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rfmcdonaldI'd meant to share this news item before now.
Ford would like to fund the expansion by selling development rights to plots of land along the Sheppard line expansion. Whether this will work in the specific environment of centre-east Toronto is an important question.
After months of negotiations, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is finally getting his way: the Ontario government has bowed to pressure and will pay for a mostly buried Eglinton crosstown line.
“This is a great day for taxpayers,” Mr. Ford said. “I campaigned for nine months on a promise to build subways and today we are doing just that.”
The announcement for a $12.4-billion transit plan, made jointly by Premier Dalton McGuinty and Mr. Ford on Thursday, is the final nail in the coffin for the Transit City plan which would have meant four new rapid transit lines in the city.
Several of the mayor’s critics on city council railed that the Sheppard line would be “shafted” and the Finch Avenue struck off the list, calling it a “betrayal” of the public’s trust. But the premier gave no indication that he was frustrated that the shovel-ready transit vision he had already hammered out with former mayor David Miller was scrapped.
Smiling and posing for photographs with Mr. Ford on a train at the Wilson subway station, the premier looked at ease as the horn blasted twice.
“I know he and I share the same goal when it comes to public transit: We’ve got to get people moving,” Mr. McGuinty said, adding he was “pleased” the province and the municipal government have reached an agreement.
As far as the province is concerned, not much has changed with financing. Under the old and the new plan, the Ontario government agreed to put down $8.4-billion. The only difference is that province will now only pay for the Eglinton line and the cost of replacing the deteriorating Scarborough rapid transit line, instead of spreading the funds across four different lines.
Meanwhile, the city will shoulder the bill of a $4.2-billion expansion of the Sheppard subway from Scarborough Town Centre to Downsview station.
Ford would like to fund the expansion by selling development rights to plots of land along the Sheppard line expansion. Whether this will work in the specific environment of centre-east Toronto is an important question.
