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Karen Stintz: Memo to incoming TTC chair

nfitz said:
The way things have gone, you've either won all of Scarborough, Etobicoke, and North York - or you win none.

So generally you need to win Scarborough to win, unless we get an issue that really separates Etobicoke vs Scarborough.
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I don;t belive it nor buy it. Who ever wins in old Toronto decides who mayor is. And the inner suburbs such as North York (south of the 401 ) are unlikely to vote for Ford.
 
Swarley said:
Pretty sure we just witnessed the unofficial start to her 2014 mayoral campaign. While I didn't like her when she first became prominent a couple years ago, I'm definitely coming around to her. I think Toronto could really use a centrist mayor who knows the meaning of a compromise after all this useless partisan bickering.
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This is how I wished that Karen Stinz had handled the special council meeting last Wednesday (or preferably 6 months ago):

Members of council, in March 2011, the Mayor and the Premier signed a memorandum to built the Eglinton LRT as an underground transit line, with some above ground portions. In the year since this was signed, TTC, Metrolinx and our Consultant have explored options that satisfy the spirit of this memo. There are of course cost implications to this change and the TTC board requests a decision from City Council before we proceed. Here is a summary of the cost differences from the original Transit City proposal.

Laird to Don Mills.

Underground
$50M: deeper stations at Laird.
$150M: tunnelling.
$150M: station at Leslie.
$150M deeper station at Don Mills
$500M: total extra.

South Side Alignment:
$10M: new bridge over Don River West.
$40M: twin tunnels through railway embankment.
$5M: reconfigure Celesitica ramps to Diamond interchange.
($5M): less cost for side of road tracks.
($30M): less cost for underground Don Mills station in Science centre parking lot.
$20M: total extra

There is a benefit for having this section grade separated for when Don Mills LRT opens, and transit volumes between Don Mills and Yonge would be increased - trains could short turn at Don Mills instead of Laird.

Don Mills to Bermondsey

Underground
$100M: station at Ferrand.
$200M: tunnelling.
$200M: station at Wynford.
$100M: station at Bermondsey.
$600M: total extra.

Elevated Alignment:

$25M: station at Ferrand at/near surface.
$100M: elevated track.
$50M: station at Wynford.
$25M: station at Bermondsey.
$200M: total extra.

There is a benefit for having this stretch grade separated to ease traffic disruptions at the DVP by avoiding the loss of traffic lanes.

Bermondsey to Kennedy

Underground
$600M: 6 stations.
$500M: tunnelling.
$1100M: total extra.

Elevated Alignment:

$250M: 6 stations.
$200M: elevated track.
$450M: total extra.

Benefit of grade separation is if a continuous line is desired from STC to Yonge with the resulting higher transit volumes. Grade separated in this section would only make sense if it is done in the other sections as well.

Kennedy to STC

Underground
Although this stretch is built at-grade or elevated, underground on the other portions would result in the line only being built to McCowan at this time.

Elevated
This stretch is built at-grade and extended elevated. If the remaining portions of the line were built as elevated, funding would be adequate to build the line to Sheppard.

Vehicles

HRT and ICTS vehicles could also be considered. Since the LRT is already ordered, the cost to switch vehicles is expected to cancel out any saving from using these less expensive vehicles. If ICTS is used, it is expected that $300M could be saved on retrofitting the existing SRT line, and the construction closure could be cut in half. The line could have heaters installed, or be covered with a Plexiglas roof for about $150M to improve performance in winter. When the line is extended, it would have to be grade separated and not at-grade median, however it is quite possible that grade separated would be desired along the extension routes.

My fellow councillors, now that you have the facts and figures, I would like a decision on how to proceed for the Eglinton line.

(Note: costs are my opinion, but I think Metrolinx, TTC, or the consultant could easily have determined costs within +/-20%)
 
Swarley said:
Pretty sure we just witnessed the unofficial start to her 2014 mayoral campaign. While I didn't like her when she first became prominent a couple years ago, I'm definitely coming around to her. I think Toronto could really use a centrist mayor who knows the meaning of a compromise after all this useless partisan bickering.
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This is what actually happened.

My fellow councillors, the Mayor and the Premier signed a memorandum to built the Eglinton LRT as a (mostly) underground transit line. TTC has done nothing to pursue this in the past year and I have waited for the Mayor and his supporters on Council to be either weakened, busy with contract negotiations, or on vacation. I now ask you to choose between the original Transit City proposal for Eglinton, or a fully underground line that is estimated to cost $2B more, and would preclude building any other transit projects.
 
BurlOak said:
This is what actually happened.

My fellow councillors, the Mayor and the Premier signed a memorandum to built the Eglinton LRT as a (mostly) underground transit line. TTC has done nothing to pursue this in the past year and I have waited for the Mayor and his supporters on Council to be either weakened, busy with contract negotiations, or on vacation. I now ask you to choose between the original Transit City proposal for Eglinton, or a fully underground line that is estimated to cost $2B more, and would preclude building any other transit projects.
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Rob Ford had a full year to bring it to council for approval. He didn't, and as a result, the TTC could not legally proceed with designing the mayor's plan.

Even his former press secretary has criticized Ford for not bringing it to council when he had the chance. I fail to see why you are blaming Stintz here. It is Rob Ford's incompetence and bungling that lead to the turn-around.
 
nfitz said:
Rob Ford had a full year to bring it to council for approval. He didn't, and as a result, the TTC could not legally proceed with designing the mayor's plan.

Even his former press secretary has criticized Ford for not bringing it to council when he had the chance. I fail to see why you are blaming Stintz here. It is Rob Ford's incompetence and bungling that lead to the turn-around.
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No doubt that Ford bungled it.

