Community groups opposed to the Scarborough Subway are hosting a discussion to see “two transit options for Scarborough compared side-by-side.”
Scarborough Transit Action and Scarborough Residents Unite say they want to discuss the proposed $3.35 billion subway extension and an alternative – a light-rail-transit network for Scarborough – on Monday, March 27.
The 6:30 p.m. event at the Scarborough Village Community Centre on Kingston Road will be on the night before Toronto City Council meets to consider the latest changes to the six-kilometre subway project from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre.
STA has asked for a representative from ConnectScarborough or the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization, groups which support the extension, to explain and defend it, Ev Delen, a spokesperson, said Sunday.
Delen said the pro-subway groups hadn’t responded yet.
STA and SRU support a seven-stop light-rail line through the Town Centre instead of a subway, maintaining the LRT council abandoned in 2013 can be built along with a 17-stop Eglinton East LRT line proposed from Kennedy to University of Toronto Scarborough.
Mayor John Tory – who this month warned opponents of the subway are preparing to wage a “war” against it at council – has said the Eglinton East LRT will be built, but increases in the subway extension’s cost have almost entirely erased funding available for the LRT line.
“We are confident that once Scarborough residents are given the facts they will support and push for a LRT plan that connects Scarborough neighborhoods and services,” SRU President Joy Robertson said in a release.
The pro-LRT groups say residents who want their questions answered by panelists at the meeting can send them to staquestions@gmail.com