Fighting the System: Congratulations West Toronto Diamond Community Group

On February 3rd, the West Toronto Diamond Community Group received a ruling in their favour from the Federal Court of Appeal regarding their opposition to GO's request for a Stay of the Canadian Tranportation Agency ruling, which regulates the use of quieter methods for piledriving. Their initial request was simple - would GO/Metrolinx use vibratory piledrivers, and augers, when possible, instead of diesel hammer piledrivers, please? The diesel impact hammers are making it impossible for us to enjoy our lives, and damaging our community. The group had already received the CTA ruling in their favour, but Metrolinx found it necessary to contest it, although they had recently purchased equipment to be more considerate. Their contention? That these less intrusive methods would add to the length of the project, and costs, although these were not proven in court.

It says volumes about the integrity of Metrolinx/GO that they contested what is common courtesy, the use of quieter construction methods, and spent thousands of dollars of legal fees to fight the rights of citizens so that they could pound this project through without checks and balances. It is emblematic of the ruthless, shortsightedness of GO/Metrolinx' project design, and extends to every aspect of its implementation. Congratulations to the West Toronto Community Group, and their lawyer, David Baker, for coming forward and demanding what is right. Legal costs were granted by the Federal Court of Appeal to pay Mr. Baker, confirming that it was a vexatious appeal.

People often ask me what is wrong with Metrolinx' plan for rail expansion, and the answer is that it is Quick, Dirty, Diesel, Divisive and Destructive as opposed to building a Corridor which is Livable, Electrified and Accessible for all Neighbourhoods. Try as I might, I cannot come up with a clever acronym like CLEAN for the Metrolinx' version of transit planning as I doubt they thought through their public relations campaign in advance.

This project planning is so quick that it is not integrated with TransitCity's Light Rail Transit in the City of Toronto, so duplicates future services. It is so dirty that it requires three air monitoring stations to analyze air pollution close to childrens' playgrounds. It uses diesel locomotives, which no one else in the world would use for inner city corridors. It is divisive, so requires very long and very high walls for sound mitigation as the noise from the volume of traffic will far exceed 10 db. These massive walls will run like the Berlin Wall through neighbourhoods. Finally, it is destructive to established neighbourhoods, with beautiful historic properties, and vibrant arts communities, such as the Junction, Queen Street West, Liberty Village and Weston, and runs roughshod over residents with its lowest grade practices for its construction. GO engineers are on record saying that these twelve communities are 'marginal' to justify this corridor's frantic imposition on west-end communities.

I spend a lot of my time thinking about, and teaching, human-centered interaction design and systems theory. Whether interactive systems, or transit systems, their ultimate goal should be to serve people. The Big Move, the document upon which the GSSE/UPRL is based, has never considered anyone other than the willynilly development of subdivisions in the 905, and the running of executives through our communities to the airport, racetrack and casino. I marvel at a project which would double its ridership, efficiency and value if it included those along the corridor by being redesigned to incorporate broader, integrated, electric transit initiatives. I shake my head at project timelines which do not include a far reaching vision for environmentally sound design, coordination with municipal transit systems, and analysis of the impact of its construction and operation on surrounding communities.

The West Toronto Diamond Community Group, and their lawyers, were the courageous, first line of defense in a fight which will continue along the tracks, as Metrolinx/GO begins construction on the Davenport Diamond, which requires three times more construction than the West Toronto Diamond. Let's hope this ruling is the beginning of standards to be set for methods of quieter construction in the future, and finally includes us, those who will be impacted by every decision made, for the first time.

The Decision: This is the ruling regarding Metrolinx/GO vs the West Toronto Diamond Community Group and the City of Toronto http://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/en/2010/2010fca38/2010fca38.html Its brevity speaks volumes.

NEWS ALERT

THE STAY OF THE CTA RULING WAS NOT GRANTED BY THE FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL, and diesel impact hammers have been halted. For more information, go to http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/article/760276--court-upholds-order-for-go-to-halt-heavy-hammer-use

Irreparable Damage? Whose Irreparable Damage?