It wasn't just Ford's decision, he had a large mandate from the voters for building subways. I thought the Metrolinx-Ford memo left enough vague that the TTC could explore other less costly options to create a grade-separated transit line. They could have done some simple esitmates on several options - if Council still agreed with current Transit City plan with that additional information available, I would have been much happier. If the only thing on the table was underground, they could have discovered mid-last year that it was too expensive - so why the extra delay. Maybe I just no not buy that Ford had such an iron grip on the City until January of this year.
 
TTC don't operate on its' own - it's directed by the Commission, which is stocked with Ford loyalists. Everybody knew the MOU would lead to a situation where there are no funds left (other than in his' worship's imagination) for any other line. Buying into anything or not is not necessary - the fact of the matter is a) the MOU stipulated that the matter has to be brought before council for approval; b) Ford chose not do so and c) he was forced to consider the matter by a petition. Who else is there to blame but the mayor himself?

And what mandate? You make it sound as if we have a strong mayor system, which we don't - besides, it is highly questionable as to whether he got elected because he promised subways (with no way to pay for it) or he promised to eliminate gravy/sock the unions, etc. Either way, the process by which he lost this file is legitimate and legal, and that's the end of that.

AoD
 
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I don't recall Ford campaigning on a massive expansion of the subway system, but rather on no more surface rail, which is totally different. The issue was "ending the War on Cars (tm)", and not improving mass transit. The notion that Ford campaigned as passionate advocate for subways is an absurd claim that is now made only in retrospect.
 
And I would like to reiterate - in his original scheme - there isn't even anything for Eglinton, and when asked about that, his answer was "there isn't enough money". Such is the commitment on improving transit - until Metrolinx insisted upon it.

AoD
 
Rob Ford does not like talking with people who are not yes-women. Karen Stintz has been CC'ing Rob Ford on the newstand discussion, but he still does not play well with others.

See Karen's letter to the TTC commissioners, cc'ing to her blog, at this link.

[Below is the text of a letter I sent to TTC Commissioners today. Karen.]


Dear Commissioners:

By now, you should have received an “unconditional†offer from International News, submitted at 8:00 pm yesterday evening, with respect to operating the newsstands within the subway system. I learned about this proposal at 9:45 PM last evening through the media, and reviewed it for the first time this morning.

While the proposal claims to be unconditional the terms of the proposal are very unclear, since the current leases do not expire until 2014 at the earliest.

I cannot explain why this proposal was not submitted over the course of the last four months when this issue was before the Commission; however, I believe that it should be reviewed in the interest of fairness and transparency. I will be asking TTC staff to conduct a third-party review of the International News proposal against the Gateway proposal and to provide a briefing note to the Commissioners before the next meeting. This third-party review should include commentary from legal and real-estate experts and will evaluate the terms of each proposal for value-for-money, the current relationship each tenant has with its respective landlord(s), and the customer-service impact on the TTC.

If you feel there are other components regarding this issue which need to be covered by such a third-party review please forward them to me.

I feel strongly that this review be conducted by a third-party since TTC staff have been inconsistent in their recommendations to the Commission.

I also believe very strongly that this issue has become a distraction to the good work that is going on at the TTC. This needs to end. Andy Byford agrees with me.

This review, I believe, will still demonstrate that the Tobmar/Gateway lease extension proposal is very solid. It makes enormous business sense to extend leases for good tenants when the rents are increased by 67%. This is not a sole-source contract. It is a lease-extension and a very common practice throughout the TTC, the City and its Agency, Boards and Commissions where there is a landlord-tenant relationship.

For the record, the Mayor has yet to contact me on this issue.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

Karen Stintz
TTC Chair & City Councillor for
Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence
City of Toronto​
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^when you are the market (is there someone else out there that is running a subway and renting out newsstands as part of that) how do you determine that the rents are "above market"?

The fact that one other operator has stepped forward and said they'd pay more if given the chance makes it even harder to understand.
 
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I feel for Stintz. It's almost like she set herself up to be blindsided by the mudslinging politics of the Ford Bros. cc:'ing the Mayor's office on a contract extension like this without getting a crystal clear indication the Mayor was on side was like sharpening the knife and putting a target on her back.

The fact that the Fordites could get a contract (even if it's a bit of a sham) out of a competitor in so short a time means she was out of some loop -- either the Mayor's office was getting set to gun for her, or the TTC committee/staff should have had a much clearer indication there were very interested competitive bids ready to be submitted.

Given my antipathy for Ford, I'm siding with the 'gunning for Stintz' meme.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
I feel for Stintz. It's almost like she set herself up to be blindsided by the mudslinging politics of the Ford Bros. cc:'ing the Mayor's office on a contract extension like this without getting a crystal clear indication the Mayor was on side was like sharpening the knife and putting a target on her back.

The fact that the Fordites could get a contract (even if it's a bit of a sham) out of a competitor in so short a time means she was out of some loop -- either the Mayor's office was getting set to gun for her, or the TTC committee/staff should have had a much clearer indication there were very interested competitive bids ready to be submitted.

Given my antipathy for Ford, I'm siding with the 'gunning for Stintz' meme.
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If you remove the whole "Toronto politics" drama though.....do you really think that International News would not have been aware that a bunch of lucrative leases on news stands in subways were coming up for renewal in 2014? If they new that (given that's the business their in) don't you think they would have been preparing a bid in anticipation of some sort of call for bids?

I am actually surprised that only one other bid has come forward....but that probably speaks to the consolidation in that industry more than anything.
 
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