Is this a sign that things are winding down for Mayor David Miller?
Today we newsmedia dutifully gathered in Toronto City Hall’s member’s lounge – a spot behind the council chamber used for news conferences and announcements – to learn about the first development from the private sector to break ground in the East Bayfront.
Media gathered, along with Waterfront Toronto honchos and people from the Great Gulf Group, to hear Miller and architect Moshe Safdie taok about the innovative mixed use development.
Abruptly, about ten minutes after it was called, the event got the axe.
Miller’s point-person on waterfront development John Piper delivered the news, with a somber yet colloquial apology: “We screwed up.”
The screw-up? The development is before Toronto Council, which started its meeting just a few hours before – and hopes that the mayor’s office held that it would be approved without debate were dashed by none other than Rob Ford, who held the matter for discussion at some point later in the meeting.
Rob Ford – Toronto Council’s number-one contrarian – apparently took the mayor’s office and everyone else completely by surprise by doing so. And according to Piper, the mayor felt it would be inappropriate to present the project just a few dozen feet away from Toronto Council’s meeting place, while the item was still under discussion.
To paraphrase Indiana Jones: It sure looks like they’re making it up as they go.