Hamilton council puts off critical vote to accept LRT money

It was far from unanimous, but Hamilton city councillorsvoted Wednesday to delay a vote to accept $1 billion in provincial money for light-rail transit (LRT).

Sam Merulla, Ward 4 councillor, tried to introduce a motion at Wednesday evening's city council meeting prompting his fellow politicians to "reaffirm the acceptance" of the money.

But council voted 9-6 to put off voting until staff presents another report on LRT at a general issues committee meetingon May 18.

That frustrated Merulla, who says his motion was really to ferret out who had "soft" support for LRT, an issue council has voted on several times before.

"Can Ijust say mission accomplished?" he called outafter the vote.

All councillors have voted in favour of LRT in some way, including numerous requests for full capital funding from the province,which Premier Kathleen Wynne announced last year in the form of $1 billion.

But somehave expressed public doubts over LRT, causing "a situation of inconsistency, unpredictability and chaos," Merulla said.

"Come out of the closet that you've deceived the voters," he said. "You've deceived the residents of this cityand you don't want that billion dollars."

The $1 billion is for an LRT line from McMaster University to the Queenston traffic circle, and from King Street East to the West Harbour GO station or if there's enough money, the waterfront. Metrolinx will build it with input from the city.

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the money for the project last June.

• Let's confirm once and for all that we want LRT: Merulla
• City council meeting agenda for May 11

Merulla's motion calls for city council to "reaffirm the acceptance of the $1 billion investment in infrastructure and public transit that the Province of Ontario has provided for the express purpose of completing theLRTproject."

Here's how they voted:

In favour of the deferral: Terry Whitehead (Ward 8), Donna Skelly (7), Tom Jackson (6), Chad Collins (5), Doug Conley (9), Maria Pearson (10), Brenda Johnson (11), Rob Pasuta (14), Judi Partridge (15)

Opposed: Mayor Fred Eisenberger, Sam Merulla (4), Matthew Green (3), Jason Farr (2), Aidan Johnson (1), Lloyd Ferguson (12)

Not present: Arlene VanderBeek (13)

Here are some other items on the agenda:

• Merulla will also move to ask the city to request a list of licensed medical marijuana operators in Hamilton after residents and city officers noticed a surprise operationin a former bar and strip club on Kenilworth Avenue North.
• Terry Whitehead, Ward 8 councillor, has riled what he calls the "aggressive urbanist movement" with a motion to look at controlling or shutting down the Queen Street Hill or West 5th accesses to the Mountain. He also wants the city to look athow lower-city "complete streets" efforts including LRT have impacted traffic on the Mountain.
• City council will rubber stamp Mayor Fred Eisenberger'splan to spend $50 million over 10 years to try toreduce poverty.

CBC Hamilton reporter Samantha Craggs will tweet live from the meeting, which starts at 5 p.m. at city hall council chambers. Follow her tweetsat @SamCraggsCBC or in the window below.