We all know Rob Ford loves him some rapid transit—he just doesn’t love it when it’s above ground, affordable or tied in any way to his predecessor. Case in point: the Eglinton Crosstown, which Ford insists should include an LRT line built entirely underground, even if that means burning through cash that could be used for other projects (namely, his beloved Sheppard subway extension). Now, even Ford ally and TTC chair Karen Stintz is adding her voice to the growing group of reasonable people who think that running the LRT above ground, particularly in the city’s less densely populated suburbs, makes more sense than burying it. It’s a bold move from Stintz and a major break with the mayor, who appointed her to her current post. Some have even speculated that it may just get her summarily reshuffled out of the transit chair. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
(Images: Rob Ford, Christopher Drost; Karen Stintz, Mike Beltzner)
As a Ford voter who is looking forward to driving vroom vroom down the road along Eglinton, without having to look at sad people in transit vehicles, and who likes to do random U-Turns everywhere which would be impeded by a LRT right-of-way, I can safely say that Stintz is getting close to the end of her “Stint” as lady in charge of TTC.
Plus we all know how St. Clair West is a devestated crime-infested street since the streetcar right-of-way opened there. Eglinton will be more complex, more expensive, and take much longer than the 512 did, so it should be a useful waste of tax dollars – we have to start digging next year’s budget hole ASAP so we can fill it with school lunches for black kids and lieberries. :-)
January 23, 2012 at 1:38 pm | by Joe Tory