Wednesday’s headlines

10 comments

1. To George Smitherman:

   Transit City – Announced without funding. City going it alone. McGuinty funds them in MoveOntario 2020. McGuinty announces funding for Finch W & Eglinton.

   Story sound familiar?

2. Er, that faulty fire hydrant does need to be repaired or it may be unusable in the event of a fire, but there’s no way it’s going to “explode”.

   There’s no pressure inside until the capstan nut (the one on top) is turned to let water flow into the hydrant, and out through the firehose that has been attached to it.

3. Is there anything more boring than political brinkmanship and does anyone actually believe that the provincial government is going to hang both Toronto and Thunder Bay out to dry?

   No, on both counts.

   Now that George Smitherman has displayed both his folksy wisdom and his “frustration” with David Miller and the Toronto as a whole, can he just give us the f’n money? Like he’s going to have to do anyway.

   Wake me up when he does.

4. George might be puzzled, but he’s not the only one.

   The Province announces funding for two Transit City lines, which is all great news. But what good are tracks on the street without cars to carry passengers ?

   Did they think the City or the Federal Government was going to pay for these cars ?

   Did the Province also assume that the lines would all get built and then the cars would be purchased (and tested) at a later date ? No, it only makes sense that when the lines are completed and opened, there should be LRV to run on them.

   Yes, Miller has too many priorities.

   But should he just wait forever for the senior level of governments to get around to actually making the money available ? The rails would have rusted over by then !

5. There is a certain familiarity to all this. The city spends and then wants others to pay. Renters, businesses, the Province, the Feds.

6. George Smitherman’s comments on the streetcar order need to be viewed from the lens of him being a potential mayoral candidate. On the surface he seems to be giving a big “screw you” to the city, but he may be more strategically trying to position himself as an anti-Miller…

7. “A streetcar named inspire”?… more like a “streetcar named perspire”..given the ‘sis boom bah’ tone of her stories, I really have doubts as to whether the Star’s transit reporter Tess Kalinowski actually uses transit.

   Interesting piece by the Star’s Joe Fiorito on the youtube tirade by Derek Ballantyne, former head of the Toronto Housing Corporation and new head of Build Toronto. Seems that Ballantyne is somewhat miffed by journalists who had the audacity to focus on THC’s dealings (or rather lack thereof) with a mentally unstable client who eventually died rather than the “good work” THC is doing.

   http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/626053

8. I have an idea for the crisis summit. Learn how Toronto managed to lose jobs while the surrounding regions gained them. Then do the opposite of Toronto.

9. Umm… it’s my understanding that the City is required to buy new streetcars in order to meet the Province’s accessibility guidelines? The ones we have now aren’t wheelchair-accessible and couldn’t be converted to be so at any reasonable price. Making the purchase now will barely get us the replacements before the deadline.

   Smitherman knows this. If he doesn’t want to pay, that’s fine. Give cities the power to levy a sales/income tax and get out of the way.

10. And yet there seems to be plenty of cash for Chrysler. Squeakier wheels?