On Thursday, January 28th, social rights lawyer, David Baker, of Bakerlaw, represented the West Toronto Diamond Community Group in the Federal Court of Appeal. He was beyond eloquent, he was gracious. He was a force of natural justice.

The opposing argument by the lawyer, representing GO/Metrolinx, maintained that they will have irrecoverable costs, irreparable damage, and that the balance of convenience lies in their favour. 'Public good' was trotted out repeatedly, although GO/Metrolinx's definition of public good is counter to all socially responsible, environmentally sustainable transit planning initiatives.

When GO/Metrolinx boldly proclaimed that they will have irreparable damages, there were exasperated, barely audible chuckles from those who have incurred headaches and respiratory ailments, damage to the structural integrity of their houses, and lost business from the pounding of the West Toronto Diamond diesel hammer piledrivers over the past year. Excuse me- I can't hear you because of my hearing loss - who has had irreparable damage?

Stay tuned for the Federal Court of Appeal ruling next Wednesday at 6 pm, after three judges sit in Montreal to decide whether the previous CTA ruling has legs. This ruling is very important as the verdict will have far reaching implications for the cessation of noise in the West Toronto Diamond, the quality of construction methods used for the Davenport Diamond at Dupont and Lansdowne, and the future design of the overpass, or trench, on Wallace Avenue, east of Campbell.

May Natural Justice win out. What a guy.

When will they learn?

"When justice is gone,
There is always force."
Laurie Anderson from 'O Superman'

250,000 lbs of force, 40 times a minute, an explosion of atomized diesel at the drivehead, which pounds a 36” diameter steel pipe 22 meters straight into the ground to produce 130 decibels of sound energy for rolling, continuous vibration and noise.

This is diesel hammer piledriving for the West Toronto Diamond, enabling a grade separation and underpass for the Metrolinx GSSE/UPRL corridor. This incessant pounding has induced headaches, cracked building foundations, covered homes with toxic dust, and disrupted school years. At any given time, three piledrivers could be working concurrently. There are 2,338 piles to be installed with diesel hammers.

Lucy McCormick Senior School, a special needs school for students with exceptional developmental disabilities, is located very close to the West Toronto Diamond. If you place a glass of water on a desk there, it will vibrate and shake. Try holding a year end exam for students, many of whom have ADHD, and are particularly sensitive to noise.

See for yourself the impact of this construction.



Tomorrow, on Thursday, January 28th, at 9:30 at the Federal Court of Appeal, 180 Queen Street West, suite 200, Metrolinx is challenging a Canadian Transit Authority ruling that ordered them to use the less intrusive, but more expensive, Giken vibratory piledrivers. Residents were delighted by the CTA ruling on December 7th. After the ruling, schools became quiet again, the elderly, caretakers, children and those who worked at home had the fundamental, constitutional right to enjoy their property, and heaven forbid, work, sleep and convalesce during the day in their homes.

This peace was short lived. Metrolinx did not like using the unobtrusive vibratory piledrivers. It forced them to take time, and precautionary measures, to think about each stage of the project, and the residents. Metrolinx does not like thinking about the impact of this project on the surrounding community, so Metrolinx circumnavigated the CTA ruling, and asked for an interim stay from the Federal Court of Appeal. It received this interim stay, and is approaching the Federal Court for a permanent stay tomorrow.

The definition of bullying "is repeated acts over time that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power with the more powerful individual or group attacking those who are less powerful". A bully is someone who knows how not to harm a community, yet contests the right to do so at $750 an hour, bankrolled by the residents' taxes. A bully is someone who chooses not to learn, and chooses to harm the learning process of others.

Draw your own conclusions. Speak up, and hold your hand steady, though, because the blackboard is shaking and your students can barely hear you.

Please come and support the CTA Ruling at the Federal Court of Appeal tomorrow. If this ruling is overturned, it will give Metrolinx carte blanche to pound through this corridor, without any environmental or social responsibility.

Also, post feedback on Minister of Transport Kathleen Wynne's site at http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/feedback/minister.shtml She should care, she used to be Minister of Education.

