In the face of a city councillor’s criticism, the head of Waterfront Toronto says spending close to $1 million to buy two giant rocks and 36 pink umbrellas for Sugar Beach was a prudent investment.

“What’s the big picture? Some people just can’t see the forest through the trees,” Waterfront Toronto president and CEO John Campbell said Thursday.

“It’s all about building a better city. Yes, you can pick a light pole here, an umbrella there, that’s really not the point. The point is we are delivering on our mandate to provide a great community . . . this is about revitalization.”

Parks and a public space such as Sugar Beach have helped lure development to Toronto’s waterfront, he added.

The price of Sugar

Tax revenues generated from waterfront revitalization and the $2.6 billion investment from developers have effectively paid back to the federal, provincial and city governments almost all of the $1.5 billion they provided to Waterfront Toronto, he said.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong is accusing Waterfront Toronto of wasting tax dollars when it paid $500,000 to purchase two “designer rocks” and about $12,000 each for three dozen pink umbrellas, “that look like they’re wearing out.”

The waterfront park on Queens Quay opened in 2010, but Minnan-Wong said he only just obtained the invoices, which he said he had to “rip out” of the agency.

“I get mad when we can’t improve parkland deficient areas and our tax dollars are being used to buy two rocks and a bunch of umbrellas for close to a million bucks,” Minnan-Wong said Thursday.

“We should be making it look nice, but it’s a question of value and it’s a question of transparency,” he said.

Campbell noted the umbrellas are not the kind you take to the beach. They are permanent “art structures” equipped with LED lights and designed to withstand the weather for decades. The rocks, which feature coloured stripes — in keeping with the park’s sugar theme — were chosen by the firm that won an international design competition “that was public,” Campbell said. He rejected Minnan-Wong’s suggestion the umbrellas need replacing.

Next week, the city’s executive committee will consider a report on the next phase of waterfront revitalization.

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The agency, established in 2003, is running out of money and is looking for additional funding for flood protection and transit, as well as asking the city for more borrowing powers for new projects, Campbell said.

Minnan-Wong, who sits on the committee, calls Waterfront Toronto “an expensive organization with lots of people with high-priced salaries and they’re anything but transparent.”

Campbell dismissed that as nonsense and invited the public to check out information posted on Waterfront Toronto’s website.

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