"Art and culture is lived at a very neighbourhood level and this is going to allow truth to that,
and allow it to evolve in very creative ways"

Joe Mihevc
TorStar Jan 31, 2007
WTF?

ARTSCAPE PROJECT JUST KEEPS ON ROLLING

UNDER THE RADAR

Faced with this Staff Report..

....."there are several important financial and development issues that render the proposal unacceptable in its current form." (Commissioner Economic Development,Culture and Tourism Staff Report June 30, 2003)

Sept.. 4'03: Mihevc bought the project another 14 months at the Administration Committee by making an Artscape a "partner" with the City for the purposes of investigating the leveraging funds from other levels of government and requiring another report to be issued Dec '04. Notably he originally floated '05 as the deadline, but cooler heads prevailed. Get used to the war zone barnscape. It will be unchanged for the forseeable future. Votes, for: Miller Johnston, Ashton, Soknacki. against: Nunziata, Sutherland, Holyday

"...the Artscape proposal would impose material financial and other responsibilities on the City and therefore staff are not prepared to recommend acceptance of the proposal in its current form." (Commissioner Economic Development,Culture and Tourism Staff Report June 30, 2003)

July 2,'03: Though the Councillor had an alibi (junket in Milan) the Artscape Barns file was "walked" onto the agenda without prior notice. This highly irregular manoevre is usually reserved for pressing matters like say, SARS, and perhaps it was used here to contain the contagion of opposition to the dubious scheme. During the morning session, the matter was deferred until September's meeting. During the afternoon session, after critics had left, Mayoral candidate Miller re-opened the issue and in effect had the committee accept the report.

Feb '03: At deadline for RFP submissions, quelle surprise, only Artscape bid on the narrowly defined project

Nov 29 '02 The Barns Project passed Council at 1am at its Nov meeting and yes it did pass with a 2/3'd majority of those with the endurance to sit through a 14 hour meeting. Suffice it to say that after a dozen Councillors absented themselves, Councillor Mihevc was able to marshall a strict party line vote but what he did not do was adhere to the high ethical principles that he claims to maintain. One might have expected that the Wychwood Barns arguments would ebb & flow leading to a reasoned and acceptable decision. In this case, invented time constraints & ambition precluded debate & as a result, the Wychwood Barns Project was rammed into an unwilling neighbourhood.


The reason that Council was in the position of beginning debate on the Barns at 1 a.m. was that Councillor Mihevc in league with Commissioner Halstead had deemed the issue "time critical". What was so critical about the Barns & their disposition? Mr Halstead offered only the crypic phrase "debate in the community". Observers might then conclude that in the world of the always inclusive Chair of the Ethics Committee, a reasonable response to debate in the community is the stifling of it.