Rapid Transit

[Jon Dalton]

This Spec editorial claims cancelling LRT is a move that 'Ford is said to be regretting' and with regards to the bungled announcement, 'sources say he is not happy with it.' Probably government employees not authorized to speak about it.
https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...r-killing-lrt/

Joe Mancinelli of LIUNA claims that some bidders on the project told him that the Ford numbers are 'way off.' I believe this was printed in the Spec as well.
https://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/12/...s-lrt-project/

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

This Spec editorial claims cancelling LRT is a move that 'Ford is said to be regretting' and with regards to the bungled announcement, 'sources say he is not happy with it.' Probably government employees not authorized to speak about it.
https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...r-killing-lrt/

Joe Mancinelli of LIUNA claims that some bidders on the project told him that the Ford numbers are 'way off.' I believe this was printed in the Spec as well.
https://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/12/...s-lrt-project/

I appreciate it!

[Jon Dalton]

Here's the Joe Mancinelli interview
https://player.fm/series/series-2342...nd-food-prices

[Elysium303]

Hamilton Light Rail Initiative are running a pro-LRT petition here:

http://hamiltonlightrail.ca/statements/new


The more signatures the better!


Keep that pressure up - this petition goes to City Council, area MPP's, Caroline Mulroney and Ford himself.

[johnnyhamont]

Maybe there will be LRT funding in 10-20 years, maybe not. In the meantime either way, we have $1billion in transit funding to work with. The City is moving ahead on the maintenance and storage facility on Wentworth. We applied for funding for that from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program: Public Transit Stream on October 22, and as far as I know we have not received confirmation of that funding but are expecting it.
Given that this is now funded, what should Hamiltons priorities be to make investments towards the best possible transit system for the city with $1b? What remaining un-funded items from the HSR 10-year strategy are there? How much would be left over (I'm assuming we don't get the $180 already spent on LRT back) - probably 600-800 million after 10-year strategy funds are covered.

[drpgq]

If I'm the city don't give on LRT. Get a commitment for federal funding through Tassi (obviously not through Bratina) and do Steeltown's idea of only going to Ottawa or Kenilworth and leave the rest to a second phase.

I'm actually kind of disappointed Eisenberger isn't being more vocal. Sure it is the holidays, but at least keep the heat on Ford.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by drpgq

If I'm the city don't give on LRT. Get a commitment for federal funding through Tassi (obviously not through Bratina) and do Steeltown's idea of only going to Ottawa or Kenilworth and leave the rest to a second phase.

I'm actually kind of disappointed Eisenberger isn't being more vocal. Sure it is the holidays, but at least keep the heat on Ford.

I'm with you that something is better than nothing. Just not sure about terminating the line at Ottawa or thereabouts. It just doesn't feel right.

Perhaps we ought to just push for a scaled-back Mac-Downtown line.

[johnnyhamont]

Originally Posted by drpgq

I'm actually kind of disappointed Eisenberger isn't being more vocal. Sure it is the holidays, but at least keep the heat on Ford.

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9...-cancellation/

[SteelTown]

blah blah blah.....

Eisenberger said BRT is "the next logical step" if LRT doesn't happen, but he hasn't lost hope. He's in talks with the federal government about possible LRT money, he said.

"There remains a potential to put it back on track," he said last week.

"I would like the task force not to look at anything right now. I'd like to look at where we're at with LRT."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/brt-1.5400795

[ZTrade]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

I'm with you that something is better than nothing. Just not sure about terminating the line at Ottawa or thereabouts. It just doesn't feel right.

Perhaps we ought to just push for a scaled-back Mac-Downtown line.

Not going to at least Tim Horton's field would be a major set back and lost potential. They should do a phase 1 and end it somewhere between Tim Horton's field and Queenston traffic circle. Or alternatively, LRT to one of those stops and BRT the rest of the way, don't even have a phase 2.

[bvbborussia]

I worry that not letting LRT go will leave us spinning our wheels for another decade. If it couldn't get done to now what hope do we have without the province behind it?

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by johnnyhamont

What remaining un-funded items from the HSR 10-year strategy are there?

