Planning and Growth and the TTC

The following is a brief report from TTC rider Jacob L. on the City's recent Planning and Growth Management committee meeting.

The meeting included two separate motions requesting information on how to improve public transit on Finch Ave West and Sheppard Ave East, now that Mayor Ford and Metrolinx have moved away from the planned Finch West and Sheppard East Light Rail Transit lines.

For more information on the specific motions, both of which were ultimately referred to the TTC, and the Planning and Growth Management Committee you can visit this previous TTCriders post. Here is Jacob's recap of the meeting:

Motion 1 on Sheppard Ave East: Consideration of improved transit along Sheppard Avenue East (not covered by Ford's subway plan) would be deferred until a plan on implementing the Sheppard Subway exists.

Deputants on this item expressed disappointment and frustration upon realising that the Sheppard Subway implementation wouldn't work as Mayor Ford had promised.

Committee member and TTC Chair Councillor Karen Stintz's remarks that there would be no cost to the City in cancelling Transit City and that Transit City was not funded drew many questions. When asked whether she truly believed that there would be zero costs to the City from the cancelling of Transit City, Stintz's responded "There's absolutely no question that we wouldn't be where we are today had it not been for the work on Transit City." Asked again, Stintz diverted blame to Queens Park in saying "It was the Province's decision to cancel." Reminded that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Metrolinx, Premier McGuinty and Mayor Ford clearly stated that the City would assume any sunk/penalty costs in these cancellations, Stintz responded that "It hasn't been determined whether there are costs."

In the midst of this dead end conversation, it was revealed that no cost, density, or funding study or implementation plan has been made for the Sheppard Subway. However, road tolls were out of the question.

Requests by Councillor Raymond Cho to include a concrete time-frame for a Sheppard Subway transit plan to return to the Commission were repeatedly shot down by Committee Chair Councillor Peter Milczyn and by Councillor Stintz.

Committee member and Councillor Adam Vaughan brought up several important points:

That development could actually increase traffic congestion if not planned for.
We cannot assume that new residents moving in new developments would use the subway, as some commute to other parts of the GTA not served by the subway.

Motion 2 on Finch West: Consideration of improved transit along Finch Avenue West would be deferred until the TTC gets around to recommending solutions for Finch.

Deputant Celia Smith of the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre pointed out that:

People are not always aware that subways require massive development (people campaigning on subways did a poor job explaining this impact).
Many of Ford's supporters (including herself) were not aware that Ford would pursue the cancellation of the Finch Ave LRT. In fact, they assumed the LRT would happen regardless of the election.
It would be a broken promise to the local residents if the Finch LRT were to be cancelled.

Toward the end of her deputation Smith was asked to comment on the fact that the cancellation of the Finch West LRT would not be voted by Councillors. "If Councillors have no say, then why do we vote for them?" Smith responded.

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Not only did Jacob L. draft this report for TTCriders.ca, he also volunteered his time and made a thoughtful deputation to the Planning and Growth Management Committee on Monday May 30th. Thanks again Jacob!!!

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