Back in the day when the Eglinton Crosstown and the Finch LRT were twinkles in the eyes of politicians, I said they should be subways. Like the late Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, I believed in “subways, subways, subways.” Why? Well a number of reasons, but one big one is our winters. The Finch LRT was barely open for a day or two when we had a small, but our standards, snowfall. What happened? It got snarled due to “weather related incidents.” Thank you, I rest my case. Take a look at the so-called “stations,” along the Eglinton LRT. At Pharmacy, it is little more than a bus shelter in the middle of a six-lane highway. What’s it going to be like in the middle of a snowstorm or when the temperature dips to minus 20? The line should have been a subway. It’s underground closer to downtown, but in Scarborough it’s a frozen block of ice. When I was still writing in the Sun, all the pointy headed transit wonks would tut-tut when I suggested an LRT was inappropriate for our city. They said we couldn’t afford it. They said light rail was the fastest and cheapest to build. Turns out I was right and they were wrong. We could have built a subway to Ottawa for what we’ve spent on the Finch and Eglinton lines. And speaking of Ottawa, they got LRT instead of subways as well. How’s that working out? Oh, right. LRTs also take away lanes of traffic. So now we have no transit and more congestion. I wonder how much they paid all those experts to decide on the LRT when it was so obvious we should have built subways.
There’s a prevailing opinion that Nate Erskine-Smith is the Benedict Arnold of the Ontario Liberal Party who brought down Bonnie Crombie.
I don’t know Erskine-Smith and I don’t live in his Beaches-East York riding, but during the pandemic, I was involved in an online all-candidates debate in that riding. He was a most impressive speaker.
He answered questions comprehensively and intelligently. He was personable and very bright. He clearly has a strong grasp of a wide range of issues.
I sympathize with him for his frustration on being left out of Mark Carney’s cabinet. When you look at some of the less-than-stellar Toronto area MPs who made the cut, you have to wonder why a smart young lawyer was left out.
I know a number of people who live in his riding. They tell me they like him and he is an excellent representative. We should welcome ambition in young politicians, not condemn it. Instead, we reward mediocrity.
I saw some of the new streetcars testing out the Eglinton Crosslink near Pharmacy and Eglinton this week. And guess what? From what I could see of the interior, they have the same dreadful configuration as the new-ish streetcars. They have groups of four. Instead of all the seats facing the front, they form a square. This is utterly ridiculous for commuters. Anyone with long legs is put in the embarrassing situation of having to knock knees with the person opposite. Men, especially those who are taller, find it so awkward that some of them have told me they won’t sit down in seats that are configured in such a fashion.
What’s wrong with everyone facing the same way? Not everyone wants to sit facing their fellow travellers, and it just doesn’t make sense.
Took the grandkids to see Wendy and Peter Pan at the Avon Theatre in Stratford last week. What a treat! It was a really good production and since we took in a matinee, packed with children, no one minded when the little guys got a bit restless. The grandkids loved it. Peter Pan, as a story, works on many levels. On the basic, child-friendly level it had lots of sword fights and people flying in and out.
On an adult level, there are messages about grief and how we deal with it. And where we are and what comes next.
Mostly, though, it was a lot of fun with some good acting and a well-paced production.
I take the Bloor-Danforth subway all the time. The state of the trains is a disgrace. It won’t be long before they go the way of the Scarborough RT and fall apart. What on earth has happened to this city, where we don’t seem to be able to keep anything running any more? The Romans built roads that still, more than 2,000 years later, exist. Yet we can’t even get the Eglinton-Crosstown built.
The amount of money squandered on the Eglinton Crosstown should have been spent revitalizing the east-west subway. As it is, it’s a road to nowhere, with ghost cars running by sporadically to give us the impression that something’s happening.
New maps are appearing in the subway, and they’re missing one thing. Yep, the Scarborough LRT, from Kennedy to McCowan. That odd blue line that was neither subway nor train has vanished.
For years, while politicians dithered and built subways everywhere except Scarborough, I warned this would happen. Anyone who ever rode that line knew the trains were rickety and the tracks were unreliable. The first sign of snow and the entire line was shut down. But nothing was done. We built a line to Vaughan, where well-heeled suburbanites drive SUVs. But we failed to build one to Scarborough, where thousands of workers relied on transit to get to their work. And now here we are, with all those people having to rely on jam-packed shutting buses that add an hour to their daily commute.
