Rob Ford fails to derail light rail lines

Mayor Rob Ford wend down swinging, saying again that people want subways, not LRT. However, Toronto City Council endorsed the $8.4 million master plan to build four LRT lines by a 30 to 11 margin.

Toronto Sun story at:
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/01/ford-defied-more-toronto-light-rail

By ,City Hall Bureau Chief

First posted:Thursday, November 01, 2012 08:20

CrosstownThe Crosstown is a 19-kilometre light rail transit line that will run under and along Eglinton Ave. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun)

TORONTOAi??-Ai??Against Mayor Rob Fordai??i??s wishes, city council overwhelmingly approved the master agreement to build four light rail lines in Toronto.

Before council voted 30 to 11 to endorse the master agreement and lock in the $8.4 billion construction of the four light rail line projects on Eglinton, Sheppard, Finch and the Scarborough RT, Ford went down swinging – or at least shouting – for subways and slamming LRTs as ai???streetcars.ai???

ai???This is not what the taxpayers want in the city,ai??? Ford told council after returning from coaching his high school football game Thursday.

ai???This goes back to day one, streetcars against subways. You want to support this contract? Youai??i??re supporting streetcars, LRTs, whatever you want to call them – thatai??i??s the bottom line.ai???

ai???People do not want these (LRTs) they want subways. We said it over and over and over again. This is going to be another decisive debate on subways or the people in Scarborough get nothing. They do not want these LRTs.ai???

A fired-up Ford told councillors it was ai???not too late.ai???

ai???Stop heckling. The people of this city have spoken loud and clear in Etobicoke, in North York, in Scarborough, they want subways,ai??? he said. ai???You support this, youai??i??re supporting more congestion, streetcars that people do not want, massive gridlock.

ai???This is terrible. This is the worst thing we could be approving today. It is absolutely appalling that we can bring this to the floor of council and disrespect every taxpayer in this city.ai???

Some of the mayorai??i??s allies pushed for the agreement to have been deferred to hammer out more details.

ai???This is the worst poison pill for the taxpayers of this city,ai??? Ford shouted.

TTC chair Karen Stintz said if council had stopped the agreement it would have prevented the $8.4 billion from being spent.

ai???If we decided to defer or vote it now then we would have not been able to implement the $8.4 billion investment in the city of Toronto,ai??? Stintz said. ai???I received a note from the (provincial) ministerai??i??s staff saying if we deferred this item the province would consider the city not serious about the $8.4 billion investment in transit.ai???

Councillor Joe Mihevc slammed Ford and his allies for trying to ai???rally their forcesai??? to try to scuttle the transit deal.

ai???That would have killed (the) Eglinton (Crosstown), it would have killed Sheppard, it would have killed Finch, it would have killed the SRT,ai??? Mihevc said. ai???It was an afternoon of ragging the puck.ai???

Mihevc called Fordai??i??s last minute power-play to try to derail the transit deal ai???the height of mayoralty irresponsibility.ai???

ai???They were going to let $8.4 billion get away from them of investment in the city of Toronto for public transit,ai??? he said.

What a ******Ai?? Ford is, typical of most politicians; full of hot air & ****

Comments

One Response to “Rob Ford fails to derail light rail lines”
  1. Justin Bernard says:

    I live in Toronto, and that fat idiot Rob Ford does not speak for Torontonians. We do not want suburban subways. We already built one, it’s a white elephant. I cannot stand Conservative who think they have a mandate to pursue their idiotic agenda. Toronto is looking forward to the LRT lines, and the one subway we want(the DRL) Rob Ford isn’t even interested in. This is a great example where politicians should just stay out of transit issues.