Bus vs LRT - The winner is the bus!

The WWW has more than its share of information polution from the light-rail lobby. One doesn't have to look far to see LRT advocates' Pavlovian slobbering over the latest LRT news. LRT will move the world and is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

These sites and posts often include pictures - and otfen a good dollup of anti-bus/BRT propaganda as well.

I've put together a quick comparison of real-world bus and LRT performance. This compares the performance of the top performing transit agency in North America - Montreal's STM - and prominent LRT and streetcar systems. This compares the boardings per route/KM for different services for weekday service.

The comparison reveals that Montreal's busiest bus routes are outperforming LRT and streetcars. Only Calgary's C-Train system is comparable in attracting passengers - and that system is on the cusp between being an LRT in terms of a street-railway - and a mini-subway.


Transit effectiveness comparison

The route lengths for the STM and TTC streetcar routes were estimated from route maps. (Note - the TTC's streetcar track network is actually about 150 km - but much of that is not directly used in revenue service - but for moving cars to active routes and short turning cars. All US statistics are from the APTA website.

Tortuous train logic

As if it isn't difficult enough to follow what is happenning with transit in Toronto, today's Toronto Star editorial really muddies the waters on possible options for handling the obsolescence of the Scarborough RT line:

`Trains' of streetcars best for Scarborough - Toronto Star - April 30 2006

The Star comes out swinging in support of the option #2 - which is describes as using 'Trains' of streetcars. Well, for many people, this is hardly a way to sell the idea! Option #2 is actually to convert the line to "light rail". The Star get's is all confused labelling this:

...Switching from light rail cars to new streetcars that could be linked into "trains" on the existing rapid transit route...

whereas in the options, this is the light rail option.

Part of the problem is that there has been so much propaganda over the years about transit in the city, that now few people know which way is up. "LRT" is labelled as "streetcar" OR not depending on the hidden agenda of the proponent.

The Star further confuses matters:

The future of mass transit in Scarborough is likely to be found in a report released last week outlining three options for replacing the area's decaying light rail system.

Firstly, the report hasn't been released - rather the study has narrowed the options and is gathering public input. Second, the line isn't decaying - it simply uses equipment that no-one else in the world ended up buying into.

Neither is the RT 'worn out' nor are it's cars 'antiquated'. In fact, the line is newer (1985) than the original sections of Calgary's C-Train system (1981). The sad fact - for Toronto - is that we bet on the wrong technology - whereas Calgary purchased off-the shelf equipment that was (and is) in wide use in parts of Europe.

The option to now use LRT technology (i.e. the option #2 being touted in the editorial) faces a major problem: the plan is not to use off-the-shelf technology, but rather equipment that will highly customized/modified so that it can run on the downtown streetcar tracks. Not only does this add $1 million to the price tag for each vehicle, it means that the TTC will be facing the same obsolescence problem a few decades hence!

Subway to Scaborough???

Earlier this week- and it's been a very long week - I attended a presentation and Q&A session about the options being considered for replacing etc. the Scarborough RT system. The rolling stock used on the line will have worn out by 2015. Given how long it can take to make transit decisions involving any type of track-based RT, this might give us enough time to have a solution in place.

The crux of the issue is that no-one ever bought into the Ontario-sponsored car design. Replacement cars are not available on the market - and it's deemed too costly to have them custom-built.

Prof. Richard Soberman is spearheading the study. At this stage of the studt, three high-level options are being considered:

1. Replace the existing RT with upgraded technology

- 'Mark II' RT rolling stock - as used in Vancouver on the Sky Train - would be purchased
- the track would be modified to handle the new cars
- the line would be out of service for about 18 months

This option was the lowest cost with the least amount of service disruption.

2. Replace the RT technology with LRT type trains that use overhead wires

- this envisages using the same vehicle design as the TTC might use to replace its existing streetcar

This option has higher costs than #1 because:
- a number of stations must undergo major reconstruction to handle the low floor loading envisaged on the new cars
- because the TTC wishes to use the same design as for the streetcar replacements, there is a bump of about $1,000,000 per car - as the TTC projects this is what it will take to modify off-the-shelf LRT equipment for the downtown street track network

My take is that this option should be shelved because of the requirement for non-standard cars. This puts us back in the same long term predicament - expensive and eventually unreliable and unservicable cars. Unless the TTC bites the bullet and goes with off-the-shelf technology for LRT in general - scratch option #2.

3. A subway line from Kennedy to Scarborough Town Center

This would run on a different route than the existing RT. In addition, the number of stations would be reduced.

Price tag is $1.2 billion + some land and utilities costs.

The meeting was interesting. There were many politicians in attendance. Scarborough coucillors - and the majority of deputants - prefer the subway option. I'm leaning that way as well - for the following reasons:

- it will use standard technology - i.e. subway cars
- it eliminates the transfer between the line and the existing subway
- in the long term, a transit system based on investment in subway + supporting buses - such as in Montreal - is delivering better cost and ridership performance than any other North American system.

Toronto's vanishing vendors

Today, the City chased away yet another service supplier. Union Pearson Group - who won the competition to refurbish and redevelop Union Station is indicating that there is insufficient time to prepare contractual documents before the current deadline.

The Toronto Star - April 26 2006

Mayor Miller is blaming the vendor - saying:

"Council bent over backwards to provide extension after extension," he said yesterday. "There was a deadline set, it was a fair deadline and this building's too important to keep it essentially in a holding pattern."

Well, it's hard to believe that Union Pearson is walking away from the deal because it has been dilly-dallying. What's next - will the Mayor be claiming that the word gullible is not in the OED?

Let's get real. The City already chased off Wilson Logistics - who were hauling our trash to Michigan - and Cresford Developments Coroporation - who were lined up to rebuild parts of Regents Park.

I believe this pattern is further indication of the long-term damage Miller is doing to the City. No doubt, it already has the reputation that it will not be dealing in good faith. This chases away possible bidders - and pushes up the cost of services acquired. (hmmm - not that Miller gives a rip.)

Homeless hokum

Sue-Ann Levy of The Toronto Sun sheds a little light on Toronto's sol-called homeless advocates who seem a surprisingly uninterested in getting Toronto's hobo population off the streets.

Sue-Ann Levy - Toronto Sun - April 25 2006

However, it really isn't all that surprising. First, as Ms. Levy points out, Toronto's homeless industry is a large employer. Toronto's hostels alone employ on the order of 600-700 people. In addition, social activists use the use to make a name for themselves

In addition, the real objective of groups such as the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee is to get the federal government involved in pumping money into new public housing projects. This despite the fact that roughly 10% of all dwellings in Toronto are part of social housing. In my view, the real agenda in needlessly building ever more government owned housing is to slowly squeeze the private sector out of the housing market.

It's a long term socialist goal to make people dependent on the state for housing. I saw this first hand in England back in the early 1970's. The local council used compulsory purchase orders to purchase my family's and other's home and convert the entire block into a council development. There was no pressing need for this - it was simply part of the long term agenda to squeeze out the middle class. It worked, we moved back to Canada. Thankfully the council had to pay a very large price for our home!

The real disaster for the TDRC woukd be if Toronto solved the homeless problem on its own - as it would prove that the federal government doesn't need to spend money on the problem.

More TTC pipe dreams

The TTC is (again?) studying running its money-slurping streetcars as trains:

Kevin McGran - Toronto Star - April 15 2006

As with most everything to do with the TTC and especially the streetcars operations, it's just a dream. The cars don't have couplers.

Perhaps couplers could be added if the TTC goes ahead with the major bebuild of the CLRV fleet - the CLRVs are the smaller streetcars that operate on the King St route. However, will simply coupling the cars together work? Will there be an operator in each car? How will the motive power be synchronized between the different units? What will reliability be like? What will the passenger experience be like?

I'll answer the last two questions - just as crappy as today. These vehicle are not designed to run as trains. They aren't reliable enough - and don't have the passenger exit/egress capacity to provide effective transit.

The problem today is bunching.

During rush hour they're supposed to be two minutes apart, but before you know it, a bunch of them end up travelling together. Up ahead, impatient passengers push to get into the first car that shows up, even if it's already packed, putting the "first" one further behind schedule and slowing down the rest.

Although the article blames the ever scapegoated factor of other vehicular traffic, the real problem is the vehicles and the entire service design. The Spadina LRT (sic) has much the same problem despite having dedicated lanes. Montreal doesn't have the same problem - because its buses can pass each other - alleviating bunching.

One thing is becoming clearer by the day - the TTC is being run by amateurs.

TDSB plays Machiavelli

I wish I could say that the revelations in Moira MacDonald's column (Toronto Sun - April 10 2006) shocked and disturbed me. What's disturbing that the antics and machinations of too many of our shool board trustees have lost their shock factor. In my view, the real crisis in education in Toronto is a crisis of governance - or a lack thereof to be more accurate.

