On the eve of Toronto City Council’s first day of budget talks, more than 100 public transit advocates met at Nathan Phillips Square to hash out a plan to save Transit City.
Activist Dave Meslin and city councillors Mike Layton, Gord Perks, Paula Fletcher, Sarah Doucette, Janet Davis and Pam McConnell were among those at a Sunday rally urging residents to keep fighting for the light-rail plan, which is not supported by Mayor Rob Ford.
This Saturday, the group plans to target three neighbourhoods whose councillors are reportedly undecided on the issue – Finch Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West and Eglinton Avenue East. They will urge TTC riders to tell councillors Michelle Berardinetti (Scarborough Southwest), Frank Di Giorgio (York South-Weston) and John Filion (Willowdale) that they believe rapid transit is essential to increasing prosperity in their wards.
Meant to be former mayor David Miller’s legacy project, Transit City includes seven light-rail lines and five dedicated bus lanes in the outer reaches of the city, where often-packed buses running on limited schedules are the norm. It would bring rapid transit to more than 630,000 Torontonians at a cost of $111 million per kilometre, according to Sunday’s demonstrators. More than $130 million has already been spent on the project.
“For those of us who live in the suburbs, Transit City seemed like a dream come true,” rally organizer Gabriel Nicolau told the shivering but focused crowd on Sunday. “That was before we woke up to the nightmare of Rob Ford.”
Ford swept to power in the October municipal election on a promise to eliminate the supposed “war on the car,” saying he would move public transit underground and axe the vehicle registration tax. Ford’s transitplan would see the Sheppard subway line extended to meet the Bloor-Danforth line, creating a loop and replacing the Scarborough LRT. It would benefit a reported 61,000 people at a cost of $344 million per kilometre. His administration has voiced some support for keeping one of the planned light-rail routes, the Eglinton Avenue Crosstown line, because much of it is planned to be below street level.
Many who stood to gain from Transit City live in low-income areas and don’t own vehicles, noted Coun. Vaughan, who represents the downtown ward of Trinity-Spadina.
“People in these priority neighbourhoods didn’t get $60 back with the cancellation of the vehicle registration tax,” Vaughan told Sunday’s crowd. “Streetcars predate the automobile in this city. It’s not ‘the war on the car’ -- it’s the other way around.”
To Coun. Perks, a plan like Transit City is necessary to prevent a growing fiscal divide between areas that have easy access to the TTC and those that do not.
“Every decade, the neighbourhoods that don’t have good public transit fall further and further behind,” said Perks, who represents Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park). “We don’t want two cities, we want one city where all of us belong.”
During the first day of budget meetings on Monday, city staff presented a proposal that would increase TTC fares by $0.10 and reduce service on nearly 50 routes. The fare increase was needed to balance the budget after Ford declared a freeze on property taxes, said city manager Joe Pennachetti.
The city’s budget meetings are expected to take up to two weeks.
To find out how to participate in Saturday’s campaign, join the Save Transit City Facebook group or email organizer Patrick Shorter at patrickshorter@gmail.com.
