Toronto Ontario Line 3 | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx

Random observation: On social media I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think that the Ontario Line is some sort of modern reincarnation of the Scarbrough RT. I've seen comments in the vein of "we don't need another stupid RT line" on various posts over the past few months. Seems that many members of the public heard that the OL uses smaller trains, and jumped to the conclusion that this was the same tech as the SRT.
 
It's because the line was Ford's idea. It's the same partisan thing as the Post bashing Trudeau.
There are a few things going on here. First, Metrolinx talks a good line about working with the private sector and especially about Transit Oriented Communities, but they prefer to just take property and maximize profits for themselves to offset capital costs. With Corktown Station, it's City land for the most part, and they expect the City to just roll over. East Harbour is partly City land too, and the story coming out of Cadillac Fairview is that Metrolinx is not exactly easy to deal with - disorganized and arbitrary. In Liberty Village, they notified the landowners a year ago according to the Star, but don't seem to have been working on much of a compromise. For its part the City has not helped by trying to keep the land as "employment" rather than "residential". I have no doubt that once Mlx gets their hands on it, there will be an MZO substantially increasing its value AFTER they have paid for it based on current zoning and development potential. Another point here is that Mlx seems to be treating commercial landholders with the same cavalier attitude they use on single family residential owners. The bigger picture is that Mlx throws its weight around because they know QP will back them up so that Ford's pet project will be built. And Ford deserves to be bashed as often as possible.
 
Excellent! I'll take Metrolinx every day in that battle.
I think the point was that it shouldn't be a battle. CF has an extremely strong interest in that station and line getting built; they've got an $8B bet relying on it.

When your biggest cheerleaders (who might even build pieces as a gift) say you suck at communications and planning, perhaps it's worth looking into.
 
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It's because the line was Ford's idea. It's the same partisan thing as the Post bashing Trudeau.

I'm going to take issue w/this too.

There is certainly no denying that The Star has a partisan outlook.

But Mx, strictly speaking is supposed to be non-partisan, and not carry the water for whomever is in power.

Mx since Verster came on board has been more openly political ( I wouldn't fail to acknowledge it was before).........
Apart from that, as others point out above me, it has certainly been high handed, and incompetent in the areas of public consultation, (including area businesses/property owners/residents/religious institutions etc.).

It really has been indefensibly bad; If The Star were looking for a Target, Mx is doing more than making it easy, its been painting a big red bulls eye all over itself.
 
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There are a few things going on here. First, Metrolinx talks a good line about working with the private sector and especially about Transit Oriented Communities, but they prefer to just take property and maximize profits for themselves to offset capital costs. With Corktown Station, it's City land for the most part, and they expect the City to just roll over. East Harbour is partly City land too, and the story coming out of Cadillac Fairview is that Metrolinx is not exactly easy to deal with - disorganized and arbitrary. In Liberty Village, they notified the landowners a year ago according to the Star, but don't seem to have been working on much of a compromise. For its part the City has not helped by trying to keep the land as "employment" rather than "residential". I have no doubt that once Mlx gets their hands on it, there will be an MZO substantially increasing its value AFTER they have paid for it based on current zoning and development potential. Another point here is that Mlx seems to be treating commercial landholders with the same cavalier attitude they use on single family residential owners. The bigger picture is that Mlx throws its weight around because they know QP will back them up so that Ford's pet project will be built. And Ford deserves to be bashed as often as possible.
I get what you're saying and I was never a fan of Metrolinx under Wynne or the current regime. My post about the Star shouldn't be interpreted as particularly friendly to Metrolinx. It was just a small aside about a question which I usually tempted to jump into as Northern Light knows too well ;)
 
Random observation: On social media I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think that the Ontario Line is some sort of modern reincarnation of the Scarbrough RT. I've seen comments in the vein of "we don't need another stupid RT line" on various posts over the past few months. Seems that many members of the public heard that the OL uses smaller trains, and jumped to the conclusion that this was the same tech as the SRT.

