Gardiner Report for Council eyes only

[Greg29Toronto]

Gardiner report for council eyes only
Expressway's fate a political hot potato
Mayor doesn't want it to influence election

Sep. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM
VANESSA LU
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

They won't be burying the Gardiner Expressway anytime soon, but city hall will continue to bury a report recommending what to do with the roadway.

The report, considered a political hot potato and written by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. was submitted to the city in the summer of 2004.

It has never been publicly circulated and will now only be released to councillors.

Some critics say Toronto Mayor David Miller doesn't want to touch the issue in an election year, and that's why city staff have refused to release it.

Tearing down the Gardiner is politically unpalatable because tens of thousands of people who live outside Toronto use the roadway to get to work.

Making the commute more difficult could harm Toronto's downtown.

The Gardiner, which has been at capacity since the 1970s, carries some 200,000 cars a day.

But many urban planning experts argue the expressway is a serious threat to both the central harbour and downtown and stands as a roadblock to healthy waterfront development.

It's a contentious issue that needs to be publicly discussed, especially during an election year, said one councillor.

"I've been getting the runaround for months," said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who moved a motion yesterday at the planning and transportation committee to get the report to politicians by next Monday.

"They've been coming up with all sorts of excuses: they want to critique it, they want to check out the costing. Any old excuse will do to keep this buried," said Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East).

"I think it's really unfair during an election when we're supposed to be talking about meaningful issues, he said.

"There's no better time than now to have that debate."

Miller has been consistent in his position, saying that he doesn't believe the report should be released until the financing options are worked out.

That is not expected until the new year, long after the Nov. 13 election.

The Gardiner report, which cost about $1 million to do, also includes technical studies.

It outlines four possible options for the elevated downtown expressway including do nothing, take it down, take down part of it, or rebuild certain downtown area ramps.

It recommends taking it down east of Spadina Ave. and turning Lake Shore Blvd. into a gussied-up University Ave. Estimates suggest it would cost $500 million to take down that section of the Gardiner plus another $250 million for the Front St. extension.

Many experts agree that the extension is a key part of any plan to tear down the Gardiner.

The extension would curve down from Front St.'s current Bathurst St. terminus to link up with the Gardiner near Dufferin.

Simulations done at the University of Toronto have shown that taking down part of the Gardiner would add three or four minutes to the rush-hour commute.

EDIT: Corrected spelling mistake in subject heading

 

[billonlogan]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

Tearing down the Gardiner is one way to fire up the suburban voters, just like the island airport bridge did with downtown voters. Jane Pitfield said she'll make the Gardiner a key election issue. She believes the highway needs to be kept up. While Miller favours taking the highway down from about Yonge St. to the DVP. Throw in road tolls and we got ourselves a race.
It's just unfortunate the Mayor's race pits suburbanites against downtowners. Is there anyone out there than build consensus throughout the city and not just rely on certain power bases with narrow interests? Probably not, cause most people who vote municipal do so because of one or two issues that impact them the most and not who is best to lead.

 

[unimaginative2]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

The suburb-downtown war is massively overplayed by the media. Obviously it's barely true since Mayor Miller won and his supposed downtown powerbase is far smaller in population than Tory's suburban support. In reality, Miller did very well throughout the suburbs and even won some suburban wards.

I'd be extremely excited to see this report. Even though I benefit from the Gardiner's east-west connection through downtown, demolishing it from Spadina, if done right, would be a tremendous benefit to Toronto's downtown core. I think it's a bit of a shame that Miller isn't releasing it before the election. I think it would be a fantastic issue for debate, and I think that opposition would be far less monolithic in the suburbs than the media expects. Remember the road toll issue last campaign? As soon as Miller let that comment slip, all the media were up in arms saying that it would cost him every vote in the suburbs and that he could never get elected. It all died down in a couple days as they realized that people weren't actually that angry about it and tolls even had some support. Of course, burying the railway tracks would be far more useful (or even building over them around Spadina and the convention centre) but that's not even on the radar screen.