Years 3-10, principally because those years hinged on tax levies. Which of course never sit well with council, so the plan has been backburnered for longer than it was in effect.

The 10-year Local Transit Strategy was approved in 2015, and has been dormant since so we're three years behind schedule as of this spring's budget cycle. There are unfunded items identified in that strategy (mainly a new garage that had a 100% inflated price tag). Those deficiencies were tacked on at the 11th hour and were neither covered in the city's application for B-Line LRT funding nor the MOU around the province's $1B commitment to that project.

In March 2018, a request tied to those those unfunded items was funded by the feds and province to the tune of $372 million, contingent upon the City coming up with its share ($137 million).

That $273 million is over and above the $1B for LRT, which is good, because…

There is no Billion Dollars (Raise the Hammer, Ryan McGreal, Dec 19 2019)

Under the Metrolinx procurement model, a consortium is selected through a competitive bidding process to Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Maintain (DBFOM) the system for Metrolinx over the 30 year term of the contract.

Note the third term in that mouthful of an acronym: Finance. The consortium that wins the contract isn't just building the system, they're also financing the capital construction costs as part of the contract.

This way, the Government doesn't have to put the capital cost of the system onto their books. Instead, the government is merely responsible to make the agreed-upon monthly payments to the consortium for 30 years as part of the DBFOM contract.

[SteelTown]

Breaking: Hamilton Transportation Task Force members:

-Tony Valeri (former Fed Transport Min.)
-Anthony Primerano (LiUNA)
-Janet Smith (city manager)
-Dr. Saiedeh Razavi (civil engineering professor and researcher)
-Richard Brennan (former journalist)

[SteelTown]

Former MP Tony Valeri will chair the Hamilton transportation task force
Other members include a union rep, a retired journalist and a McMaster associate professor of engineering

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...orce-1.5437816

A union rep, a retired journalist and a former Liberal MP are among the members of a new Hamilton transportation task force that will decide how to spend $1 billion.

Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney announced the five-member task force Thursday. She struck the task force after the province cancelled Hamilton's planned light-rail transit (LRT) system, which Ontario pledged $1 billion to build.

Instead, Mulroney said, the task force will recommend how to spend the $1 billion in Hamilton. Options include widening highways, bus rapid transit or even a revived LRT project.

The task force will decide by the end of February. Here's a list of its members:

Tony Valeri (chair): Valeri is vice president of corporate affairs at ArcelorMittal Dofasco. He is also a former Liberal MP who was a federal minister of transport in Paul Martin's government.

Richard Brennan: Brennan is a retired journalist turned communications consultant who covered Queen's Park and Parliament Hill for the Toronto Star.

Anthony Primerano: He is director of government relations with the Labourers International Union of North America (LiUNA).

Saiedeh Razavi: She is director of the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics and an associate professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, as well as chair in heavy construction at McMaster.

Janette Smith: Smith is Hamilton's city manager.

The task force "will play a vital role in helping our government deliver $1 billion in transportation infrastructure investments in the City of Hamilton," Mulroney said in a media release.

In that same release, Valeri said he's "getting down to work on the possibilities for mass transit and transportation infrastructure more generally in our great city."

"I am committed to stewarding a process that will objectively identify the best and most realistic options for Hamilton."

Mulroney said she cancelled LRT after the province hired a third party consultant to do cost estimates, and that consultant found the system would cost more than anticipated. Mayor Fred Eisenberger, a staunch LRT supporter, has said he thinks those numbers are inflated.

Eisenberger said this week that he's still not happy about the task force. He won an election against a competitor who made LRT a main campaign issue, he said. So residents have spoken.

In a statement Thursday, Eisenberger said the province "is known for appointing task forces and advisory panels to study and provide advice on complex matters. In this instance, they have sought unelected individuals to advise the province on what the best investment would be for transit, transportation and future development of our city."

Eisenberger said the city will support the task force's work, but he doesn't like how this unfolded.

"I will continue to object to the premier's inequitable treatment of Hamilton," he said.

