St. Clair streetcar fight turns political

The citizens' group fighting a streetcar right-of-way on St. Clair Avenue West said Thursday that it is giving up a legal fight to block the controversial construction project.

But while members of Save Our St. Clair admit there is little they can now do to stop phase one of the construction from going ahead, they are hoping to make it a campaign issue in this fall's municipal election.

In 2003, David Miller was elected mayor on a platform that prominently featured a promise to cancel construction of a bridge to the island airport.

Save Our St. Clair is hoping their issue will take on the same prominence in the 2006 campaign.

"We learned an important lesson three years ago, when the city approved the link to the island airport, and then David Miller made that an important part of his election [campaign, for mayor]," said Heather Smith, head of the St. Clair group, to CBC Online News.

"He was elected pretty much on that issue, and I think it made the difference in that election. The first thing he did as mayor was overturn that decision."

The group is hoping their efforts will lead to the same outcome for the transitway, at least in part, even if they can't stop the first phase, which will run from Yonge Street to the west side of Vaughan Road.

"They will probably commence work on phase one as soon as they can," Smith said. "That's what they started last September before the court stopped them."

Building phase one, though, will help proponents of the transitway see the folly of their ways, Smith said.

"The city will see that all of the impacts we predicted will happen: significant sidewalk cuts, an increase in congestion, a lack of accessibility and all the other related impacts, plus spiraling costs," Smith said.

"There is no way they can complete phase one within the budget."

Joe Mihevc, councillor for St. Paul's West and a strong supporter of the streetcar plan, told CBC News Online he is pleased to have stood his ground on the controversial issue. He believes people who were against the right-of-way will like it once it's built.

"My feeling is, what they will say is, 'Holy smokes, how could I ever have opposed this,' " Mihevc said.

The battle began in 2001 when the Toronto Transit Commission said it was considering building slightly raised streetcar track beds on sections of Yonge and King streets, as well as along St. Clair Avenue West.

Council ultimately approved the plan for St. Clair Avenue in September of 2004, and construction began last fall.

In response, local residents and business owners formed Save Our St. Clair. They argued that the project would create gridlock and eat up parking spaces vital to the neighbourhood's survival. They took the city to court and won a decision that stopped construction in its tracks.

That decision was later overturned. An appeal was denied.