai, Singapore or Dubai. Usually left out of the discussion is that Torontonians prefer vigorous but slower democracy to the fiat of autocracy.

So at the risk of annoying those who presume to know best, let's take a closer look at what's happening on the waterfront.

After decades of false starts and grand announcements, the three levels of government have reorganized their efforts into a structure with less sizzle but with the prospect of real achievement. As mundane as it is essential, enabling legislation has been passed, the welcome mat is out, and investments are being approved on a lot-by-lot basis.

In Toronto's mushy, incremental, painful way, our new waterfront is taking shape.

South of the Don River, in the area known as the East Bayfront Lands, the province convinced George Brown College to build a new campus. Next door, the city's economic development organization struck a deal with a large multimedia company to build its head office. The city itself ponied up $4 million for a neighbouring park.

Developers have been shortlisted for condominiums down the street. Barring an economic meltdown, an area known for derelict terminals and businesses operating under tents will be very different in five years time.

The future is closer than you think just north of the Gardiner as well.

Under-used properties there cover an area as large as London's Canary Wharf or New York's Battery Park. But much of Toronto's land consists of floodplain and polluted soil. With the costs of remediation sometimes greater than land value, governments have stepped in to help clean up and facilitate deals. Construction is underway to build a berm, which will both keep the floods out and double as a park. Next will come new street construction, condominiums and light rail transit. While completion is 10 to 20 years out, a major park is being created during the first phase.

These projects won't be finished tomorrow. There's no grand design. But for those who have witnessed the sterility of large projects, the experiment of massive public housing and the debacle of Montreal's Olympics, Toronto's incremental approach has many virtues.

Best of all, we can see our new waterfront happening now.