References:
Laurie Anderson 'O Superman'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzYu88jIDYs
Lucy McCormick Senior School
http://www.tdsb.on.ca/MOSS/asp_apps/school_landing_page/index.asp?schno=5310
Banging in Toronto. GO Transit Pile-driving. Spring 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRvFLVe9_bw
Property Rights and the Constitution
http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp268-e.htm

Recipe for the Iron 407 Pound-it-Thru Cake

In the spirit of Jonathan Swift, this is a special recipe for all those who live along the Georgetown corridor for the Iron 407 Pound-it-Thru Cake. A New Year's summary of the events of the past year, it is also a recipe for disaster. This is not just a 'Modest Proposal', it represents $50 billion of taxpayers money used unwisely to devalue our health and homes through shortsighted choices for unsustainable transit infrastructure.

Take this time during the prorogation of Parliament to tell your MPs what you think of this plan- they have time to read their emails. Until March 5th, in fact.

Ingredients:

• Tier 4 'clean diesel' with extra special, scientifically engineered ultrafine particulate matter
• 3 air monitoring stations (cost: 3 x $500,000 = $1.5 million)
  
• 8 railway tracks
• MP40 Tier 2 diesel locomotives for the Georgetown and Lakeshore corridors
• Platinum Catalytic Converters for these locomotives so that they can be retrofitted to become Tier 4 (if no catalytic converters available, develop 'clean diesel')
  
• Hybrid Diesel Multiple Units for the Air Rail Link (specially engineered, as only electric are being built internationally to meet environmental standards)
  
• 10 km, 5.5 meters high of concrete wall (in total)
• Private land along the rail corridor
• Old growth forest along the tracks, to be destroyed for the additional tracks

Instructions:
In 1996, ask Minister David Collennette to write a secret memorandum of agreement with SNC-Lavalin and Infrastructure Ontario to create an Air Rail Link, like London's Heathrow Express. Ensure there are no other competitors for this Request for Proposal.

Sign the contract without taxpayers' consent. Hide it carefully behind the Freedom of Information Act so that taxpayers cannot question your future modus operandi based upon its commitments.

Create an arm's length provincial transit agency. Name the transit agency 'Metrolinx' and buy out GO Transit. Use diesel technology because GO has experience with diesel trains, although the rest of the world, both developed and developing, uses electric trains.

Devise a blueprint called 'The Big Move'. Tell taxpayers that this new, massive diesel rail corridor is 'getting cars off the road' rather than adding a significant number of transit corridors for carbon emissions and pollution. The residents are OK with clean, quieter electric trains- but diesel it must be.

Kick off all municipal representatives, including Mayor David Miller, from your Board of Directors. They are too concerned with the health and welfare of those who live in Toronto, and are slowing your rail expansion down with concerns about constituents.

Replace the old Board of Directors with a new, friendlier Board of Directors who have a corporate agenda to support the memorandum. This job must be done quickly before anyone finds out. Thank goodness you have the newly fast tracked Transit Project Approval Process to hasten the Environmental Approval process!

Now you are cooking! Ignore all international and local directives for sustainable electric rail corridors- you have an old pre-climate change agreement to fulfill!

Ensure that you appear to be consulting with the communities about their concerns about noise, vibration and pollution. Realize that corporate consultation is the 'new counter-insurgency' to quell your opposition. Consult, consult, consult. Ignore, ignore, ignore.

Nod your head and cluck your tongue when over 450 caretakers and children attend a Clean Air for Little Lungs Stroller Parade to express concerns about their future health on July 20th at Queen's Park.

Divide and rule by lining the rail corridor with pamphlets saying that the Medical Officer of Health was wrong - there will be no impact on the health of those in the 'strike zone' and near the 'cancer spots'. This is because the environmental impact of one carcinogen which causes leukemia- 1,3 butadiene- has been slightly changed by US EPA standards. This is your chance to publicly discredit the Medical Officer of Health.

Hide behind a curtain when over a thousand residents of this corridor walk along the length of this corridor as a 'Human Train' to protest at Whistle Stops at each of the twelve neighbourhoods along the route.

Spin basic facts with the provincial and federal Ministers of the Environment such as 'largest and most frequently used diesel corridor in the planet' to ensure their approval process. You get it!

