“You cannot shut down King St. for streetcars. We need to phase out streetcars,” said Mayor Ford, who would replace them with buses.
Councillor Karen Stintz, who chairs the TTC board, is to move a motion there Monday, asking staff to look into the feasibility of banning cars from King St. in rush hour during the 2015 Pan Am Games.
The mayor urged listeners on Newstalk 1010 to call their local councillors and complain about spending money on a study into something he believes doesn’t stand a chance of being enacted.
Councillor Ford said if he were chair of the TTC, he would order more subway construction. If the city wants to keep streetcars for tourists, it should be confined to one street, perhaps Spadina Ave., he suggested.
He told listeners the city is working on synchronizing traffic lights to improve traffic flow by 30 per cent.
The brothers said if cars are banned from King St. during rush hour, drivers will end up cutting through neighbourhoods to get through town.
King is the TTC’s busiest streetcar route, with almost 57,000 passengers a day.
The mayor said he’d also like to build a stadium for the Argos like BMO Field at Exhibition Place, which was built for soccer.
“We could fit another football stadium in this city,” he said.
The mayor also took on stores that continue to charge for plastic bags, saying it’s no longer required by law. He criticized $400,000 being spent on an information campaign that includes instructions on how to reuse plastic bags: By using them as garbage liners or putting them in the blue box or reusing them for more groceries.
“I think people know this,” he said. “Spending $400,000 to educate people on this is to me a little crazy.”
Mayor Ford said he is furious over news last week that the province will cut $150-million in funding to Toronto over three years. He said it will mean program cuts because he’s not prepared to raise taxes. He said he will make his views known to provincial officials in a meeting Monday. The meeting will take place at 3 p.m. at Queen’s Park.
“Our Liberal friends at Queen’s Park are not being friends. I’m very, very upset,” he said.
He was not specific about what programs he would cut, but he said he strongly supports public housing.
Provincial officials have said Toronto is receiving concessions that will offset the loss.
Source: thestar.com
Author: Francine Kopun
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