Giant Ferris Wheel

TopFashion has been covering the story of how Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug want to dump ten years of planning and the results of an international competition to rebuild the portlands for a megamall, a monorail and a giant ferris wheel. It is a local story with a larger lesson: What happens when a militant anti transit/pro-car, anti-urban/pro-sprawl government tries to overturn every green move of the last decade.
Today Eric Miller of the Cities Centre, Richard Florida of the Martin Prosperity Institute, Richard Sommer of the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Paul Bedford, former Chief Planner, and 148 other planners, urbanists, designers and academics shot back with a devastating letter where they write:

"we are extremely concerned that recent proposals to radically alter plans and development control for the Lower Don Landsare ill-conceived, reckless, and, if adopted, will result in irrevocable harm to the City."

Anyone who cares about process, about urbanism and about building cities will be impressed with this carefully crafted shot across the bows.