Ford's way sending Toronto on downward spiral

Christopher Hume, Opinion, The Toronto Star:

As the Core Services Sideshow grinds to its foregone conclusion, it’s clear Mayor Rob Ford is less interested in slashing costs than slashing government.

Now in its second week, the spectacle unfolding at City Hall is almost entirely divorced from reality at this point. The script, carefully prepared by the efficiency experts, offers alternatives, not recommendations. This is just Act One.

Though even the bean counters have found waste hard to come by, Ford himself continues to see it everywhere he turns: As recently as last week he was telling a radio talk-show host that “There’s tons of gravy.”

By coincidence, one of Waterfront Toronto’s newest jewels, Sherbourne Common, has just opened. It cost something like $28 million, which, the Fordians will insist, is way too much for a park.

But that’s only a small part of the story: In addition to being a fantastic new amenity that will attract visitors to this long-neglected corner at Sherbourne St. and Queens Quay, it is a major water-treatment facility. It will service the tens of thousands of residents expected to move into the area in the coming years.

Finally, the Common has created economic and civic value. Land that was overlooked, underused or even unused has now become attractive. The waterfront is evolving into a place where people will choose to live, work, play and pay taxes.

In this way, development worth more than $1.5 billion has been generated on the Toronto waterfront, with much more to come.