LIGHT RAPID TRANSIT IN WATERLOO REGION

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this Opinion piece by Luisa D'Amato titled "LRT car turns heads, but questions remain". This is in reference to a slightly smaller than the real deal train brought to Kitchener for display purposes outside Regional headquarters on Frederick St.. Luisa points out a few positives with LRT such as the seating capacity being triple that of current buses. She also agrees that our current reliance on the automobile and living in the suburbs is not sustainable forever. The current transit model is as follows "...so most of the people who ride buses do so because they don't have cars. Overwhelmingly they're students and people on low incomes.". In order to make this proposed LRT work Luisa suggests that middle-class and high income people will have to live in the downtowns and preferably without cars. If they aren't willing to switch then this is an expensive boondoggle.

Why are our regional politicians overwhelmingly so adamant that this $800 million dollar plus idea is a good one? Yes there will be money from both the feds and the province. It's still about $253 million of local money. Maybe our regional politicians are sold on the idea that they are going down in history as visionaries. The expression is a legacy project. No matter how self serving they may have been along the way this one project will seal their reputations forever. Politicians aren't there to serve the public generally speaking. They are there to serve themselves and their friends. They however want their cake and to eat it. They want it both ways. Help themselves, friends, and those with similar philosophies AND be remembered forever as a father or mother of the LRT. It's a no-brainer folks.