“Scarborough residents voted me in to build subways and I’m building subways,” he told the National Post Thursday night. “I’ll do exactly what the provincial government wants to do. Last time I checked they’re going to build subways. It’s started, it’s going, and I do what the taxpayers of Scarborough want … not above ground.”
His comments came despite the fact that many of the mayor’s own allies are pushing him to accept TTC chair Karen Stintz’s new proposal, which would see parts of a planned underground LRT along Eglinton Ave. moved street side.
The change would free up as much as $2 billion, which could be used to extend the Sheppard subway line at least one stop and add some form of rapid transit along Finch Ave. W.
“Both the mayor and I are working collaboratively and are committed to extending the Sheppard subway,” Stintz said Wednesday. Her proposal is a way to pay for that, she said.
Gordon Chong, the man Ford tasked with finding private dollars to build the Sheppard line, is expected to soon conclude the money isn’t there.
Ford ran on a promise to build subways and soon after taking office declared the above ground light-rail heavy Transit City dead. LRT lines along Finch and Sheppard were killed. A planned Eglinton LRT, about half of which was supposed to be street level, was moved entirely underground.
In March 2011, the province and Metrolinx committed to this plan in a “non-binding” memorandum of understanding. Although on Wednesday, both the premier and Metrolinx chair Robert Prichard suggested they’d be open to a change provided council approved.
Said one member of Ford’s inner circle: “Basically, we all acknowledge the subway plan was a big mistake. It was unrealistic. And we’re just trying to get (Ford) out of this without having egg all over his face.”
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Robyn Doolittle
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