I fear the fate will be the same for the Eglinton Crosstown. It still hasn’t opened and I’ll e surprised if I ever see it. Again, while the line is snug and warm underground in downtown Toronto, east of Laird it’s back above ground. You’ll wait in a cold, windswept wasteland for your streetcar.
It would be really nice if just for once those of us who live in Scarborough got decent transit for a change. And yes, I’d pay for it. I believe we should pay by distance on the TTC. The one-fare-fits-all model doesn’t work. It isn’t fair and it isn’t sustainable as transit grows. The only reason downtowners, who may only travel a few stops, should pay the same as Scarbereians travelling downtown to work is that the downtowners have the luxury of warm stations.
I took the subway on the Bloor Danforth line about 10 pm last night. I couldn’t believe how many delivery drivers were on there with their e-bikes. On one subway car alone, I counted five. The bikes are big, so they blocked the seats and I had to stand. Fortunately, I was only travelling a couple of stops, so not a problem.
When I got off, however, several of the bikes got off as well. I was going to take the elevator, as I’ve had both a hip and a knee replacement. So it’s the easier and safer way for me. I gave up when I saw the line of e-bikers waiting for the elevator. Then a very drunk guy rolled up. I walked down the stairs, which was good exercise, but a bit of a stretch for me. A couple of weeks ago, the same thing happened. I saw several bikers waiting for the elevator, as well as a young mom with a baby in a stroller. You’d think they would have let her take the elevator first, but no. So she waited, while these guys took over the elevator. I think the TTC needs to set some rules about these e-bikers, because they’re taking over.
The 60th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy reminds us of that terrible day when everything changed. I was still living in England at the time. The news broke on the TV, and it was devastating. Nowadays the satellite TV trucks would have headed to Dallas and we’d get minute by minute updates.
Back in 1963, there were no satellites. TV stations in the UK had no way of getting direct news, so they ran what was essentially a test pattern, only with funereal music. They broke in from time to time with updates. We all sat by our TVs waiting for updates.
Fast forward to when I worked for the Sun. Editor Peter Worthington, a reporter at the old Toronto Telegram, was standing next to Jack Ruby when Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in an underground parking lot. As Worthington told the story to me, it was all quite by accident. He’d flown down to Dallas as soon as the tragic news broke. He knew an arrest had been made and they were making a transfer the following morning. He went to scout out the territory and find out where the cops would bring in Oswald. He took the parking lot as a short cut. When he saw the group of people gathered around he went over. And the rest was history.
His coverage of the assassination was legendary. The Tely was way ahead of the Star. I was told the story of how that happened by a person who was once a neighbour. Thelma was the hat check girl at the Cork Room, a restaurant in downtown Toronto favoured by both the executives at the Tely and the Star. (And yes, hat check girl really was a job back in the day when every well-dressed man-about-town topped off his sartorial splendour with a fedora. Or whatever.)
There were two tables of newspaper bigwigs lunching that day. One from the Tely, one from the Star.
An alert editor at the Tely called the Cork Room and asked to speak to the Managing Editor. He went back to the table, quietly told the others what had happened. They settled the bill with very little fanfare and one by one they left, as if nothing had happened. They didn’t want to all get up and rush out at the same time for fear of tipping off the Star that something was up.
They got Worthington down to Dallas that afternoon and put out an extra “Bulldog” edition with the sad news. By that time, JFK was dead.
I really hate to sound like the Grinch, but I can’t help noticing the vast number of people who have plunged into Christmas before December is even here. I understand that after the pandemic, we all need to bring some light into the long, dark nights of winter. But couldn’t we at least wait a couple of weeks? For me, Christmas starts with Advent. I realize few people celebrate Christmas as a religious season any more. But Advent gives you four weeks as a run up to the big day. That said, I admit, I started prepping my Christmas puddings. I may even make a Christmas cake this week. Memo to me. Drop by the LCBO to pick up some brandy.
I find it odd how everyone is celebrating the “return” of cursive writing. When I was growing up, we learned cursive writing in elementary school. When we went on to grammar school, however, we were taught to write in the “Marion Richardson,” style. It’s a style that looks a little cramped, but has no loops or embellishments. It was considered a more mature way of writing. It’s much neater and more precise. Cursive writing was always considered rather childish. I won’t be celebrating the “return” of cursive. I type most things anyway.
Christina Blizzard 