Metrolinx in Hamilton this evening to hear input on transit proposals.
By Rob Faulkner
Published in the Hamilton Spectator on October 30, 2008.
Can't win if you don't show up.
It's like a motto for recent light rail transit boosters as they rally the troops to show Metrolinx that Hamilton wants an LRT system.
The transportation agency is in town tonight for an open house to hear input on its proposed transit plans for Hamilton and Toronto.
In its 25-year, $50-billion draft plan, Hamilton is slated to get four rapid-transit lines. An east-west B line is shortlisted as a priority in the first 15 years of the plan. Whether bus or rail is not decided.
Ryan McGreal of the group Hamilton Light Rail e-mailed several hundred people about tonight; signs went up at Gore Park, the GO station and McMaster University.
He wants to hear how Metrolinx will decide whether Hamilton gets rail or bus rapid transit, and how the city fits as a priority with Toronto in the mix.
"There is a tendency in Hamilton to go, 'Oh, it's not going to work,'" McGreal says.
"We have to go into this in an optimistic manner, not thinking, 'How are they going to put the screws to us this time?'"
Jill Stephen, the city's manager of strategic planning working on rapid transit, helped spread the word about tonight with a rapid transit newsletter to 1,900 subscribers.
"We have continually told Metrolinx that we have a lot of public support and a lot of interest," she says. "A good-sized crowd will demonstrate that."
The city says it can have shovels in the ground for LRT by 2011; Metrolinx chair Rob MacIsaac has hinted that Hamilton funding will surface in the latter years of the 2009-13 budget, which is to come this fall, and then ramp up.
November is a busy month for Metrolinx. On Nov. 3, board members (including Mayor Fred Eisenberger) have a private retreat to discuss recommendations and analysis going into the final regional transportation plan.
Public input on Metrolinx draft documents closes Nov. 14. On Nov. 21, the final plan goes to board members; on Nov. 25 or 26, the plan goes public online; on Nov. 28, the board votes on whether to approve the final transportation plan.
Durham regional chair Roger Anderson is concerned that a two-week gap -- from Nov. 14 to 28 -- gives Metrolinx little chance to respond to late-arriving ideas.
"What happens if somebody comes up with some great idea that hasn't been thought of yet that's not in the plan, or has to do with the financial implications of the plan?" he asked.
"If staff at Metrolinx aren't willing to amend it because they want the plan passed by the end of November, that's going to create a problem."
MacIsaac suggests that any comments should be made soon.