[AlvinofDiaspar]

Not sure if we should even bother. "The fact of the matter is, I won the election" worked remarkably well. Let him stew in his own impotence and loss of prestige, however precious little of the latter there is left.

AoD

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

Anyone have an idea on how the future Kennedy Station will be positioned? How will the buses feed in and out of the future station?

 

[salsa]

Toronto Star: Cancelling the Scarborough LRT is costing the city of Toronto $75 million, money already spent on planning. What else could the city have spent that $75 million on?

1. Reduce TTC fares by 20 cents. (Based on how much money a fare increase brings in: The 10-cent increase would add $35 million to the 2016 TTC coffers.)

2. Serve daily breakfasts to about 1.7 million schoolchildren. (In 2014, the Student Nutrition Program fed 155,484 students for $7.071 million.)

3. Fund 29,216 child care subsidies. (Children's Services is projected to spend $64 million this year to provides 24,932 child-care fee subsidies.)

4. Hire 1,423 paramedics. (The 2015 operating budget figures $2.95 million will pay for 56 new paramedic positions.)

5. Plant 1 million trees. (At $75 a tree, the cost for the 32 per cent of city trees funded by property tax.)

6. Resurface 57.7 kilometres of roads. (An arterial road can be resurfaced for $1.3 million/Km, based on 2014 bids.)

7. Open 6,505 shelter beds. (The 2015 budget intends to spent $2.5 million to add 127 beds.)

 

[quicksilver]

Some of these costs are Bombardier penalties which makes me wonder does Toronto build in penalties when Bombardier fails to deliver. We have what 3 or 4 new streetcars when we're supposed to have 30 or 40. Shouldn't there be some offsetting going on?

 

[kEiThZ]

Toronto Star: Cancelling the Scarborough LRT is costing the city of Toronto $75 million, money already spent on planning. What else could the city have spent that $75 million on?

Where was the Toronto Star when the provincial Liberals wasted sums that were orders of magnitude higher?

I get that newspapers have a political bent to them. But this kind of blatant partisanship has stopped me from reading the Star. Let alone paying for it.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Where was the Toronto Star when the provincial Liberals wasted sums that were orders of magnitude higher?

Perhaps a provincial government less sensitive to the whims of local politics at election time would have done better than flip-flopping. Gas plant, subways, etc. You can't complain about and endorse the same kind of decision-making at the same time on the basis of whether it is beneficial to you.

That said, it's time to move on - the emphasis really should be on how to extract maximum benefit from BD extension and Smarttrack at this point.

AoD

 

[kEiThZ]

Some of these costs are Bombardier penalties which makes me wonder does Toronto build in penalties when Bombardier fails to deliver. We have what 3 or 4 new streetcars when we're supposed to have 30 or 40. Shouldn't there be some offsetting going on?

This is how Bombardier repays Toronto for the sole source contracts they get. Next time we buy transit vehicles, we should compete the contract.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Where was the Toronto Star when the provincial Liberals wasted sums that were orders of magnitude higher?

I get that newspapers have a political bent to them. But this kind of blatant partisanship has stopped me from reading the Star. Let alone paying for it.

The Star exposed the ORNGE and Gas Plant Scandals.

 

[nfitz]

Some of these costs are Bombardier penalties which makes me wonder does Toronto build in penalties when Bombardier fails to deliver. We have what 3 or 4 new streetcars when we're supposed to have 30 or 40. Shouldn't there be some offsetting going on?

None of the costs are Bombardier penalties. The 2013 estimate was of about $85 million plus whatever the Bombardier penalties would be.

The province has decided they can use the 48 LRV for the SRT elsewhere, so there will be no penalties.

The Star exposed the ORNGE and Gas Plant Scandals.

And has been all over the Sudbury thing to. Clearly the Start has an anti-Liberal bias. Along with their anti-Tory bias and anti-NDP bias (evidenced by their 7 years of anti-Miller editorials). Do you see the pattern?

 

[kEiThZ]

The Star exposed the ORNGE and Gas Plant Scandals.

Did they publish lists of what else the government could have done with the money?

Doing your job as a journalist, doesn't necessarily excuse crass partisanship.

 

[quicksilver]

I get that newspapers have a political bent to them. But this kind of blatant partisanship has stopped me from reading the Star. Let alone paying for it.

It's even worse over at Torstar Corp's community newspapers

York Guardian / David Nickle: "That $3.56 billion line will, unlike the provincially-funded light rail line, be funded by property tax increases totalling 1.5 per cent."

Well no, some $750M to 900M will be funded from increased taxes, another $150M or so from development charges and the rest by Ontario and Canada.

 

[Cobra]

Some of these costs are Bombardier penalties which makes me wonder does Toronto build in penalties when Bombardier fails to deliver. We have what 3 or 4 new streetcars when we're supposed to have 30 or 40. Shouldn't there be some offsetting going on?

You're spot on. The Bombardier part of the penalties should be waived

 

[Cobra]

Perhaps a provincial government less sensitive to the whims of local politics at election time would have done better than flip-flopping. Gas plant, subways, etc. You can't complain about and endorse the same kind of decision-making at the same time on the basis of whether it is beneficial to you.

That said, it's time to move on - the emphasis really should be on how to extract maximum benefit from BD extension and Smarttrack at this point.

AoD

Really??? Very poor choice of words if I may. Those scandals were far worse than a political flip flop on Scarborough subways

 

[Cobra]

None of the costs are Bombardier penalties. The 2013 estimate was of about $85 million plus whatever the Bombardier penalties would be.

The province has decided they can use the 48 LRV for the SRT elsewhere, so there will be no penalties.

Thanks nfitz, I stand corrected

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Really??? Very poor choice of words if I may. Those scandals were far worse than a political flip flop on Scarborough subways

The scale may differ, the rationale behind them does not. Contracts are signed and contracts are broken because of political pressure at election time when it is perfectly reasonable and serviceable to go ahead with them. You can't play this game of condemning one and encouraging another and came out as anything but inconsistent.

gweed:

Indeed - well, considering Smart Track is basically the SSRA report, and Wellington tunnel was envisioned in said report...

AoD