The owners of several homes that would have had to been bulldozed to make way for additional exits at two east-end subway stations were not given proper notice of the proposal, a new report from the city’s ombudsman alleges.
The report was one of two documents released by Fiona Crean Wednesday with the other focusing on a list of preferred candidates given to members of the civic appointments committee by the mayor’s office.
The 92-page TTC report took a look at the process the TTC followed in selecting the location for additional exits at Donlands and Greenwood stations in December 2009.
Titled “Tunnel Vision: An Investigation into the Toronto Transit Commission Second Exits Project at Donlands and Greenwood Stations”, the report alleges that the TTC failed to inform affected residents of their plans for six months and when they finally did, it neglected to mention that some area homes would have to be purchased and bulldozed to allow for construction.
In one instance, the report says an area homeowner and his terminally ill spouse were only notified one hour prior to a TTC meeting that was planned to discuss the proposal, providing insufficient time to prepare a deputation.
"The TTC did such a poor job of communicating that it left many residents with the feeling that the TTC had already made up its mind and was not serious about public consultation,” Crean said in a press release.
The report makes a total of seven recommendations, all of which have been accepted by the TTC.
The recommendations include a call for the TTC to establish a public consultation policy by the end of the year and to train staff to better handle public consultation.
Other recommendations centre on bolstering the process in which the TTC notifies residents and area councillors of proposed projects.
In a letter addressed to Crean that was included in the report, TTC CEO Andy Byford thanked the ombudsman for her recommendations.
“As a general comment, we agree with and support the recommendations in your report. The TTC recognizes that the Donlands and Greenwood Stations Second Exit projects were not handled properly from the perspective of community relations, public consultation, communications with affected property owners and communications regarding the rationale and technical issues,” he said. “Although this pre-dated my appointment I take full responsibility for this and I am committed to ensuring that this does not happen again.”
Construction has still not begun on the second exits at Donlands and Greenwood stations, which the TTC argues are needed to improve fire safety.
According to a notice on the TTCs website, a meeting will be held in the “future” to provide an opportunity for community feedback on the project.
Public appointments
Crean has been a divisive figure at city hall since releasing a report that accused the mayor’s office of interfering with the public appointments process last month.
On Wednesday the ombudsman released a follow–up document to that report alongside the TTC report, which suggested the mayor’s office did provide members of the civic appointments committee with a preferred list of candidates.
In her original report, Crean had said that some people remembered the list while others did not, resulting in criticism from several councillors who demanded to see proof.
“A review of this matter reveals that when the document was delivered to the City Manager’s Office on July 21, 2011 the administrative assistant scanned the one-page list and e-mailed it to the manager with the subject heading of ‘List from Mayor's Office.pdf’,” Crean’s follow-up report states. “The document is one page and consists of names attached to a specific agency with the application number associated to each applicant.”
Crean’s report says that the list identified preferred candidates to fill open positions on the city’s library board, the Toronto Port Authority, the Toronto Police Services Board, the Toronto Parking Authority and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre board.
She said the discovery of the document after the release of her report is “unfortunate” but does nothing to change her recommendations.
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