The trustees at the TDSB have yet to find a new Director of Education. Neither have they a long term plan to manage the Board's real estate portfolio to better fit the demographic shift in student population to suburban areas.

I can certainly understand Gerard Kennedy's bailing out of the education portfolio to take a run at federal politics. For Kennedy's ill-advised restoration of the trustees' powers, his various hand-holding sessions, and his granting of various financial goodies, his reward was to be a Machiavellian stab in the back. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

Toronto's light rail dreams - er nightmares

Kevin McGran writes that Toronto is like no other city in the world.

TTC shops for streetcars - Toronto Star - April 10 2006

Perhaps so, but let us not ascribe this to its geography.

Toronto's transit officials reveal the expense and difficulty - or even impossibility - of replacing the TTC's streetcar fleet. Meanwhile TTC chair Howard Moscoe openly admits that the existing versions are costly to operate and not accessible to the disabled. Surely the technical and economic feasibility of acquiring effective replacements should be assured before considering extending rails to the far corners of the metropolis.

It seems then that what makes Toronto unique is that it is embarking on an ill-advised venture into light-rail - without any semblance of a transportation or financial plan.

The Barber whine

The Globe's official NDP rep John Barber repeats his whining about Ontario's Current Value Assessment system.

A provincial ombudsman has just pilloried the bureaucracy responsible for calculating the assessments for among other things, demonstraing 'obduracy in its ways' Gasp - a bureaucracy being obdurate! What's next, we find an ocean that has water?

Of course Barber's complaint about the system is personal. He lives in the Annex - a tawny, centrally-located neighbourhood that is comfortable walking distance from a good deal of downtown. It's also straddled by two subway lines. It's hardly surprising that property values in his area have risen. A grade three math dropout could calculate the value of a house in the Annex - and it will still have risen faster than that of a house in less-central, transportation-starved areas of the city.

Barber's contention is that the poor people in the low-rent districts should bear more of the ever increasing property tax burden - while the lucky few in the Annex, Forest Hill etc. are protected.

If Barber really wanted to curtail his property tax increase, he wouldn't be deifying David Miller all the time.

More on the GTTA

er well - not much more.

The Ontario Fiberals unveiled their latest budget this pas week. We were expecting details on how a GTA transit authority - to be established as the Greater Toronto Transit Authority - would work. All we have so far is the McGuinty and Co plan to introduce:


legislation in 2006 to establish the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority (GTTA). The proposed GTTA would help achieve the objectives of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and the Greenbelt Plan by leading the delivery of an integrated and more convenient transportation system to meet the growing needs of the GTA and Hamilton. The GTTA would plan, coordinate and set priorities for public transit investments and major regional roads;

In the same budget, they set about planning and prioritizng transit without such a body:

- The Spadina subway will be extended well into York Region (assuming Toronto, York Region and the Feds come up with matching contributions)
- Mississauga and Brampton will get funding to bus rapid transit initiatives,
- Toronto get's another bailout (not really ay all disguised as funding for subway operations)
- meanwhile, Durham Region is out of luck.

So why do we need a GTTA when the Province seems able to make such decisions on its own?

And now for something completely different

If the reports are correct, tomorrow's Ontario budget will announce the creation of a GTA-wide 'body' of some type that will play a role in transit in the region. The probable name for this organization will be the Greater Toronto Transit Authority or GTTA. The big $$$ question is whether this will be a true authority will decision making capabilities - or a rehash of the old Greater Toronto Services Board (GTSB). No doubt the Fiberals will try to come up with a compromise. This won't work. In reality, a management board either has true authority, or it doesn't. But I'll write about this another time.

In recent days, Prime Minister Harper has stirred controversy by using the phrase 'God bless Canada'. This shouldn't be all that controversional - seeing that our near-and-dear Charter of Rights and Freedoms invokes the 'supremacy of God'. This has made me consider whether there is indeed a God?

Last night, I was browsing through Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. In one of the later chapters he discusses the formation of the universe. There is now a clear concensus that the universe as we know it came about in a singular creation event - The Big Bang. Greene discusses how the universe may have unfolded after the bang (or ATB). Cosmologists are hard at work understanding the chronology of and physics behind how the universe expanded in the first infinitessimal fractions of a second.

Even with a degree in applied physics from Cornell, I struggle somewhat with the underlying science. String theories were only a rumour back when I was on campus. However, two things are clear to me:

1. There was a creation event
2. The mechanics of the creation event are perfectly hidden.

Let me explain the second assertion. Physicists have measured the level of background radiation from the Big Bang. This level (basically a temperature) is uniform in all directions. This finding caused earlier models of the universe's expansion to have to be set aside - as they would not have allowed the temperature to come to an equilibrium. Instead, the current thinking is that the universe inflated very rapidly during the first 10 E-35 seconds or so - growing by 10 e+30 in size.

However, this is conjecture only. Why - because the uniformity of measured temperature. It's as if someone came along and smoothed out all the footprints on the beach, cleaned up all of the fingerprints on the glasses. The direct evidence of our creation has been hidden.

It seems to be that an all-powerful entity - should he (she or it) decide to create a universe - would arrange to perfectly hide the evidence from sentient beings within his new creation. This doesn't prove that God exists - but it shows that the universe's creation fits with such a theory.

More 'coon fun

Well actually, the racoon didn't end up having any fun. In fact, this unfortunate creature has 'gone west' or wherever these critters go on that final garbage raid - er voyage.

I guess one could say that this racoon's died as a result of the heavy winds we sustained a few weeks ago - very early Friday. The quiet of the early morning darkness was rudely interrupted by a thunderous riping sound. One a few strands of light made their appearance, I dressed and looked about for the source of the commotion. There was nothing untowards - other than the plastic garbage bin lying on its side.

It wasn't until I returned home from work that the source of the early morning disturbance became clear - a large portion of the flat part of my roof had blown off. To be more precise, the sheeting had ripped from its mooring and was curled up - partially draped over the chimney.

I spend an hour or so trying to contact my insurance company. Due to a the effects of the storm - most notably a multi-car pileup in Eastern Ontario - this was to no avail. I had more luck in the morning. Twenty minutes after contacting the insurance company, an adjuster and contractor were on premises. By 3:30, the roof was patched temporarily.

The only loser - the unfortunate creature that somehow made its way into the crawl-space during the short time the roof was damaged. I didn't notice anything until the Sunday night - when I heard a animal on the roof - or so I thought. After a couple of nights, I decided to go up on the roof to shew the creature away - no sight. I then tried crushed mothballs - no effect.

When I arrived home the next Friday, I could hear the scratching. This convinced me that the creature was trapped in the roof. I phoned the adjuster and contractor. I could not convince them to send the roofers back to let the creature our. The contractor insisted that there was no way that a racoon could have got in - as only the membrane had ripped (there were boards underneath.)

I was not convinced - yet I couldn't think of what else to do. The scratching did go away. The following Friday, the roofers reappeared. Before wrapping up for the day, the chief roofer rang the bell - wondering if I had any problem with work proceding the next day. He also mentioned that they had evicted a sqatter - albeit a dead one - a rather large racoon.

Now I have a new flat roof - for the very manageble deductible. I feel a bit guiltly about the racoon. Perhaps I should have insisted on having the creature freed from his dark prison. However, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

Cauchon squeals

OK - perhaps it's some of the Liberal faithful who are squealing over Martin Cauchon's comments on health care and the fiscal imbalance:

TheStar.com - Ex-justice minister gores Liberal sacred cows

The Star chose to use a bovine metaphor - where a porcine metaphor is more appropriate.

More on St. Clair

It look as if the City's judge-shopping tactics have made the go ahead for the dedicated lanes for the St. Clair streetcar more or less likely. Exactly how the city obtained such agreeable judges when the last set were unanimous in opposition will likely remain a mystery. The SOS case appears to have been built on the City and TTC not having conducted a proper EA. However, the exact arguments used appear to have been rather esoteric points of law.

Perhaps that is in accordance will the may the law on appeals is written. To me, the bigger issue is the city's and TTC's gross dishonesty in the EA process. Can an EA be complete if it is based on falsehoods? Consider the following examples:


In my estimation, not only did the City and TTC fail to do a complete Environmental Assessment, they almost certainly allowed/encouraged/engineered the EA to proceed based on an evaluation of alternatives that they knew was not only biased, but also inaccurate. For me the telling document is Section 8 - Evaluation of Alternative Solutions:

If one looks at the key criteria applied in examining the different alternatives, it's clear that not only is the 'preferred alternative' given preferential treatment but also that the assumptions and calculations are at variance with facts in possession of the City/TTC during the course of the EA. I will divide these by subject area:

Service Attractiveness
In the evaluation of alternatives, switching to bus service (i.e. alternative #7) it is deemed that:

Buses would degrade attractiveness - future growth would be difficult

This statement is at variance with figures in an study conducted for the TTC comparing its performance on key measures to other public transit agencies. The report - prepared by IBI Group for city staff - is titled 'Review of TTC Key Performance Figures' (dated Feb 18 2003, available in the Urban Affairs Library)

Page 8 of the report report compares the number of boardings per hour for TTC buses vs. TTC streetcars. As of 2001, the numbers are:

Bus: 76 boardings/hour
Streetcar: 81 boardings/hour

The streetcar number is but slightly higher - even though the figure includes the larger ALRVs and CLRVS. If the number of prorated for the CLRVs only, it's clear that the boardings per hour for the standard streetcar (CLRV) is no greater and likely less than for buses. If the statement "buses would degrade attractiveness" were true, we should see a noticible advantage in boardings per hour for the streetcars. This is not borne out in real numbers of riders. It appears that riders give a slight edge to bus service.

