Mayor John Tory touts east end GO station as 'major hub' for jobs

One of the four new GO Transit stations officially announced Wednesday for Toronto'seast end will bea hub fortransitand employmentinthe area, MayorJohn Tory said.

Tory said the East Harbour station, to be located at the Don Yard andUnileverareabetween Cherry Street and Eastern Avenue, near the Don Valley Parkway and Lake Shore Boulevard,will be important because it will connect to the proposed Downtown Relief Line, and provide transit for employees who will work at new businesses expectedtolocateat the site in the future.

"Here at this site, East HarbourUnilever, aSmartTrackstation will help transform this site into a major hub of jobs and employment where people can get to work here without stepping off a streetcar or out of a subway station," Tory said.

When Tory was running for the mayor's chairIn 2014, hepromised topartner with private businesses to carry out a massive mixed-use redevelopment at the former Unilever site.

• 4 new GO stations and all 6SmartTrackstops announced

Tory andOntario Transportation Minister Steven DelDucaofficiallyannouncedthe four new GO Transitstations forthe east end on Wednesday, while standing on the proposedsite of the East Harbour station.The new stations were revealed in a report made public on Tuesday.

The other three GO Transitstations in the east endwould be located at:

• GerrardStreet EastnearCarlawAvenue.
• Lawrence AvenueEast between Kennedy Road and Midland Avenue.
• Finch Avenue between Kennedy and Midland.

Toronto's SmartTrack,the proposed rail transit planthat will run on GO train tracks, will share stops at the four neweast- end GO stations.

Tory said the "stars are aligned" and the city is moving ahead with transit projects because Toronto is growing.

"To the North, a SmartTrack station at Gerrard will in future years let people transfer from the relief line onto the SmartTracktrain and back again, as part of a much-needed, higher speed network expansion," the mayor said.

"At Lawrence East and Finch East, Scarborough commuters will be able to end their bus rides much sooner and much earlier. They'll get onto a faster train instead of continuing the long journey to Yonge Street, only to find overcrowded subway trains there.

"SmartTrack is about the people of Toronto taking the train in the city. It's a concept as simple as it is transformative - people in Toronto taking the train inside the city."

Tory said a levy is in place to pay for the city's share of Scarborough subway extension, tax increment financing will help to pay for the city's share of SmartTrackcosts, and he issetting up a fundthat is meant to provide financial support to transit and housing projects.

"I can only say that I've taken the first step to set up a city building fund which is expressly meant to exist to provide financial support to transit and housing projects, including the list that we've been discussing in recent days and weeks that are part of this 15-year plan," he said.

The City Building Fund, announced in December 2015, is expected tocost taxpayers an additional 0.5 per cent per year on their property tax for five years beginning in 2017.

"We don't have a choice not to do these projects, in my view. We didn't do projects because we thought we couldn't afford itor we couldn't decide on it or couldn't finish the studies. By having all these reasons we couldn't do things, we've fallen into a hole. We've got a big transportation deficit and that has affected jobs and employment," he said,.

Toronto undergoing 'transit renaissance'

Del Duca said the new four GO Transit stops are all part of the larger transit vision that the province shares with the city and signals a "transit renaissance" for Toronto.

"These stations are proof of our Liberal government's plan to provide transit relief across the GO network in many communities that have long seen GO service as only an option for commuters outside of the 416,"DelDucasaid.

"Our regional express rail plan will enable Toronto's SmartTrack vision. And these new GOtrain stationswill help us achieve what we all want: effective and efficient transit options that make choosing transit a realistic option."

Coun. PaulaFletcher said the East Harbour station will be important economically to the east end.

"It could have been somewhere else, but it's here. It will be a jobs hub, it will be a growth hub, it will be a transit hub because the relief line will also meet this station. It will be the hub that's just north of a renewed waterfront. It will be the place that sparks redevelopment all across the east side of Toronto," Fletcher said.

"Transit is crossing the river to the east side," she said.

City to useexisting rail corridors

On Tuesday, Tory and Del Duca unveiled plans for four new GO Transit stations in the west end of Toronto, with the release of a staffreport detailing the city's plans for developing Toronto's transit network.

The four GO stops in the west endwould be at Bloor Street Westand Lansdowne Avenue, SpadinaAvenue and Front Street West,Liberty Village, and at St. Clair West and KeeleStreetall along the Barrie and Kitchener GO Transit lines. All are supposedto be openwithin a 10-year time period.

"We have and have ... for decades, under-utilized rail corridors that run through the city," Tory said Wednesday morning at the 2016Toronto Region Vision Summit held downtown.

"Becausethose rail corridors are alreadythere, it represents an opportunity for us to add some stationsand we began the process of announcing some of those decisions yesterday."

Tory was at the event with DelDucaprimarily to discuss the city's transit goals.

"This is an extraordinary time for Toronto as it relates to transit," DelDucasaid at the summit.

"We have this once-in-a-generation,once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make sure that we get it right."