Mihevc calls for third-party review of St. Clair right-of-way
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/30/mihevc-calls-for-third-party-review-of-st-clair-right-of-way
TORONTO - Councillor Joe Mihevc wants some St. Clair disaster relief.
The Ward 21, St. Paul’s councillor is asking councillors on the Toronto Transit Commission to order a third-party review of the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way project.
While Mihevc is a major proponent of the project, Mayor Rob Ford along with several councillors have continually hammered the costly dedicated streetcar line down the middle of St. Clair Ave. W. as a “disaster” and “fiasco” that cost the city millions over budget, brought a plague of lengthy construction and continues to tie up car traffic.
“There is so much misinformation out there on whether St. Clair was a success or not, people are speaking to it with great passion and sometimes very little information,” Mihevc told reporters Friday.
“What we really need, given that the future of the city seems to be in the suburbs going in the direction of light rail, we need an objective evaluation, done by a third party, to look at standards and measurements.
“Did it increase TTC ridership? Did it increase development potential on a particular street? Did it bring down the accident rate? What happened to the automobiles? What happened to pedestrians?”
“Let’s study it from an objective, third-party point of view, determine its success and that will then impact perhaps how we do light rail in other parts of the city and whether it is worth the money for other projects.”
The 2009 project was supposed to cost $65 million and ended up costing $106 million.
Mihevc stressed the St. Clair project was a victim of scope creep — with hydro and water work being added — and the actual right-of-way part of the project was only over budget by $3 million.
“There is a difference between scope creep and cost overruns,” Mihevc said.
The TTC is expected to consider Mihevc’s request Friday.
Penny-pinching councillors were baffled by Mihevc’s push to spend more money studying a project that went over budget.
Councillor Doug Ford called the St. Clair project “one massive screw-up”.
“And we’re going to pour more money into it just to justify Joe Mihevc’s request? That’s why Joe Mihevc is a councillor and not a business person,” Ford told the Sun.
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said it seems Mihevc has been “stung by the criticism” of the project.
“We don’t hire a firm to try to absolve ourselves of (criticism),” Holyday said, noting the city likely has all the numbers needed to determine the value of the St. Clair right-of-way
“I don’t think it takes any great report to find out this information,” he said.
Mayor Ford invoked the “nightmare” on St. Clair just last week when he tried unsuccessfully to urge councillors to reject the Sheppard LRT in favour of extending the Sheppard subway.
“People hate this St. Clair, they hate these streetcars, you can call them what they want, people want subways folks, subways, subways,” Ford shouted during a speech to city council. “They don’t want these damn streetcars clogging up our city!”