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Duly Quoted: Karen Stintz

The TTC Chair breaks with Mayor Rob Ford over the buried Eglinton LRT.

By Hamutal Dotan

“It makes more sense not to bury it.”

—TTC Chair Karen Stintz (Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence), coming out against Rob Ford on the matter of whether the Eglinton LRT line should be entirely buried (as he wants it) or buried only underneath the busiest central part of the city, and above ground for the eastern portion of the route (as called for by the original Transit City plan). This is a major break with the mayor who appointed her to the powerful post as head of the TTC, and despite Stintz’s strong support of Ford’s proposed cuts during last week’s budget debate, it immediately triggered speculaton about whether the mayor would fire her over this public defiance. Perhaps trying to blunt the effect of her opposition, Stintz went on to say that savings accrued from building above ground should be put towards another Ford transit project: a Sheppard subway.

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  • Anonymous

    Ford is losing so much ground everywhere, it’s great!

  • Anonymous

    IDEA: Let’s keep bickering so that nothing will ever get built on Eglinton.

    • Jacob

      This is productive bickering, for a change. She said that all environmental assessments for the original plan are complete, while the assessments for Ford’s plans haven’t even begun. Basically, she’s saying they can start right away if they revert to the old plan.

      Now it hinges on Dalton McGuinty coming back to it. I doubt he’ll have much issue, because it’s more bang for the buck.

      • Anonymous

        It is naive to think it would be that easy. For one thing, work is already underway at Black Creek to prepare the tunnels, well to the west of where the original plan would have gone on the surface.

        Also, for sure Dalton will claw back any savings in this environment of austerity. Transit City is still as dead as ever.

        • Nfitz

          The hole they are digging at Black Creek is in exactly the same place as it was go be for the original LRT plan. What happens west of there changes … but the tunnel going east doesn’t change.

          What would change things though, if they went subway for this instead of LRT. Then the TBMs they are ordered are too big, the tunnel segments currently being manufactured are too big, and the design changes.

  • Joe

    Can she be removed?

    • Anonymous

      Not by Ford directly, but the Commission (on which he has many allies) can vote to do so.

  • Anonymous

    “…Or maybe we should bury it? Ummm hmmmmm… I dunno… Let’s do more studies…. Yea let’s bury it!… Well maybe… Maybe ummmmm … Wait I know! I’ll put on a wig and pretend to be a worker and see what they think…. wait what? it’ll cost us more money when we keep changing out minds… oh we’ll figure it out… ummmmm….” Karen Stintz

    • Anonymous

      “Why doesn’t Eglinton have any mass transit!?”

  • http://twitter.com/mikeykolberg Mikey Kolberg

    Do you think she’s been holding onto this for a while? The timing (just after the budget) suggests to me that she’s never thought burying the line was a smart idea but she’s been towing the party line waiting for the right opportunity. Whatever the case, good for her for finally stepping up and doing the right thing.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t trust her motives one bit. She seems like she’s always trying to seek vengeance for being critical of her actions. She puts herself out there, then gets defensive when she’s being criticized for horrid policy decisions and stupid PR tricks.

      I don’t have a problem with her decision to use the $5 million for transit from the surplus for wheel trans, it was the way she talked to the media about it. It was almost like she was trying to bait the public into appearing like assholes for criticizing putting the money towards wheel trans rather then restoring routes.

      Slimeball.

  • Anonymous

    With Gordon Chong’s report on the Sheppard subway coming up soon – the one that will say that they can only get about 10-30% private funding for the project – I wonder if this is actually part of a face-saving strategy for the Ford administration. Once Chong releases his report, they’re going to have to concede that a privately-funded Sheppard project is impossible. Yet Ford will almost certainly still want it built.

    As Stintz suggests, they might now be hoping to redirect the cost of burying the outer portions of the Eglinton Crosstown – about $4 billion, I believe – in order to ensure Ford’s pet project on Sheppard gets done. And it probably works out better for Ford if he gets a surrogate to propose a change of course. It saves him the humiliation of having to publicly and personally concede he was wrong, and allows him to continue pushing for his subway. And it throws the ball back in the province’s court, since it would be up to Metrolinx to approve or reject any new proposal.

    It also might be an attempt at pre-empting any talk of bringing back Transit City – which I suspect is something that some councillors might raise following Chong’s report. Ford might have to give up on his private subway, but he certainly doesn’t want the return of Transit City or any LRT-based plan that resembles it.

    Of course, this is all just idle speculation from an ordinary Torontonian.

  • Anonymous

    So… Karen is a communist. Who knew?

  • Anonymous

    Wouldn’t be surprised if Ford is behind this realizing its the only way he’s going to get any provincial money for his beloved waste of money, the Sheppard subway. If she had said something sensible like lets use the money we save from not burying Eglinton to build the much needed Finch LRT then I’d believe she was sincere and not put up to this by Ford playing political games. Its not possible to be overly cynical when it comes to Ford.

    As it is I have no reason not to believe that Ford thinks he can play a game with people who want improved but financially responsible transit by not burying the Eglinton LRT the entire route as a “compromise” in order to free up money for the money sucking waste of resources Sheppard subway that he is desperate to build for his legacy. Especially as it becomes more and more obvious even to him he’ll only be mayor one term at most, if he isn’t run out of office before then.

    Before any Sheppard subway is built I’d think we’d have to insist on making sure that none of Ford’s buddies or associates profit from the subway in any way and that that entire area is rezoned from low density to high density residential for at least several blocks either side of Sheppard to ensure that someday, maybe 100 years from now that subway line will finally be able to pay for itself.