[matt602]

Someone involved with LIUNA being appointed to this really comes across as a conflict of interest to me.

[SteelTown]

Yeah, but LiUNA is pro-LRT so its all good. Plus they have a lot riding on the LRT project, the Cobalt and William Thomas Residence, are depended on LRT.

I was reviewing Richard Brennan's twitter feed and from what I gather, he's from Dundas and seems pro-Doug Ford (re-tweets a lot of Ford's government tweets). So I think he'll probably be against LRT.

Janette Smith is pro-LRT no doubt.

I searched on Saiedeh Razavi and no mention of LRT. But she is all about Transportation so I dunno.

Valeri is from Stoney Creek and Liberal and as Minister of Transportation he did kick started the whole process of K/W's LRT.

[SteelTown]

Could provincial task force studying alternatives to cancelled LRT recommend ... LRT?
The ‘transportation task force’ announced Thursday includes an expert transportation professor, a journalist, an executives from a pro-LRT steel company and construction union.

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9...ecommend-lrt-/

The provincial government has named five members to a controversial task force meant to recommend alternatives to Hamilton's cancelled LRT — in a hurry.

But diehard LRT supporters argue the composition of the provincial task force suggests light rail transit may yet be resurrected in Hamilton.

Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney killed Hamilton's long-planned light rail transit line in the midst of project bidding last December, but vowed the city could keep the $1-billion budget for other projects.

The task force revealed Thursday can look at a variety of alternatives — including highways, express buses or even a new LRT — before offering "preliminary advice" to Mulroney as early as next month.

The task force is to meet next week and will be chaired by former Liberal MP Tony Valeri, a vice-president at pro-LRT steel company ArcelorMittal Dofasco.

Other appointees include Hamilton city manager Janette Smith, journalist Richard Brennan, McMaster University transportation expert Saiedeh Razavi and pro-LRT union director Anthony Primerano.

Hamilton Community Foundation head Terry Cooke suggested on Twitter the group "is a promising development" for LRT supporters. "They are without exception fiercely independent and thoughtful citizens," he wrote. "Perhaps our best opportunity as a community to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat."

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, a staunch LRT supporter, reiterated his opposition to Ontario's "inequitable treatment of Hamilton." But he also praised the "respected" task force appointees and added he is "hopeful this task force will find the LRT is the best investment for the City of Hamilton."

Not everyone is still on track with light rail transit, however.

Coun. Lloyd Ferguson, a past LRT supporter, noted the province is open to spending the $1 billion on roads and highways. "I supported LRT because I didn't want to send a billion dollars back, but if we're going to get it anyway, then let's spread it around the city," said the Ancaster councillor, who wants to make a delegation to the task force.

The task force could provide valuable advice about "high-level priorities" for city transportation, said Matti Siemiatycki, a University of Toronto professor and transportation policy expert.

"But if the panel is about expediting projects without public engagement or an evidence-based process, you risk ending up with a result that doesn't deliver the best public benefit."

Smith, Hamilton's city manager, said her role is to put "council-endorsed" policies and projects before the task force. An early list includes LRT and projects approved in the 10-year transit strategy.

The Spectator reached out to other appointees to find out why they joined the task force — but was told only the province could approve interview requests. (Local LIUNA vice-president Joe Mancinelli did tweet support for Primerano with a #YesLRT hashtag, however.)

Here's what we know about members joining Smith on the task force:

•Tony Valeri is a vice-president with steel company ArcelorMittal Dofasco, which has formally advocated for LRT in the past. He is a former federal Liberal MP and transportation minister;

•Richard Brennan is a retired political reporter for The Toronto Star;

•Anthony Primerano is government relations director for the Laborers' International Union of North America. LIUNA 'disinvited" Premier Doug Ford from its Christmas party over the cancellation of LRT, which it has loudly supported.

•Professor Saiedeh Razavi is a director of the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics (MITL) and professor of civil engineering at McMaster University.

[realcity]

Valeri is the best.
Smith is Miriamme Ward light. the weakest on the task force for LRT.

