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Toronto Star: Council backs Mayor John Tory’s request for 2017 budget cuts
Council critics say across-the-board reductions pushed by Tory will mean cuts to service for TTC riders and public housing tenants.
July 12, 2016
Jennifer Pagliaro
The Toronto Star
Former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall shares a laugh with current Mayor John Tory at a gathering of pre-amalgamation mayors at City Hall on Tuesday. Tory won a small victory later in the day with council's approval of his budgetary restriction proposals. (Richard Lautens / Toronto Star)
Council has backed a push from Mayor John Tory for all city departments and agencies to find 2.6 per cent worth of reductions in next year’s budget as the city faces a shortage of new revenue.
In a 32-10 vote, council also passed a resolution saying the 2017 budget should be based on a property tax increase at or below at inflation — a key promise from Tory’s mayoral campaign.
But critics on council warned those budget directions will lead to service cuts that will hurt transit users, Toronto Community Housing tenants and other vulnerable citizens.
Toronto Star: UPX airport train subsidized $52 per ride last year
The provincial government subsidized passengers on the troubled Union Pearson Express last year at a rate of $52.26 per ride.
June 30, 2016
Ben Spurr
The Toronto Star
Passengers enter a UPX train at Union Station. (Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star)
The provincial government subsidized passengers on the troubled Union Pearson Express last year at a rate of $52.26 per ride.
The astounding sum, which far exceeds the subsidy received by other Toronto-area public transit projects, was revealed in an annual report that came before the Metrolinx board Tuesday.
The regional transit agency, which has faced fierce criticism over the $456-million air rail link, did not explicitly publish the per-ride subsidy. But calculations based on ridership numbers and operating expenditures that the agency did make public reveal the extent to which the UPX’s costs exceeded its revenues in its first 10 months of operation.
“It demonstrates a complete lack of competent planning,” said Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22, St. Paul’s), who in 2014 brought a motion to council asking Metrolinx to set the UPX fare at an “affordable” rate.
Toronto Star: $1 billion funding gap for Scarborough transit a question of ‘priorities’
Chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat says city council now needs to make the tough decisions on an "optimized" plan.
June 21, 2016
Jennifer Pagliaro
The Toronto Star
Jennifer Keesmaat is Toronto's chief planner. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star)
The city’s chief planner says the question over how to build transit in Scarborough is one of “priorities” — a dilemma now facing council.
A report released Tuesday on a future transit network for the city recommends moving ahead with plans for both a one-stop subway extension and an LRT along Eglinton Ave., despite updated cost estimates showing the subway alone would eat up nearly all of the available funding.
“The question is one of competing priorities, and that really is a decision for city council to make,” Jennifer Keesmaat told reporters Tuesday night.
Toronto Star: One-stop subway plan needs ‘rethink’ with 25 LRT stops possible, critics say
SmartTrack plan loses Scarborough stop as council prepares to debate what a future transit network will cost the city
June 20, 2016
Jennifer Pagliaro
The Toronto Star
While the future of transit in Scarborough remains an open question, the Scarborough RT continues its regular runs. (Carlos Osorio / Toronto Star)
A revised transit plan for Scarborough risks giving residents just one new rapid transit stop when 25 stops could be built at roughly the same cost, critics say.
Now that the estimate for a one-stop subway extension has ballooned to $2.9 billion, experts in city building and council critics say bad politics are trumping good planning. Two proposed LRT lines once championed by the city’s chief planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, could be built to create a network of 25 stops serving tens of thousands more people at the same cost.
The Star has also learned that Mayor John Tory’s signature SmartTrack plan has shed a station in Scarborough. Part of Tory’s pitch for 13 new local stations along existing GO Tracks — tied to the province’s plans to expand service — was that stations in Scarborough would serve residents looking to get downtown. But just five new “SmartTrack” stops have made the cut, reduced from an earlier seven-stop option. At least one Scarborough stop at Ellesmere Rd. will no longer be recommended. A station at Lawrence Ave. is part of the plan.
That’s the reality council now faces as city staff prepares to unveil recommendations for a future transit network on Tuesday. That debate, including what to build in Scarborough and at what cost, will begin anew at executive committee next week.
CTV News: Estimated cost of Scarborough subway extension rises by nearly $1B
June 17, 2016
Chris Fox
CTV News
The Scarborough subway extension will cost $900 million more than initially thought, Mayor John Tory has confirmed.
The cost of the one-stop extension of Line 2 from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre was initially pegged at $2 billion, however on Friday the mayor told reporters that further analysis by city staff has revealed the price tag to be $2.9 billion.
The increase in budget, Tory said, is due to engineering and planning work that has recently been conducted.
Previously the city had based its estimate on a ballpark figure for a three-stop subway extension that was scrapped back in January.
UrbanToronto: Heritage Toronto Celebrates Imperial Oil Building
June 16, 2016
Jack Landau
UrbanToronto
The former Imperial Oil Building at 111 St. Clair Avenue West has stood as an important landmark in Toronto's Deer Park community since it opened in 1957. Following the office building's closing in 2005, developer Camrost-Felcorp embarked on the ambitious endeavour of converting the Mad Men-era structure into a condominium development, renamed as Imperial Plaza.
Imperial Plaza viewed from the east on St. Clair Avenue, image by Jack Landau
Since celebrating last year's official openings of an LCBO location and a Longo's 'Urban Market' on the ground floor of the development, the two retail spaces have worked together to foster a lively environment on this stretch of St. Clair Avenue West. The two retail spaces are resplendent with paired original murals by the late York Wilson called 'The Story of Oil', preserved from the original office lobby, as well as a number of gorgeous historical flourishes throughout, their preservation overseen by heritage specialists ERA Architects.
