Mammoliti plan turns Gardiner into garden

By ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY

If he’s elected mayor, Giorgio Mammoliti would close a section of the Gardiner Expressway to all car traffic, replacing it with pedestrians, cyclists, transit and a park. And he would pay for all $1.3-billion of it through a combination of road tolls, parking fees and the proceeds from a floating casino in a cruise ship on the lake.

“It’s ambitious, but I think we can do it,” he said. “We’ve clearly lost sight of how we could potentially be managing [Toronto’s waterfront].”

Mr. Mammoliti’s four-year plan would split several kilometres of what’s now the Gardiner in half, replacing the highway with rapid transit, a park and infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

Funds would come from a cruise-ship casino, parking fees from new lots on the west and east ends of the city and from $2 road tolls – on a widened Lakeshore Boulevard and a Front Street extended west from Bathurst to Dufferin.

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