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Finch West Line 6 LRT

denfromoakvillemilton said:
If you ever get a chance to visit Melbourne, do it. Streetcars all over...and the residents love them.
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I would argue that residents here also love streetcars, and the vocal minority who live in the burbs would like to see them gone to make their drive easier. Although streetcars here would be much more easier to love if they were all on their own right-of-way.
 
scamander24 said:
I would argue that residents here also love streetcars, and the vocal minority who live in the burbs would like to see them gone to make their drive easier. Although streetcars here would be much more easier to love if they were all on their own right-of-way.
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It's more then a vocal minority. If it wasn't then Sheppard would be scrapped and that would be that. But imo the complaining. about the SRT and Finch.
 
pstogios said:
Full disclosure, I like John Tory and I will probably vote for him.

I used to listen to him on Newstalk 1010 all the time. I appreciated his common sense and his stance against the rhetorical, ideological, non-sensical stances held by Mayor McCrackey and others on that side of the political spectrum. On the radio, and for that matter in his work with Civic Action, he advocated for transit modes appropriate for the setting, and that mean LRT when LRT was warranted, subway when that was warranted.

And so this stance against the Finch and Sheppard LRT's is not the John Tory that I liked on the radio, and the John Tory that I was super-excited when I heard he was running for Mayor. This makes me think this is the "John Tory for Mayor", or the "John Tory controlled by his campaign/Nick Kouvalis", and not the Newstalk 1010 John Tory. He has to be against LRT, or at least not support them strongly, because (unfortunately) that's what the prevailing culture is with conservatives in Toronto. Sad, but true. He's saying this to win.

Having said that, the John Tory I know from the radio was also willing to change his stance according to expert opinion and sober after-thought. This makes me think that if he becomes Mayor, the pandering for the anti-LRT vote may be dropped. If council re-affirms their support for the LRT's, which they strongly have supported in the past, I think he will too. If Tory can get Smarttrack/RER with his idea of a revenue tool prioritized, he would accept the LRT's and a down-payment on starting the DRL. Let's not forget, the city has to rally behind some kind of revenue tool that will support the LRT's, Smarttrack/DRL, whatever, to complement the provincial $15B contribution to GTHA transit.

Anyway, my point is, I think we may see a different, more reasonable and compromising Mayor Tory than Candidate Tory that has to speak out against LRT in order to steal Ford voters. I'm not convinced that Tory will stick to everything he is pledging in the campaign -- it's debatable whether this is a good quality (not stubborn, willing to compromise) or not (flip/flopper).
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I used to listen to John Tory on the radio too, and I liked how he'd listen to every opinion and give it it's due consideration, even if was a bit wacky (given many of the callers in for talk radio). However, that being said, it's a bit dangerous to vote for someone assuming that what they're going to do is different from saying what they're going to do. The danger is that you're attracted to his personality, and you're projecting your views onto him because you want to believe that he's too reasonable/thoughtful/awesome to not be in total agreement with your opinions. This is the kind of thinking that allowed Ford Nation to believe everything Ford says, because they "relate" to him on some personal level.

I like John Tory, but I can't vote for him in good faith based on his platform.

As for city council pushing back on LRT: the mayor largely determines the direction of city council (if Mayor Ford had put his ridiculous subway plan to a vote at the beginning of his term he probably would have had it approved) so expecting pushback from council on LRTs is wishful.
 
aquateam said:
I used to listen to John Tory on the radio too, and I liked how he'd listen to every opinion and give it it's due consideration, even if was a bit wacky (given many of the callers in for talk radio). However, that being said, it's a bit dangerous to vote for someone assuming that what they're going to do is different from saying what they're going to do. The danger is that you're attracted to his personality, and you're projecting your views onto him because you want to believe that he's too reasonable/thoughtful/awesome to not be in total agreement with your opinions. This is the kind of thinking that allowed Ford Nation to believe everything Ford says, because they "relate" to him on some personal level.

I like John Tory, but I can't vote for him in good faith based on his platform.

As for city council pushing back on LRT: the mayor largely determines the direction of city council (if Mayor Ford had put his ridiculous subway plan to a vote at the beginning of his term he probably would have had it approved) so expecting pushback from council on LRTs is wishful.
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You make some good points and many that I disagree with.

In every election, we vote for the candidate the not only best fits what we believe is good policy, but also that we believe is of good character and capable of making wise governing decisions. It's rare to vote for a candidate that we agree with on all policy. For example, I think there are many aspects of John Tory's platform that are smart, but also much that is wrong. The same goes for Olivia Chow. At the end of the day, we have to chose the "lesser of all evils" or the candidate that *best* fits our value set, and then there is a leap of faith that when they govern they will stick to the principles they voiced in the campaign. It's just how it is.

John Tory's balance of financial prudence, social progressivism, leadership skills, speaking/orator skills, experience, and overall common sense make him very appealing to me.

Yes his platform has holes. All the candidate's platforms do. But I trust him the most based on his overall package.

And one last point about wishful thinking that council will stand up for LRTs--did that exact thing not happen in the last council? Karen Stintz became a hero of transit, then she jumped on the Scarborough subway thing and botched it up. It happened once and it can happen again.
 
Why does Tory need to have a "discussion" with Metrolinx? This project is already approved. Get to building it already. There's no need for interference and there's nothing to discuss.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
Tory support the LRTs again
https://twitter.com/jpags/status/500007006225584128

There were some questions about Tory's stance on Sheppard and Finch LRTs. Tory reiterates they will be built but not one of his priorities.
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I interpret this to mean: he won't ask for them to be cancelled or anything if elected, but it's not part of his campaign message. (He won't talk about or defend them during the election)

It's not up to the city anymore anyways to decide when to build them it's all Metrolinx.
 
ehlow said:
I interpret this to mean: he won't ask for them to be cancelled or anything if elected, but it's not part of his campaign message. (He won't talk about or defend them during the election)

It's not up to the city anymore anyways to decide when to build them it's all Metrolinx.
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This would be the best case scenario.
 
ehlow said:
I interpret this to mean: he won't ask for them to be cancelled or anything if elected, but it's not part of his campaign message. (He won't talk about or defend them during the election)

It's not up to the city anymore anyways to decide when to build them it's all Metrolinx.
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That certainly makes sense. He's purposely avoiding talking about the LRTs so that he doesn't scare people back under the Ford tent. And by staying silent on them/not coming out against them, he's not pushing away pro-LRT people.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
I guess the only person the anti-LRTers have to vote for is Ford.
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The best chance for those who wanted to cancel the LRTs is already gone, in my opinion. It was the provincial election with Hudak promising to cancel them.

I think the next biggest threat is whether progress happens to actually start construction in 2016 & 2017, or it gets delayed even more, which is up to Metrolinx & the province.

Based on this thing from a month ago though:
http://www.metrolinx.com/en/project...nprojects/20140709_finch_west_open_house.aspx

Metrolinx is moving forward with it, and it does seem like contract awarded & construction start in 2016, with design work starting now.
 
I'm not anticipating any further delays. Tory's comments have cleared FWLRT & SELRT of their final large hurdle.

The only potential stumbling block is a provincial by-election in ridings that the LRTs pass through. If we make it through the next two years without any by-elections in those risings, then the SELRT and FWLRT will be 100% safe.
 
I'm very glad to see that Tory is on board with Miller's pro LRT/anti subway conspiracy. Sheppard Subway is [almost] dead, long live Sheppard East Light Rail Transit!
 
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