Sidewalk Labs - A Call to Action
The announcement by #sidewalklabs and #waterfronttoronto that they will not proceed with the #quayside project will spur either celebrations from opponents or hand wringing from supporters. I have long been a supporter of the Quayside project and so I am disappointed with this decision. Either way, we need to use this experience as a clarion call to action.
It strikes me that there are three issues that have to be addressed and quickly:
1. The Sidewalk Labs experience reveals significant issues with how Toronto deals with opportunities such as this. Problems arose throughout the process – on both sides - but the overall experience does not reveal a pathway to how to deal with these opportunities more effectively and efficiently in the future. How do we proceed? And how do we do so in a way which reaps a myriad of benefits for us all?
2. What is the future of our waterfront? Billions have been spent on the rehabilitation of the Don River. What now? At minimum, Sidewalk Labs’ vision for Quayside and the mouth of the Don offered a stunning suggestion of what could be. What is Plan B? By who? And will it provide a visionary future for Toronto that will not be ground into dust because of the lack of process to address it?
3. The issues to be addressed by Sidewalk Labs will simply not go away. The urban challenges of climate change, aging demographics and now pandemics, among many others, demand an approach that blends visionary and dynamic urban thinking, deep technological capacity and above all a government structure willing and able to take the risks and reap the rewards of these challenges. The departure of Sidewalk Labs does not mean these issues also go away. As Sidewalk Labs knew, we have the skills, expertise, capacity and above all the basic abilities in the Toronto Region to address these challenges if we want to. But will we have the foresight, the willingness and critically the courage to start again and examine the fundamental challenges of our time?
So, I will be ignoring the celebrations and the hand wringing. I will be focused on seeing how we deal with these three points.
Let’s start the discussion on how we proceed and not lose this opportunity.
Board Member, lawyer and senior executive engaged in Film & TV, ESG, real estate, mining and technology sectors.
4 年Some real discussion, as Toby says. It’s important not to give up now on encouraging private-sector investment. Lessons should be learned from this WT/Sidewalk experience. It’s very difficult to get anything done on Toronto’s waterfront. Believe me, I know it first hand. While we have witnessed varied commitment to proper spending of government (taxpayers’) funds there, it’s even harder to encourage private-sector investment. At TEDCO, our team had some success in developing a Portlands film studio using a P3 model, plus we built the iconic HQ for a private corporation Corus Entertainment; as well as a number of small parks & environmental cleanups (we even made past polluters pay). But each one of those projects were very hard to accomplish and took a team approach... and a stiff backbone. It will be interesting if the governments involved in the waterfront truly understand when & how this WT/Sidewalk saga went off the rails?
President at Solstice Public Affairs | National Councillor at Conservative Party of Canada
4 年Totally agree