I find your incessant and blatant targeting of nearly all of your messages to John Tory disturbing. You're a one track mind on attacking him at every opportunity. Did John Tory run over your dog or something? Not to say I'm defending him or SmartTrack.
In hindsight I realize that I have posted more than my fair share of opinions about the mayor, and that at times I've been more harsh than necessary. I deeply care about this city, and after having lived through the Ford years I have lost all tolerance for bullshit.
Don't we WANT our politicians to compromise? Don't we WANT them to back away from campaign rhetoric? Rhetoric, I should say, that all parties of all stripes resort to during election campaigns. Don't we WANT them to solicit expert advise, listen to that advice, and then change their plans accordingly? Isn't that exactly what we are seeing now? (Again, the caveat is that Tory hasn't publicly vocalize support this compromise but all indications are that he will.)
Yes, I WANT him to do all of that, as he once promised. And then he went and did the exact opposite by pushing his Gardiner hybrid despite strong opposition by city staff. For some reason he fought against a staff-recommended homeowner loan program that would replace lead pipes at no cost to the city. The land transfer tax is the only reason the city's finances hasn't collapsed by now, but the mayor still insists on keeping taxes low despite all the warnings by the city manager. He said a lot of crap about the DRL even when called out for his lies by the chief planner, while steadfastly maintaining support for the Scarborough subway. I can give lots more examples but this is the SmartTrack thread, so lemme address that right now.
For all the time and resources that have gone into SmartTrack, there is a long list of planned transit projects that have long been on the books, been badly needed to reduce travel times and relieve congestion, but has not been afforded any attention by the Mayor's office. He could have picked any number of these projects to build, and all that shmoozing with Harper, Wynne and Trudeau could have secured funding for priority transit lines rather than hot air. SmartTrack was never about relieving the subway despite all the noise coming from the campaign. As Munro has said, SmartTrack is a real estate development scheme intended to enable commercial development in the 905, and somehow it became the job of Toronto taxpayers to shell out billions to do that. SmartTrack was inspired by a report created by an incompetent consulting firm that relies on outdated google maps images and claims that the market for downtown office space is dead. Since then, what has ensued to this day was a stunning display of bull-headed indifference to facts, pie in the sky financing and technical assumptions, and cavalier dismissal of any doubters that dared to question SmartTrack.
I don't know how you can say that the mayor listens to expert advice. He kept on clinging to his campaign talking points the entire time as if they were true, even though the SmartTrack reports are not done yet. Where is the expert advice that said SmartTrack is an acceptable substitute for the downtown relief line? Where is the expert advice that says tax increment financing is a viable funding mechanism? What kind of evidence-based transit plan requires a lobby group run by paid shills and political operatives to promote it using recycled campaign materials?
To paraphrase what Royson James recently wrote:
Rarely has a Toronto mayor promoted a transit project with such glee, vigour and surety - minus even a modicum of evidence that the line is needed, will attract riders and fit with other planned projects.
Here we have a reasonable and sound plan that not only allows Tory to save face and claim credit for driving forward (he deserves this because he is taking the mantle as as, but actually builds upon what the Province was planning for GO RER, ditches the worst and stupidest parts of SmartTrack, and will actually provide a very useful transit service... that even your bromance Gord Perk supports. We should all get behind this plan, fix the parts that are still problematic, and support a politician that knows how to change his mind..and then get on to pushing forward the next and essential project: the DRL.
Lets go back to that article for a moment:
Staff with the city and the regional transit agency Metrolinx have been working on how to integrate SmartTrack with plans to expand GO Transit rail service, and, according to sources and a draft government document, a revamped version of the plan is taking shape. Metrolinx staff are expected to recommend...
Please send your praise to the staff at the city and Metrolinx. They are the ones who have worked long and hard to finally dumb down the Dumbtrack and drag the mayor out of his little world of the make-believe. We still haven't heard anything from Tory about the new proposal, but at this point I fully expect him to finally move on only because he has no other choice. Regardless, the fact that it took this long to do so is utterly unacceptable.
If I were you I would wait until the plans are finalized before you call it "reasonable and sound". A lot could still change since there are many details to be worked out such as how to get service down to 5 min headways (which may require doubling or even quadrupling tracks), and how to pay for it. But for now it's a step in the right direction. If reason prevails I will give credit to mayor Tory at a later time, and only after he publicly retracts all the bunk he said about the DRL that he worked so hard to tarnish. When the reports come out, he needs to redeem himself by publicly retracting every false or misleading BS that he stuck to for so long. Enough with the hydro privatization stupidity and all those various "the private sector will pay for it" schemes that pretend to be free for taxpayers. Transportation in this city has become absolutely dysfunctional thanks to politics, so it's about time that our leaders get on with building transit that meets the needs of the city rather than the needs of developers and election campaigns.
