Vaughan on stealth mission in fight against island airport

[CD]

Vaughan on stealth mission in fight against island airport

GLOBE AND MAIL
JOHN BARBER
02/15/2007

The last time I discussed the island airport with Adam Vaughan, his vehemence almost shocked me. We were standing together on the crumbling dock wall at the foot of Bathurst Street, watching the new airport ferry spin helplessly down the Western Gap on its maiden voyage. The would-be politician was howling vicious insults at the rattled skipper and the red-faced dignitaries who scowled down upon us, stung by the heckling and well aware of its origin. If the scene wasn't such a comedy, I would have retreated to a neutral corner. There was nothing much neutral about Mr. Vaughan as a journalist, and he abandoned all pretence of it when he ran for council. On the hustings, he attacked the Miller administration for accommodating airport expansion, despite its professed opposition to the project, and advocated all-out municipal harassment of the facility.

But the howls subsided once he won a seat in the giant clam, the new councillor adopting the guise of a sober statesman. It has proven so effective that hardly anybody noticed his opening shot this week in the promised guerrilla campaign against the airport.

Less obvious but far more effective than shouting from the sidelines, Mr. Vaughan's gambit was a seemingly innocuous request for staff to report on the feasibility of a pedestrian-friendly redesign of Bathurst Street south of Queens Quay West. Some of his fellow members on the Toronto and East York community council knew what he was up to, others didn't. But all voted in favour.

That's more than enough votes to complete the job of making life miserable for the airport, its tenants and customers by narrowing the street and building a new sidewalk to replace queuing lanes for the ferry. Mr. Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and his fellow conspirators kept quiet about their plans until council enacted a long-awaited scheme to delegate power over local roads to community councils, which it did last week. Under the new rules, 10 downtowners now enjoy final say over the island airport -- and they plan to use it.

"One of the delegated rights to community councils is to allow them to protect their neighbourhoods," Mr. Vaughan said. "This is the first time since the bridge was stopped that this city has moved in a public way to defend that neighbourhood -- and I'm very proud to have done it."

The Toronto Port Authority, tipped off by city staff, has already begun to howl about the new plans, according to Mr. Vaughan. But in his view, the needs of local residents, the public school and community centre are just as important as those of the port authoritarians. "How they choose to use the land they leased from the city is their business," he said. "How the city configures its road is our business. They're only tenant down there."

Lest anybody interpret this as petty harassment of a legitimate business, fellow rookie Councillor Gord Perks is eager to explain its sound ideological underpinnings. Road narrowing, he says, is now a proven technique for reducing car use. Rather than creating more congestion, it causes "traffic evaporation," says Mr. Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park).

And if the airport evaporates along with the traffic that feeds it, so much the better. Air travel causes global warming and much of it is unnecessary, according to Mr. Perks -- especially short hauls of the type that originate at the island airport.

"I don't know why anybody should ever fly to Ottawa," he said.

Choking off Bathurst Street is only one of the schemes Mr. Vaughan has planned in defence of his neighbourhood, and a large majority of his community council colleagues are willing to follow along. Even Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), a pro-airport stalwart, voted in favour of the initial report this week.

Meanwhile, local skies remain mercifully free of the ominous Luftwaffe that once darkened the campaign posters of mayoral candidate David Miller. So far, Porter Airlines has dramatically failed in its ambition to be a nuisance -- raising the question of whether or not it will survive long enough to be properly harassed.

[V1 Rotate]

One of the reasons I'm reconsidering my stance on involuntary sterilization.

[2R]

Perhaps they should close all the roads to T.ZERO and watch what happens. How much did they get the last time twenty five millions.I would bet they stand to double that this time.But hey Toronto can afford it.That is about the price of a couple of nice house's on the new quite waterfront nes pas

Perhaps those in Favour of Partial birth terminations will now think of extending that benefit to post birth ,post education ,deserving politician termination

[Snowgoose]

Are these guy on AC's or Jazz's payroll?

Global warming? One plane versus 30 SUV's barrelling down the 401 to Ottawa after sitting in traffic downtown for 1.5 hours. Make the trip 6 hours versus 40 mins.

Guess you don't need a psych eval to be a city councellor.

Maybe if these jokers would find a better link to Pearson and if Peason's security wasn't Pentagon level, the need for the Porter's of the world wouldn't exist. They never seem to attack the root problem, they just find some way to be a pain in the ass.

Mike D is a businessman. He did the research, saw enough interest, got investors and voila TO now has a new employer that brings in taxpayers and tax revenue for the city while using existing infastructure.

Global warming? I would like to compare the car pollution from the Trinity Spadina ward alone versus 4 brand new quiet and efficient Dash 8's.

Perhaps they should close all the roads to T.ZERO and watch what happens.

You don't seem to be far off. I guess the lakefront condo owners guess that if you close all the roads and make a big green grassy park out of them all their problems would dissappear.

I would love to live on the lake with an airport in front of me. It's an airshow every day of the year.

[linecrew]

Lest anybody interpret this as petty harassment of a legitimate business, fellow rookie Councillor Gord Perks is eager to explain its sound ideological underpinnings. Road narrowing, he says, is now a proven technique for reducing car use. Rather than creating more congestion, it causes "traffic evaporation," says Mr. Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park).

This mentality is flawed in a city of that size. It's as stupid as saying if you stop giving starving countries food it will reduce their need for it.

[Crazed Windscreen]

When I worked at HA a peer of mine had the peasure of flying David Suzuki to Vancouver. He rode up front with my friend and said that flying that route makes a smaller enviromental footprint than driving and/or taking a Ferry from Vancouver Island to the main land.

These people on Toronto island are blowing smoke where ther's no fire. If there so concerned about greenhouse gases the should forfiet garbage trucks on the island. And make them all take there house off the grid.

[EI-EIO]

Let's send Perks to Ottawa and back a few times on VIA - 4 hours FFS. Let's ask his NDP friends when they come looking for votes in a few months how they get to (or plan to get to) Ottawa when they get their cushy HoC numbers.

Don't get me wrong - I like the train. I get it to Kingston and London for work but if I have to go to Ottawa it used to be AC and now it's Porter.