Raise the Hammer

"Perhaps the ease with which the debate has been hijacked and forced into the realm of the absurd and irrational is the price we pay for failing to regularly invest in the public good"

Nice and condescending. What else can I expect from the cultural elites?

Hi Maureen. I *am* the urban poor. I don't have kids (plural) like you. Because how could I afford them? I bet you live in a house. I will never own one. I don't have a car or a licence. I ride the bus. I'm against the LRT.

I'm against having to pay two fares to travel to Stoney Creek when I used to pay one. I'm against having to wait for a second mode of travel when I could just sit on a warm bus. I'm against the 60% increase in traffic along Aberdeen. I'm against advocating for the developers downtown like Tyler Pearson and Darko Vranich. I'm against the gentrification that is being touted as "economic uplift" when I know only the rich will be uplifted; the poor will be left holding higher hydro bills (we sold a public entity for this) and higher rents. I'm against losing unionized HSR jobs to a private consortium. I'm against spending public dollars to enrich private interests like property holders who have already said they can't wait to increase rents and condo prices: http://www.thespec.com/news-story/7247562-what-s-in-it-for-me-digging-up-development-along-the-lrt-line/ Even they admit that the LRT has nothing to do with transit. I'm against removing bike lanes and increasing lanes for car traffic. I literally won't be able to ride my bike to Westdale anymore.

I don't appreciate being told by people like you that I'm being "absurd and irrational" and that I just don't "understand."

I understand. I understand everything. The LRT will only hurt me and my ability to get around this City. Please watch for me next time I'm walking 800 meters between stops in the rain or paying a bus fare so I can get my bicycle to Westdale. Watch for me when so many people are packed into the downtown that my landlord increases my rent because demand allows it and the elites like you who just want to consume more and more and more and want more shops, more restaurants, more everything and call it "intensification" have packed as many Torontonians into my little city as possible. Watch for those who lose their job at a little mom and pop because Tyler Pearson displaced it with a corporate business who can pay higher rent and the City can "increase their tax base." Why do we want to increase our tax base? So we can pay for more services for more people for more everything of course! More is always better. Ryan has shown me the way. It's always "more." More, more, more, more. Guys we really need more! There's not enough! We need more! More customers, more people, more dollars, more condos!

Thanks for taking so much of your valuable time to explain to backward people like me that the real path to happiness is condo towers and urban shopping and that urban density allows everyone to enjoy more consumption. It's wonderful! I'm sure the 60,000 on social assistance in Hamilton can't wait for the flood of new dollars you're promising everyone. Will you be signing the checks or will Tyler?

Hooray for LRT! Can't wait for Hamilton to be the new Mississauga. Ever been to Square One? It's the best! And so pedestrian and bike friendly! And now Streetsville, what was once a small, sustainable, community-owned town, is a curiosity, buried in an urban nightmare of concrete and fast movers. Check out Dundas sometime and see the town my grandmother immigrated to in the 50s. You won't be able to recognize it anymore. They've paved the Valley and people like you point to "progress." Progress. Progress. Thanks again Maureen for gracing us with your presence here and helping me get my head on straight!