Opening comments: More at the end.
Well I submitted my letter in the question period and noted the need to make people aware of "End of Suburbia" and Natalie Helferty was dealing with just that item in her presentation. Key point from the GO representative - they build service and it is full in only a few months.
Here are some pictures of those who put on the event;
A picture of a Polar bear who waited outside, after the event asking for Kyoto help.
Pictures of how business is now exploiting GLOBAL WARMING to sell their products
with the aid of sexy, scantly clothed females!
Oh Global Warming is ALL good - according to the adds!
City of Toronto - Toronto Transit Commission
ATTN: Adam Giambrone, Councillor for Davenport & Chair for the Toronto Transit Commission.
RE: Submission to Forum - Gridlock in the GTA.
Dear Sir: Feb. 28, 2007
The following submissions are to your Gridlock in the GTA forum but first some humor about the traditional method of deal with political problems.
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In the 2007 Municipal election, transit solutions were a major part of my campaign platform as I ran for the office of Mayor of Mississauga and I came in second, showing strong support from the public. In fact you have to go back 20 years to find another person getting close to the votes I did against the same incumbent. During the last part of the election campaign I was even out on a Segway personal transport, pictures are on my mayor-of-mississauga.com. One very important idea (so good the paper bent its own rules to publish it), was put forward during the election regarding transit that was so good that the Toronto Star published my letter.
Toronto Star - Oct. 14, 2006 - Letter to Editor by Donald Barber, the full letter is noted below.
RE: Article “Transit outlook poor: Mayor” & the Editorial “Mutiny on the buses”.
Hydro corridors best rail line option
Re: Transit problems
By the comments quoted from Mississauga’s long time Mayor and Councillors it would seem like no one saw the traffic jams, gridlock and transit problems coming and no one knows what to do about them, as we have literally built ourselves into a corner with no way out. Not so!
Submissions have been made to government about how to put in the much needed transit, in Cities that have unwisely over built themselves. Using exist land that is apparently right in front their noses but all they see is just more land to build homes on, to make the situation even worse.
Use hydro corridors or right of ways for above ground rail transit. Hydro corridors are usually quite wide and run into industrial areas as well as crossing major road ways. The route they take is often ideal for an above ground rail system plus it is as close as you can get to the power grid and not be licking lighting. In the case of Mississauga, no lands were set aside for what a real city needs for be a properly functioning city, a rail transit system for mass public transit. Not just to jobs in the City of Mississauga but to near by cities like Toronto.
If you look at a map of Mississauga, you can see a hydro corridor running the full width of the City just above the QEW. The Queensway is apart of the corridor. In this case Hydro is selling off some of these lands and a golden opportunity to link Mississauga to Toronto will be soon lost!
To turn Hydro corridors into rail/transit lines and serve both uses would be a challenge but one that would develop a technology that would be of great value to not just to Ontario's cities but throughout Canada and beyond. Being able to make them sound proof enough for the residential areas they run through to accept them is one of the biggest challenges.
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By enclosing them to a great degree they become more weather proof too. In Montreal the subway runs on rubber tires which cuts down on the noise as well. Also, if sold off for development, what is a currently a green belt will be lost. This way they can be saved and more hedges and shrubs planted as a natural means to sound proof. A bike trail set along it, for those who wish to commute by bike along it.
The above letter does make it clear there are many ways to improve transit and when that happens, there are more riders to pay for the improvements and to pay for more & so on. The key idea is that links to the cities around Toronto by the TTC should go ahead now, before the situation becomes much worse due to increases in gas prices - which is happening.
In the past there were the Radial Train Lines across Ontario for commuting, a solution then and one we must return to as we turn away from the car. The documentary "End of Suburbia" is a very useful tool in showing people the future and why they need to make BIG changes now. You have to present a likely future that justifies BIG expansions in TTC service and transit in general, in order to truly be ready for the coming years. The TTC and/or the City of Toronto should embrace the end of cheap oil as the way to promote the BIG changes that must be done to ensure the TTC will be able to do the job that tax-payers are depending on. This also will help Canadians to really understand that the world that they live in today is not going to keep on as it is, with just a few price increases - it is going to change in much more major ways. If we do not make the BIG changes today, willingly, we will be forced to make even bigger & harsher ones in the future.
I have do showings of the "End of Suburbia" as the end of cheap oil as will mean the end of our current economy and life style, a long with solutions to that scenario. A life style that has thousands commuting hours each day to & from work in their cars, while living on a finical razors edge with their mortgage payments. What happens when thousands of families can no longer afford to so? They will have to move closer to the large urban centres and will transit be ready for them? Not likely!
It should also be noted that one of the main reasons we are in the dire state that we are, is that for years people were sold on the idea of zero tax increases by right-wing governments and this was done by cutting works that kept up or grew transit and other inter-structure - now the bills are coming due, with no one to blame but those who voted for that madness. This myth needs to be ended (as nothing more than a vote grabbing scene), or people will not know the real reasons, could fall for it again or generally not support increased funding as they still believe everyone who says more money is needed for inter-structure is left-wing liar.
Other ideas put forward to get more riders and less cars was to build raised parking at main TTC and GO stations, not just so they can hold more cars but to make them all-weather. That at GO stations the same should be done, protect the riders from the elements while they wait for trains. I have many other ideas and if you are interested please give me a call.
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I am willing to discuss my letter with you and there is an answering machine you can leave a detailed private message on.
My phone number is (905) ***-**** & E-mail watcher0I0@eol.ca.
Sincerely yours;
_______________________________
Donald Barber - Editor.
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