Take the half-baked plan out of the oven - you can go ahead, and build your train tracks now, with far more tracks than you need. Destroy old growth forest along the tracks because it is in your way. All transit expansion is sustainable expansion, and how dare these 300,000 people live in an at risk, lower income transit corridor and expect to breathe or sleep between 5:30 am and 12:30 am? 5 hours is more than enough.

Build three air monitoring stations at $500, 000 each to monitor the affects of pollution. Provide a report to the Minister of the Environment on Bad Air Days. They can let the community know when there have been official smog days due to 'clean diesel' well after residents have acquired asthma.

Apologize to the 76 schools, 96 daycare centers, and 4 hospitals who are disturbed by the air pollution, vibration and noise of your diesel trains. You could had stopped to pick them up had the trains been electric, but when you studied electrification thirteen times, it was just too expensive. Much of the money has already gone into consultancy fees, after all.

Ooops! The highways have backfilled with more cars, and there are 60 more smog days a year. It is really not your problem anymore.

Walk away from this project. Hand the maintenance and running costs to the taxpayer, and the profit to the private company, SNC-Lavalin.

Well done. Another proud day protecting the environment in Canada. After all, Canada has won 6 Fossil of the Day Awards at COP15 from the Climate Action Network for the highest per capita Greenhouse Gas Emissions at 23 tonnes per person. You have done your duty to ensure our role as international leader in climate change.

In 15 years, revisit this Iron 407 at the taxpayer's expense, and rebuild the corridor as electric. Oil is $250-$400 a barrel, and it has become just too expensive to run. Just another public private partnership gone awry.

Canada wins Colossal Fossil Award! and The Hidden Costs of Diesel

Congratulations, Canada, for winning the Colossal Fossil Award for the third year in a row at COP15 in Copenhagen! This blog entry is to support the decision of Climate Action Network, which tallied the vote of 500 NG0s to present this dishonourable award to my country. In the spirit of Christmas, I would like to present my own informal, ad hoc local chapter's award to Metrolinx for using diesel trains as part of our government's protectionist policy toward the tar sands, contrary to all environmentally sustainable, electric transit solutions.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice, have obstructed all constructive and binding agreements regarding carbon emissions to profit Alberta's tar sands at the cost of tarnishing our international reputation three years in a row. The tar sands leak 11 millions of litres of toxic water a day into the Athabasca River basin, and emit 40 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. The size of the tar sands, 149,000 square kilometers, is so vast it can be seen by satellite as a black blemish on the earth's surface.

How do our politicians' actions relate to the Georgetown South and Air Rail Link expansion? Why do you think these trains will run on diesel, when relatively non-polluting and increasingly renewable-based electricity from the Ontario grid is available at far more stable prices? This diesel rail expansion is another piece of the puzzle which shows that PM Harper was elected by oil interests, and does everything in his power to promote oil, when the rest of the world is scrambling to develop renewable, clean energy sources.

Many knowledgeable and well-informed energy analysts predict that oil will soon exceed $200 a barrel, perhaps as early as 2010. Why, in this midnight hour, are we developing a long-term piece of public infrastructure to run on non-renewable fossil fuel that will pollute the atmosphere, choke our city with fumes and particulate, and build zero resilience into our transportation system against rising fossil fuel prices? Tcktcktck. The clock is ticking, and the world was watching Canada defend corporate oil interests at all cost in Copenhagen.

There are many other hidden costs which add substantially to the base cost of this diesel 'solution'. These costs go far beyond the predicted peak of oil prices, and multiply its final tally. The diesel multiple units for the Air Rail Link are being custom built for this corridor, as well as the platinum catalytic converters to change Tier 2 into Tier 4 'clean' diesel on the larger, inter-regional, MP40 locomotives, and which will double their original cost. Neither of these are available on the market; they are being engineered solely for this diesel project as they are so far below international standards for electric trains.

In addition, there is the 5.5 m high, 10 km in total, concrete wall dividing our twelve neighbourhoods, and the cost of building and running three air quality monitoring stations to analyze the ultrafine particulate matter of Tier 4 emissions. Each of the stations is estimated to cost $500,000 per year, and is monitored by a mechanical intake device which tests the air quality. This device will alert Metrolinx on a 'Bad Air Day' to hold a boardroom meeting to consider what to tell people along the corridor when 'clean diesel' emissions are damaging their health.

