Ottawa Rapid Transit Network developments

[lrt's friend]

Surprise vote kills transit plan
By SUSAN SHERRING


After almost 14 hours discussing and debating the future of the city's transit system yesterday, River Coun. Maria McRae effectively killed the plan at committee by voting against the phase-in program for the city's transit and road projects.

The vote lost on a tie, leaving Mayor Larry O'Brien and his staffers wondering what hit them.

Visibly upset while talking with both McRae and his office staff, O'Brien remained calm talking to reporters.

"Yes, I feel pretty blindsided by this," O'Brien said, refusing to speculate on what might have lead McRae to vote against the plan.

"It was quite a surprise. As the person who is ultimately responsible for this project, as the chair of the transportation committee, I had no idea she was going to do that," he continued.




Following the surprise vote, McRae quickly left the committee out a side door and avoided talking to reporters.

She wasn't answering her cellphone last night -- leaving most wondering what her vote meant.

McRae had been a big booster of the north-south plan under former mayor Bob Chiarelli.

While a blow to O'Brien, it doesn't mean the plan is anywhere near dead.

Instead, a motion to introduce and approve a phasing-in program will brought to city council next week.

Without a phasing -in plan, city staff would effectively had no mandate to proceed on one project over the next.

Earlier in the evening, a proposal by Capital Coun. Clive Doucet and Kitchissippi Coun. Christine Leadman which called for more emphasis on light rail with little investment in buses failed to garner enough support at the committee.

Calls last night to defer staff's recommendations and to explore their idea in more depth was met with resistance from both staff and politicians, who said further study would be detrimental to proceeding with their proposals.

Too bad.

The likes of deputy city manager Nancy Schepers and city manager Kent Kirkpatrick might understand the intricacies of both the staff report and the Doucet/Leadman plan, but impossible to believe the majority of council or the general public get the nuances.

TRIED IN VAIN

Leadman tried in vain to get her colleagues onside -- and clearly felt the process was being rushed.

"This is a true light rail plan. If you want to show we are a city with vision, we need to take the leap and do it right from the beginning. This is our second chance, and we're going to blow it again.

"Let's invest smartly, or we really missed the boat ."

But Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess didn't appear to be in the mood to learn anything new, suggesting the Leadman-Doucet plan was putting forth some misleading information.

"You say this is exactly the plan that staff have brought forward. That is not the case and it's that kind of misinformation that's generated so many e-mails from the public," he said.

From personal experience, Rainer Bloess' reaction is not surprising. He has been very supportive of the current process and is not prepared to listen to other views, whether from councillors or the public.