The TTC wants to collaborate

Original St. Clair Avenue West improvement plans might change following meeting

The latest meeting at the Piccinnini Centre between the businesspeople of Corso Italia BIA and the TTC-City Hall Task Force might end up causing major results in the St. Clair dispute. It might even end up forcing the abandonment of the infamous project no. 6 (the one with barriers on St. Clair) in favour of another project prepared by architect Philip Goldsmith that does not include barriers, inspired by the examples of Milan, Turin, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh.
Developments will come within the next few weeks.
This was a different battle from all the previous meetings. On other occasions, 200-300 people attended, and there was no real debate. Every side restated its position: the TTC project continued along its predefined path without being influenced by criticism or remarks from the public. These were discounted because, as the opinion went, they came from "a few combative mosquitoes". The experts from the Task Force constantly repeated the same concepts, but never "showing any study on the economic and social impact, since they pretended to be following a democratic consultation of the public while they were instead implementing a done deal, a project that had been decided elsewhere."
Last week, the tune was different. The 25 opponents engaged the two experts 'in close combat', and the experts were not protected neither by security staff that might keep the most agitated at bay (it's happened before) nor by a moderator who might impose order and set a calmer tone.
At the beginning of the meeting the Task Force was represented by three members: Mitch Stambler (TTC), Joanna Musters (City Hall), and Jim Gough (Marshall M.M.). After a while, Musters had to leave, and the other two had to withstand the rage of the opposition without any defense.
The meeting had been called to inform Corso Italia BIA members how project no. 6 would influence their businesses; how traffic would be handled on that stretch of St. Clair; how sidewalks would be reduced; how many parking spaces would be lost; how cargo loading and unloading would be organized; how would left-turning be handled, etc.
Mitch Stambler spoke first, remarking that "there was not much to say", since in previous meetings all those aspects had already been examined in detail. "We'll lose some parking spaces," said Stambler. "Overall, some 90 spaces will be lost, but we're trying to reduce that figure to 70 by recovering space from the elimination of some redundant shelters. We shall also take out all utility poles from the sidewalks and tree plants." As to the reduction of sidewalks, Stambler underscored, "We can either reduce the sidewalks and turn left, or not turn left and keep sidewalks as wide as they are."
Then came the turn of consultant Jim Gough who explained how traffic would flow near the intersections, showing some pictures and computer simulations. This went on for some 40 minutes in a rather quiet mood, and the two experts expected the meeting to end just as quietly. Some people, however, were already impatient and did not like the standard replies. The assault was spearheaded by several women, including Concetta Lamanna, Ida Vivacqua, and Margareth Smith.
Lamanna began, and repeated several times for the rest of the meeting, by highlighting the lane reduction and loss of parking spaces, negative aspects that, she said, the Task Force was not mentioning, delving instead only on the positive aspects of project no. 6.
Another woman, quite irritated by the photos shown, alleged that they were false, "as so little traffic can only be seen at night; actually, traffic on St. Clair is much worse, so the project prepared by the TTC did not reckon with reality."
Talking about traffic and lanes, Frank Deleo inquired about what would happen in case of collisions, stating that, in his opinion, the street would be blocked. Following a series of questions and answers that the attendees rejected as unsatisfactory - "There's no way to please everybody," remarked Stambler - tempers flared. Gough mentioned studies and computer simulations that were not presented to the people in the room. Deeming the experts' answers too evasive, a part of the audience felt taken for a ride.
Around 7:30 p.m., five to six enraged women and a few men verbally assaulted the experts.
The two felt physically pressured; they were accused of "wanting to destroy everything" and "cutting the street in half for your political interests", asked "since this is such a big project, why didn't you run some tests?", "since you are professionals, why don't you say that this project cannot work?", "where's the mayor? He came here to ask for our votes but does not show up for this. This is an insult," and finally said "if you TTC guys want to do your own business, dig a gallery for the subway, there's no space here for you."
Such an onslaught forced the two to become defensive. "We propose," said Stambler, "but it is City Hall that decides."
Some relief came to the besieged duo by a video with an alternative proposal prepared by architect Philip Goldsmith.
His project appears balanced and even Stambler liked it; he asked for a copy to study it in greater detail. "I'm seeing this for the first time, and it's quite interesting," commented Stambler. "It seems to work from several standpoints, but I don't know how it might work with traffic. It must be studied." "From my point of view, this does not change anything; this is another possible solution that can be submitted to City Council."
After months of useless meetings, this is the first time that the Task Force "accepts" a proposal from the outside. Maybe, due to these aggressive "mosquitoes", this might be a turning point between the BIA on one side and the TTC and City Hall on the other, for the common good and the revitalization of St. Clair.

Publication Date: 2004-08-08
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4247