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I guess this is why shit just does not get done:
| quote: | Battle brews over 'shovel ready' projects
With an eye to the imminent federal budget, Toronto business and civic leaders are set today to name $4.8-billion in "shovel-ready" projects that would stimulate the flagging local economy. But a politically tinged disagreement is unfolding behind the scenes on how the money should flow.
The Toronto Board of Trade, which prepared the list along with the Toronto City Summit Alliance, argues that federal money should flow through the province's regional transportation authority, Metrolinx. The board is a big proponent of giving more clout to the fledgling agency, established in 2007.
But Toronto Mayor David Miller (who sits on the Metrolinx board) said any federal dollars should flow to the city as the "elected government." Mr. Miller and other area politicians resist any move they see as duplicating the work of local transit agencies.
Toronto City Summit Alliance chairman David Pecaut said it doesn't matter which agency receives the money, so long as the dollars flow fast.
Metrolinx chairman Rob MacIsaac said "flowing the money through the province or Metrolinx will ensure that the priorities under our plan are observed and allow us to apply a uniformity of treatment across the region."
He added, "we have no intention of being project managers," but said the agency wants to make sure that any of its projects serve the goal of better service and fare integration across municipal boundaries.
The political tension between the board and the city is the one chink in an otherwise united front among local leaders in advance of federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's Jan. 27 budget, which is expected to release federal funds for infrastructure as a weapon to fight the economic downturn.
Four transit projects valued at $4.8-billion - three in Toronto and one in York Region - sit atop the list being released today of more than 100 municipal infrastructure investments that the board and the summit alliance say could be accelerated this year with an infusion of federal dollars.
The two groups also back Mr. Miller's request for $75-million from Ottawa toward a major renewal of Union Station.
The mayor has no dispute with the Toronto transit projects named by the two groups, but makes clear that the city's "No. 1 ask," laid out in a letter sent last week to Mr. Flaherty, is $368-million in federal funds over the next five years toward the replacement of 204 streetcars.
The Toronto Transit Commission also hopes for $2-billion in federal help to pay for new vehicles and facilities tied to the Transit City plan to extend light-rail routes.
The behind-the-scenes rift over Metrolinx is part of a simmering dispute over powers for the regional body.
Board of Trade president Carol Wilding said that flowing federal funds through Metrolinx would speed the agency's transition from planning to reality. "We said we needed a regional body with a regional solution," she said. "Funding through municipalities and not through regions is just reinforcing an old way of thinking and working."
But Mr. Miller, who is to join other mayors in Ottawa today to press for federal infrastructure aid, said "the city should be the first place they [federal officials] go. We are the elected government, we are not a provincial agency."
He said Toronto already has a direct relationship with the federal government, ever since Ottawa agreed in 2005 to share its gas tax revenues with cities.
Over the past three years, the city has received $162.8-million in federal gas tax funds that have helped pay for 577 buses and 260 subway cars.
The city, the board of trade and the summit alliance are of one voice in urging Ottawa to allocate new transit funds through the gas tax, with a formula that combines population and ridership numbers in a way that would benefit Toronto.
***** Infrastructure fab four
Four transit projects get top billing from the Toronto Board of Trade and the Toronto City Summit Alliance as "shovel-ready" investments worthy of federal budget:
Sheppard Avenue East light rail line, the first project in Toronto's Transit City plan. Cost: $1-billion, with $333-million from Ottawa.
Finch West light rail line, also part of Transit City. Cost: $1-billion, with $333-million from Ottawa.
Scarborough RT line replacement and extension, also part of Transit City. Cost: $1.4-billion, with $463-million from Ottawa.
New dedicated bus lanes on Highway 7 and Yonge Street for York Region's VIVA bus service.
But there is disagreement elsewhere over the meaning of "shovel-ready." Metrolinx chairman Rob MacIsaac says his agency counts only the Sheppard line and York's VIVA improvements as ready-to-go for 2009, with the other two in a "holding pen" awaiting a green light.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...115.wspending15 |
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