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April 6, 2004
EXPRESSWAY SUPPORTERS OPT FOR FREE LUNCH
Dave Braden got it right, again: "It's that old free lunch thing - let's build the road, and let's get somebody else to pay for it, whether it's the province or the farmers or the suburbanites. But introduce the concept in the Hamilton culture that says the people who use it really should pay for it, and you get oh no no, somebody else should do that."
That was Braden's response after pro-expressway councillors voted down a City staff recommendation to ask the province for permission to consider tolls on the Linc and valley expressways. Councillors Tom Jackson, Phil Bruckler, Murray Ferguson, Sam Merulla and Chad Collins were at their indignant best this morning on how terrible it would be to ask the users of the expressways to actually pay the costs of maintaining them.
Jackson delivered an impassioned oration for free roads, Collins whined that charging tolls would "not be fair to those who support the project" and Sam Merulla said the proposal should not have even been brought before council by staff. Apparently they think it's quite fair to force the opponents of the road to pay for it, along with the 20% of Hamilton households who don't even own a car.
But note that Larry DiIanni thinks getting permission to toll is a good idea, so don't be surprised if the tolling option rises again once the road costs push the City a little closer to bankruptcy. Right now is just bad timing, as Collins suggests, because it will blow away the 'support' for the project.
In their presentation today, staff bluntly warned that it will cost "$10-12 million a year in perpetuity" to operate and maintain the two expressways, and that's likely an underestimate. It's also in addition to the $435 million construction cost and the debt charges arising from the City's heavy borrowing for the projects.
Staff have been issuing such dire warnings for some time. Two weeks ago they told councillors that funding to maintain existing roads and other basic infrastructure will be cut in half next year because of the expressway costs. They warned that the 2004 budget "essentially has delayed by one year the capital affordability problems" that the council must come to grips with.
The tolling option is obviously another staff attempt to head off the financial disaster caused by the $220 million expressway. Braden summed it up nicely: "In spite of what our staff have been telling us - to get serious about money - we keep spending it."
Instead, the pro-expressway gang decided today that the province should be asked to pay an even bigger subsidy for the expressway. That's the flavour of the day - the province should pay more for social services, the province should share the gas tax, the province should build the mid-peninsula highway, and now the province should pay more for Red Hill, despite the simple fact that Hamilton is the only city in Ontario getting a subsidy for a municipal road project. And the subsidy isn't small. To date, the province has paid $132 million, and they are on the hook for another $120 million. That means they will eventually cover nearly 60% of the construction cost of the road.
Out of one side of his mouth, Tom Jackson says we should only toll "outsiders". Out of the other side, he demands that "outsiders" (i.e. the provincial taxpayer) should pay for Hamilton's road. This is the type of two-faced deceipt that has propped up this project for 50 years. He has exactly the same position on social services - the province should pay, and Hamilton should put up a wall to keep poor people from migrating to our city.
You have one more opportunity to tell these characters what you think of them. The toll debate will be revisited at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, April 14 . That's also the night of the "Take Back Our City" rally at City Hall (starting at 5 pm - see details). At that council meeting or one soon after, a final decision will be made about spending $33 million this year on the expressway. We all have to put up with the consequences and councillors should be reminded that we're not going to forget their crimes against this city.
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