12 July 2007
Roundhouse Rally Demands Rail Museum
John Street Toronto Ontario - The movement to derail a
deal that will turn half of the CPR John Street Roundhouse, a national historic site next to the CN Tower, into a furniture store got
up a head of steam yesterday as two former senior Toronto politicians and a rookie councillor hopped on board.
Councillor Adam Vaughan told a rally in front of the roundhouse that he will introduce a motion at next week's
city-council meeting to put an end to negotiations between Leon's Furniture and State Development Corp., which is
subleasing the space from the city.
Signalling that the roundhouse could blossom into one of those city-defining causes that occasionally engulf Toronto
politics, Mr. Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) has rounded up some formidable backers: former mayor David Crombie,
Toronto Blue Jays president and former Metro chairman Paul Godfrey, and entertainment-industry heavyweights.
"It seems to me the best use for the roundhouse would be a Canadian museum celebrating the railway. The railway has played such a
major role in this country," Mr. Godfrey said in an interview.
"It would fit into the natural tourism area - the Air Canada Centre, the CN Tower, Rogers Centre. It seems to me that [a railway
museum] should be ultimately considered as a possible use for it," Mr. Godfrey added.
Mr. Crombie, who chaired the rally, said a number of people are concerned that the city is moving in a direction that will no longer
allow it to have a museum to show railway history, and they have formed a group known as Friends of the Roundhouse to fight the lease.
He told reporters he is bothered by the secretive nature of the lease deal, which he had no idea was in the works, even though he
follows heritage matters closely.
Jim Aldridge, chairman of the Toronto District Entertainment Association, said the entertainment businesses in the area "have come
to me and said: "We really don't know what is happening down at the roundhouse. It seems that the mixed-use idea that
has come about through the newspaper doesn't seem quite right to us."
"They have all indicated to me that it is not about Leon's necessarily. It is about an open way of discussing how we can best
preserve this national historic space.
"It seems that, somehow or other, the city has decided behind closed doors that this is what is going to happen, instead of having
an open and consultative process where everybody can get involved and be the caretakers of Toronto's and Canada's history."
Mr. Vaughan said a rail museum "is not just technology or the engineering feats. It is the story of much of Toronto and of the
country. ...When we turn our back on our history, we turn our back on our heritage buildings. We turn our back on those
stories."
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