Ho Hum! More Transparency At City Hall

The city's super-secret trash bins

Experts to evaluate three proposals before citizens allowed to weigh in on new bus shelters, benches and other items
February 01, 2007
John Spears
Staff Reporter

The bids are in for a project to transform the look of Toronto's streets by redesigning every transit shelter, garbage bin and newspaper box on the sidewalk.

But you're not allowed to see them.

Three companies have bid for the massive job of placing more than 25,000 items of "street furniture" on Toronto sidewalks for the next 20 years.

They are: Astral Media, who supplied the information pillars at places including Nathan Phillips Square; a partnership headed by Clear Channel Outdoor; and CBS Outdoor Canada, formerly Viacom, which designed the existing bus shelters.

So what does all this stuff look like – the bins, bike racks, benches, bus shelters, even sidewalk washrooms?

That's not for the public to know yet.

Instead, a team of five design experts will review the submissions for the next two months and bring forward recommendations in March or April to council's executive committee.

A technical committee of city employees will also evaluate the bids to ensure they conform to rules outlined in the city's request for proposals.

For now, the city is following the policy adopted yesterday, when the bids closed and the contenders were formally announced in a city hall boardroom normally closed to the public. The bids were accompanied by large boxes – presumably models of the proposed designs – with the lids firmly closed.

Mayor David Miller said in an interview the public will have to wait for the experts.

I don't see one garbageman on the selection committee......