 

[borgos]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

The suburb-downtown war is massively overplayed by the media. Obviously it's barely true since Mayor Miller won and his supposed downtown powerbase is far smaller in population than Tory's suburban support. In reality, Miller did very well throughout the suburbs and even won some suburban wards.

You're absolutely correct. I was a scrutineer in Etobicoke in the last election. Tory won the polling station, but narrowly, in the single digits if I recall. That's a significant accomplishment if you keep in mind the extreme right wingers elected to council from Etobicoke. Telephone canvassing and going door-to-door, I learned that public opinion on issues such as highway tolls, the island airport and the gardiner is anything but monolithic.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

Keep the Gardiner - bury Lakeshore!

 

[bizorky]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

Too many suburban voters appear fixated on the idea that the Gardiner would vanish. It would simply be relocated - either on the surface, or partly burried. There is no way it could be turned into a little boulevard - not unless the whole thing is rebuilt from one end to the other, and that ain't gonna happen.

 

[prometheus the supremo]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

the gardiner isn't a barrier, it's more of an eye sore. as more condos get built, it will continue getting obscured from view. if you take it down, all those cars will end up on lakeshore and that will really be a barrier. the time to deal with the gardiner was years ago, it will take too much money to deal with it now and it's not worth it just for asthetics reasons.

 

[afransen TO]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

The Gardiner has to be dealt with one way or another. It won't last forever, and reconstructing it will become ever more expensive.

 

[esplanade guy]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

I'm for tearing it down and reconfiguring Lakeshore into something a little less harsh.

 

[roch5220]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

Its a sad day when a major issue gets avoided during an election, one as important as this.

But anyways, the former city of Toronto population is over 500,000. The people possibly getting screwed by the perception of tearing down the gardiner is mainly people in etobicoke. Yet most of the cars on the gardiner during rush hour are 905ers. Is it really a big 416 suburb issue?

 

[DarnDirtyApe]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

While I think tearing it down is a good idea, I think that the whole discussion tends to evoke a knee-jerk negative reaction from those who drive downtown, even if they don't use the Gardiner regularly.

I think it can be sold to the public if we have enough discussion and education, but unfortunately the confrontational nature of politics isn't very conducive to rational discussion of the issues. If Miller came out strongly in favour of dismantling a portion of the Gardiner, the right-leaning bloc would seize upon it as another example that he is anti-car and anti-suburb.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

From the Globe:

Dr. Gridlock
Secrecy surrounds report on the Gardiner

JEFF GRAY

It does not take a secret technical report to determine that tearing down and burying some of the elevated Gardiner Expressway would be monstrously expensive. What secrets could be left to tell about an idea that has been kicking around city hall for years?

Still, secret technical reports about the Gardiner's future, the current source of controversy at city hall, will remain secret, even from city councillors, for at least the next two weeks, the city clerk has ruled.

Clerk Ulli Watkiss wrote to councillors on the planning and transportation committee last week to tell them that these reports, commissioned by the Toronto Waterfront Development Corp. on behalf of the city, would remain secret until city council votes to release them, despite a demand from some councillors to see the documents.

And even if city council votes to allow councillors to see the documents in confidence at their Sept. 25 meeting, the reports will still not be made public, Ms. Watkiss ruled.

Critics of Mayor David Miller say the reports are being kept out of sight in order to keep the potentially explosive issue of demolishing the busy expressway off the agenda for the Nov. 13 election.

Ms. Watkiss justified the secrecy in her ruling by writing that since the documents are the work of the TWRC they contain "third party confidential information."

But Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Don Valley East) produced an e-mail from TWRC president and chief executive officer John Campbell to city waterfront official Elaine Baxter-Trahair that appears to contradict this.

In the e-mail, dated Aug. 2, Mr. Campbell writes that the reports have been handed over to the city: "It is therefore up to the city to decide on their distribution."