Cost - operating

The comparison states that under alternative #7:
Transit operating costs would increase significantly, due to the need for more vehicles and maintenance.

This assertion is at odds with:
1. The IBI report (as alluded to above)
On page A.2, the report shows the hourly operatng costs of difefrent modes of transit in different systems. The numbers (2001) are:

TTC buses: $85.98 per hour
TTC streetcars: $133.78 per hour

Given that the TTC is achieving roughly equal boardings/hour for streetcars and buses, the numbers required to serve the route should be close. Hence, the operating cost for the bus alternative is far lower!

2. Statements by TTC official Mitch Stambler

It's not as is the operating cost issue is unknown to the TTC either. In the Globe and Mail report discussing the lack of effectiveness of the Spadina line, Mr. Stambler is quoted:

"We never argued that the that streetcars don't cost more to operate than buses"

(If you look back at the final EA report for the Spadina, you'll see that his statement is false. The economics in that report were jigged to make the LRT option look favourable vs bus service - so such a claim was indeed made by the city and TTC.)

Cost - capital

The alternatives comparson ascribes certain costs to the bus alternative:

Cost of buses $18-25 million
Cost for garage $8 million
Cost for road rebuild $13 million

yet no similar analysis is made for the streetcar ROW option.

There is an imminent need to replace (or refurbish) the CLRVs. The refurbishment of the CLRVs will cost about $1.1 million each, while replacement will cost $3-5 million. At a mininmum, $25 million or so should have been listed under alternative #6 to cover these.
I should hardly need to mention that the capital costs assumed under #6 have turned out to be incorrect - even without the vehicle replacement/refurbishment costs.

(Similar tricks were used in the Spadina assessment. The EA estimated the cost at around $70 million - including acquisition of ALRVs. The actual project cost was $140 million - and no vehicle were acquired!)

Capacity

In the comparson of alternatives, various claims are made as to the capacity advantages of streetcars. These claims are not new - however, they cannot be reconciled with:

1. The overall measure of 'boardings per hour' (as above) which show that TTC buses and streetcars are attracting and handling roughly the same number of passengers/service hour.
2. Figures for bus services offered in Montreal on HOV lanes which seem to indicate similar capacity as on the Spadina LRT line in terms of boardings per hour:

(STM [Montreal's transit system] figures state that the 535/80/165 combined route uses 53 buses as three minute intervals during peak (3 hours) - which supports 18,000 riders. This works out to about 113 boardings per hour during peak - which I believe is comparable to the Spadina LRT line - about 120/ hour. The Montreal route is much longer too - so the average length of trip is longer than on the Spadina line. )

It should be noted that the EA report uses copious white space touting other LRT systems. Most or all of these are inapplicable as points of comparison. No discussion is included as to the success of bus services in Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver - which should be the first points of comparison in such an analysis. Montreal and Ottawa are especially important to compare - given the similarity in weather.

Letter in Globe

This writer's letter in today Globe & Mail is well-written and right on the mark:

Globeandmail.com : Speaking of gall - Feb 23 2006

(if I say so myself:-)

If you are interested in getting a letter in the Globe, here's my advice - based on my experiences getting published:

1. Keep it short. The Star and the Financial Post will sometime accomodate longer letters - but not the G&M.
2. Consider a play on words - they seem to like that
3. Don't be scornful - especially about editorials.
4. It's easier to get a letter published in response to another letter. The paper doesn't seem to alot much space for letters responding to editorials and columnists.

David Miller, are you listening?

This writer's experience:

David Miller, are you listening?

with David Miller's listening skills mirrors those who witnessed Miller's wandering attention during the public deputations on the St. Clair Streetcar Right-of-Way.

Yes, Miller actually walked out rather than listen to possible ways the city could save money.

TheStar.com - Support building new power plant

Well this letter to The Star is rich in wisdom - I wonder who wrote it.

TheStar.com - Support building new power plant

Here for posterity are the key points:

1. There has been no real alternative proposed:

... the alternative touted by Mayor David Miller and local councillors, which relies on a smaller power plant, distributed generating capacity and conservation measures.
While it contains a number of plausible, if not laudable suggestions, the document provides neither expected timelines for these initiatives, nor any indication of the costs.
Many of the items indicate "energy calculation unavailable." Hence it's a stretch to call it a "plan."

2. The proposed plant doesn't take up extra space:

The Hearn site on which a smaller plant would sit is not substantively different in size than the proposed site of the larger plant. Hence, there is no credence to the claim that the alternative would preserve precious land.

FYI - I'm still waiting for a response from M. Bussin or her EA as to why she is opposing the Province's plan.

Miller fumes at budget input

As reported by The Star's Royson James:

TheStar.com - How to lose a business friend - Feb 17 2006

and The Sun's Sue-Ann Levy:

Mayor Miller Fouls Out - Feb 19 2006

Toronto Mayor David Miller rhetorically roughed-up Toronto Board of Trade CEO Gen Grunwald for suggesting that the City should take steps to get its own financial health in order before expecting help from the Province.

Grunwald was stating the obvious truth - i.e. obvious to anyone who has actually looked at the numbers. He was likely still overly deferential towards Miller. His reward: a series of low-brow, sophomoric insults from the Mayor.

More of Ms. Bussin

I sent Councillor Bussin my concerns about her position on the power plant plan.

Her assistant emailed me back indicating that I had some good points. He stated that Ms. Bussin's position was that there should be no further industrial uses on the waterfront.

In response, I pointed out the both plans involve a power plant on the waterfront. Furthermore, the new site and the Hearn site are roughly the same size. Since the Hearn site would become available if it were not used to house a power station, the whole point is moot.

So far no response to my query.

Bussin's Power Failure - Grey Matter

The latest NDP propaganda campaign in this neck of the woods is a 'protest movement' against the construction of a natural gas-fired power plant on some derelict land next to the abandoned Hearn power plant at the eastern end of Toronto's port.

There seems to be some confusion as to the exact location of the Portlands Energy Center. The map in The Star shows it as 6 Leslie - while the P.E.C. website shows it on Unwin. Regardless, it about the same size as the site on which the shell of the Hearn power plant sits.

What isn't at all confusing is the nature of the NDP position - pure propaganda. Let's consider but a few points.

Characterization of the 550 MW proposal as a "monster power plant"

Well - NDP propagandists have been hard at work on labels for the plant - some of these are 'monster', and 'super-sized'. Well, let's be real, 550 MW is not an atypical size for a new N.G. power plant. In fact, a World Bank study indicates that most plants being being are in the 300 MW to 600 MW range.

So it's hard to see how the planned 550 MW plant is a monster.

The 'clean green plan'

The NDPites are pushing a 'green' plan where the size of the new plant is reduced to 250 MW. The difference is made up using a combination of:

- energy conservation projects
- various small generation projects

The biggest problem with the NDP 'plan' is that most of the big ticket items that will replace the 300 MW would take many years to implement. The 'plan' isn't really a plan because it:

- gives no time frame for each of the items AND
- a number of items are documented with the caveat "energy calculation unavailable"

Take for example the expected energy savings from Deep Water Lake Cooling. Well, using deep lake water is great - but it is capital intensive and time consuming to implement.

At Cornell University, the Lake Source Cooling project took seven years from study through construction completion. This would seem to be a best case scenario - as Cornell is a contiguous space under one adminstration. Cornell is full of large buildings - many of which were already hooked up to a somewhat integrated cooling system. [40% of campus was already hooked up to a central cooling system. ]

Here in Toronto, hooking up large buildings to the LSC system is more challenging - just look at how long the construction at Roy Thompson Hall has been going on.

If this plan were software, we'd call it vapourware.

What is being saved?

Of course the biggest slight of hand in this all too ovbious political card trick is to claim that precious lakre front land would be saved.

This is complete poppycock. The 'green' plan has the smaller plant (i.e. 250 MW) located on the current site of the Hearn power station - whereas the P.E.C. would be directly adjacent. From everything I can tell, the two pieces of land are about the same size. If the P.E.C. goes ahead, the Hearn site could be cleared and made available for other uses.

Regardless, the transmission lines along Commissioners would need to remain in place.

What about the official plan?

