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Oct. 17 - Oct. 22, 2004 |
The Battle for St.Clair is Lost
City Hall Clears the TTC Plan with 36 Votes to 7. Gillan: "They didn't listen to us."
By Niccolò Marras
Originally Published: 2004-10-03
The TTC plan for St. Clair has been approved. With 36 votes for it and 7 against, City Hall voted the plan on Wednesday night.
"The plan will also include additional improvements that will be implemented during the works that will start in late 2005 and last 18 months, two years at most," explained Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone.
"Parking spaces will stay the same or possibly even increase, and the cityscape will be improved. Of course, change often raises fears, but I'm sure that a lot of people will come and see the beauty of the new St. Clair Avenue."
Some residents are unhappy with the result of the vote. "We'll lose, we'll lose on every point," said Jeff Gillan at 5pm on Thursday, while the discussion was going on.
The City Council debate on the TTC plan for St. Clair, which had begun in the morning, brought out many contradictions and many aspects of the issue. For about two hours, the councillors asked various questions to the technicians of the joint TTC-City Hall Task Force to discern the truth of the matter.
Mitch Stambler, Joanna Musters, Rod McPhail, and several other municipal employees were called upon for their expertise.
Each councillor had five minutes to ask questions and many used them, ranging from TTC-opponents Cesar Palacio and Frances Nunziata, to Giorgio Mammoliti, Peter Li Preti, Mike Del Grande, to Joe Pantalone, and many more. The final efforts to stop the plan, however, were not very successful, judging from the discussion and from what Mayor David Miller had privately told Gillan.
By 5pm, Jeff Gillan, chair of the Corso Italia BIA, had lost heart. He confirmed, "We'll lose. We're not being listened to. None of our requests are being considered. Joe Pantalone even proposed that instead of reducing the sidewalks they reduce parking space. They rejected his proposal, at least for the moment."
"Mike del Grande," continued Gillan, "asked for $2 million for the five BIAs in compensation for the troubles of local businesses during the works, and that, too, was rejected."
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