TTC
• Toronto’s Transit City slower, shorter [ Toronto Star ]
• Miller won’t support revised Metrolinx plan [ Globe & Mail ]
Mayoral Race
• Gloves off: Smitherman rips into Ford over gay comments [ Toronto Star ]
• Smitherman attacks Ford on gay comments [ National Post ]
• Smither attacks Ford over oppostion to AIDS funding [ Globe & Mail ]
• Proposal for new TTC headquarters draws flak [ Globe & Mail ]
Homes and Neighbourhoods
• Beach residents oppose 65-unit apartment development [ Toronto Star ]
• Sweet changes on the waterfront [ National Post ]
• Toronto home sales jump 34% in past year [ National Post ]
• Forgotten mailboxes stuffed to overflowing [ Toronto Sun
• Costly, crowded, crumbling: how Gen-Y’s see city [ National Post ]
• Survey reveals Generation Y’s pessimism on Toronto’s future [ Globe & Mail ]
Other News
• Parents put up school fight [ Toronto Star ]
• Cops target street racers [ Toronto Sun ]
8 comments
I get the feeling this HQ announcement is more about BuildToronto’s need to announce something than an imperative for TTC. Given the Yonge line is currently over capacity, it would make more sense to build a new HQ at Sheppard West Station on the Spadina Extension which has a limited catchment, or at Wilson which is already a major TTC node.
I also seem to remember the city discussing the need for a new building to accommodate its departments who lease space – why not put some of them in this building too, and build it higher?
Also:
Rogers Sportsnet anchor running for Toronto council [ Globe and Mail ]
Good to see a prominent TV personality, and not one you’d assume it of like Vaughan, looking to enter public service – let’s hope he has some substance too rather than just relying on Jennifer Hedger’s winning smile on the doorsteps! Ward 19 is shaping up to be an interesting contest if all the current candidates stay in.
BuildToronto has found that there is little market for what they are selling. So, like the Corus building, they they have become their own customers. Then they will point to it as a success.
I’m wondering if all these plans and promises about Transit City have any substance. I’m not talking about McGuinty’s recent ‘broken promise’ on funding, but if he can make a promise about funding over the next ten years even though he won’t be Premier then. I’m hoping someone with a better understanding of provincial government than I can clarify this. Can the current provincial government set up a 10-year funding program that future provincial governments will have to honour?
They could set up a trust fund a la the Spadina extension, but then they have debt on the books today, and they are trying to delay adding debt as long as possible.
I LOLed when I saw these next to one another. Survey comments vs. revealed preference anyone? I’ll trust the financial data on this question ANY time. . .
Costly, crowded, crumbling: how Gen-Y’s see city [ National Post ]
Toronto home sales jump 34% in past year [ National Post ]
The plan to build a new TTC HQ at York Mills illustrates what is wrong with the TTC – staff and management both. They have adopted the suburban, drive everywhere mentality themselves. They want somewhere they can drive to more easily from their far-flung 905 residences. And even though they get free passes they wouldn’t be caught dead riding the system if they can help it.
This is reflected in current expansion plans which neglect their core (so-to-speak) markets in favour of attenuating the system into the 905. They should stay put at Davisville or move further downtown, lest they forget what a streetcar looks like.
Cervantes, that sounds like an argument to build the HQ at or west of Humber Loop to me, so that they understand what their failure to manage the 501 means to people.