Raise the Hammer

I thought these suburban councilors were already looking out for the businesses downtown? They certainly said that when they wanted your one and only bus lane erased from existence. I find it very interesting that councilors who don't want anything to do with the LRT project, seem to want the project and the people in control of it to respond directly to them and other politicians only and throw away any representation by anyone else who is directly effected by the LRT Line construction program. I guess the public representation of the current LRT Subcommittee has too much contact with the public and because of this, they might find out that a majority of the area's residents, business employees and most businesses owners actually want this LRT thing after all!

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust Announces Financial Results and 9% Growth in Operating Income for the Third Quarter of 2016. They linked the growth in their Canadian portfolio directly to the growth caused by future investment because of infrastructure spending, specifically LRT construction in Toronto, Ottawa, and Waterloo. There is much excitement around potential growth in downtown Mississauga as their LRT project enters the RFQ/RFP stage!

Ottawa's "Condo Queen" Marnie Bennett says that despite the slow economy, the Confederation Line LRT project alone is responsible for up to 1000 condo unit sales a year in the core of the city. She believes that LRT is almost singularly responsible for the redesign and intensification of the Lebreton Flats area west of downtown Ottawa. "The 10,000+ condo units expected for the Lebreton Flats development neighborhood over the next decade and a half, would not happen at all without LRT. The Transitway was there for three decades and no development occurred in the Flats. You couldn't even get the players involved to come to an agreement to pay for and build the updated infrastructure needed in the area (The players are the development industry, the city, the National Capital Committee and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec). As soon as LRT was seriously proposed to replace the Transitway in the core and Lebreton Flats area, Boom! An infrastructure renewal agreement happens, construction of the infrastructure begins almost immediately and development starts in the Flats."