What do former mayoral candidates do with their free time? Just ask Giorgio Mammoliti about his giant pole
Giorgio Mammoliti has been quiet since his departure from the mayoral race, which is a shame: we’ll never forget his wacky YouTube videos teaching people how to pronounce his name, or his noble stand against retailers who wanted to stay open on Christmas. The good news is that Mammoliti hasn’t been sitting on his hands. No, his hands have been busy laying the groundwork for Toronto’s—nay, North America’s—largest flag pole. The pole erection has already been approved by the Emery Village BIA, and the city’s executive votes on Monday, according to the Globe and Mail.
Sandra Farina, executive director of the BIA, said the neighbourhood has slowly but steadily improved since Mr. Mammoliti helped create the country’s largest BIA in 2003. He led the charge to rezone some of the industrial land as residential and now developers are building, or planning to build, new neighbourhoods – including on the Finch West Mall site, Ms. Farina said.
Emery Village even got its Tim Horton’s back in 2007, she added.
“We’re trying so hard to revitalize the area,” she said. “We need public space. [The flagpole] would put us on the map.”
If the city approves it, the flagpole will be visible from the nearby Highway 400. Mammoliti and the BIA clearly hope that the world’s largest maple leaf, on North America’s largest flag, will lure people off the highway and into their neighbourhood. But aren’t we selling North York short here? At 125 metres, the pole in question will still be shorter than poles in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and North Korea. At the very least, Mammoliti’s legacy is secure: he’ll have put his ward in quite illustrious company
• Towering, $3.5-million flagpole planned for North York [Globe and Mail]
• Councillors to vote on gigantic flagpole [Toronto Sun]
