(Image: Christopher Drost)
Presented with a transit plan from TTC chair Karen Stintz that would save $1.5 billion on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, contribute to the Sheppard subway extension and bring some form of rapid transit to underserved Finch Avenue, Rob Ford stubbornly dug his heels in and reiterated his commitment to burying the Eglinton line underground. In a note on his Facebook page, Ford insists his own transit plan is “doable,” and moreover, that it’s the plan that city transit users want (apparently, users want “RAPID” transit and they want it in ALL CAPS). He also says that for “100 years, Toronto’s transit system has been based on a backbone of subways” (not true), and that the Pembina Institute supports his plan (it doesn’t). Of course, although Stintz’s proposal appears to be gaining the support of all the right players, we’re not surprised Ford is refusing to budge. If the budget debate has taught us anything it’s that the mayor will turn down a face-saving compromise, even when that compromise is likely the only thing standing between a political defeat and public embarrassment. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
OK. I’ve had enough. This guy has got to go.
I agree that the Eglinton LRT needs to go mostly underground. Most people in this city drive to work and we can’t afford to lose Eglinton to the tiny minority who take transit, or the slightly larger minority would take transit if it functioned better.
But can’t he compromise a little bit on the eastern portion? I mean, it would save $1.5-billion! That’s a lot more than the $140-million in cuts that he recently scraped together.
I’m glad Karen Stinz has shown she can stand up with him.
I used to think Ford was just pretending to be an idiot to get votes from the common man and woman who drinks Tim Horton’s and hates downtown on principle.
Now I think he’s just an idiot.
PS: who thinks Toronto’s subways are 100 years old? Fail.
January 27, 2012 at 4:22 pm | by Fed up with FordI meant, I’m glad Karen Stinz can stand up TO him.
January 27, 2012 at 4:23 pm | by Fed up with FordI ONLY take ttc but I bet drivers wud looove driving thru construction!!!
we still need to oust this stupid guy.
Maybe he n his F-nationers can crawl under a ttc car?
January 27, 2012 at 7:54 pm | by sarabayLOL – so now that Mr. Ford realizes this post was full of faulty info (i.e. 100 years of subways, ha!), it has actually been deleted from his FB entirely and replaced with a new one. But we pretty much assume almost anything Ford says is full of faulty info, right? The guy just makes up sh-t as he goes along.
As the previous poster said – “This guy has got to go.”
January 28, 2012 at 8:34 am | by RRWANT and NEED are two different things. We all WANT something, but that does not mean we will get it. We NEED rapid transit in this city, and the best COST EFFECTIVE at the moment is Transit City.
Yes, we still NEED subways, but only where we NEED it. Such as the Downtown Relief Line. We NEED rapid transit almost everywhere in the city, which means light rail (not streetcars) in the suburban areas of Toronto where the density will not support heavy rail.
January 28, 2012 at 9:29 am | by W. K. LisMr Ford once again showing his phobia for surface transit. Folks, get Mr Ford off the transit file. He never uses public transit and can’t even read a TTC map if he had one.
January 30, 2012 at 10:26 am | by Vote NDP in the next federal/provincial electionI’m still waiting to find out why rob ford, in his dismissal of Occupy Toronto, kept mentioning all the non existent sprinklers in St James park.
February 10, 2012 at 12:56 am | by Toby Lake