As 'clean diesel' is being engineered specifically for this transit project by Metrolinx, scientists can only create computer models to hypothetically test its emissions. There is no scientific evidence beyond computer modelling that Tier 4 diesel will be any less harmful than Tier 2 diesel; in fact, there are fears that the concentrated particulate matter may be worse, and that it travels very far from its source to cover more surface area. Research is just beginning to understand the complex impact of 'clean diesel' emissions on human health, particularly the lung development of children.

Curiously, as part of the federal Rail Transportation Act, the data for mobile pollution for transit projects is not included in the Environmental Assessment, so the emissions of moving trains do not count. Why is this? This pollution still registers in my lungs. liver and kidneys as permanent and accumulating toxins. Is Metrolinx' mechanical monitoring service going to call me at home to tell me how much has toxicity has registered in my body, and to take a blood sample to verify their data? Or tell me to stop breathing entirely? Or that it is just another 'Bad 'Air Day' and to check in the mirror?

It is no wonder that the Prime Minister Harper, and the federal Minister of the Environment, Jim Prentice, can sign off on the Environmental Assessment on the diesel expansion of the Georgetown South corridor. They have already signed off on the Environmental Assessment of the tar sands. Their mandate is to guarantee, and develop the future supply and demand of oil by expanding air and rail infrastructure to support their supporters' corporate interests. In response to this government's hidden mandate for this project, the Medical Officer of Health has estimated that pollution-related health costs in Toronto are $2.2 billion, and has formally announced that to protect human health, this rail expansion must be electric, and that the Toronto City Center Airport should monitor and submit data on its increasing air pollution.

Why not just electrify this rail corridor from the start rather than continuing this absurd public relations charade to ensure diesel fuel consumption for loud, heavy MP40 locomotives? Electric trains are half the weight, half the noise, and will recoup the cost of electrification within ten years. Every other country in the world is electrifying their rail system, and curtailing short haul flights, and our government is expanding both to fulfill corporate promises to their campaign supporters.

For my part, the greatest cost has been my utter loss of faith in the federal and provincial Ministers of Environment, who have not stepped forward to protect the health of my community. My fundamental rights as a citizen have been brushed aside so that a secret memoranda of agreement may be signed for a public-private partnership between Metrolinx, Infrastructure Ontario, and SNC-Lavalin to profit from cheap diesel trains. It is just not the health of 300,000 Toronto citizens that has been ignored, it is the democratic process itself.

The Minister of Transport, Infrastructure Ontario, SNC-Lavalin and Metrolinx have an important choice. They can build an electric rail system, and add immeasurable value to businesses and cultural communities through transit oriented development, or they can reverse the revitalization of these communities, create a diesel ghetto, and turn back time to an industrial era when the west end rail corridor was lined with factories, rather than thriving, intelligent and diverse communities. And to cap it all off - SNC-Lavalin knows how to build electric trains. So does Bombardier. So what are we all waiting for?

My Christmas pledge to all of my readers is that I will work to shift Canadian transit policy to become environmentally sustainable and socially just. My devotion for the health and welfare of Ward 18, particularly its new immigrants building small businesses, and the progressive, green communities built around my parks - Sorauren, MacGregor and Dufferin Grove - is boundless. The twelve neighbourhoods along this corridor must not be devalued by illogical transit policy enabling the purchase of expensive, noisy and unsustainable diesel infrastructure, 10 km of retaining walls, and three air quality monitoring stations, and an extra, unneeded track for the Air Rail Link.

After Copenhagen, the world knows that there is no more time to waste. Every single decision must be sustainable.

Happy Holidays to all.

