Can Transit City be revived? Apparently, Josh Matlow thinks so
Can Transit City be revived? Apparently, Josh Matlow thinks so
Councillor Josh Matlow wondered aloud this weekend if Transit City might be resurrected, citing Mayor Rob Ford’s recent defeats at city council as reason for his newfound hope. While nothing has been decided yet—nor would anything be any time soon, if at all—we can’t help but be a little excited. TTC chair Karen Stintz didn’t reject the idea outright! Joe Mihevc believes “anything is possible”! And our friends at OpenFile reminded us that NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo is enthused about Transit City, too. Somewhere David Miller is shedding a single tear of joy. Read the entire story [NewsTalk 1010] »
It’s not very smart politics for Matlow to try and paint His Worship into a corner like this… Hubris alone would make the Mayor obstruct any revival of Transit City, given his election rhetoric. However, large segments of the plan are funded and in fact underway. If Matlow is a true advocate of an integrated LRT plan, perhaps he should find a way to work with the Mayor to re-brand Transit City into something Ford can claim as a consensual win (and one-term legacy). i.e. Redraw the map to exclude some of the more egregious, ROW streetcars, call the already funded underground LRTs “subways”, slap a new logo on it and it might just get the Mayor’s caucus’s support.
All it will take is the a report that Ford still has no private money committed to his subway. Then you don’t need Ford to agree to anything. Councillors will vote to revive Transit City just to save their own re-elections.
The funny thing is that even if Rob Ford says Transit City is “dead”, it wasn’t voted off at city council, so it’s pretty much alive. And the way TTC is being backlogged with overcrowding, it will be a matter of time before Rob Ford has to concede and swallow his spit.
You can’t count on McGuinty, and Hudak is a Conservative… NDP anyone?