South Riverdale over ground portion of Ont Line

Reference Number
114
Text

There is absolutely no justification for proposing an overground portion of the line precisely where the tracks to be added would result in the elimination of park land in an area of the old city of Toronto with fewer than average green spaces, not to mention the expropriation of homes (some homes in my neighbourhood are only a few meters from the existing train tracks) and the permanent disruption of four playgrounds, all currently right beside the existing lines. With both the RER proposed Go train expansion and the new Ontario line, my street would see a train go by every 45 seconds, which would be highly detrimental to the kids in the parks even if some of the playgrounds were 'saved'. it is appalling that due to Doug Ford's dislike of our area --which has consistently voted NDP or Liberal-- the line is supposed to be over-ground here, whereas in the part of Toronto he represents and lives in, $1,8 additional billion dollars is going to be spent burying the line. In Etobicoke there are plenty of very wide streets that would have ample space for an LRT type of system. My street (Booth Avenue) is mostly made up of century old houses, many of them very very close to the tracks.And as the federal government knows well, the Ford government has gutted the environmental assessment process, so we have no recourse other than asking the federal government to do a proper assessment. The original train tracks were the main CN line between Toronto and points east (including Montreal), and still carry both VIA trains and freight -- so surely there is some federal interest in this line. It is not an ordinary purely local transit line.

 

Submitted by
Mariana Valverde
Phase
N/A
Public Notice
N/A
Attachment(s)
N/A
Date Submitted
2021-03-01 - 4:25 PM
Date modified: