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In the last few years Toronto has gone from being one of the top places in the world to live in and visit, to not being able to crack the top ten of places to either live in or visit in North America. This is something that I have particular trouble with. On the surface it may not seem to be such a big deal to us in Toronto, but to someone in a foreign country that has maybe two or three weeks a year to travel and vacation these surveys are a death kiss to the future of our city. What can we do to make Toronto a better place to live in or locate a business and at the same time become a more desirable place to visit? I would not support spending money on advertising agencies and logo designers to attract tourists.
I would ask directly the citizens of Toronto through a written and web based forum for their comments and ideas and I would give the most common ones priority consideration. If we need a new logo I would ask the citizens of Toronto to submit design proposals and choose one of those.
To make the city more visually appealing I would invite proposals from local companies and community associations for cost reduced community enhancement initiatives. Such proposals could include green roof projects, landscaping and graffiti removal on a smaller scale.
On a larger scale I would like to see businesses and corporations divert an annual portion of their advertising budgets from traditional media to community sponsorship programs. Imagine one less flyer in the blue box every year could become the equivalent of one new park bench, bus shelter or ambulance.
I will work towards ridding the city of all hazardous waste yards and hazardous waste recycling centers located in close proximity to residential or tourist areas of the city over the next four to eight years.
I would consider using a tax incentive to encourage property owners of brown space lots to make them more appealing and maintain them until sale or redevelopment, while at the same time I would increase the enforcement and reach of the legislation to deal with ongoing problem sites.
This new citizen-corporate commitment could go a long way toward correcting some of the problems that have led to our existing sorry state of appearance. When we feel better about our Toronto we will be far more proud to show it off.
There must be a direct link to Pearson International Airport and I promise to pay special attention to this issue to make sure that all of the options are on the table and that the best one for the citizens of Toronto is the one that gets the green light.
To help tourists see more of our great city I suggest the creation of a Toronto Tourist Card. This card would offer for a specified time period admission to a combination of choices for local attractions like The C.N. Tower, The R.O.M., Science Centre, Ontario Place, Casa Loma, The A.G.O., Metro Zoo, etc., for a single fee.
"The future starts today, not tomorrow."
Pope John Paul II