Rob Anders, Rob Ford & Frank Gehry

I read an article in the Globe and Mail about the proposed Frank Gehry projects set for King Street West in Toronto.  The article was generally positive and the angle was that the developer was asking for the moon and will settle for something less, but the project will likely go ahead. Then I read the comments from Globe readers. They are overwhelmingly negative towards the project.The comments come from two types of people, the usual Toronto haters from the hinterlands and the locals that hate change and lack vision. One comment was that Toronto will never be London or New York. You're right with people that block visionary buildings from the world's leading architect.

I live on King Street West, 1-kilometre west of this site. I have walked by the location hundreds of times. My favourite comments  from the naysayers is that they agree the box like slab structures they want to save are unremarkable. There are dozens of examples of the architecture on King St. alone. Check the King St buildings for 3 entire blocks west of Spadina.

As for the criticism about overcrowded streetcars, the buildings will be 100 metres from the subway system. The overwhelming majority of the residents will walk to work in the hundreds of office towers of the central business district  5-minutes from their building.

Calgary West MP Rob Anders, the sleepy ultra-conservative bigot and professional heckler is at it again.  He was the only MP a decade ago to deny Nelson Mandela a unanimous vote on an Honorary Citizenship. He called Mandela a terrorist and repeated his opinion after Mandela's death. The fact that Calgary West residents re-elect this man is a shameful reflection of their political position. The standard line is that we are electing a Conservative MP not the man. I'm a Liberal supporter and have voted for the NDP the last 4 federal elections because the Liberals ran a deeply flawed candidate, or his wife, in Trinity Spadina. If my party runs an asshole I vote for another party.

I never voted for Rob Ford and suspected that he was an buffoon prior to the last election. We will see next election if the citizens of Toronto will demand better from their mayor. If we re-elect Rob Ford then we are no better than the people in Calgary West.