October 12, 2005
St. Clair Designated Streetcar Lane, We Hardly Knew Ye
"This project is absolutely not dead. Rumours of it being dead are grossly exaggerated," says TTC commissioner Joe Mihevc of the recently-halted Streetcar reno plan. Work on the $65 mil project was already messily underway, and now it's not clear what will happen. Regardless of what the ruling was based on, the appeal process will take months, a development Mayor BoomBoom calls "unfortunate."
"The tall imperfect Mayor" has been having a lot of bad luck lately, but must have been happy to hear Premier McGuinty say 'No Legionnaires Inquiry' in usual charismatic fashion. And then this.
One TOist contrib who lives along the beleagured strip has bemoaned the St. Clair expansion day in and out, but given that we're not going to be getting a bajillion dollar cash injection to build a subway anytime soon, what are the options beyond a designated lane? Anybody? A fleet of hovercrafts running along St. Clair West. Or perhaps just an old-fashioned, extra long peoplemover.
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This is incredible news. Save Our St. Clair should be applauded for their campaign. My beloved Corso Italia will remain unscathed.
Here's one TOist who lives along the strip who can't wait for the improvements, and finds the current delay unfortunate.
If your daily commute involves taking the St. Clair streetcar, you'll know how frustrating the delays are, how annoying it is to be stuck behind left-turning cars, or to be held up indefinitely should there be an accident.
You ask what the options are. Well, everyone decided that the ROW *was* the best option, so why delay it (and add to the cost ... which we all shoulder) with this legal wrangling?
I LOATH the SOS people. Do they have any foresight? Do they actually think St. Clair is easy to navigate now in a car? Sorry Oat Globe, but unscathed? What could be better for business and access then less a less chaotic road? Christ, everytime I have been up there either on foot or car I have been almost hit by some idiot driver. Their arguements that they will become like Spadina are unfounded (have they been to Chinatown lately? - ah, hello - It's bustling). Emergency vehicles? ROW is perfect for them...if you read the heavily censored comments on the SOS site people actually think that if need be Fire Trucks cannot jump that 4 inch high curb. Furthermore no one, NOT ONE, of you SOS people complained when the city reduced the sidewalk size (in a big time way) close to Yonge - One would think this would register at least slightly on your retarded NIMBY scale - but no. Now watch some poor chap in a wheelchair get forced into traffic and run over because of it. SOS, you are selfish and not worthy of my dollar. I will boycott all of your stores...I hope the TTC pulls all of its service from you and may your supporters sit in bumper to bumper traffic hell for eternity.
The St.Clair ROW was ill conceived and would most certainly destroy the character of the street. How would you feel about an ROW on College St or Queen St? There are other solutions available like giving streetcars priority and ban left turns in rush hour. SOS should be applauded for their efforts and maybe now the folks at TTC can think outside the box for a change. Lets get the needed repairs done on St. Clair to the benefit of all not just TTC commuters.
First off College and Queen are not wide enough to handle ROW. St. Clair is. Banning Left Hand turns? In an ideal world that would work but we all know from living in the city that drivers will cheat when they can...which is most of the time. Left hand turns are banned during rush hour all along Queen and drivers continually make them. Police enforcement would have to be continual to ensure its success. I think t he panic caused by the SOS put fear into shop owners basically brainwashing them (and the locals) that St. Clair would be ruined if it went through. This is a fine example of the short sighted nature of the NIMBY. What evidence (and please don't compare Harbourfront to St. Clair) do you have? Weston? The Junction? Wrong. Those are examples of a neighbourhood gone to crap beacuse the TTC pulled street car access. I agree that the TTC should think outside the box but in this situation what options are there? Elevated lines? A subway? Both are too expensive. Aside from all this the court ruling is not so much of a victory for SOS as it is their lawyer. It was ruled a victory because of the language involved. Either way St. Clair is still off of my shopping list.
mm you're more than welcome to visit the many shops and eateries on Danforth Ave. Hey anybody who wants to boycott St.Clair businessses are welcome. Just do as a favour, don't give to panhandlers.
I lived just off of St. Clair for many years - first on Winona, then Benson - and I thought the ROW was a wonderful idea. Good for people (safer and more convenient), good for business (transit improvements and reduction in car use bring in business, they don't scare it away!), good for the environment - what's not to like?
This is an unfortunate decision that takes shameless advantage of a technicality (namely the OMB's foot-dragging in approving the new OP) to prevent a much-needed improvement that would advance the public good, especially for people living and working on St. Clair.
Gees if you all have a problem on the St. Clair route you should take another route, or wake up a few minutes earlier if you're so worried about being late for work... thats sounds to me like a personal problem. we need more front line police officers not city councillors that give away free fertilizer.
you can never boycott St.Clair, It will always be a very busy street, come by on a Saturday night or any morning, you NDP'ers are just sucks because you lost in court, but that is the least of your problems, next election you will have to answer to all the people in your wards that are looking for work and can't find any jobs because you already hired your family and friends. shame on you and you know who you are, but it will come up again until you stop blaming the Province and the feds for your lack of managing money, and get to work for everyone not just the people in favor of the $120,000,000 project that everyone knows will double or triple the way you guys at city hall do math.
P.S Tune in next time for property tax assessments, why they are so hi in the purposed project area... I thought you had the money already set aside?