March 1, 2012 Councillor Doug Ford is floating the idea of a lottery to pay for a Sheppard subway extension — a venture that was flatly rejected by the chairman of the board of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. “The idea is not very practical as far as we’re concerned,” Paul Godfrey [...]
March 1-8, 2012 Despite the recent council decision to resurrect Transit City, political manoeuvring continues unabated both inside and outside City Hall. On Tuesday, February 28, as Rob Ford was lobbying hard to win back key swing votes on council, the mayor’s opponents on the transit file took their case directly to the [...]
February 29, 2012 The battle over the future of Toronto’s transit continues as crowds fill town hall meetings and the Mayor continues to fight for subways. The question of subways or light rail transit could come to a head at City Council again during the scheduled March meeting as councillors are convene again to [...]
February 29, 2012 Buckled pipes have piqued concerns about the lengthy installation of new water mains along Avenue Road, but the city says the project remains on schedule and on budget. The $60-million project has been under way since May 2010, snarling traffic and stalling commuters travelling the busy corridor. The water [...]
February 27, 2012 Councillor Josh Matlow accused Mayor Rob Ford of being “a tax-and-spend dreamer” when it comes to transit. The rookie councillor slammed Ford Monday for relying on “bumper sticker rhetoric” when it comes to his transit promises and challenged the mayor to produce a transit plan that is realistic, fact-based and [...]
February 23, 2012 A pair of midtown Toronto councillors are teaming up to host a public meeting on Toronto’s rapid transit plans. St. Paul’s Councillor Josh Matlow and Eglinton-Lawrence Councillor Karen Stintz are co-hosting the meeting, which will also feature guest speaker and University of Toronto urban geography professor Andre Sorensen as well [...]
February 20, 2012 Centrist and left-leaning councillors spent Family Day talking about what to do next in the face of a meeting that will likely end with the ousting of TTC head Gary Webster. Regardless of Webster’s fate, the last minute TTC board meeting called by five allies of Mayor Rob Ford is [...]
February 20, 2012 The TTC appears to be poised for a shakeup as the city’s transit chief is expected to get the axe Tuesday for defying the mayor’s transit vision. One day before the meeting, there are suggestions TTC chief general manager Gary Webster may not be the only one to be fired following city [...]
February 19, 2012 Michelle Berardinetti is the city councillor for ward 35 Scarborough-Southwest and on Newstalk 1010’s The City with Josh Matlow she proposed letting Torontonians settle the transit debate. Berardinetti says there’s an old way of settling debates that doesn’t happen very often anymore, “back in the day they used to put a referendum [...]
February 16, 2012 Preserving Toronto’s past is complicated business. Current example: the planned conversion of a historic church into a condominium, which raises issues about heritage preservation, adaptive reuse, and community intervention. Preserve the full building? Adapt it, with pieces missing? And how much say should neighbours get? Such questions surround the development proposed for [...]