Jane Pitfield, the Don Valley West councillor trying to unseat Mr. Miller, who says she wants the expressway kept as it is for now, accused the mayor of trying to keep the issue quiet for the election.

"This is a huge issue," she said, adding that the thought of tearing down the Gardiner "horrifies" commuters and warning that the mayor "has the votes" on council to tear it down if he wishes.

"It's absolutely crucial that this is widely debated," Ms. Pitfield said. "We need to have it for the record what David Miller's plans are."

She believes that any decision on the Gardiner's future should be decided only by referendum, which she would hold in 2010 after a full public debate.

Ms. Pitfield did support the tearing down of the eastern section of the Gardiner, but said she has since talked to residents who complain the change has created gridlock.

Asked about the reports, the mayor defended the secrecy, saying there were still financial questions to be asked, such as how land values would be affected and how the project would be paid for.

"I can't take something to council that doesn't have a financial plan. I've asked some hard questions," he told reporters. ". . . I've said for several years that if we can take down the part of the Gardiner that's up in the vicinity of where the waterfront revitalization is, east of Yonge Street, it would be a great thing."

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[AlvinofDiaspar]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

And the Star:

Councillors irked as report on Gardiner suppressed again
Sep. 11, 2006. 01:00 AM
VANESSA LU
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

A long-suppressed report on the future of the Gardiner Expressway — which was supposed to be released today to councillors only — has hit yet another roadblock.

In a memo sent late Friday, city clerk Ulli Watkiss said the report will not be coming as planned because city council as a whole must decide on whether it can be released. The report is considered a political hot potato in an election year because of fears over the costs and concerns of altering the downtown expressway.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who moved the motion for the report's release at planning and transportation committee last week, called the move a blatant attempt to block information.

"These tactics to suppress and cover up the contents of the report are contrary to the type of government we're supposed to have at city hall," said Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East).

Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby argued that the public had a right to the information when it was originally submitted.

"I think a lot of politicians don't want to talk about it because (changing the Gardiner) will be a money pit," said Lindsay Luby (Ward 4, Etobicoke Centre).

Mayor David Miller has maintained that the report, which comes with a half-dozen technical studies, should not be debated until options on how to pay for recommendations are worked out. The report looks at the four options — do nothing, take it down, take down part of it and redo some of the ramps. The main recommendation reportedly calls for the expressway to come down east of Spadina.

The report was first delivered to the city in the summer of 2004 and all the technical studies submitted by 2005. The cost of the options range from $415 million to $1.5 billion, but do not include estimates for property acquisition, landscaping, portal and bridge enhancements as well as maintenance and operational costs.

Minnan-Wong said he's been told by Elaine Baxter-Trahair, the city's waterfront project director, that no councillor has read the reports, though Miller and deputy mayor Joe Pantalone have been briefed on the contents.

Minnan-Wong argues if one councillor has been given information about the report, then all councillors have the right to the same access.

In her memo, Watkiss cited the reason for not releasing the report today: the information "belongs to the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. and the release of third party confidential information to (council) members needs to be approved by council."

However, the waterfront agency, which is overseeing redevelopment, has repeatedly said it was commissioned to do the $1 million report plus technical studies. It argues the documents belong to the city, and it's up to the city to decide whether to release them.

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[AlvinofDiaspar]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

From the Star:

Councillors to get Gardiner report
But won't yet be available to the public
$1M document delivered to city in 2004
Donovan Vincent.
Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Sep 26, 2006. pg. E.8

(Copyright (c) 2006 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved. )

A long-awaited and long-withheld report on what should be done with the Gardiner Expressway is finally being released to city councillors.

But Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East) fell short yesterday in his bid to have the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. report made public.

During yesterday's council meeting, he sought to have time set aside to hear arguments on why the report, said to be several volumes long, should be released to the public.