Picture in your mind the intelligence of the "average" person, and come to realize that half the population is dumber than that.
 
Since when did Toronto Star care about multi million speculative investors and not the every day citizen. something seems fishy with the Toronto Star.
Exactly. They used to be the voice of middle income, largely education, medical, and business employed professions. Somehow they are now the voice of the wealthy investor class. Stories are often of "First World Problems" and articles with stories similar to one of a supposedly average young couple dropping millions on a cottage seem common. The Star of 15 years ago would see the Ontario Line as public good and I get the anti-Metrolinx criticisms where it seems far more decisions are already solidified and inflexible prior to public engagement. However, I'm referring to something different... this is about a shift between the Toronto Star seeing their audience as a wealthier and more importantly less humble group.
 
It seems for some reason Toronto Star has some serious beef with Metrolinx and the Ontario Line. Every week they are posting an article criticizing it. I wonder if they have a published from leslieville or some connections who are being impacted financially. Since when did Toronto Star care about multi million speculative investors and not the every day citizen. something seems fishy with the Toronto Star.
It's the same thing as the Scarborough Subway. The Star Editorial Board gets an opinion in their heads and runs with it. For a while it seemed like the Star was publishing some "expose" about nothing for the Scarborough Subway every week.
 
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Picture in your mind the intelligence of the "average" person, and come to realize that half the population is dumber than that.
Thank you, George Carlin.
It's the same thing as the Scarborough Subway. The Star Editorial Board gets an opinion in their heads and runs with it. For a while it seemed like the Star was publishing some "expose" about nothing for the Scarborough Subway every week.
I suppose the The Star is trying to keep alive the myth that the Fords are all to blame for the loss of LRT in Scarborough. Or maybe writing Star transit editorials is Josh Matlow's secret second job.
 
Its not Metrolinx, its Infrastructure Ontario. The TOD program falls under them.
Fair enough ... but ditto.

On the other hand, why is the Ontario government even worrying about densification near the station where it's going to happen naturally? There's so many suburban locations where nothing is happening. And look at Kennedy.
 
Fair enough ... but ditto.

On the other hand, why is the Ontario government even worrying about densification near the station where it's going to happen naturally? There's so many suburban locations where nothing is happening. And look at Kennedy.
Because Doug Ford is intent on micromanaging everything even at the city level and wants higher density than the city has zoned.
 
Random observation: On social media I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think that the Ontario Line is some sort of modern reincarnation of the Scarbrough RT. I've seen comments in the vein of "we don't need another stupid RT line" on various posts over the past few months. Seems that many members of the public heard that the OL uses smaller trains, and jumped to the conclusion that this was the same tech as the SRT.
It's the equivalent of the Scarborough LRT 'tearing up our roads for streetcars'.

Over a decade of this nonsense has dramatically lowered the bar for understanding. The government and Metrolinx's lack of transparency hasn't helped.
 
There are a few things going on here. First, Metrolinx talks a good line about working with the private sector and especially about Transit Oriented Communities, but they prefer to just take property and maximize profits for themselves to offset capital costs. With Corktown Station, it's City land for the most part, and they expect the City to just roll over. East Harbour is partly City land too, and the story coming out of Cadillac Fairview is that Metrolinx is not exactly easy to deal with - disorganized and arbitrary. In Liberty Village, they notified the landowners a year ago according to the Star, but don't seem to have been working on much of a compromise. For its part the City has not helped by trying to keep the land as "employment" rather than "residential". I have no doubt that once Mlx gets their hands on it, there will be an MZO substantially increasing its value AFTER they have paid for it based on current zoning and development potential. Another point here is that Mlx seems to be treating commercial landholders with the same cavalier attitude they use on single family residential owners. The bigger picture is that Mlx throws its weight around because they know QP will back them up so that Ford's pet project will be built. And Ford deserves to be bashed as often as possible.

I appreciate The Star sharing different sides of the story.

We don't have to agree with them, but it's necessary.
 

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