Behind the scenes of Ontario Line chaos
UNFORGETTABLE SAGAS, SCOOPS AND SCANDALS
from Toronto Life’slong-form archives |
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Dear reader, This week, a group of homeowners in Riverdale found nightmarish news in their mailboxes. In order to make way for the Ontario Line—Doug Ford’s $27-billion-dollar (and counting) subway project—the city plans to expropriate their homes. When Metrolinx delivers these letters, they’re not asking for permission; if the city needs to take possession of a property, there’s not much owners can do except haggle over the price. Now, residents are faced with the daunting prospect of finding a new place to live in the midst of a housing crisis and global recession. Everyone knows Toronto needs better transit—it only takes a single trip across the downtown core to know that the situation is dire. But how much inconvenience should Torontonians be expected to put up with along the way? That’s where it gets divisive. Since it was announced in 2019, the Ontario Line has drawn the ire of community groups in Riverdale and Thorncliffe Park, where construction will be the most intense and residents are staring down the barrel of seven years of incessant noise and disruption. Still, you can’t build a worthwhile relief line without cracking a few foundations. As Nicholas Hune-Brown put it in his 2022 feature, “The $11-Billion Subway War”: “The massive project comes with an implicit message: in order for the majority of us to win much-needed transit, some of us will have to lose.” For more great long-reads from Toronto Life, subscribe to our print edition here. |
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| —Maddy Mahoney, assistant editor |
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The Ontario Line will zip across the core and up to Eglinton, easing gridlock and alleviating TTC misery. It will also plow through peaceful Toronto neighbourhoods, displacing homes, businesses and everything else in its path. That is, unless the residents have anything to say about it |
BY NICHOLAS HUNE-BROWN | JANUARY 19, 2022 |
In April of 2019, Doug Ford announced the crown jewel of his transit expansion plan: the Ontario Line. It would be a 15.6-kilometre subway track that starts at Exhibition Place, zips across the core to Leslieville and shoots north through Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park up to Eglinton. Announcing a mega-project is exciting, but then there’s the ugly, contentious, sometimes devastating reality of building the thing. Oppositional neighbourhood groups have sprung up like mushrooms along each stretch of the line, creating war rooms on Zoom or in their backyards. To them, the project means neighbourhood-destroying, life-ruining construction zones. Meanwhile, Metrolinx insists that city-wide progress requires individual sacrifice. |
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