Stephen Young My life in words.

The Future of the TTC

A few days ago there was rampant discussions on the future of the TTC.  The foucs was on the idea of 'uploading' the TTC to the province, something suggested by Premier McGuinty.  All the usual people, Mayor Miller, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, Metrolinx (the new name of the GTTA) and many pundits immediately poured cold water on the idea.  After all, nobody wants to give up their own little pieace of the pie.

However, is Toronto, and more specifically the GTA, sreved well by the current patchwork of local or regional services?  Could we be doing better?  Of course we could.  While there is alway a danger that the need of the core could be sacrificed in favour of the suburbs in any provincally-owned TTC, this is hightly unlikley in improbably.  After all, have you been paying attention at all to the rising downtown population and property costs?

A regional transit system, one that encompasses Halton, Peel, York, Durham and Toronto is far and away the best solution for the GTA.  We must begin seeing the GTA as an integrated region, rather than a group of small municipalities.  A single system could fairly implement zone fares, integrate payment methods and make moving from one area of the region to another seamless and easy.  The media has been pointing to Vancouver as a example, but I think a better example is Transport for London.  TFL in the UK is responsible for all aspects of transit (including roads) in and around London and it does an incredible job providing an integrated, hightly efficient system.  Yes, the UK experiment with privitization has been a disaster, but that does not, by any means, mean that TFL itself has been a failure.  London is perhaps the largest, most complex city in the world (save perhaps New York) and the integrated system serves them well.  When then can't we have the same thing here in Toronto.

I sincerely hope that all of the local systems (including GO) are handed over to Metrolinx sometime in the next five years and we go about creating a truly regional transit soluiton.  Oh, and I would love to see Metrolinx renamed the TTC.

Nathan Philips Redesign

The city has been running an international competition to redesign Nathan Philips Square. The results of this competition (or at least the short listed competitors) will be on display next week at City Hall. I'm not convinced of the necessity of this myslef, but I do want to check out he options. If you're interested, here is the info:

Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West

6 - 7 p.m. Public Exhibition Opening
Main Floor Rotunda

7 - 9 p.m. Design Team Presentations
Council Chamber

The public exhibition will remain on display at City Hall from Wednesday, February 21 to Monday, February 26, 2007, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

CCTV and TPSC

Now for some acronyms:

CCTV - Closed Circuit Television
TPSC - Toronto Public Space Committee

Tonight I along with a bunch of other TPSCers will be out in force trying to ensure the city undestands the problem with police CCTV cameras in public spaces. There are so many problems with this plan, I can't begin to lay them all the out. The primary problem is thier cost. These cameras are expensive, 6 figure expensive, and they do NOTHING to stop or reduce crime. Study after study has down that all they do is move crime a few feet from the cameras or make people feel safer. The recent shootings in downtown occurred mid-day surrounded by lots of people, does anyone really think that these bad guys are going to care about police cameras?

The consultation tonight will be held at the Delta Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard Street West, Rossetti Room, 3rd floor from 7 to 9pm. I encourage everyone to come out and ensure that not only are you tax dollars not wasted on useless equipment, but that your privacy on the street is maintained.

The following is the press release which the TPSC is putting out today concenring these consultations. I'm proud to say that I had a hand in wrting it

Community Says “Cut” on Expensive Police Cameras

Opponents of the Toronto Police Service’s plan to install surveillance cameras in several Toronto neighbourhoods will be
out in force this evening at a public consultation hosted by police on this hot-button issue.
“The fact is, police cameras cost millions of dollars and have been proven to be ineffective,” said Daniel Quinn, campaign coordinator for the Toronto Public Space Committee (TPSC). “What we really need are well designed, useable public spaces and more community policing. Those are the proven ways to create safer neighbourhoods.”

Local residents aren’t impressed with the Toronto Police Service’s plan either.

“It’s outrageous that the police want to use my tax dollars for something that we know will fail,” said Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler, who lives steps from Yonge and Gerrard Sts. where Toronto police piloted surveillance cameras during the holiday season. “If politicians have money to throw around, I want them to fix our struggling public transit and public housing systems. That’s where we’re really failing as a city.”

The TPSC believes that the Police Board’s case for spending millions of dollars to install surveillance cameras is based solely on unsubstantiated assumptions.

In a study completed for the United Kingdom’s Home Office, researchers have confirmed the TPSC’s stance. “CCTV(Closed Circuit Television cameras) had little or no effect on crime in public transport and city centre setting s,” states the report conducted by professors from the universities of Cambridge and Massachusetts Lowell. In light of this research and the fact that Toronto crime is down 19% over the past 10 years, the TPSC feels that it is unconscionable to implement a network of surveillance cameras that commits taxpayers to millions of dollars in future maintenance costs.

“The police shouldn’t expect Torontonians’ tax dollars to fix a problem that doesn’t exist with a tool that doesn’t work,” said the TPSC’s Quinn. “I encourage everyone in this city who feels that the police should be focusing on community policing rather than cameras, to join us at the consultation.”

Oh, and one last thing, my buddy Dan was on CityTV last night here is the clip.

Transit Transit Everywhere…

There has been a recent interest in transit, both the TTC and the private car variety. Along with the environment, transit is definatly THE hot topic right now.

So, having said that, the St. Lawrence Forum is keeping on top of things one again. The following was posted on Steve Munro's amazing public transit themed blog.

The St. Lawrence Centre Forum is hosting a panel on this subject on Wednesday, Februrary 28 from 7:39 to 9:30 pm. Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis.

This pane will include:

Rob MacIsaac, Chair of the GTTA

Adam Giabrone, Chair of the TTC and member of city council

Gary McMeil, Managing Director and CEO of GO Transit

Natalie Helferty, Planning Ecologist, York Region Environmental Alliance

I plan on being there, its a wonderful opportunity to hear from some important people in the field of public transit. Let me know if your coming.