The future of a striking new building planned for Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market area offers a choice between bold urban vision and small-minded penny pinching. And, true to form, members of Mayor Rob Ford’s administration favour a dime-store approach — even at the cost of short-changing one of the city’s most historic and attractive neighbourhoods.

The structure in question is a new St. Lawrence Market North building at the corner of Front and Jarvis Sts., opposite the city’s landmark 19th-century market hall. What’s there now is a one-storey, run-down market building that looks more like a bunker than a public place.

Recognizing that the city could do far better in a district with more than 200 years of history — indeed, once the very heart of Toronto — councillors voted in 2010 to spend $75 million on a landmark new building. What’s envisioned is a five-storey structure holding market space, courtrooms and administration offices, a 250-space underground parking garage and a restaurant. Centred around a five-storey atrium, the imaginative design would greatly enhance the character of the St. Lawrence Market district.

But there’s a catch. Councillors on the government management committee learned last month that the project’s estimated cost had risen by about $17 million. And that prompted cheapskates on the panel to try and kill it even before a shovel goes in the ground. Luckily, a forward-thinking group led by Councillor Pam McConnell was able to block that attempt. The development’s future, and that of the St. Lawrence area, goes to city council next week.

Given the utter banality of the existing Market North building, this district’s historic character, its value as a tourist draw and the market’s role as a retail hub, it would be irresponsible to stop the proposed project. Its estimated price rose mainly due to inflation and unexpected costs for excavating the underground garage.

The bottom line here is that Canada’s largest and most affluent city can afford to spend $92 million — and even more, if necessary — on a signature building designed to enhance one of its premier public places. Of course, Councillor Doug Ford doesn’t think so. His proposed solution for a new courthouse, as reported by the Star’s Paul Moloney, is to find “empty, vacant land somewhere like the Port Lands and put a square box building in there.”

How’s that for a source of civic pride? How many tourists would that attract? And what would be their impression of the city, if they came?

Toronto needs protection from this “square box building” mentality if it’s to avoid slipping further into mediocrity. That’s important now, more than ever. The world is taking notice of this city. Tourism has surged. No thanks to the Ford administration, Toronto is enjoying a growing reputation as a place of architectural accomplishment. And National Geographic last year named St. Lawrence Market the best market on the planet. None of that came through penny-pinching.

But rather than building on what Toronto and the St. Lawrence Market area have already accomplished, some narrow-minded councillors want to pull the city back. They argue Canada’s sixth largest government just can’t afford to cover a $17-million cost increase on a major public project.

That’s nonsense. Toronto isn’t some struggling one-industry town forced to adopt thrift-store solutions because it can’t scratch together the cash for anything better. It is, however, burdened by a serious handicap — bargain-basement politicians, like Ford, whose urban vision doesn’t extend beyond the narrow confines of a balance sheet.

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