Mayor David Miller suggested that a vote be taken releasing the report to councillors; Minnan-Wong agreed. After council approved that suggestion, he realized the vote meant the report couldn't be released publicly - only to councillors as a confidential document.

Minnan-Wong couldn't reopen the issue and the entire matter was over in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

"If I had the opportunity again, I probably would have held the item. I wasn't expecting the mayor to agree so quickly to have the report released ...," Minnan-Wong said.

Last night, a spokesperson for the mayor said a public version of the report would eventually be released but with sensitive information blacked out.

The report was first delivered to city staff in the summer of 2004, but Miller has said there are issues in the document dealing with land acquisition and financial matters that require it to remain confidential.

But some critics believe he doesn't want it released, especially so close to an election. Tearing down the Gardiner is a touchy issue, since so many people use the roadway to get into the downtown core.

Urban planning experts say it's a serious threat to the central harbour and downtown, and needs to disappear for the sake of developing the waterfront.

The $1 million report is said to outline options costing from $415 million to $1.5 billion on what to do with the elevated expressway. Options are said to include doing nothing, taking it down, taking down part of it, or rebuilding some ramps.

Credit: Toronto Star With files from Jim Byers and John Spears

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[AlvinofDiaspar]

Re: Gardiner Report for Coucil eyes only

And the Post:

Secret Gardiner report to be made public
Councillors given copies of document weeks before election

James Cowan, National Post
Published: Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Toronto city councillors have finally gained access to a report on demolishing the Gardiner Expressway that was withheld for two years, guaranteeing the highway's future will become an election issue.

The report from the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC) was handed to city staff in 2004. A set of follow-up technical studies were delivered a year later, but councillors never saw the documents because bureaucrats were still calculating the costs associated with the project.

With an election pending, council yesterday directed staff to make the report available to them as soon as possible.

"This report has been under lock and key for the past two years.... It is now in councillors' hands," Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said.

The public will also be able to read a version of the report this week. Information related to property acquisitions and other business matters will be excised from the public report because of confidentiality concerns.

Opponents have accused Mayor David Miller of suppressing the report. Rival mayoralty candidate Jane Pitfield has suggested Mr. Miller has a "secret agenda" to tear down the Gardiner, but did not want it exposed during campaign leading up to the Nov. 13 election.

Mr. Miller dismissed his opponent's claims yesterday, saying his views on the expressway are well known.

According to the Mayor, he would like to see the expressway levelled between Yonge Street and the Don River if the city can find the money.

"My position has never changed," Mr. Miller said. "I believe the portion affecting waterfront revitalization should be taken down, if it makes business sense."

He quickly added that he doubted the city had enough money to demolish the Gardiner anytime soon.

"You just can't conjure hundreds of millions of dollars out of thin air," he told reporters.

Mr. Miller supported the release of the report yesterday, but said it was "unusual" because staff members had not yet finished their work on the financial analysis.

The TWRC considered several possibilities for the future of the highway during the preparation of its report, ranging from leaving the road alone to refurbishing some of its ramps to demolishing the entire thing. Its final recommendations are rumoured to call for most of the expressway to be replaced by eight to 12 lanes of traffic on Lake Shore Boulevard with pedestrian crossings. The cost is estimated to be between $415-million and $750-million.

Ms. Pitfield said yesterday she believes the Gardiner must remain standing.

"It would be dangerous for pedestrians, and traffic would just move too slowly," she said. "For the money it would take to create that wide Lake Shore, the money would be much better spent on public transit across the entire city."

The city councillor said she believed a referendum should be held on the Gardiner's future during the 2010 municipal election.

"We need to reassure the residents and the businesses that the Gardiner is going to stay for four years," Ms. Pitfield said.

A representative for the CAA warned demolishing the expressway would also force traffic on to residential streets.

"People already complain that during high congestion times, they've got cars travelling down their streets," said Faye Lyons, a government relations specialist with the auto club.

jcowan@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2006

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