Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Vaughan Metropolitan station gets green light

TORONTO - Next stop, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

TTC commissioners voted Wednesday to reject staff advice and appease the City of Vaughan by naming the new Hwy. 7 and Jane St. station on the Toronto-York Spadina extension Vaughan Metropolitan Centre rather than simply, Vaughan Centre.

Councillor Norm Kelly opposed giving Vaughan the station name it wanted.

“We have before us a city that has for many years poached our businesses asking now for our understanding and cooperation,” Kelly said. “And secondly, Vaughan and some other municipalities of the 905 suffer from the same conceit that led the former municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto to believe that they were cities, they weren’t. And Vaughan is not. The world-class city is the GTA and the metropolitan centre of the GTA is Toronto.”

TTC chair Karen Stintz successfully urged commissioners to let Vaughan have the requested station name.

“The municipality and region has contributed quite a bit of money to the construction of the subway and in fact we wouldn’t be able to do it without their support,” she said.

“Part of being a good partner is sometimes understanding when we can compromise somewhat and bend a little to the needs of our funding partner.”

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua called the name an important step towards cooperation with the city and stressed the station’s name is important.

“We want that area to be known as the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, it is part of our outlook on the promotion of the city,” he said.

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