Comment 47923

By H+H (registered) - website | Posted September 20, 2010 at 08:55:53

Although I'm a Team Fred supporter, I have to say this file should have been managed much better than it has been. Why are we SWATting now? Why not 2 or 3 years ago. This file has been opened for all four years of Fred's term. It was not a last minute surprise.

I think it's indicative of a larger problem in Hamilton, and not just in the Mayor's office. There isn't a sense of urgency, at least I can't detect one. The pace is way too slow for large issues. LRT is complex, I realize, but at the end of the day, once you think LRT is the likely outcome, it involves placement, stations, traffic impact, service and repair yard, and a few more. My intent is not to make it sound simple, but the fact is the variables are widely known, even if the local details are not.

Our plans should be well-formed by now, not just beginning. We should have been all over this file from the moment it was opened. We have not been.

Now we have even more regional competition for the limited money available. And who knows how much is really available. In part, that pool of money is likely to a function of how close we are to an election. When you ask for $500-$800 million from the the province, you had better get in line early. The fact that Metrolinx (aka the provincial government) is telling us to make a case for investment in 2010 is troubling, to say the least.

We have invested considerably more staff time on the Pan Am circus than on ensuring Hamilton is at or near the top of the list for LRT. No matter how you feel about Pan Am and the Ti-Cats, LRT is the real game changer.

Although not involved directly, i think the Hamilton Light Rail Group has been more focused on this than the city itself.

Comment edited by H+H on 2010-09-20 07:56:44

gcrawford

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