Remember back On October 27, 2015 when Brampton City Councillors voted against running the Hurontario-Main Light Rail Transit (LRT) up Main Street? Instead, council resolved to stop the LRT at the Shoppers World Gateway terminal. It was in effect, a rejection of the Province’s pledge of a $1.6 billion project, almost $200 million being left on the table which was slated to pay for the portion north of Steeles Avenue.
Since this controversial decision, a series of public meetings resulted in instructions for city Staff to go back and find alternative routes. One such proposed route would take the LRT through Brampton’s Etobicoke Creek Valley, from Nanwood Drive to the Peel Memorial Hospital lands. Despite earlier advice from Staff that such a route would never pass regulatory hurdles, some Councillors insisted, and this raised the attention of residents who lived along the proposed valley route.
In a clear example of grassroots uprising, these Brampton residents formed a group called “Stop The Creek Route”, and began a campaign to save the creek from any proposed development. Working together with One Brampton, the residents persuaded the Toronto Region and Conservation Authority (TRCA) to eliminate every option of sending the LRT (tunnel, surface, raised) up the creek.
Eloa Doner and Mike Faye joined us on Brampton Focus to share more about their “Stop The Creek Route” initiative.