References:
COP15 Fossil of the Day Awards at http://www.fossil-of-the-day.org/
Climate Action Network Link at http://www.climatenetwork.org/
Fat Cat Post by Franke James at http://www.frankejames.com/debate/?p=964
Greenpeace Tar Sands at http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/tarsands
Tcktcktck at http://tcktcktck.org/
Joe Fiorito's Toronto Star article "Metrolinx diesels are dirty, ugly and NOISY" on December 11, 2009 at http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/737504--fiorito-metrolinx-diesels-are-dirty-ugly-and-noisy

George Monbiot article "The Urgent Threat To World Peace Is … Canada" at http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/12/01/the-urgent-threat-to-world-peace-is-…-canada/

Better Transit is Better Business

Everything is political. As I go from transit conference to design conference, and I wonder why Metrolinx is building three - count them, three- new train tracks for an Air Rail Link to run Pan Am athletes to their Olympic Village for a total of twelve days, this is what I hear from transit experts repeatedly. The type of the trains, the choice of fuel, the number and placement of tracks, and which corridor is electrified first - Georgetown or Lakeshore - everything is based upon trade deals, secret memoranda of understanding, and political promises. And it is clear that my neighbourhood is not the winner in this horse race of Liberal promises, which date back to 1994, when Minister David Collennette took the Heathrow Express, and said "Toronto should have one of these, too". Note that the Heathrow Express is electric, rapid rail, and 99.9% on time, none of which will be true of the Air Rail Link.

The Union-Pearson Air Rail Link is costly, and duplicates new and existing transit routes. According to recent Metrolinx research on cost-benefit scenarios, only 17% of passengers will leave from Union Station, and only 4-7% of passengers will go from Pearson directly to Union Station. Three extra train tracks will be built for a choo choo train for executives, at $35 a ride, to ensure that they have extra leg room so they not have to rub pinstriped shoulders with riffraff. The riffraff includes me, as not only will this regional transit will skip the Bloor GO Station, there is no reason for me to loop back east to Union-Station to go west again, and pay two transit fares when I can call for an airport limo for roughly the same price. Redundant activity, and so is this unneeded cost of these three tracks in this corridor, duplicated by Transit City's Eglinton LRT, which has just begun to be built by the City of Toronto.

Our taxpayer's money is paying $1 billion to fund another white elephant, directly after the eHealth scandal, but this rail corridor is much more actively destructive to health, as it eats diesel and private property as rail land for dinner. At least the eHealth scandal generated mountains of paperwork and consultation fees, and no doubt paid for at least one cottage renovation, but has had no long lasting effects except to add to Ontario's $24.7 billion deficit. Why add three tracks to the cost of this Air Rail Link to the highest deficit in the history of Ontario, Minister Bradley? At the very least, if the Air Rail were electric, it would require fewer tracks and less land acquisition.

Two days ago, as I attended OCAD's Health and Design Conference, I asked these questions: Why do we have to prove through predictive statistics the affect on health of transit projects, rather than applying tried and true measures, such as electrification, as primary prevention policies to protect the health of citizens first? Why are the Ministers of Environment not advocating environmentally sustainable 'best practice' initiatives? Why is it that the provincial Minister of the Environment, John Gerretsen, has allowed a rolling submission process for data by Metrolinx for months after the September 1st deadline of the Environmental Project Review? Since when did Minister Gerretsen begin to work with a transit agency to allow them to revise their data for their EPR submission to enable them to use their choice of rolling stock and transit infrastructure, thus to privilege a public-private partnership? Why is it valid to model future air pollution data for Tier 4 'clean diesel' emissions, when the ultrafine particulate matter of Tier 4 has not been tested yet? And when do our communities get to have a public forum on their views on 'clean diesel' as it does not impact the amount of noise and vibration by rail traffic, and still necessitates the building of 5.5 meter high walls for 10 kilometers through their neighbourhoods, and in many cases, directly beside their homes and businesses?

I also attended the Canadian Urban Institute's Designing Transit Cities Conference where, ironically, Metrolinx was one of the sponsors. Case studies from Zurich, Portland and Paris were presented, and delighted the audience with the ingenuity of their design, sensitivity to community input, and transit implementation. Each of these cities did everything within their power to preserve and enhance the integrity of their built heritage, ensure that the area walking to the transit hub was beautified, and increase business opportunities around each station to ensure transit oriented development. In addition, the business plan and design for each station was designed specifically according to its neighbourhood demographics, topography, location, historical tradition and cultural heritage.

