Re: Ford must take vision to council, Dec. 14

Respect for taxpayer, transparency and accountability do not make a vision. These are commendable traits expected from elected officials in a democratic government.

Mayor Rob Ford’s election campaign effectively painted David Miller’s terms and legacy, including Transit City, a total failure for the taxpayers of Toronto. But cutting the vehicle tax, ending the war on cars, and killing Transit City do not make a transportation vision.

Ford’s subway plan is a whim intended to kill David Miller’s legacy of Transit City, and in support of 1.07 million car owners, the majority of who don’t ride buses, streetcars, trains or bicycles.

The Transit City light rail plan is part of a regional transportation vision being implemented by Metrolinx and funded by the provincial government for the 5.5 million people in the Greater Toronto Area who ride transit.

Ernesto Forcadilla, Toronto

Rob Ford is using his email list of thousands of known supporters from the election campaign to come to council chambers early and be the ones to fill up seats and be vocal supporters of him. Again Ford is loudly saying he intends to be the mayor of those that voted for him and not the mayor of the majority that didn’t.

It’s only been a couple of weeks and “poor form” appears to be the norm. It’s one thing to invite all Torontonians to come out and be a part of democracy, it’s another to orchestrate onside seat fillers.

Cameron McCleery, Toronto

We have read about Nick Kouvalis and his dirty tricks in the Ford campaign. But we know nothing about the woman who phoned John Tory to berate him? Like Judas, was she paid the usual 20 pieces of silver?

Joy Taylor, Scarborough

Re: Ford’s biggest hurdle, Editorial Dec. 13

Without a doubt, Rob Ford’s prospects for labour peace when negotiating fair wages for city employees are dim unless he can convince Premier Dalton McGuinty to reject the Rand Formula, like four other provinces have done.

Archaic regulations forcing private and public employers to deduct a portion of the salaries of all employees within a bargaining unit, union members or not, to be paid to the union as union dues treats all workers as hostages and is not fair to those who do not want to join a union.

Over 600 city workers crossed the picket line during last summer’s garbage strike despite former mayor David Miller’s policy of union appeasement by not providing replacement workers to clean up his mess.

The time has come to respect workers’ rights. Mayor Ford’s promise to “stop the gravy train” needs this onerous legislation dealt with or tense days loom on the labour front for city employees.

Brian Weller, Markham

Several articles, including this editorial, have repeated the mantra that arbitrated settlements are larger than union negotiations. I do not see how this could be. In the private sector, if one is doing the same job as last year with no increase in responsibility and no increase in performance efficiency, then the increase is strictly inflation. And that is often in doubt in today’s economy.

Arguing that one should be on par with someone in another jurisdiction or another position should be a non-starter. If the grass is greener over the fence, then go there. Ford was so successful with his “stop the gravy train” in part because of these unsupportable city union wage increases while the private sector pays and pays as their income dwindles.

David Moffat, Toronto

Re: Why rush to elimination? Editorial Dec. 14

I am one of the few environmentalists who applaud Mayor Ford’s thoughtful decision to scrap the $60 vehicle registration tax.

This tax is dishonest — and would undermine our mayor’s campaign pledge of respect for the taxpayer and an end to the gravy train. The tax deludes motorists, especially those who drive a lot, into thinking that a tax that raises a mere $64 million annually covers the existing shortfall between what they pay and what costs they impose on the community.

The mayor’s plan to liberate our roads for cars will require yet more taxpayer dollars. First, he wants to move streetcars out of the way of cars by getting more transit users into subways. The $64 million vehicle tax would barely build 250 metres of new subway.

Second, cyclists who are apparently congesting roadways would also have to be removed. One strategy consistent with Mr. Ford’s logic is to get traffic-clogging cyclists — including 20,000 Torontonians who usually bike to work — into cars. A bike-scrappage incentive similar to car-scrappage programs in the U.S. and Europe, with incentives up to $3,300 per vehicle, holds obvious promise.

Taxing motorists fairly means getting them to pay both the direct (road building, maintenance, licensing) and indirect (police, emergency, health care, air pollution, climate change, etc.) costs of our road system — along with new costs associated with the mayor’s street liberation strategy. Road tolls and carbon taxes (that can be implemented with provincial help) are the kind of fees that are consistent with Mr. Ford’s philosophy of straight-talk, transparency, and fiscal responsibility.

Albert Koehl, Toronto

Re: Reconsider decision to kill transit plan, Letter Dec. 12

I agree with the reader who says there is no plan or money in place to build subways. Rob Ford knows that is not going to happen in his time as mayor. The idea of building subways is a cover for, as he puts it, ending the war on cars. The Transit City Plan cost $6 billion while Ford’s subways plan would cost $36 billion for the same network (120 kilometres).

He reminds me of our environment minister John Baird who has been covering the government’s real agenda on environment by saying that an effective climate change deal should include commitments from the U.S., China, India, and Brazil, while knowing that is not going to happen easily and soon. As Ford is protecting cars by weakening the public transportation, John Baird is shielding the oil industry by killing any initiative related to the climate change accountability.

Ali Orang, Richmond Hill

Re: Mississauga ready to take Toronto’s light rail money, Dec. 7

I was shocked to hear the TTC say that surface LRT costs $100 million per kilometer. This is extremely expensive.

Houston’s Metro Solutions tramway project, due for completion in 2012, is budgeted at $54.2 million/km (U.S.). Here are some other recent LRT project construction costs in millions of U.S. dollars, unadjusted for inflation:

Charlotte Lynx: $30; Denver Southeast line: $28.6; Minneapolis Hiawatha line: $36.1; Phoenix Metro: $43.5; Portland Yellow line (airport): $37.5; Salt Lake TRAX: $36.5.

Calgary’s new west tram line, also due to open in 2012, is indeed projected to cost around $100 million/km. But the Calgary line includes some pricey stuff like two underground segments, a parkade and an interchange.

Louis Guilbault, Victoria, B.C.

Ford said: “Our subway plan is to go underground. That’s what I campaigned on, that’s what the people want. Excuse me. I don’t think most people in downtown Toronto voted for Rob Ford or like his plan.

I love streetcars, because they’re fun and when you ride on them you can look outside and get to know the streets better and how your neighborhood is connected to other ones. On the subway, you just ride in dark tunnels, not seeing anything, kind of like a mole.

The people who voted for Rob Ford must not live downtown, so they drive their cars here and they don’t like waiting behind streetcars. But sometimes I see big SUVs with just one person inside, making lots of pollution, while a streetcar, which runs on electricity, holds like 100 people.

I am 10 years old and, even if I can’t vote, I want Rob Ford to know that I don’t want to live in Mole City where grown ups drive around in SUVs hurting the environment, while kids like me have to go places underground.

Halina Katz, Toronto