We're constantly bombarded without other propaganda about the 1 million new residents we can expect in Toronto over the next few decades. Even if some or all of the 'green' plan elements were implemented, there is still continuing upward pressure on the demand side. A 250 MW plant would likely tide us over for a short period. After that, we'd be back to an impending crisis.

Let's not forget that the capital costs for the larger plant will be proportionally smaller per unit of output - as there are many fixed costs associated with the construction of a plant.

Methinks that the biggest power failer is actually in Sandra Bussin's grey matter.

OMERS - Oh My!

I'm not sure why the McGuinty crew at Queen's Park are pushing so hard on the reform to the municipal workers pension scheme - known as OMERS

TheStar.com - Province digs heels in as strike threatened

It seems that the main point of contention is that the reforms in the planned legislation will give preferential treatment to emergency workers (fire, paramedics etc.) - that will allow those workers to retire early with a full pension.

There is some indication that this is a payback to those employees for supporting McGuinty in the last election. I have no idea if that's true or not.

My question is why the Fiberals are risking a large public sector wildcat strike over this. The Harris government endured the power-grab inspired illegal strike by teachers over reforms to the provinces primary and secondary education systems.

However, in the Harris case, there was a clear need: the Royal Commission of Education commissioned by the Rae NDP goverment had identfied serious problems with education in Ontario. Further more, our students were bringing up the rear in comparison to other provinces - despite Ontario being tops in spending.

As far as I know there is no pressing need to reform OMERS - or did I miss something? Regardless, the unions appear hell-bent on putting the public through the same type of outrageous service withdrawals.

Gruntings from John Barber - NDP windbag

John Barber's assessment of Jane Pitfield is telling. If one of the NDP's semi-official press agents is already feeling the need to take shots at a rival mayoral candidate - by my calculation we are ten months from away from the municipal elections - they may in fact be worried.

I for one will prefer a candidate who demands fresh thinking instead of just demanding money. Pitfield indeed has point about the TTC. In comparison to Montreal's transit agency (the STM), which from 1994 to 2004 held its operating cost per passenger to an 11.6% gain, the same measure for the TTC rose 28.9%.

Had the TTC managed the same 'fresh thinking' as has the Montreal system, it would have saved over $124 million in 2004 alone. Hence the $16.5 million in savings suggested by Councillor Pitflield and others should be easily achievable.

All's rising that fares at the TTC

The unfortunately inept group of city councillors who've ended up as our TTC Commissioners have raised just about all fares - cash, token, Metropass to pay for this year's bump up in costs.

Again they are whining about it being the Province's fault - this despite the increased provincial funding for operations over the last four or five year. It seems that it's never enough. Well, of course it's never enough if you are not managing costs.

hmm - I wonder if windbag TTC Chair Howard Moscoe regrets telegraphing what the TTC was willing to grant in wage increases during collective bargaining last fall. Of course not - it isn't his money.

High quality regulated day care - bien sur!

This is what can happen at those supposedely wonderful regulated, state-run day-cares.

CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: Baby left outside Quebec day care

Read it here - it won't be picked up in The Star!

Can the City win with the Conservatives?

It's no surprise that the 416 elected no Conservative MPs. In my view, the bulk of the Liberal supporters are those without any interest or knowledge in politics. In my neighourhood there were few red lawn signs in support Maria Minna, and I've never heard anyone say anything positiive about her. However, the automaton voters held sway and sent her back to Ottawa.

A more important topic is the possible impact of the election results on the "urban agenda" and the 'New Deal for Cities". In my view, the Conservatives stated policies - and those that might arise out of a fiscal rebalancing - are very beneficial to urbanites.

Take for example the proposed child care allowance. While the leftists have long pushed for state run day care - centralized, socialized and unionized - this is hardly the best choice for many parents. It is especially not suitable for a growing number of families in Toronto who run home-based businesses and do not have car. For many of these families, getting a child to and from a day care outside of walking distance is out of the question. For this growing segment, the $1200 per annum allowance is a far better solution.

The second plank of the Conservative child care platform will encourage employers to establish day-care facilities at the work place. For those who work full-time (with a commute either by car or transit), this option is better than having to drop their child off at another location.

So who then benefits from the Liberal/NDP day car plan? Oh yes - CUPE.

On the overall fiscal front, cities and municipailties may benefit from the fiscal rebalancing. This may occur indirectly - in the form of allowing the provinces more financial breathing room. It may also occur directly if the Conservaties choose to use tax measures to take pressure of municipal finances. There are two ways this could occur:

1. Exempt munipcal debt tax exempt for the bond holders.
2. Institute a broad income tax deduction for municipal taxes.

Either measure is preferable to the negotiated handout method that had been the practice of the Liberal government.

TheStar.com - Toronto needs plan to keep city lights on

Well - we still have power - as I'm able to sit down at my computer and type this. However, we may have a problem in a couple of years - as Toronto will need either more local generation, or increased power transmission into the city from outside:

TheStar.com - Toronto needs plan to keep city lights on

The Star's editorial is right: there is no coherent plan to decide how to make up the shortfall. This despite an the city's Official Plan (still pending approval) that anticipates that a milion or so new residents will call Toronto home over the next number of decades.

Perhaps this issue should be the first test of a 'New Deal for Toronto'. In other words, the City should get to decide which of a number of alternative plans should be adopted. It's surely proper that the first order of business for a newly 'powered' city government should be to address electrical power.

Informal Beaches Poll and a a surprise

I just returned from a stroll around my neighbourhood - including a very pleasant stretch along the Boardwalk. It was one of those days during which I managed to avoid the temptation of a Lick's hamburger. I will instead be preparing grill salmon and asparagus - well as soon as I've completed this post.

Now speaking of Licks, their informal burger poll has the Tory's in the lead - with 37% of Beaches burger eaters. The Febfibs are at 30%, and the NDP back at about 23% if memory serves. Of course, the burger poll is likely not representative of the riding as a whole.

In terms of lawn signs, I'd have to give the edge to the NDP candidate Churley. Then again, in the last election, the prevalence of NDP signage was deceiving, as the Liberal incumbent Minna won handily. As of this evening, the Conservative Peter Conroy appears comfortably in second place in the sign count. In as far as I can tell from my walking route, support for Maria Minna is slim.

The surprise of the evening has been the very recent (and obviously well-organized) leaflet campaign by a group called 'Liberals for Conroy'. It seems that the Liberals history of parachuting in candidates may come back to haunt them - as disaffected liberals from way back appear to have put this together.

The Finch Saga

No - this isn't another post about the birds who avail themselves of the nuts and seeds I place in my birdfeeder. Instead, this is about the ongoing saga of the Finch Ave washout - more to the point, the time it has taken (and will take) to repoen the roadway:

TheStar.com - 5 months later, Finch reopens ... sort of

Well - it's already been five months - and there are now two lanes open. Per city staff projections, the full reopening will not happen until May - making for a total of ten months.

As usual, there are excuses (e.g. "it was raining".)

Is ten months a long time? You bet. When multiple sections of the Santa Monica Freeway in LA collapsed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the highway was back in service within 85 days. The work to rebuild the freeway was put out for competitive bids - and began 19 days after the quake. In Toronto, it took almost 85 days to award the contract. This is David Miller's great (and continually growing) bureaucracy in action (or not as the case may be.)

Painting the town red, orange and yes blue!

The polling on the upcoming federal election certainly hasn't converged on a concensus - well other than that the Tories are leading at the moment.

Here in Hogtown - at least in the Beaches - there has certainly been a shift towards the blue. There are more signs in general - but the blue is quite in evidence. There are likely more Tory supporters than can be measured by lawn signs. The ultra-shrillness of many lefties in Toronto leads many prefer to keep sensible views to themselves. However, I doubt that we'll see a Conservative representing Beaches-East York. I'll be voting Conservative - with the hope that the weakling Liberal Minna and the ultra-Trotskyite Curley will split the loonie-left vote down the middle.

Happy New Year

Please don't mistake the recent inactivity here for an abandonment. I've been busy with Christmas, my birthday, New Year's, and an escape to sunny California this past week. I hope everyone managed to enjoy the season.

The year closed without the provincial Fiberals managing to pass a new City of Toronto Act. Quite frankly, there's no hurry - from what I've heard this will only make things worse. City council's drunken sailor act has grown to Titanic proportions - and allowing them to raise more taxes and fees will just fuel the fire. There's no justification for the operarting budget to be growing at about $0.5 billion a year - which works out to 8-9%.

I'm pretty sure the Fiberals understand this - but they lack the courage to put the city's finances under provincial supervision.

Well, it's going to be an interesting year:

1. We'll see some resolution on the St. Clair front
2. Perhaps some type of legislation on Toronto will be forthcoming from Queen's Park
3. and or course, we'll be voting in municipal elections come November

I'll be supporting Jane Pitfield.

