{"id":52290,"date":"2015-06-25T10:30:33","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T14:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=52290"},"modified":"2015-06-25T10:30:33","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T14:30:33","slug":"gardiner-east-learned-stop-worrying-love-megacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/06\/25\/gardiner-east-learned-stop-worrying-love-megacity\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardiner East: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the\u00a0Megacity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0On Thursday, June 11, Toronto City Council voted to maintain the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway, endorsing the \u201chybrid\u201d option by a vote of 24-21. The previous vote, a motion to support the remove\/boulevard option, was defeated by a 19-26 vote. The two inconsistent votes were by Councillors Anthony Perruzza (Ward 8) and Rob Ford (Ward 2), who didn\u2019t like either of the two options on the table.<\/div>\n

Immediately after that vote,\u00a0I created the two maps below. The first shows the vote on whether to go with the less expensive option, to replace the East Gardiner with a boulevard. The second shows the final vote on the \u201chybrid\u201d option strongly supported by the mayor, despite all the evidence that maintaining that portion of the elevated freeway wasn\u2019t necessary. I shared these maps on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\n

\"TT
\nVote on the Remove\/Boulevard\u00a0option for the Gardiner East<\/em><\/p>\n

\"TT
\nVote on the \u201cHybrid\u201d option for the Gardiner East<\/em><\/p>\n

While all \u201cdowntown\u201d councillors, representing nearly all the former City of Toronto and much of East York\u00a0favoured the tear-down, it wasn\u2019t entirely an urban-suburban split.\u00a0Six councillors in Scarborough and North York, namely Paul Ainslie, Michael Thompson, Ron Moeser, Shelley Caroll, John Filion, and Maria Augimeri, voted for the Gardiner\u2019s removal. Eight (including Perruzza and Ford) voted against the Mayor, making the decision to go with the \u201cHybrid\u201d a close 24-21 vote, a blow to Tory\u2019s promise as a reasoned \u201cconsensus builder.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But almost as troubling as the vote, I soon started to notice mentions and replies to my Twitter feed calling for de-amalgamation. Here is a sample:<\/p>\n

\n

Eesh! Can we talk de-amalgamation? RT @Sean_YYZ<\/a>: Map of the#TOcouncil<\/a> vote on the fate of the #GardinerEast<\/a>#TOpoli<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/Thj4hYyemm<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 Sheryl Kirby (@sheryl_kirby) June 11, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Umm\u2026can we get a divorce? If ever proof was needed that this city post-amalgamation is a failure, here it is! https:\/\/t.co\/pbwjfMM8lF<\/a> \u2014 NaTck33 (@NaTck33) June 11, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hooray for amalgamation. https:\/\/t.co\/SWzcBPP6hN<\/a>\u2014 Cassandra Fulgham (@cfulgham) June 11, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These reactionary responses, while understandable, ignore some inconvenient truths.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget that\u00a0Gardiner Expressway, along with the Don Valley Parkway and the Allen Road (the completed section of the infamous Spadina Expressway), were built by Metropolitan Toronto, an upper-tier government that was created by the province in 1953\u00a0in order to accommodate and control Toronto\u2019s rapid growth. Its\u00a0boundaries were the same as those of the post-1997 City of Toronto.<\/p>\n

Metro Toronto was given the\u00a0responsibility for\u00a0many, including the TTC, all\u00a0major roads, ambulances, police, most of the city\u2019s\u00a0public housing, waste collection, and the administration of social services. Metro had its own system of parks separate from the lower-tier cities and boroughs, and its own divisive politics. The\u00a0Gardiner Expressway, one of Metro Toronto\u2019s first mega-projects, was\u00a0named for the first Chair of Metro Council, Frederick G. Gardiner. The old City of Toronto opposed Metro\u2019s Spadina Expressway plans; it was the Province of Ontario that stepped in to stop the controversial freeway at Eglinton Avenue.<\/p>\n

Had\u00a0Mike Harris\u2019 PC government wasn\u2019t elected in 1995 and the six cities and boroughs were\u00a0never amalgamated, it would be a Metropolitan Toronto\u00a0Council\u00a0deciding the Gardiner\u2019s fate, and we\u2019d probably still see the same urban\/suburban divide when it came to the final vote.<\/p>\n

The case for amalgamation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll come right out and say that the provincial government under Mike Harris made a terrible mistake when it decided, without warning, to amalgamate Metro and its six lower-tier municipalities into a megacity in 1997. Even though I lived in Brampton at the time,\u00a0I opposed Bill 103 when it was introduced and enacted in 1997.\u00a0But I think amalgamation\u00a0was a mistake because the process was rushed, it was steamrolled over the objections of almost every local politician and engaged citizen, and the motivations were politically suspect \u2013 a left-leaning City of Toronto, led by an NDP-allied mayor was overwhelmed by a more Conservative-friendly suburban population, with Mel Lastman as the first mayor.<\/p>\n

The first few years were painful as departments and agencies\u00a0were melded together. Mayor Lastman\u2019s property tax freezes did not help when the need for city services was growing. But what amalgamation\u00a0did do was provide taxation and service equity across Toronto. York, the poorest of the six lower-tier cities, did not even have a full-service recreation centre and had a relatively poor parks and library system. That all changed, and generally, for the better.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Public Library, which just opened its 100th branch<\/a>, is\u00a0the\u00a0the envy of library systems around the world. It is the second largest system in North America (after New York\u2019s) and has the highest circulation<\/a>. When its budget was threatened in 2011 in the early days of the Ford administration, they had to back off due to an overwhelming public campaign.<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/a><\/p>\n

New Scarborough Civic Centre Branch, photo by W Poon<\/em>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

I would argue that the TPL makes the best case for amalgamation. Before, each of the six cities had their own library systems, and the Toronto Reference Library was a separate entity. Library access and budgets were limited in some of the smaller systems, especially in York and East York. Amalgamation of the library system has created a more\u00a0equitable system that\u2019s the envy of the world. It has been expanding and renovating branches all across the city without any cries of regional favouritism. While the library system is still mostly a collection of reading materials, the TPL has adapted to the digital age, providing communal study spaces, media labs, new computer equipment and 3-D printers, and\u00a0access to vast digital resources through its website, including current periodicals.\u00a0The Toronto Public Library is something all Torontonians should be proud of.<\/p>\n

So yes, there will often be an urban\/suburban split on some issues, particularly on transportation items. I share the\u00a0frustration\u00a0after\u00a0last week\u2019s vote. We particularly need to elect a better council in 2018. And there always improvements that can be made to make this city work better for its diverse neighbourhoods, perhaps devolving more responsibilities to reformed community councils.<\/p>\n

But I have little time any more for calls for de-amalgamation. It won\u2019t change politics all that much. Let\u2019s focus on making this city work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cross-posted from Marshall’s Musings,<\/a> Sean’s personal blog<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0On Thursday, June 11, Toronto City Council voted to maintain the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway, endorsing the \u201chybrid\u201d option by a vote of 24-21. The previous vote, a motion to support the remove\/boulevard option, was defeated by a 19-26 vote. The two inconsistent votes were by Councillors Anthony PerruzzaContinue reading “Gardiner East: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the\u00a0Megacity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4030,"featured_media":52291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infrastructure","category-politics","category-waterfront"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGardiner East: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the\u00a0Megacity - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/06\/25\/gardiner-east-learned-stop-worrying-love-megacity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gardiner East: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the\u00a0Megacity - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0On Thursday, June 11, Toronto City Council voted to maintain the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway, endorsing the \u201chybrid\u201d option by a vote of 24-21. 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