Toronto city council can heal a divided community by doing the right thing for Scarborough
By: Jamaal Myers
On Wednesday, March 10, city council has the opportunity to do something great for Scarborough. Through a simple vote, they can begin healing a divided community that's fought with itself for over 10 years about what to do about the Scarborough RT (SRT).
The motion proposed by councillors Paul Ainslie and Josh Matlow on March 10 can help change this. It requires the city to assess the feasibility of replacing the SRT with light rapid transit (LRT) or buses within the SRT corridor in the event the subway isn't built. Its passage would also help create something that's been missing from plans to replace the SRT all along. Trust.
Scarborough's a special place. The vast majority of us are immigrants or their immediate descendants. Our neighbourhoods have a unique multicultural flare that few places on Earth can match. But what's most remarkable of all is that, despite all our differences, we genuinely like each other as well. That is, unless someone disagrees with us about the Scarborough subway. Then all bets are off.
Trust between residents and decision-makers is a key ingredient for any public project to be successfully embraced by a community. That so many residents mistrust the decision-making behind the subway is a key reason why the project is stalled. Now, with the SRT set to close in 2023 and the subway having not been started nor funded, Scarborough is facing the worst of all possible outcomes: 60 shuttle buses clogging our already overcrowded and unsafe streets until at least 2030, inconveniencing transit riders and drivers alike.
The subway's growing costs (estimated at $6 billion), Ontario's $35.5 billion deficit and competition for funding from the Ontario Line and Waterfront LRT means the subway could remain unfunded indefinitely. Most damaging to its prospects of all, though, is that many residents don't support it. If the SRT is to be replaced, all hands need to be on deck.
Now compare the uncertainty around the subway to the momentum behind the Eglinton East LRT (EELRT). From the beginning, our community united around building the EELRT, despite it being derailed, defunded and de-prioritized several times. We deputed, lobbied and cooperated to ensure that it would not be forgotten. Years of determined activism culminated in council's recent decision to allocate $1.238 billion toward building the EELRT, representing a significant win for a community that badly needed one.
A vote by council to support the SRT motion ensures that if the province reneges on its commitment to build the subway, the city is ready with a well-thought-out plan to replace the SRT. More importantly, residents will have confidence that any decision to replace the SRT was fair and are therefore will be more likely to work together to ensure it's built.
If COVID has taught us anything, particularly given its disproportionate impact on Scarborough, it's that we need to build back better. The SRT is a good place to start. No transit plan is worth dividing a community over, especially not one as beloved as ours. Council should vote "yes" on the SRT motion and more importantly "yes" to restoring trust within our community.