TheStar.com - Streetcar plan soars to $95M

Well The Star was a bit slow on the uptake on this story. By the time they published the story about the "surprise" bump in costs for the St. Clair W. streetcar right of way:

The Star - Dec 12th 2005

it was almost time to publish the story about how Council reversed itself on the issue:

The Star - Dec 13th 2005

If you are are wondering what really happened, read:

Sue-Ann Levy's column in The Sun - Dec 13th 2005

Ms. Levy is quite correct - it's one big shell game - with Messrs. Moscoe and Miller being the chief shiesters.

Hmm. Are we starting to see a pattern here?

asks Levy. Well, yes we are - but it's not a new game. The same tricks were used to push ahead with the Spadina LRT. An examination of the history of the Spadina LRT project reveals that the original EA on that effort projected the cost at $74.33 million - including $34 million for the purchase of new vehicles. Justification for the project was partly based on a financial assessment that the "LRT" alternative was the lowest cost (when capital costs were included.) By the next year (1989), the planned cost of the project had grown to $117 million - without the purchase of new vehicles! In other words, construction and related costs swelled by $77 million once approval had been given.

Surprise, surprise, the financial justification was never revisited.

The rules of the game are clear: low-ball the initial estimates, ram the project through, and then hide the realities.

For the birds

No - this isn't about David Miller's mayoralty. It could be, but it isn't. Instead, I thought I'd give an update on the avian visitors taking advantage of my hospitality.

A couple of months ago I spotted an example of a species that I'd never noticed before. It occured to me that it would be beneficial to actually know what I was looking at. Mt edification was not the only anticipated benefit; I also wanted to be able to tell my parents. After messing around looking for internet sites, I decided that the only practical method of identification was to purchase and study a book.

There are a number of bird books out available. After thumbing through different options at my local Book City, I settled upon The ROM Field Guide to Birds fo Ontario (Author: Janice M. Hughes). This is a robust, larger pocket-size guide. While not a perfectly comprehensive book, it's been fine for identifying those species that have been kind enoug to pay me a visit.

Without further ado - here is my list:

House Sparrow - Yes - not exactly exciting - but cute and reliable. Oh - and voracious.

House Finch - Almost as frequent as the House Sparrow.

Northern Cardinal - Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal come and go. They prefer to feed off the ground - so are most likely to make an appearance when there is a good sized debris field below the main feeder. One day, I had two pair.

Downy Woodpecker - I have three or four as regular visitors. They feed from the peanut filled metal cylinder. The tube is perforated so as to allow the woodpeckers to feed, whilst keeping sqirrels and racoons from vacuuming them all.

White-breasted Nuthatch/Red breasted Nuthatch - Very pretty little birds. I've spotted these every few weeks. I'm told that they should be availing themselves of the peanuts in the tude - but I've only seen one alight on it for a brief peck.

Blue Jay - The Jays have only recently discovered the feeder.

Black-capped Chickadee - Spotted every week or so. Today, I had a pair flitting in and out. They like to spoop in and carry off.

Dark-eyed Junco - a cute ground feeder - probably around every day. I wish I could stay and home to keep a better eye out.

Robin - yes, I had Robins - in the tree no less. I'd always thought they stayed on the ground.

Brewers Blackbird - I spotted this only today. He was feeding from the debris field below the feeder. Per the guide, he's migrating - as the Toronto area is shown as such.

Starlings - Oh yes - I have Starlings

Well - that's all thus far. It's fund watching the birds flit and hop about - much better that TV. I'll be staying tuned to the birds.

Bono didn't know but he knows now

Bono - the Irish rock musician of U2 fame - is now expressing his disappointment with the Prime Minister. According to reports he is:

Mystified - The Star - Nov 25th

"I'm mystified, actually, by the man," the U2 lead singer told a news conference Friday. "I like him very much, personally.

or

Crushed - The Star again

"The bad news is ... we don't feel any closer to a deal. I'm personally not just disappointed, I'm crushed, actually, because I really believed the Prime Minister would do that," he said. "I felt as a former finance minister he would be able to make the numbers work, it's a surplus economy and the only country in the G-8 that is a surplus economy with this kind of moral conviction."

Disappointed - The Globe and Mail

Well, aside from feeling all that, Mr. Bono should be feeling foolish. I don't mean that he is foolish for proposing that wealthy nations commit more to help the developing world - although personally I'm very skeptical of aid programs run by the state. He was foolish to believe that Mr. Martin would follow through on whatever promises and sweet-talking he used to convince Mr. Bono to become the poster boy for the Liberals over the last few years.

It's interesting that the online discussion attached to the Globe's article is full of commentss roundly denigrating Bono - telling him to butt out of Canadian politics. Funny, I didn't hear them complain when Bono spoke at the Liberal's convention.

Bono may have been foolish to believe Martin - he's in the company of many Canadians in that regard. However, he's smart enough to know that the time is ripe to aim his criticism at the bullseye on the PM's rather flabby derriere.

TheStar.com - Top court upholds pesticide ban

It seems that perhaps Toronto isn't so poweless after all! The esteemed ( cough sputter!) Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the City's ban on pesticides:

The Star's Coverage

With discussions about a new City of Toronto act having been in the news recently, it makes me wonder what the fuss is all about. The new act is supposed to allow Toronto to do such things as:

- ban pesticides (already done)
- decide when and where to install speed bumps (they seem to have no real problems with this)
- appoint a city auditor general (seems that this office already exists)

The new City of Toronto act will be nothing more that politcal show-boating; and there is absolutely nothing new about that in this City.

French reporting on French riots reported as slim

Shocking! The French media are downplaying the riots.

Fox report on Paris Riots

Quote:

The relatively thin coverage by the French media of the riots — one of France’s equivalents to Time Magazine devoted only four pages to the troubles Monday. Time itself devoted six! Compare that to the wall-to-wall (concealed glee) coverage of Katrina, and it makes you wonder. Does France really want to come to terms with all of this?

Paris - where have the smuglefties gone?

The smugleft Canadians and Euros I remember cackling about all the bad things that supposedly happened in New Orleans ensuing from Hurricane Katrina seem to have taken a collective vacation - I don't hear them saying anything about the events in Paris:

Paris is a riot

According to these folks, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina proved that the heavily statist model in countries such as France was superior.

This assertion, of course, flew in the face of events in recent years - such as the heat wave in France a couple of year ago that killed 10 - 15 thousand - that should remind us that Mother Nature will exact its price on us at times. Sometimes we will be prepared, at others she will overwhelm us.

This having been said, only one-thousand or so perished as a result of the hurricane. Americans chipped in and helped the government organizations rescue tens of thousands. Community and religious groups have donated massive amounts in terms of dollars and the time of volunteers. My own university has welcomed over 75 Tulane students.

Despite the liberal-media hype at the time, it appears now that the rescue operation was a success - and that reports of all manner of thuggery at the Superdome and N.O. Convention Centre have turned out to be false.

People pull together in the face of a natural disaster. What is facing the French is more of a man made problem - the long-term disaster of statism/socialism; one that is much more difficult to recover from. Americans have the personal resources and energy to pitch in. The French, so burdened by taxes and deferential to state apparati, may not.

Out-of-towners offer their 2 cents-worth on the ROW

It seems that in transit-related matters - especially where the possibility of establishing a "light-rail system" is concerned, there is a constituency that can't seem to resist poking their noses into places where one could argue that they shouldn't. Most of these seem to be current students in various university city-planning departments.

For example, here is:

Greg D. Morrow two cents-worth

which somehow made it into The Star. Now Mr. Morrow is a PHd student - but he's not from Toronto. He makes a good point to begin:

The recent debate over the future of St. Clair Ave. is a classic case of entrenched positions and a bad planning process leading to an unnecessarily contentious battle.

an assertion that no lucid person would refute. However, as the column evolves, it becomes clear that perhaps Morrow hasn't followed the debate that closely:

...The city is not advocating turning St. Clair into an arterial roadway...

Well - St. Clair is a major arterial roadway as far as The City of Toronto goes. That is why City Council as a whole had to vote of the proposal. Changes to smaller arterial roads - such as Dundas East - are decided at the community council level.

...By reducing the carriageway from six lanes to four and adding trees on either side of the right-of-way, traffic will slow down and the scale of the street will be reduced, which invariably makes for a more pleasant place to shop...

Well - there will be many trees lost to this project. The sidewalk narrowing will mean that many of the older trees will likely be removed - as they sit at the edge of the sidewalk. I would think it likely given the rebuilding (should it proceed) that many other trees will suffer/perish due to root systems being damaged.

And since the streetcars stop at virtually every corner, shopkeepers need not worry about losing business. In fact, retail streets with smaller carriageways and effective transit universally outperform those located on wide streets carrying relatively high-speed car traffic.

I guess it depends what is meant by effective. Queens Quay W (a.ka. Harbourfront) is a retail wasteland. I've been told that the owners of the Queens Quay Terminal have given up on trying to make retail work - and there really wasn't anything else to speak of from a retail perspective. Of course, this street has exactly the type of set up that Morrow is touting. Hey - shopkeepers at QQT don't have to worry about losing business because there wont be any left!

