Streetcar
meetings raise trainload of questions
STAVROULA MEDITSKOS
Feb.
20, 2004
insidetoronto.ca
As the study determining the fate of the St. Clair Avenue streetcar
enters its second phase, local residents are still concerned about
the public consultation process and the potential outcome of the
project. At a community meeting that began Phase 2 of the Class
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the St. Clair Avenue West streetcar
tracks, a few residents wondered if the TTC has already made up
its mind about how to reconstruct the tracks, which are due for
replacement in 2005.
Local resident Joe Green said there are a lot of groups that deserve
a chance to have their say on the matter.
"St. Clair is a long street and it changes from one end to the
other. Many people live along St. Clair, so you can't treat the
street the same all the way through. It's very different," he
said.
Mitch Stambler, the TTC's manager of service planning, said the
TTC has not made any decisions yet and is waiting for more community
input.
In Phase 2 of the EA, which involves looking at solutions for
the tracks, Stambler presented a number of transit alternatives
to residents.
ONE OPTION: DO NOTHING
Options included doing nothing, changing signal times for cars,
giving transit more priority during peak times, changing streetcars
to buses or giving the streetcar its own dedicated lanes, similar
to those on Spadina Avenue.
A resident pressed Stambler for his opinion on what would best
benefit streetcar passengers.
"In our opinion, the best solution to improve passenger service
would involve an exclusive transit lane," Stambler said.
Margaret Smith, a member of Save our St. Clair, a group formed
three months ago to oppose the right-of-way, said exclusive streetcar
lanes would harm businesses, shoppers and residents because neither
will be able to make left turns into stores or homes from the
busy avenue.
"We believe that a dedicated right-of-way will cause increased
traffic congestion, reduce attractiveness of the street and reduce
accessibility to our neighbourhoods," she said before the meeting.
Smith also expressed concern about the EA public consultation
process, calling it "woefully inadequate."
"How many people know about this? Sure there have been meetings,
but this is a huge area and every time you ask somebody about
it they say they don't know anything about it," she said.
Ward 17 Councillor Cesar Palacio (Davenport) said the EA process
also dominated another community meeting held last week at the
Joseph Piccininni Centre.
The meeting, called Listening to Davenport, was held for local
residents to provide input on the city's next budget.
While residents cited garbage collection, snow plowing, property
taxes and public accountability as budget priorities, many also
took the opportunity to raise questions about the streetcar with
Mayor David Miller, who made a brief appearance at the meeting.
"People were concerned with the environmental process, because
most people do not understand the complexity of the issue. They
are very concerned with that," Palacio said.
