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Friday’s Headlines

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• Recovery in 2010, councillors told [ National Post ]
• Vaughan mayor, husband charged [ Toronto Star ]
• Forgotten corners of city need spruce-up [ Toronto Star ]
• Kuitenbrouwer: Ondaatje breathes life into city landmark [ National Post ]
• Supplier angry it didn’t get chance to fix contract bids [ Toronto Star ]
• Island airport to be ‘revitalized,’ Porter says [ Toronto Star ]
• Shopping village makes history [ Toronto Sun ]

9 comments

  1. In the past I have been a fairly vocal supporter of the island airport. It’s a rare ideological divergence for someone that generally agrees with the viewpoint of this website and it’s writers.

    I still support the airport (I’m flying to Montreal on the fantastic Porter next week) but I realize that eventually, with continued successes, the airport may grow beyond something that can be sustained in the very core of the waterfront. As pleasant and convenient as it is to have a small airport downtown, I have no desire to have a mini-Kai Tak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Tak_Airport) in downtown Toronto. So I begin to wonder if someone can support the success of a Toronto business, the wonderful convenience of riding my bike to the airport and increased international access to our downtown without being an early supporter of a later problem?

    Even those of us that support the airport know we can’t trust the Toronto Harbour Commission to ensure it’s development is in the downtown’s best interest. But where the THC is feckless, the city (and our Twitter-addicted Mayor) is rudderless and seems to have chosen, in the face of defeat and public apathy, to ignore the airport.

    I don’t want to see jets landing on the island, I don’t want a flight landing every minute, but I also don’t want to see a good, local business killed because of NIMBYism; especially from those who otherwise live in an urban paradise.

    What’s a commuter to do?

  2. Brad Ross on twitter says:

    “bradTTC: TTC staff recommend Bombardier for 204 new low floor streetcars. #ttc”

  4. I know most people don’t really care about the school pool issue… but it is an issue that relates to what in many neighborhoods is (or can be turned into) significant infrastructure… The Star had an editorial on it today.

    http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/623510

  5. samg> I think people do care about the pools (it’s certainly a key grey area in the city — see our latest issue). The editorials don’t always come up in morning news searches is all — thank you for linking.

  6. Didn’t Bombardier make the current batch of streetcars that have shaken the roads to pieces, causing frequent and expensive repairs? They don’t seem to have lasted very long before being scrapped either.

    Accepting the lowest bid could be false economy unless Bombardier has improved its work a lot.

  7. Why is it so easy to find money for film studios but not for pools?

  8. @WG…where are you getting that from?

    The current streetcars were made by UTDC, a crown corporation set up to make new streetcars, the Scarborough RT and the H series subway cars. UTDC was bought by Lavalin, who was in turn bought by Bombardier. So your concerns about quality are unfounded.

    Furthermore, the CLRV has been operating since the late 70’s. Sure, it isn’t GM “fishbowl” bus kind of longevity, but 30 years isn’t something to scoff at either.

    Lastly, the damage to streets has been a combination of outdated rail construction as well as the very heavy cars. The new tracks that have been laid in the last few years are more durable than previous generations. Combine that with the lighting Flexity cars, and you’re likely to see less road damage and less frequent major repairs or replacements.

    If you want to know more about what’s really going on with the TTC, try this great website: http://transit.toronto.on.ca/

  9. I’m the GM fishbowls that are still around where built in the early 80s, while the CLRVs that are going to be replaced where built in the late 70s.

    It will be about ten years until the last CLRV is removed from service. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is longer. I don’t think the fishbowls are going to around that long.

    However streetcars are design to last a lot longer then buses, so the GM fishbowls have nothing to be ashamed of.