Haydain Neale, 1970–2009
Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
Transit City and Transit Cities
Rebuilding a Child's Paradise
Following-up on this morning’s news of a last-minute deal to save Toronto’s bid for the 2015 World’s Fair, it’s now being reported that Toronto’s bid for Expo 2015 (doesn’t have the same ring as Expo ’86, does it?) is dead in the water. Is this good news? Bad news? Are you indifferent about it? Would this have been a key cog in the revitalization of the waterfront? Was it worth a projected deficit of $700 million to $2.2 billion? Upset you wasted $200 bucks printing up "Toronto World's Fair 2015" t-shirts at Bang-on? What does everyone think?
Life is full of ‘what ifs?’ See the poster on the left? That could have been Toronto…
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Stop crying about it, you had your chance Toronto.
Crying? I really wasn't a fan of the project, so it's fine by me.
I would have liked to have seen this happen if only that it would kick start so much more... Motivating all three levels of government at the same time is a practical impossibility.
And yes, Sisyphus-like, we keep pushing.
As for crying about it... get a grip. These aren't tears. It's frustration.
Every time Toronto thinks there's a chance at an Expo bid, the waterfront development gets stalled in case it needs to accommodate the Expo, and every time Toronto is rejected. Also, every city that gets the Expo (Olympics too) hemorrhages money, spending significantly more than was budgeted for what is essentially a short-term ego boost and a temporary tourist influx. Good riddance.
Expos are totally retro these days anyway. We no longer need to line up for two hours to see the flying car of the future or experience traditional dances in themed pavilions. I blame all those noisy kids and their interweb machine computer drives.
while i am not usually for megaprojects and olympics and things, any chance to have people realize Toronto actually exists is a good one, in my opinion.
You need to realize that many Americans think Canada's largest city is Montréal, and if they are aware of Toronto, believe French is spoken here. We are doing an awful job of marketing ourselves and promoting awareness of our city compared to our neighbours in Québec.
I want a paper to use the headline "Toronto's Expo 86'ed"
Maybe that's too obscure....
I agree that Toronto's marketing efforts are excruciatingly inneffective considering both the talent and facilities that exist in our city. How many wide-angle photos of Casa Loma and casual shots of dinner at 360º do we have to see? Toronto needs a totally bad-ass, unique, gritty campaign like Las Vegas's brilliant "Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
I mean, we have a huge amount of corporate conferences and our hotels are always full, but speak to a tourist and they have absolutely no idea what they should be doing other than seeing the CN Tower and shopping at the Eaton Centre. Every hotel room should have a bound, city-sponsored directory that tells all these rowdy businessmen the direct path to the Brass Rail, every same-sex couple the way to city hall for a marriage license, every nudist to the ferry to Hanlan's Point, every recreationist to the amazing bike trails, and every visitor to a clear map of the transit system.
But, no. We bore tourists to death with talk about restaurants, the ballet, and whatever mediocre trap some sponsor has paid for. Montréal succeeds so well in this area because it's damn sexy and knows it.
Personally I have always thought we should really be promoting the Entertainment District as our major tourist draw. It regularly draws some of the world's finest musical talent and is licensed for 100,000 people in a 1km square that doesn't even include Guv, Muzik or the Docks.
Why, oh why, do the politicians and senior City staff insist on going for really really expensive things like the Olympics [proven to have bankrupted Montreal and Atlanta and did bad things for poor and homeless people in multiple cities] and Expo? Why bother? Don't they realize that if they simply upped the ante for our annual massive tourist attractions, Pride and Caribana, and put lots more attention and resources into the other festivals like Word on the Street, Asian Heritage Month, and maybe some raves and indie rock fests, we'll just attract more people than we would for the Olympics anyways? It's ridiculous from a fiscal perspective: you invest way more than you ever expect to recoup.
If the City instead earmarked the $4 billion for local tourist initiatives [and held a goodly chunk for developing really cool and interesting festivals that take place in horror of all horrors Scarborough and freakin' North York] we probably be able to double our investment in terms of tourist dollars earned. I say no more big name event crap like Expo or the Olympics. Let's have Toronto-made fun and games.
I nearly threw up when I read the coverage in this morning's Star, especially Royson James' piece. You'd think it was the end of the world, that the city will fall apart because we did not get an Expo.
I can't wait for the next harebrained megaproject, with full Star support.
I went to the Expo in Taejon South Korea (twice, in fact). It was nice. Yeah. But not a billion dollars nice.
We need to stop looking outwards for inspiration and acknowledgement and start building on what we already have for our own use and amusement.