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?