Then there is the example of the Waterloo student from Edmonton who set up a blog to promote a boycott of St. Clair Avenue. I must say that the U of W has fallen in my estimation. What exactly does such a person know about the area, the people, and their hopes and aspirations?

The sidewalk vanishes

On my home from a trip to a client site up in North York, and dinner at my sisters in the St. Clair West area, I came home to the Beaches via Yonge & St. Clair.

My understanding is that the construction on the streetcar right-of-way had already begun at that corner. From what I could see, the alignment will/would cause a severe cutback in the sidewalk. My bank is on the southwest corner of the intersection, so I'm familiar with the area. From a sideways look, the sidewalk was difficult to make out. I circled the block to have another look - again it looked very narrow - hardly appropriate for a major intersection that is the hub of an area that most consider an urban success.

The great urban cities I'm familiar with - Montreal and London - don't short change the pedestrian realm to make way for rail vehicles. In fact, they don't uses surface rail on thoroughfares.

PS - I've subsequently found a link with a picture - scroll to the end of this post:

Link to pictures showing what's left of sidewalk

(Be sure to skip the introductory drivel and whining!)

Assessment fun

I recently received the provincial assessment of my property value - i.e. the MPAC assessment. I'm one of the lucky ones whose property value has increased more that the city average. I guess I'd be luckier if MPAC had royally messed up and calculated a lower valuation - however, the number they came up with is pretty well spot on.

I'm not sure whether MPAC new I had a new shingle job, new deck/landscaping and a completely renovated bathroom. Like almost everyone else in the Beaches, I've been putting quite a bit of $$$ into the place - really a necessity if you want your neighbours to continue to think well of you.

I'm very happy with the place - and why shouldn't I be. This is a great neighbourhood. It's close to downtown. We have the beach, and more than our share of parks, plus the Leslie St. Spit. The city has spiffed up the library, and upgraded the cycling trail along the Boardwalk. Not only that, the waterfront revitalization effort will see the establishment of a big new park area.

However, there's a fly in the ointment - at least according to my local city councillor - a certain Ms. Sandra Bussin. I just received a long rant from Ms. Bussin complaining that the assessments were unfair. She doesn't like the fact that properties are assessed on their current values. However, she doesn't propose an alternative. Would it be fair to base taxes on value from 5, 10 or 15 years ago?

There's nothing unfair about having one's property increase in value and paying a proportionate increase in taxes. What isn't fair to anyone is the huge leaps in city spending that are causing tax increases for everyone.

Tale of two cities - transit wise

This morning I picked up and read The Star's smaller brother - i.e the Metro, which is distributed free on the subway and at bus stops. On page 5, there are two TTC related articles:

On the left, is Ed Drass' column in transit. This edition's column discusses the 191 route - i.e. the highway 27 "Rocket". Apparently, this is a very crowded route. In addition, the pick-up/drop-off point for this route as Kipling Subway has some serious logistics problems. The TTC is promising to improve the frequency of the route and to rework the setup at Kipling - perhaps next year.

Ed Drass column - Metro - Oct 20 2005

What's the hold-up? Money of course. So where is the money going? It's going to keeping streetcars running - and to projects such as the St. Clair right-of-way currently being litigated. Coincidentally, the right-hand side of the page discusses the latest legal happenning on the St. Clair West front.

It seems that the TTC will spare no expense to fund its ineffecive streetcar system - while eschewing opportunities to grow ridership outside of the city's core. The problems at Kipling with the 191 are not isolated. The waiting area for the Finch W bus from Finch subway is atrocious. The TTC discussed plans to create a slip road so that buses could get out of the terminal more quickly. To my knowledge, nothing has been done.

TheStar.com - City on `cusp' of creative rebirth

Actually, this isn't one of Honderich's guest columns,

Honderich on Toronto's creative rebirth

but rather a report on an address he made touting the importance of 'creativity' to the future of the city's economy. You can tell it isn't a Honderich column because it isn't full of short paragraphs consisting of solitary staccato sentences.

Nonetheless, from the reporting, the typical Honderich type nonsense 'shines' through:

The time has come for Toronto to throw off its shackles of self-doubt...

he says. Well - perhaps Toronto would have less self-doubt were the economic strategy being pursued by its leftist elite (of which Honderich is a charter member) not simply to spend like drunken sailors while hoping for Santa delivers large wads of cash in neat piles beneath the tree each year.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Honderich calls for - guess what - more spending:

In order to fuel it, however, the city needs to enrich its investment in public education and the arts; foster a creative spirit and insure governments are creatively organized; spend more on arts on a per capita basis; establish sustained funding from all levels of government; envisage a civic agency to foster the creative process and draw on other cities' creative successes.

Now what Honderich seems to have overlooked is that the cities where art as purely art has flourished have had other sources of cash to fund the artists. Leaders and patricians in Florence and Venice funded the Michaelangelo's and Da Vinci's using cash from industry and trade.

A better strategy for Toronto is to attempt to reinvigorate itself as the location in Canada in which to locate head offices. [Other growth areas could be medicine and higher education - although these are held-back due to tight state control. ] This will require real belt-tightening at City Hall - perhaps a 3 year wage freeze and a staffing reduction of 5% for starters. The city might also ask its unions to help fund some infrastructure projects. A 5% 'tithing' on TTC wages would give the commission about $400 million for capital projects each decade.

TheStar.com - Transit ruling a victory for persistence

Go-o-olly, the way some supporters of the streetcar right-of-way on St. Clair W. are talking, you'd think Toronto will plain just come to an end if the project doesn't proceed:

Toronto Star - Oct 15 2005

From the article:

"This is a nightmare," says Gord Perks of the Toronto Environmental Alliance. "The thing that's infuriating about all of this, if you look at the 50 biggest cities in North America, over 40 of them have in the last 10 years either put in exclusive rights-of-way for light rail or plan to. Toronto, which is theoretically the streetcar city, can't seem to do that."

Well, perhaps it's because Torontonians know more about streetcars than people in those other cities. I suspect not many other cities are installing 'streetcars' as non-rapid transit - they are in fact installing light-rail systems.

Of course, two of the most successful transit cities - Montreal and Ottawa - have been successful at building transit use in recent years by deploying busways and rapid-bus services. I guess we should phone up the STM and OCT and warn them that they will be incurring the transit gods wrath for not using light-rail systems!

TheStar.com - City's next step for St. Clair project on hold

More often than not it seems that I find some surprising news on the political front awaits me when I return from a vacation. In 1991 or so - who can quite remember - I returned to find that the Peterson Liberals had been thrown out of power as Ontario voters had elected Bob Rae's socialist government. What followed was perhaps the darkest half decade in Ontario history. Rae's policies and spending precipitated a collapse of the province's economy.

This week I returned to find the McGuinty government down one Minister of Finance - as Mr. Sorbara has stepped down due to an ongoing RCMP investigation. This was a surprise - although the issue had on low simmer for a while.

In the very next blurb on 680 Radio, I learned that the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way project had been stopped as a result of a court ruling. The project is now in limbo.

The Star - October 13 2005

A three judge panel has blocked the construction of the dedicated right of way (ROW) - however it has not yet published, or given any indication of its reasoning. The appelants - the Save our St. Clair (SOS) community group challenged the project using three arguments. The judges may have agreed with one, two or even all three of these as the basis for the injunction.

Some commentators - for example The Star's Royson James - have blamed the 'setback' on an over-exuberant but well-meaning haste on the part of the ROW proponents. I beg to differ. I blame it on hubris and dishonesty. The entire EA process was a sham. Proponents such as Howard Moscoe never had the slightest intention of listening to community concerns. I sat in the deputations at City Hall. I don't remember even seeing Moscoe. Mayor David Miller drifted in and out - and was clearly not engaged.

I was sure at that time that the issue would be headed to court. People do not like having something rammed down their throats. People expect a fair process, not a rigged one.

The City/TTC position on one of the questions before the court exemplifies the duplicity and dishonesty exhibited by proponents throughout the process. They actually argued that the ROW was not a 'rapid transit project - but simply 'surface transit improvements'! This is despite the fact that the term 'rapid transit' is all over the TTC and planning documents:

TTC memo - Dec 9 2002

The memo in entitled 'STREETCAR RAPID TRANSIT ON ST. CLAIR AVENUE' - and funds for the EA came from the budget for rapid transit studies!

My head is spinning...

..in trying to keep up with the goings-on at City Hall. Last week Ms. Cosburn and Mr. Carnevale were suspended. On Monday, we learned they were having an affair. Now, this affair never involved sex - hmm - and we are learning about the possiblility of a whole web of wrong doing involving everyone and his brother. We are seeing eveidence of widespread nepotism.

One begins to question not where in City Hall there is corruption - but where there isn't.

I don't wish to slag the average, honest municipal worker - I'm sure most are not corrupt. The fact that is so much corruption and questionable ethics - in my view at least - stems from the overall culture in Toronto municipal politics. The characters we see getting what they can out of the system are taking their cues from the very top.