My favourite transit designs were the wayfinding signs and decals for the Light Rail Transit for the RATP in Paris, based upon icons taken from daily life- their cafes, their grates around trees on boulevards, and their gargoyles. Toronto is forty years behind Paris and Portland in its transit policy, yet in a networked society, we can easily get up to speed as we have access to other cities' knowledge and expertise. We can make progressive transit decisions, unlike those given lip service to by Metrolinx in their 'Big Move'. I say "we" because "we" should have input on how our communities are impacted by this transit network as it is our money and future quality of life, and it is clear that noise, vibration and their subsequent mitigation walls are not considered as part of this consultation process by the recent 'clean diesel' decision.

The big question is why has it been decided that all transit projects are healthy, and beneficial to communities by nature, so not worthy of a full Environmental Assessment to ensure that environmentally sustainable decisions are made? As the Toronto City Centre Airport has gone from 25,000 to 750,000 passengers between 2006 and 2009, and the west end of Toronto is the center for all this transit activity, why are the communities in this transit corridor and region considered expendable? In the case of the Air Rail Link and Georgetown corridor, once the corridor is built as diesel with the Pan Am Games as an excuse, with a seven, or eight, track rail capacity, it is unlikely to be electrified, and the frequency of traffic will increase due to the expansion- see the TCCA as a case study. As air and noise pollution in this region increases, businesses will be less likely to invest in these areas affected, as customers are reduced as residents sell their houses. People are already moving out of the Brockton Triangle, which is at the fork of the future rail traffic. In effect, the Georgetown South rail expansion is enabling business development and exurban expansion of the 905 region at the expense of 416 future business development, and investment, in businesses along the rail corridor. Better transit is better business for both the GTA and the 905 when passengers can get on and off to do business from a rail system that has multiple access points along the corridor by being electric.

Had the federal government given the $736 million loan guarantee, and around $450 million of under the counter subsidies, given to a private company, Porter, as federal funds to begin to rebuild and electrify the rail system in Ontario, the desire for short haul flights would be reduced, and we would join the rest of the developed world in enabling sustainable, electric transit, and alleviate the role of our megacities to carry the health burden for the majority of pollution for Canada. Pollution and poverty are hand in hand, and the closing of businesses, and their loss of clientele due to these toxic transit systems, both air and rail, is a very serious and legitimate concern. In effect, our tax money is being used to fund two separate, public-private transit partnerships, aided and abetted by governmental agencies- Porter Airlines and the Toronto City Center Airport, enabled by the Toronto Port Authority and the federal government, and SNC-Lavalin and the GSSE/UPRL enabled by Metrolinx and the provincial government. As GTA citizens, we should press for answers why. It is our tax money, our businesses, and our health which pay the price for others to profit.

This Air Rail Link will be a joyride for executives and athletes on our dime, with no benefit to the neighbourhood businesses it passes by on its way to Pearson Airport. Better transit does mean better business for present and future provincial prosperity. There is an important business case study by the Toronto's Business Improvement Areas which should be launched to research the future economic impact of this rail expansion on their businesses in the corridor. And it should be soon, as Metrolinx is saying that the Air Rail Link must be built as diesel to meet the Pan Am deadline.

References:
Heathrow Express at http://www.heathrowexpress.com/Home
OCAD Health and Design Conference at http://www.ocad.ca/about_ocad/news_events/health_summit/news.htm
Presentation by Rémi Ferredj, Director for Real Estate of the RATP, résident Directeur général des filiales SEDP et Logis-Transports (groupe RATP), Paris, France at the Canadian Urban Institute's Designing Transit Cities Symposium at http://www.canurb.com/events/event_details.php?id=270
Pollution Watch 'Rankings for Pollution in the Great Lakes Basin' and 'Pollution Poverty Report' recommending The City of Toronto pass the proposed Environmental Reporting, Disclosure and Innovation Programme, allowing for better tracking of pollutants in Toronto’s neighbourhoods, at http://www.pollutionwatch.org/pub/pollutionandpoverty.jsp
Community Air and the Toronto Port Authority at http://communityair.org/