2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

[CN Tower]

Oh, yeah, CN, you're all about the children...

My children do not need free lunches. They need rapid transportation though and there is a payback on that investment.

It would be great to feed every person in this country who is in need. 24/7/365. Philanthropy is incredibly important. And clothe them. And educate them through post-secondary. And provide them all, 100% of them, with high paying jobs and vacations 6 weeks per year, and full medical and dental coverage. And free transportation. And everything else.

Sadly we do not have the resources to fund this utopian society that you want to have but not pay for.

An investment in rapid transit will go a long way towards helping people get to places in this city- like work!

 

[edmundoconnor]

An investment in rapid transit will go a long way towards helping people get to places in this city- like work!

It would go some of the way for a relatively small section of the population. Everyone else waiting for decent transit to get to their neck of the woods can apparently take a number. Some families benefit, the great majority don't. And for this the city has to pay taxes for 30 years?

 

[edmundoconnor]

This tweet and the first two replies are hilarious:
https://twitter.com/KarenStintz/status/445632612477194242

Karen Stintz: It seemed a good idea at the time.

 

[ehlow]

I really admire Tory's insistence that the DRL gets built. It's scoring major points for me, it could be the reason I vote for him, although there's still 8 months obviously.

 

[edmundoconnor]

I get the feeling that Tory is simply going wherever the political winds blow him to. His support for the DRL is less about principle, and more about expedience.

 

[CN Tower]

It would go some of the way for a relatively small section of the population. Everyone else waiting for decent transit to get to their neck of the woods can apparently take a number. Some families benefit, the great majority don't. And for this the city has to pay taxes for 30 years?

Edmund,

Hopefully the line will add to density along its route and therefore grow the number of the people that it services in addition to adding property tax revenue to the city. Certainly the current underground subway routes reflect that assumption.

 

[the lemur]

"Chow said last week that the relief line should be built "eventually." She has not laid out her transit priorities other than her signature current policy: cancelling the planned three-stop Scarborough subway extension, and related tax hike, and building the less expensive seven-stop light rail line that was originally planned."

That subway is critical to the continued growth of this city. Is should not be cancelled. Building underground rapid transit is the best investment of capital that this city could make in its future.

The 7-stop LRT could be built sooner with better use of existing funds instead of waiting even longer for a subway that need not even be underground.

 

[CN Tower]

Retracted. I am very sorry for the unintended misattribution.

 

[Tulse]

My children do not need free lunches.

So it goes from investing in "our" children to "my" children...

I'm delighted that your kids are well fed. Many kids in Canada are not. Surely making sure that kids in school have good meals, and thus learn better, is also an investment in the future? Don't you think that kids who aren't hungry are likely to do better in school, and thus increase their job prospects in the future, thus building the tax base to pay for all the transit you want to construct?

I don't understand how feeding kids in poverty is some sort of socialism, but using taxpayer money to pay for public transit is an "investment".

 

[ehlow]

Again, please retract your misattribution to me of the statement about co-ops.

The 7-stop LRT could be built sooner with better use of existing funds instead of waiting even longer for a subway that need not even be underground.

My main concern with switching back to the LRT is the 2.5 year shutdown required. What are your thoughts on that?

If I were someone who used the SRT currently, 2.5 years using a bus instead of the SRT would be brutal.

 

[edmundoconnor]

Edmund,

Hopefully the line will add to density along its route and therefore grow the number of the people that it services in addition to adding property tax revenue to the city. Certainly the current underground subway routes reflect that assumption.

The key word is "hopefully". If it doesn't (the Danforth has not grown substantially in terms of density since it opened), then the city is pouring millions in operating costs down the drain. For decades. Crossing your fingers that everything is going to turn out all right is not a sound plan.

 

[ehlow]

The key word is "hopefully". If it doesn't (the Danforth has not grown substantially in terms of density since it opened), then the city is pouring millions in operating costs down the drain. For decades. Crossing your fingers that everything is going to turn out all right is not a sound plan.

I thought the McCowan subway would get most of it's ridership from connecting bus routes anyways (and the Sheppard East LRT if it happens), like the SRT does.

 

[VTB]

I really admire Tory's insistence that the DRL gets built. It's scoring major points for me, it could be the reason I vote for him, although there's still 8 months obviously.

For myself, unless they lay out a realistic funding plan for it, all talk about DRL is just that.....talk. And for once I agree with RoFo, talk is cheap!)

 

[edmundoconnor]

People act as if a non-shutdown SRT will function perfectly fine. It hasn't in the past, and won't in the future. It is why it is being replaced, after all. It is fast reaching the end of its service life. Things give out. Circuits die. This will happen, but with no predictability as to timing. Day to day, passengers won't know if the SRT is going to be working tomorrow. Compare that to straight-up shutdown where the disruption will be constant but planned for.

 

[ehlow]

People act as if a non-shutdown SRT will function perfectly fine. It hasn't in the past, and won't in the future. It is why it is being replaced, after all. It is fast reaching the end of its service life. Things give out. Circuits die. This will happen, but with no predictability as to timing. Day to day, passengers won't know if the SRT is going to be working tomorrow. Compare that to straight-up shutdown where the disruption will be constant but planned for.

I thought the subway costs included some extra repair work to keep the SRT running. How unreliable is it now? I would think people would still prefer to have it running and breaking down occasionally than shut down for years.

Maybe they can run the buses that would've gone to STC or Lawrence East station to run to Kennedy station instead to make up for it if it's shut down.