I attended the meeting last night that was hosted by Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone. The topic was the environmental study that was done on Strachan Ave where it crosses the railway lines. It's being done because Go Transit & Metro Lines need to increase the amount of train traffic and the city has pressured them to do a study to determine how that will impact the neighbourhood.
They gave a very good presentation showing the different options along with their proposed costs as well as their recommendations.
To sum it up quickly they either need to change the road or the railway lines. Changing the road options are to go over the tracks or under them. Both options are much much much cheaper but terrible for the neighbourhood. In both cases a ramp would have to be built to allow the height of an over ramp or the depth of an under ramp. That ramp would mean that East Liberty & Douro would no longer be able to access Strachan and the towns on Strachan would be very negatively effected by the new road or "ditch" built in front of them.
But these options would cost somewhere around $35 - $40 million dollars.
The recommendation by those doing the environmental assessment was the option to lower the tracks to go underneath the road. That would leave the road as is (once all is completed of course) which would not interfere with the neighbourhood.
Obviously it sounds like the better plan until you hear that the estimated cost would be $125 million!!!
Will those in power do the right thing and spend the money wisely? For sure not if the community doesn't get more involved and voice their opinions!
Last night's meeting should have been better attended but I think people just don't realize that these meetings are taking place.
And that's why I'm blogging about it! It's too important and since I live in this neighbourhood with no plans on moving I feel very strongly that our voices must be heard.
I'll watch out for updates about this and when I hear more or about another meeting I'll post a notice here in hopes that enough people will see it!
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2 comments:
hi gigi ... am glad for this info. i ended up not being able to attend that meeting, despite my intention to do so.
whatever they do, it will take years, i expect, to grind through the system. as it goes along, i would expect councillor pantalone to keep us apprised. there was a notice around my condo complex (LVTO) about the meeting, so as long as people take the time to read the posted notices, they should be aware of how to participate in the process. but that assumes they're interested or have time to indulge their interest. thx for the post.
Lemme know when the next meeting is and I'll go.
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