How chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat tried to stop the Scarborough subway
As the top bureaucrat announces her departure from city hall, the untold story of how she tried but failed to prevent what’s been called the city’s biggest transit “boondoggle” can be found in her email inbox
In the lead-up to a crucial vote during which city council flip-flopped on transit plans to approve a multibillion-dollar subway in Scarborough, Jennifer Keesmaat went on the warpath.
In July 2013, the progressive chief planner — whose departure after five years at the helm was
announced on Monday — was trying to make it known to anyone who would listen that a seven-stop light-rail line the province had already agreed to pay for, and the city had already approved, was still the better option.
Hundreds of pages of emails obtained by the Star through freedom of information requests over the past two years show how Keesmaat became the subway’s strongest critic on staff and tried — but ultimately failed — to prevent what some have called the biggest boondoggle of Toronto transit politics.
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She noted media reports that said TTC CEO Andy Byford was meeting Metrolinx officials to review the costs for proceeding with the subway following De Baeremaeker’s motion.
But Keesmaat was not convinced the subway should be built at all.
“As we have discussed, there are different opinions as to the validity/relevance of these motions,” Keesmaat wrote, referring to the re-opening of the debate.
“I am well aware of the issues,” Pennachetti responded, promising to convene a meeting of staff that day.
The next day, Keesmaat forwarded a proposed outline for the council report to Livey.
“This is the outline we are working with,” she wrote.
Importantly, the outline included an example of what the planning department believed should be recommended: “For the reasons presented, subway is not the preferred technology to meet the future planning and transportation vision for this part of the city.”
Several days later, Pennachetti asked a senior group of staff for further refinements to the draft report.
Keesmaat responded to that request to make a point: “The subway option DOES NOT make the list of (ten) priority projects when compared with other projects across the city.”
It was followed by a warning.
“The quickness of the turn around has meant that we are struggling with a rationale, fair means of assessment,” Keesmaat wrote.
Two days later, Keesmaat sent Byford an email with the subject line “LRT/Subway – URGENT.”
“It is my understanding that your support of a subway for Scarborough is based on the projected increase in ridership,” she began. “I would like a more fulsome understanding of (how) you attained this number.”
“I have not forecast more riders,” Byford responded. “We didn’t reopen this debate so (it’s) up to councillors to say if funds are available.”
The emails reference a ridership number that would soon appear in the final version of the July report.
Though earlier analysis estimated the number of subway rush-hour riders by 2031 would be 9,500. That number had suddenly grown to 14,000.
That number was rarely discussed in any emailed conversations obtained by the Star before that report was tabled.
But the increase came as a surprise to Keesmaat. She was unaware it had apparently come from her own planning department, not the TTC, as the final report would later state.
Keesmaat declined to comment for this story. When asked previously about this exchange, the chief planner admitted the analysis leading up to the July vote was both
“rushed” and “problematic”.
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