Somthing to watch for today: a court decision on whether to let construction of the St. Clair Right of Way to continue. In the Star today they sum it up like this:
A three-judge panel decision expected today will either allow the TTC to start as scheduled tomorrow to dig up parts of the road, or send city lawyers and councillors scrambling to find some way to save their much-touted $65 million project.
Opponents argued before a Divisional Court panel that the City of Toronto violated the provincial Planning Act by not amending its official plan to allow for “rapid transit” on St. Clair Ave. W.
Lawyers for the TTC and the city say there is no need to amend the official plan because the St. Clair project wasn’t “rapid transit,” but rather “surface transit improvement.”
If the building of this streetcar line is delayed by semantics, I think we should sue the Save Our St. Clair group. If the businesses that back SOS can’t get it through their heads that a dedicated transit line is good for their business as well, then they should get out of the ‘hood. Having lived along St. Calir for three years now and having used the route over 200 days of the year, I fully agree that an improved line will make life on that street much more livable, beautiful, and add a sense of sophistication to a commerical strip that has been spinning its wheels for over two decades.
