Light rail in Scarborough needs to stay underground - and the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT line should go ahead as planned, according to Mayor Rob Ford and his brother, City Councillor Doug Ford.
"We aren't going to treat Scarborough residents as second-class citizens," said Councillor Ford Thursday, Jan. 26, afternoon. "We know for a fact that people in Scarborough want underground transit."Ford made the comment the day after Mayor Rob Ford was quoted as saying he wouldn't support a plan floated by TTC Chair Karen Stintz, to ask the province to build the eastern portion of the new Crosstown line at grade in Scarborough and North York.Last year, Mayor Ford signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial government that would see the line buried over the entirety of its length, using money that had been allocated to build another light rail line along Sheppard.Ford promised to do away with new light rail lines when he was elected, and his first act as mayor was to announce that he had "killed" Transit City. It has been Ford's hope to build a subway along Sheppard Avenue to the Scarborough Town Centre, using a combination of private sector money and funding from other levels of government.But as former councillor Gordon Chong prepares to submit a report to Ford on the feasibility of such a plan, Stintz and a growing number of councillors are hoping to reconsider the $8.4 billion Eglinton LRT plan as the way it was originally intended, in former mayor David Miller's Transit City plan.Mayor Ford posted a defence of his subway plan on his Facebook page."For almost 100 years, Toronto's transit system has been based on a backbone of subways. It's time to get back on track," he wrote. "Transit riders want RAPID transit. Transit City was NEVER planned to be rapid. My plan is 'do-able' and can deliver RAPID transit for Toronto in an affordable way."Ford's position lines up for a fight with council. The plan floated by Stintz would supply as much as $1.5 billion for a short extension of the Sheppard subway to Victoria Park Avenue. Even some of Ford's allies are willing to look at such a plan.Don Valley West Councillor John Parker said council needs to look at the memorandum of understanding with the province and pass judgement on it."All I know is that the proposal that seems to be in effect at the moment is based on a document by which in its own terms is a non-binding memorandum of understanding, but we're approaching the day when some real decisions have to be made, and if the memorandum of understanding is non-binding then maybe now is the time to give it full consideration," he said. "I'm hoping that we can arrive at a proposal that gets broad-based support and I would hope that the mayor would be included in that."The plan will also need provincial assent. Premier Dalton McGuinty said that the province will continue with the memorandum of understanding until told otherwise by the mayor and council.Scarborough Southwest Councillor Michelle Berardinetti, who supports bringing the LRT line to the surface along Eglinton if the money stays in Scarborough, said the city simply needs to make a decision."In my conversation with a number of Scarborough MPPs last night and other MPPs, it's not looking good at city hall," she said Thursday. "We're looking disorganized. I really think we need clarity on the issues to get the information and make a sound decision."