It's a culture of 'What can I get?' - which pushes aside real concern for the long-term health of the City and its taxpayers/tax base. This is how the budget process works. This is how union negotiations work.

Remember how the ATU almost walked out of contract talks with the TTC when they found out that the TTC was going to spend money on a service improvment study. This is because they wanted to get the money for themselves. They felt (at least they postured) that the TTC had been holding out on them - as if the TTC had no right to spend money on anyhing else!

Remember the St. Clair ROW debate. For many involved on the affirmative side, this was as much a way to get goodies for their neighbourhoods as about transit. This was their turn at the trough - and they weren't going to use it no matter how bad the idea was.

What is worse in the long run is the deep intellectual corruption at City Hall. Mayor Miller and minions continue to increase spending dramatically - yet cry poverty and whine for a 'new deal'. This dishonesty surely doesn't go unnoticed among bureaucrats. The message is clear: get what you can, don't worry about how.

TheStar.com - McGuinty, Miller to meet on new city powers `New deal' talks at critical stage

The Star's Ian Urquhart muses about planned discussions between Mayor Miller and the Premier McGuinty about a 'new deal' for Toronto:

Urquhart column - Oct 3 2005

Urquhart's money seems to be on the allowance of some GTA-wide tax provision to help "poor" old Toronto. [Yep - the Toronto that receives almost $200 million in transfers from the other parts of the GTA, the lion's share of the gas tax allocated to municipalities, supersized business taxes..]

Here's a new deal for you my suburban friends - you get to pay higher taxes to help bail out Toronto - a city that hasn't even tried to stop its runaway spending express train. And guess what, Mayor Miller and his tax and spend loving leftist council will get to raise this tax over and over again. Run for your lives or at least hide your women and children.

TheStar.com - Garbage hurricane heading for Ontario

Today's editorial in The Toronto Star:

Garbage hurricane heading for Ontario

is quite correct: the Province will very likely need to find a solution to an impending garbage crisis. Toronto and a number of nearby regional municipalities rely on a large dump in Michigan to dispose of solid waste. The cross-border flow of trash is not new. However, until Toronto eschewed a plan to convert the abandoned Adam's open pit mine into a landfill for Toronto and other parts of the GTA, the issue flew under the radar.

So yes, the McGuinty Liberals may well end up having one very messy and hot potato. I don't have a great deal of empathy - as this is a government that decided to score some cheap political points by putting more nails in the Adams Mine plan's coffin.

Isn't it funny how The Star continually propagandizes that the City of Toronto should get the 'keys to the car' - i.e. should be allowed to take on more responsibilities. However, as soon as something at all difficult comes along, they cry for the Province to step in and take care of the mess.

TheStar.com - Top court: B.C. can sue Big Tobacco

I've never smoked - and would be perfectly happy if the practice could be effectively banned. However, today's ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada is very worrying.

The Star's Report on the ruling

This basically allows a province to pass a law that makes people and companies retroactively liable for something. In the case that something is the sale of tobacco products, this something is a legal product - yes it's still a legal product on whose sales governments rake in $billions.

The arguments is that tobacco sellers knew of the risks caused by smoking - and hid the information. The inference is that governments didn't know. Poppycock! Almost as far back as tobacco has been available in western society people have known. King James I of England's viewed it as:

...a custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible stygian [dark and gloomy] smoke of the pit that is bottomless...

In other words, The Crown in the form of the King of England knew of the dangers. This very same Crown - in the form of the Province of BC somehow didn't.

The Crown should either make tobacco illegal - or stop bugging the tobacco companies.

Blink and you'd have missed it

Well - actually, you would have missed it. It was The Toronto Star coverage of a recent analysis that rated Toronto the most difficult place in Canada in which to conduct business. What's this you say? Well, if The Star is your only source of news, then you wouldn't have heard that Canadian Business Magazine rated Toronto 40th out of 40 Canadian cities as a location to start or expand a business. They simply decided not to rport on it.

Now the truth be told, Toronto does offer of advantages that cannot be captured or emasured in such a study. It has the size and diversity of skills, as well as the cultural amenities that can attract head offices. In fact Cadillac-Fairview has just announced that is considering a new office tower in the downtown core.

However, as everything in business, advantages and disavantages are weighed on opposing plates of the balance scale. If we go by the record of the last 15 years or so, the number of business voting with their feet to leave has outpaced those deciding to expand. The net result is that Toronto is the struggling economic heart to a robust overall regional economy. It isn't a healthy situation.

So while Mayor David Miller might well be right that "if your are serious about business, you come to Toronto", for many businesses, Toronto means Mississauga, Markham etc. GE has had its Canadian HQ out in Missisauga for as long as I can remember. IBM and many other technology companies seem to have set up their main shops in Markham. These companies are certainly serious about business.

It's troubling that the likes of The Star and the hard-left wingers running the city wish to minimize, hide, obfusctate etc about the issue. Then again, they do that about everything.

James - Miller's way or the highway

The Star's Royson James brings to light the idealogical cleansing that is going on at City Hall:

It's Miller's way or the highway

Well - this is one his best efforts - but it isn't news. I wrote about as much last November:

Entry from Nov 29 2004

As James writes, the axe is falling on people who are quite talented - but dared to raise dissenting viewpoints.

The real problem at City Hall is not financial corruption - but rather intellectual corruption. That's soon all that will be left.

Apres vous M. Albert!

It is not that otfen that I get out in front of The Toronto Star's editors:

Star Editorial - Sept 19 2005

I'm quite certain that they didn't read my "editorial" from a couple of days ago. Nevertheless, they've made many of the same points. The paper has inadvertently touched on another reason that the TDRC and other do-gooders are resisting a count. If the homeless census indeed helps track where these vagrants have come from, it will very likely reveal that most have strayed in from other places in Canada.

In other words, Toronto and it's policies are magnets attracting the hobo crowd. Heck, why would a vagrant try to live in a railroad boxcar when he can get handouts from the city?

The politics of counting

If you thought hurricane Ophelia moved slowly, you should see Toronto city council's efforts at counting the homeless. As this article in The Star:

Homeless count gains ground - Sept 16 2005

details, many other cities have managed this feat without calling in Hercules. So what's the deal here in Hogtown?

For the most, the foot-dragging is a result of a concerted propaganda campaign by Toronto's homeless industry - and certainly a fair number of councillors who share their views. These folks are experts in smoke-screens and red herrings. There arguments are typically along these lines:

"The count wont be perfect"

Well, no count is perfect. The Census isn't perfect. Accouting is rarely perfect. I'm not perfect. However, the goal is not to measure the precise number of people camped out in the City's open spaces. The goal of counting is to determine whether - over time - the $200 million or so pumped into the homeless industry is actually helping.

"Counting invades the street peoples' privacy"

Come now! Does the Census invade people's privacy? What about this waiting list of people who wish to get into subsidized apartments?

hmm. Some these arguments are thin gruel. So what's the hidden agenda?

Well, many of these do-gooders (especially the 'Toronto Disaster Relief Committee') are busy building their political careers on the backs of the homeless problem. The institution of a periodic count of the homeless threatens them in two ways:

1. If the problem doesn't get better over time - despite the vast $$$ spent - the public will begin to question the program's efficacy. Well, many people already are.

2. If the process of counting reveals that the problem is alleviated over time, then these do-gooders will be out of a job.

Jumping Jack Layton flash, it's a gas gas gas...

but his brain is running on fumes...

The Globe and Mail's editorial on gas prices is one of its better efforts:

That's not gouging at the gas pumps

I certainly don't enjoy paying higher prices for anything - gas prices included - but I can tolerate them. What I can't tolerate are politicians such as Jack Layton who won't take the time to understand how a market works. Per Layton:

"What we see is [gas companies] all acting in parallel," he said. "Whether or not it's collusion, one can draw the conclusion that they're all moving in lock step.

Well Mr. Layton, gas prices are going up because there is a sudden shortfall in refinery capacity, If prices didn't rise, we be all be lined up at the gas stations waiting hours for the next delivery to arrive - sort of like Russians used to line up for everything under the Soviet system. Come to think of it, much like Canadians have to wait for medical services.

This is all beyond Layton. The man is purportedly educated - which shows how much little this can actually mean.

More TPA fun

The Globe's loyal NDP sycophant - aka John Barber - follows closely and lovingly at the heels of Councillor Chow in bashing the Toronto Port Authority.

The Globe and Mail: Please, Sheila, take a look at our Little Mexico-on-the-Lake?

Watch out Olivia - it's endearing until he mistakes your leg for a fire hydrant.

Anyway, if you read Barber's rant, you will find that he despises the TPA. He complains that it is losing money and has therefore no right to exist. hmmm - what about the TTC and VIA rail? John, are you there?