[LikeHamilton]

Wait, maybe Hamilton LRT isn’t really dead

Chief of staff replaced by respected veteran civil servant after Hamilton bungle

OPINION 29 January 2020 by Keith Leslie Hamilton Spectator

Does a surprise shakeup in Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney's office offer a glimmer of hope for proponents of a Hamilton LRT, or is the project really is as dead as Monty Python's Norwegian Blue parrot?

The inner workings of ministerial offices rarely are of public interest, but when a minister bungles an announcement as badly as Mulroney did the pre-Christmas cancellation of the 14-kilometre-long LRT, suddenly shuffling senior staff is often a signal mistakes need to be corrected.

As Hamiltonians recall all too well, Mulroney fled the city under police escort, leaving through a loading dock, without actually having made her announcement. She and her staff had to know killing the LRT wasn't going to go over well, but instead of being prepared to face city councillors and several dozen protesters, they called the cops and ran.

Part of any minister's job is to face people when announcing unpopular decisions, inevitable for any government, not just showing up to hand out taxpayers' money or smiling for the cameras while plowing a shiny shovel into the ground.

Last week, Mulroney finally named the individuals on the task force set up to recommend projects that could qualify for the $1 billion budgeted for the LRT. The appointees aren't allowed to speak about what is under consideration without approval from Mulroney's office.

They have to report back in just a month, a shockingly short time to get up to speed on an issue the city has debated for so long there's a sign for a Blockbuster Video store in an artist's rendering of the LRT at one of its 17 proposed stops. What's the rush?

Mayor Fred Eisenberg, re-elected in 2018 in in part because of his commitment to LRT, has no problem with the people Mulroney appointed to the task force. But he's right, it is unusual to give five unelected citizens such a pivotal role in the process after the long, hard fought battle to get LRT approved by Hamilton city council and green lit by the province.

Last Friday, Mulroney's chief of staff, Leif Malling, was moved to the premier's office as a special adviser, replaced immediately but temporarily by Deb Hutton, a veteran PC strategist who helped run the premier's office for Mike Harris. The well-respected Hutton will be chief of staff for just over a month, the same month in which the Hamilton Transportation Task Force must complete its work and report back to the minister's office.

Could the staff changes mean Ford will reverse course again and keep his original promise to give Hamilton the LRT boost it needs to help drive future economic development? Or are they a sign the province already made up its mind on other projects it intends to fund?

The questionable $5.5 billion cost estimate Mulroney cited to kill the LRT, without providing any supporting evidence, is much higher than figures in leaked documents from Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency. They suggest the province based its inflated estimate on a report it commissioned from consultants Turner and Townsend, Malling's former employer.

The leaked documents show the previous Liberal government budgeted $3.65 billion to build, operate and maintain the Hamilton LRT for 30 years, with updated figures from Metrolinx in 2018 estimating the all-in cost had risen to $3.74 billion. A projected $90 million over budget, over 30 years, is hardly justification for killing such a massive infrastructure project.

The task force is looking only at the $1 billion budgeted for LRT construction, saving the province billions. Hamilton is being seriously shortchanged, especially compared with other cities that already have, or are getting LRT systems, including Cambridge, Kitchener, Mississauga and Ottawa.

Mayor Eisenberger accuses Premier Ford of "inequitable treatment of Hamilton." He's right.

Keith Leslie is a veteran Ontario journalist covering politics

https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...t-really-dead/

[thistleclub]

The inner workings of ministerial offices rarely are of public interest, but when a minister bungles an announcement as badly as Mulroney did the pre-Christmas cancellation of the 14-kilometre-long LRT, suddenly shuffling senior staff is often a signal mistakes need to be corrected.…

Last Friday, Mulroney's chief of staff, Leif Malling, was moved to the premier's office as a special adviser, replaced immediately but temporarily by Deb Hutton, a veteran PC strategist who helped run the premier's office for Mike Harris. The well-respected Hutton will be chief of staff for just over a month, the same month in which the Hamilton Transportation Task Force must complete its work and report back to the minister's office.

Deb Hutton is also the partner of former PCPO leader Tim Hudak, no fan of rapid transit.