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FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2012
SOUTH EDITION
SCARBOROUGH’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1962
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Baseball champs: Wexford-Agincourt bantams take city title 6 Local youngsters KickStart soccer with Toronto FC 16
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TONIGHT’S JACKPOT
Sheppard LRT delay raising subway hopes MIKE ADLER madler@insidetoronto.com The province approved it, the mayor shelved it, councillors and citizens groups debated it for months this year and finally saw the Sheppard East light-rail transit (LRT) project brought back to life. But then, in June, Ontario’s government quietly delayed construction of the 12-kilometre line from Don Mills station in North York to Scarborough’s Morningside Avenue by another three years. That means residents and TTC riders who saw work on the line begin in 2009 – before Rob Ford won the mayoralty and shut it down – won’t see the project resume until 2017 or finish until 2021. OTHER PRIORITIES Three other LRT lines Toronto Council greenlighted this spring – the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown, Finch West, and a replacement and extension of the Scarborough Rapid Transit line - are now scheduled for completion before Sheppard East, in 2020. “It came out of the blue,” said Ernie McCullough, executive director of the Sheppard East Village BIA, whose members have known since the group’s 2007 formation between Midland Avenue and Markham Road they stand to lose sales during construction while gaining streetscape
improvements. The Business Improvement Area had worked with the TTC and Metrolinx, the province’s transit agency, to smooth the construction period. McCullough, part of a panel that helped council choose the LRT over a Sheppard Subway extension to Scarborough Town Centre, said members in April accepted news the project could not be restarted until 2014.
Staff photos/ANDREW PALAMARCHUK
Emergency workers treat a Toronto police officer and a 57-year-old woman, who both suffered serious injuries but not life threatening injuries, after a head-on collision on Midland Avenue yesterday afternoon involving a Toronto police cruiser.
NO EXPLANATION “Don’t start until you’re truly ready to go,” McCullough remembered members saying, but added there has been no explanation of the latest delay from Metrolinx or local MPPs. In response to questions this week, Metrolinx and David Salter, spokesperson for Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli, said the province, with many infrastructure projects underway, changed the schedule to “avoid inflationary pressures on project costs” and “to avoid overburdening local construction capacity – which would drive up costs.” “We’re committed to moving this project forward. It’s responsible to look at all delivery options to achieve the best value for taxpayer money,” Salter added in a statement yesterday. >>>POLITICS, page 5
Two drivers injured in head-on crash involving police cruiser ANDREW PALAMARCHUK apalamarchuk@insidetoronto.com A woman and a police officer were seriously hurt in a head-on crash in Scarborough yesterday. The collision happened on Midland Avenue near Dorcot
The Scarborough Mirror - A Metroland Community Newspaper
Avenue, north of Lawrence Avenue, at 12:39 p.m. The province’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, is investigating. The SIU said an officer responding to a call was southbound on Midland when his cruiser collided with a northbound car driven
@SCMirror
2012 NISSAN SENTRA 2.0 CVT Automatic
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by a 57-year-old woman. Witness Jeffrey Regular, however, who works in the area, said three police cruisers with lights and sirens activated were northbound. “They merged into southbound traffic I guess to get around some >>>PROVINCE’S, page 5
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