Hamish Wilson stood at the entrance to the Harbourfront Brigantine Room politely greeting people who were attending the Toronto Waterfront's Revitalization Corporation's (TWRC) Update Meeting on November 25th, 2003. He was handing out a leaflet which questioned the planned spending of $245 million on the Front Street Extension Project and proposed spending the money on transit instead. Hamish is a west end Toronto cycling activist. One of his goals is getting better bike routes in the central west core. Another is the cancelling of the Front Street Extension which he sees as an example of 'dumb growth'. Hamish has attended many public meetings and made many deputations at council committees When time came for questions at the TWRC meeting, as at all the other meetings, Hamish made his argument and asked his question. What was different this time was that he got a favourable answer.

Robert Fung, the chairman of the TWRC, did not, as expected, defend the project that his organization is mandated to do by the City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada. Instead he said that he was asking the three governments for redirection on the project. This was very strong diplomatic language from essentially an employee of these three governments. Later in the week he made comments to the Globe and Mail that were even stronger. Front Street extension too costly, Fung says.(Globe and Mail - Nov. 28/03). He was quoted as saying that the project should be slowed down and put on hold. The reasons he gave were the escalating cost of the project and the fact that this project was supposed to be done in conjunction with taking down the Gardiner Expressway. The decision on what to do with the Gardiner has not been taken.

There is no direct connection between this project and cycling, save that provisions for bike lanes were included in it. It does provide for an interesting comparison however. The City of Toronto's contribution to this 2 kilometre road, $81 million dollars, is more than the cost to build the entire 1,000 kilometre Bikeway Network proposed in the Toronto Bike Plan. Last year when the works budget for Bikeway Network projects was cut in half from 1.5 million to $800,000, the budget estimate for the Front Street Extension increased from $140 million to $245 million. The last Mayor and Council was forging ahead with this project in spite of the growing cost and the change in plans on dismantling the Gardiner. Perhaps the new Mayor and Council will take the opportunity suggested by Mr. Fung and reconsider this project and redirect the funds to projects that will help to realize the goal of reducing car dependence in Toronto that is outlined in the city's Official Plan.