Mimico Linear Park, Phase I almost complete, Phase II needs to start

I attended the WATERFRONToronto board meeting yesterday where the big news was the tearing down of the Gardiner. I don't really need to talk about that too much because you can find the ink here:

• Gardiner’s days numbered (Toronto Sun)
• Gardiner inches closer to demolition (National Post)
• Assessment approved for Gardiner tear-down (Toronto Star)
• Board green-lights assessment of Gardiner plan (Globe and Mail)

To sum up: three to four years of talk in the EA process; another three to four years for execution; six to eight years from now when see the end results.

For me, the bigger news was the appearance of Counclillor Mark Grimes, MPP Laurel Broten and MP Michael Ignatieff who, together, appealed to the board to put Phase II of the Mimico linear park on to the top priority list of projects of WATERFRONToronto. Expected opening of Phase I is in the middle of July of this year which is, unfortunateley, too late for The Great Waterfront Trail Adventure!.

According to John Campbell, if the board decides that this is a priority then we could see Phase II completed in as little as two years! This would connect with, and extend, the Martin-Goodman trail just past the Mimico by-the-lake BIA and well into the Mimico community. It has the potential to transform the area, and some its little gems, into a great destination. Creating a longer waterfront park and trail, and by connecting more of our communities together with this, the whole park and trail system becomes more valuable to our entire city.

At the meeting yesterday, Sue Dabarno said. "We know that vision without execution is hallucination."
So, Sue, let's see some action!