Talk:Waterfront Toronto

Clarifications, Requested Updates and Additional Information

I am the interim Marketing & Communications Manager for Waterfront Toronto. Obviously, I don't wish to violate COI and edit this article myself, but I did want to point out some factual inaccuracies. I've also included below some other bits of information (or direction to additional sources) should another editor wish to expand and improve this article.

MAIN ENTRY

First paragraph

Waterfront Toronto is the name of the organization as it is commonly referred to in news media and in public use. The legal name of the corporation is “Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation”. “WATERFRONToronto” is simply the treatment given to the name in the branding--it may or may not be relevant to include this here.

In the first paragraph, “administering” might not be the right word. See Toronto Waterfront Corporation Act that outlines the objectives of the corporation. I might suggest a rephrasing, as the mandate given to the corporation by the three levels of government is wider in scope than simply administration. Suggestion: "Waterfront Toronto is charged with overseeing all aspects of the planning and development of Toronto’s central waterfront."

There is a typo in the word "redevelopment".

"Actual development of the projects is done by other agencies, primarily private corporations." This is not always true. Waterfront Toronto often deals with private developers, as on projects such as the Monde Condominium. However, we also work with the public sector, as in George Brown College Waterfront Campus. As for the many of the infrastructure, parks and public realm projects, such as the Spadina, Rees and Simcoe Wavedecks, Sugar Beach, Sherbourne Common, York Quay Revitalization, Don River Park, etc. Waterfront Toronto does in fact act as the primary developer afterwhich the municipal government typically assumes responsibility for on-going operations and maintenance. Waterfront Toronto also contributes funding to projects outside of the designated waterfront area that support the corporations mandate and objectives, such as Tommy Thompson Park, Port Union Waterfront Park, Mimico Waterfront Park, etc.

It may or may not be relevant to note in the introductory paragraph that the corporation has been given a 25-year mandate by the three levels of government, and was intended to be self-financing after the initial capital investment.

It may or may not be relevant to note that the overall scope of the project involves the redevelopment of over 800 hectares of underused or brownfield land, making it one of the largest infrastructure and remediation projects currently under way in North America.

Suggest the creation of a new section: HISTORY

The first paragraph (through to the quoted sources) of the ORGANIZATION section would be more appropriate in a HISTORY section, as it deals with the origin and impetus for the creation of the corporation. As it is now it may be a bit misleading, as it seems to suggest that the Waterfront Revitalization Task Force evolved into Waterfront Toronto. In fact, the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation was formed in response to the recommendations of the task force.

This section also notes that Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation was renamed Waterfront Toronto. It may be splitting hairs, but that remains the legal name of the corporation, so it may be good to make that distinction.

Also note that footnoted citation #3 is a broken link. You will now find that page here: http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/about_us

GOVERNANCE

It may be worth noting:

In December 2002, the government of Ontario passed the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation Act, the legislation which gives the corporation permanent status.

John W. Campbell joined the corporation as president and CEO in April 2003. In May of the same year, the provincial government enacted the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation Act, creating a permanent independent organization to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto’s waterfront.

The list of the directors of the board is now out of date. Find an updated list here: http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/governance/board_of_directors

PROJECTS

This section could do with some updating. There is much information about all the projects available here: http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/explore_projects

The topline overview for the entire revitalization project goes something like:

The total area being redeveloped is 800 hectares (1,977 acres), which translates into an area roughly the size of Toronto’s downtown core, from Bathurst Street to Sherbourne Avenue and Front Street to Bloor Street. Expected to take 25 years to complete, the revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront will create approximately 40,000 new residences and 40,000 new jobs. This will complement and leverage the attributes of our great city.

To put the size of the land area in perspective... that is approximately four times the size of the Principality of Monaco; approximately half the size of the city of London, UK; or approximately nine times the size of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York (USA).

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to list all the major projects? We have posted fact sheets on each of the individual project pages that could provide some additional detail, if there is a desire to expand this into a table of data.

COMPLETED

• Canada's Sugar Beach
• Corus Quay
• George Brown College (Waterfront Campus)
• Rees, Simcoe and Spadina Wavedecks
• Sherbourne Common
• Underpass Park

UNDER DEVELOPMENT

• Bayside Toronto
• Don River Park
• Monde Condominiums (formerly Parkside Development)
• Queens Quay Revitalization
• Underpass Park, Phase 2
• York Quay Revitalization

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

• Toronto 2015 Athletes' Village
• River City

You may additionally want to refer to the large number of articles we have collected in the Media Coverage section of our website, which may provide additional context and information (we catalogue both positive and negative media stories): http://news.waterfrontoronto.ca/media-coverage/

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

At the moment, this section relates to only one building. There are a number of other projects that are similarly illustrative of sustainable design in the larger waterfront revitalization project.

A number of sections of Waterfront Toronto’s website provide more information about this: http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/our_waterfront_vision/our_future_is_green

Notable projects with high-profile sustainabile design features include: Sherbourne Common Corus Quay George Brown College Waterfront Campus Monde Condominium Don River Park & Flood Protection Landform River City Development Underpass Park Stormwater Treatment System

All private developers that work on projects within the scope of Waterfront Toronto are required to deliver new buildings that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards.

CONTROVERSY OVER SPENDING

Please let me know if I can be of help to dig up a new source for this section... I notice the link is broken. I have conducted a number of Google News searches, as well as searches of the National Post's online archives, but to no avail. I have also looked through our own media coverage archives and can't find reference to this article. — Preceding Christopher.mckinnon (talk) 17:24, 5 February 2013 (UTC)