[ssiguy2]

Tell that to the people of London, Lindasy, or Listowel who have to contribute atleast one third of all their infrastructure needs while Toronto get's a $8.2 billion cheque from Queen's Park and the only thing required from them is that they have to spend it.
Maybe Torontonians would get more value for their hard earned tax dollars and demand better accountability about these "cost estimates" if they had to put their one third contribution in.
It's easy to foot loose and fancy free with other people's money but when some of your own is on the line you demand better results and far more bang for the buck.

 

[nfitz]

Tell that to the people of London, Lindasy, or Listowel who have to contribute atleast one third of all their infrastructure needs while Toronto get's a $8.2 billion cheque from Queen's Park and the only thing required from them is that they have to spend it.

Hang on - I was up in Port Sydney recently, and I saw new sidewalks, parking lots, community centre additons, and I was told the money came 100% from the federal government. No municipal contribution required. The locals told me all the towns around there had gotten the same deal.

 

[origin]

Look at what streetcars did to St. Clair and the waterfront. Completely destroyed the communities. I pray that not one single bit of Transit City is built. Do it right the first time or don't do it at all. Subways all the way, 100%. Tear up the whole transit city document.

 

[sixrings]

Look at what streetcars did to St. Clair and the waterfront. Completely destroyed the communities. I pray that not one single bit of Transit City is built. Do it right the first time or don't do it at all. Subways all the way, 100%. Tear up the whole transit city document.

Origin, where do you live????

people can debate if St Clair ended up better or worse but I have never heard anyone say that the waterfront LRT destroyed the community.

 

[junctionist]

Streetcars provide the medium-capacity local transit needed on the waterfront and make it distinctly Torontonian, with a reliable underground link between Union Station and the ferry docks. St. Clair has never been more attractive, and it remains vibrant. The streetcar service has proven quite popular.

 

[JoeParez]

Streetcars provide the medium-capacity local transit needed on the waterfront and make it distinctly Torontonian, with a reliable underground link between Union Station and the ferry docks. St. Clair has never been more attractive, and it remains vibrant. The streetcar service has proven quite popular.

However, those who are upset with the way the construction went will always remain loud and vocal and unfortunately they are always the ones who are listened to. They will always say "it took too long/they screwed it up!" without mentioning how well it functions now and how the community has settled now that the ROW is in full operation.

 

[nfitz]

Look at what streetcars did to St. Clair and the waterfront.

I know, it's really helped the communites.

Completely destroyed the communities.

That's the most absurd thing I've ever read. Do you have any basis for this? Exactly what waterfront community existed before the 1980s? And given all the new condos, and new stores, opening on St. Clair - and increased transit ridership, I don't know how you could posibly say that.

I pray that not one single bit of Transit City is built.

Given that what you've stated is 100% wrong, demonstrating just how ignorant you are of this city, then it doesn't really matter what you pray about to whatever gods you believe in.

 

[Dan416]

Streetcars are great when they go where they belong: Spadina, the Harbourfront and St. Clair are all great streetcar routes.

Eglinton was always planned as an LRT, which meant a dedicated ROW, which there isn't space for in the centre. The Eglinton Crosstown LRT was always a compromise, but it was a decent compromise. Suggesting putting it all at-grade is ridiculous and a non-starter. I don't even know why we're discussing it, considering the idea came from almost universally reviled Christopher Hume--who is off more often than he's right, and he's definitely off on this one.

 

[Tulse]

Streetcars are great when they go where they belong: Spadina, the Harbourfront and St. Clair are all great streetcar routes.

They're LRT routes, not streetcar routes.

Suggesting putting it all at-grade is ridiculous and a non-starter. I don't even know why we're discussing it,

I agree that all at-grade is indeed silly. All-buried is perhaps more silly.

considering the idea came from almost universally reviled Christopher Hume

"Universally reviled" is a pretty absurd claim.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Streetcars are great when they go where they belong: Spadina, the Harbourfront and St. Clair are all great streetcar routes.

Eglinton was always planned as an LRT, which meant a dedicated ROW, which there isn't space for in the centre. The Eglinton Crosstown LRT was always a compromise, but it was a decent compromise. Suggesting putting it all at-grade is ridiculous and a non-starter. I don't even know why we're discussing it, considering the idea came from almost universally reviled Christopher Hume--who is off more often than he's right, and he's definitely off on this one.

Eglinton was always underground in the city of york. It was scarborough where it didn't make sense to have it underground.

I have to sort of agree it was too narrow, espcially in the former city

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=toron...=sMbkfzoFRJQJZX1RlBcmzw&cbp=12,254.74,,0,2.38
Avenue road.

 

[gweed123]

Looks like the shit is hitting the fan with Eglinton:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ity-on-eglinton-transit-plans/article2321427/

Honestly, Metrolinx needs to grow some balls here and just tell the TTC and Ford "You're incompetent. Your indecision over the past year has proven this. We are assuming full control of the project as of today."

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Well, it seems that is the theme of the day, and Stintz became roadkill.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article...row-ttc-chair-karen-stintz-under-the-bus?bn=1

http://stevemunro.ca/?p=5967

At least now know who among the TTC Commissioners are off their rockers (bolded for your convenience)

Karen Stintz, TTC Chair
Peter Milczyn, Vice-Chair
Maria Augimeri
Vincent Crisanti
Frank Di Giorgio
Norm Kelly
Denzil Minnan-Wong
Cesar Palacio
John Parker

re: Metrolinx

No offense, but they're foolish to sign an MOU with Fraud and not ask for council approval of such before proceeding. That suggests the lack of due diligence on their part.

AoD

 

[gweed123]

No offense, but they're foolish to sign an MOU with Fraud and not ask for council approval of such before proceeding. That suggests the lack of due diligence on their part.

AoD

It was non-binding, which means they can tell Ford to go take a hike anytime they want. It was done as a political move before the election to avoid giving Hudak any substantial ammo with it (instead he had to go with chain gangs and farmers who were pissed off at windmills).

I do give Stintz some big props though. She saw that Ford was being an idiot, so she thought for herself. Hopefully in the long run she gets rewarded for having to get herself thrown under the Short Bus driven by Ford & Co.

 

[Rainforest]

re: Metrolinx

No offense, but they're foolish to sign an MOU with Fraud and not ask for council approval of such before proceeding. That suggests the lack of due diligence on their part.

AoD

MOU was a very smart move on the part of Metrolinx, as it secured the continuation of design and construction work on the Eglinton project. Ford wanted to redirect the provincial dollars towards Sheppard subway. Although he would not be able to force the province to actually pay for the Sheppard, he could tell the TTC staff to stop all work on Eglinton and they would comply.

And we can debate the legality of such order all we want; the fact is that construction would be stalled for several months at minimum.

With MOU in place, design work continued on the western section of Eglinton (Black Creek to Yonge).

 

[Eug]

Wow. There goes Stintz's political aspirations.

As for Metrolinx, they've done the most logical thing in all of this. They signed a non-binding agreement that allowed them to continue work in the non-contested stretch. Now I almost wish they + McGuinty would just seize control and build the rest of the damn thing.