Barber fails to recommend any alternatives. Perhaps he favours the city taking over the Port. In this case, the operations would still be losing money. The city would be crying 'downloading, dowloading' and be asking Ottawa for a bailout. The last thing Toronto needs is another money-losing transportation operation to mismanage.

Alternatively, the Port could simply be closed. Businesses such as Redpath Sugar would relocate, more jobs would be lost and our already over-burdened roads and rail lines would have to carry the thousands of extra loads of aggregate to feed the construction indsutry.

TPA fun

For those who haven't been following this "critical" topic, the TPA is the Toronto Port Authority. You have to feel bad for the TPA's management. They have a job to do - a fiduciary/legal responsibility - which is to operate the port as best as they can. And yes, that includes the Island Airport.

It probably isn't part of their job descripition to have to ensure a steady stream of invective from the Mayor and various councillors. The latest example is a complaint from Councillor Olivia Chow that the TPA didn't give adequate warning about the demolition of some derelict buildings. Talk about petty!

I'm not sure why the likes of Miller, Chow continue to excoriate the TPA for simply doing its job. If they want the airport closed, or to take over the running of the whole Authority, they should be dealing with the politicians in Ottawa.

In my opinion, the last thing the City needs is another monet-losing transportation agency to mismanage - they already have the TTC.

Will he or wont he

Hogtown editors and columnists are almost as preoccupied with Mayor Miller's non-visit to the gun-play plaqued areas of Toronto as the headline writers are with the gunplay itself. The Star's Royson James wrote a heart-felt column about why the Mayor should make the journey.

The Globe's John Barber navel-gazed about why criticism of the Mayor from some of his usual antagonists has been muted. Well, perhaps it because it might seem unseemly to remind everyone that Miller and his minions orchestrated the removal of a popular police chief. On the other hand, there is little need to remind everyone of this - or the fact that Miller was caught joking about 'his' police force being in jail.

But let's get back to why the Mayor is hesitant to visit the troubled areas. Here's my theory:

FACT: The Mayor and many of the leftists on council would like to take money from the police budget and use it for the other things they would like to spend money on.

CONJECTURE: The biggest reason for pushing out Fantino and bringing in someone more anonymous is that Fantino had the profile and skills to defend his budget. Miller, Pam McConnell and Co. were hoping that the new chief would acquiesce to some chopping.

PRACTICAL CERTAINTY: The rash of shootings will make it difficult to cut the police budget. In fact, there will be pressure to increase it.

The more Miller can downplay the issue, the better chance he has to take money out of the police budget down the road. He hopes that by the next budget cycle, people will have forgotten the long hot summer.

Visiting the troubled neighbourhoods would only raise the profile of the issue - and that's the very last thing Miller and Co desire.

The Left's whipping boy

No kidding, Mayor Miller and cabal have been trying to blame the current spate of shootings in TO on Mike Harris. What a tired, old, baselesss refrain. Of course, I heard some twit on the Metro Morning phone-in line repeating the same nonsense.

It's all too predictable that Mayor Miller and other members of the leftist plague that fouls our otherwise fair city would blame Mike Harris for their own problems. The fact is that in the year 2000, Statistics Canada tells us that Ontario's murder rate had fallen to 1.3 per 100,000 - the lowest since 1963, and far lower than the national average.

We are only seeing a spike in violence in Toronto - not throughout the province. Should we not blame the profligate tax and spend policies of our own city for causing businesses to flee, and subsequently denying many young people the chance at a good job? Would not there be plenty of money for youth programs had not Miller and his cabal agreed to such generous pay hikes to 'buy labour peace'?

'coon wars

Sorry to have been away so long. I've been out enjoying the sunny summer weather.

In addition, I've been fighting a war against my local supersized nocturnal omnivores - i.e the racoons.

I've finally (fingers crossed here) managed to 'coon-proof my woodpecker feeding station.

1. Nocturnal omnivore deterrent devices (NODDs) on the top of the post and beam (i.e. nails). The most damage/theft was done my the 'coons reaching down from the top.
2. The easy opening clasp has been replaced by one that screws shut.
3. There are additional screws attached the feeder from to the post. Some of the 'coons are supersized - so the extra screws are needed.
4. Picture hanging wire has been woven across the top of the feeder - see just below the cap. If the varmints manage to lift the top off, they will have a tough time scooping out the peanuts. I can still fil the container using a funnel.
5. More picture wire hanges down from the bottom of the feeder - and is tied onto the rather substantial hook (not shown). This prevents the 'coons from lifting and upturning the feeder.

hmm - there are so many racoons in Toronto, it almost makes one think that they are running the place. Who else could have devised the green-bin program - with the 'racoon-proof' latches. Come to think of it, David Miller's face is shaped a little like a racoon's. hmm, and the hair is a little too perfect. Naah - it can't be...


Forified Bird Feeder

The Globe and Mail: Shocking suggestion

A clever letter here to the Globe & Mail:

The Globe and Mail: Shocking suggestion

if I say so myself. Well - actuallly, my mom and dad thought it was great as well.

I guess is hardly surprising that former Hydro executives Bartholemew and Campbell as still trying to foist a Hydro monopoly back on Ontarians; after all they wouldn't wish to admit guilt. They actually have the audacity to complain about 'gross mismanagement' of Ontario's power situation over the past decade!

Column by Rod Anderson, Ron Bartholomew and Tom Campbell - July 20 2005

(Hmmm - former Enron executives get to face jail time, while former Hydro execs are living comfortably on their golden parachutes and pensions.)

What's more amazing is that Rod Anderson a former managing partner in Ernst & Young has signed onto the effort. Given that the column evidences a pre-JK understanding of financial economics, it's hardly any wonder why he is a former managing partner.

Update: Per his website, Mr. Anderson gave up professional life decades ago. He has since been concentrating on composing poetry and music. Rod - my advice is to stick with the poetry and music.

Slight to Miss Universe 'silly', mayor says

Despite his policy follies, Mayor David Miller is a smart enough politician to recognize a public relations disaster - and to attempt to distance himself from it:

TheStar.com - Slight to Miss Universe 'silly', mayor says

Now you might believe that preventing Miss Universe from being Miss Universe at a Thai community event in Nathan Phillips Square was simply the fault of an overzealous and/or misguided underling at City Hall. In reality, the tone is set from the top. The unfortunate soul(s) who made the decision no doubt did so based on a reading of the smoke signals from 'on high'.

More disturbing is the implication inherent in Miller's assertion that he would have allowed the appearance had he been asked. It is not the job of the Mayor to sit in judgement of whether something is tasteful, nor is it his job to interpret by-laws - this being the job of the judiciary. [It's his job to run city services effectively and efficiently - apparently he hasn't read the job description.]

...and another thing... a few weeks ago the Miller and some other members of his cabal marched in the Gay Pride parade. This parade included many bikini-clad men. These men have every right to dress and march as thus - but an argument can easily be made that the behaviour is both degrading and stereotypical.

What's degrading to Miss Glebova is that the City doesn't respect her honest, well-intentioned, and public-service spirited decision to participate in pageants.

TheStar.com - LCBO workers threaten strike despite 'no sale’ vow

The LCBO workers know when they have management boxed into a corner, and are too ready to move in for the kill:

TheStar.com - LCBO workers threaten strike despite 'no sale’ vow

The provincial Liberals have painted themselves into a corner by being:

1. Desparate for $$$
2. Unwilling to privatize the LCBO (despite commissioning a report that points to doing just that.)
3. Wishing to appear palsy, walsy with the public sector unions

My guess is that Sorbara will cave to the unions before a work stoppage. The cash flow from the LCBO is just too important a cash flow for this profligate government.

I guess it's better to work for a government corporation that sells booze than for one that transmits power. The Hydro-One strike is saving the provincial treasury a pile of dough - that's why there is no pressure to settle it.

The shapes of things to come?

The last few weeks have borne witness to a flurry of activity on the Toronto political scene.

We've seen a report from the Toronto Office Coalition documenting how the City's stratospheric commercial and tax rates are pushing businesses to locate in the suburbs. While the substance of the report is not news, the coverage received - even in The Star - has been surprising.

Highly-related to this has been a proposal drafted by the City Finance dept/committee that would see a gradual transfer of the tax load from the commercial sector and onto home owners. Surprisingly Mayor Miller made a number of grunting sounds indicating that the tax gap between the city and the burbs is a real problem.

Thr trouble is that the proposal will come close to doubling the real tax rate payed by home owners. The press around the proposal claims that it will keep residential tax rates increases below 5% a year for the next 15 years. Well, 5% a year for 15 year doubles the rates. It isn't clear whether the 5% is the rate of increase including inflation - or whether this is above and beyond inflation.

Meanwhile, of course, the City has caved into its unions again. Overall payroll costs will continue to outpace revenie growth. Miller has promised that there will be savings from productivity improvments. I'm not holding my breath!

On the back burner is the work towards a new City of Toronto act. Will the act cure the City of its fiscal lunacy. Again - fat chance.