Toronto Star

Most arts people would prefer to whistle stirring tunes of glory about the New Jerusalem they're building than talk about what went wrong on the last go-round. They're swept up in the excitement of their collective edifice complex, and understandably so. But maybe Toronto needs to spend a few solemn minutes listening to the sad song of the munching machine. That's the nickname for a big yellow demolition vehicle that for months has provided an arresting image for anyone walking or driving along Bloor St. W. Before the Royal Ontario Museum's great new Crystal addition can show its face, an ostentatious folly known as the Terrace Galleries — opened with much fanfare in 1982 — has to be removed by the munching machine. Sometimes it has a huge scissor-like attachment; sometimes it bears a drill suitable for pulverizing.