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Welcome to SaveOurStclair.ca
Save Our St. Clair, SOS, is a group of local residents and business operators who want to protect and enhance the viability of the St. Clair Avenue West neighbourhood. We are TTC users, and we support high quality public transit. We believe in progressive change that seeks to balance all of the interests who make up our community, and improve the community we share.
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THE FIGHT CONTINUES - We Need Your Help
We appreciate the support of everyone who wants to help save our St.Clair! The legal costs of this fight have been significant, and we have depended on donations from residents and business people who care about this neighbourhood. And because the fight continues, we must continue to ask for contributions. SOS and the people of St.Clair will continue in our efforts to save St.Clair.
Cheques can be made out to 'SOS - Save Our St.Clair Inc', and mailed to
107 Oakwood Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6H 2W1.
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We oppose the option of an exclusive, dedicated streetcar right-of-way. We urge that the reserved right-of-way option be removed from consideration to improve transit service along St. Clair Avenue West. We seek creative cost-effective alternatives to improve TTC service that address intermittent problems where and when they occur, and that will help ensure a sustainable, attractive and vibrant neighbourhood now and into the future.
We Can Win! 
The Provincial Minister of the Environment approved exclusive transit lanes on St.Clair Avenue West on June 3, 2005, Click here to view Minister's decision .However, the fight to save St.Clair is not over. SOS has retained a lawyer to take our fight to court.
Why continue this fight? Nothing has changed. At the beginning of the environmental assessment study, City politicians and staff told us “it is a done deal”, that the project would go ahead. We have known all along that we are “up against City Hall”, and that if we do nothing, our neighbourhood will be ruined. We knew that the Minister would likely make a political decision to endorse the City's plan. But, it is still true that the City has not met the requirements of the law. The environmental assessment did not address our concerns, did not meet the requirements of the Act, and was intended only to justify a decision taken by Council in 2002, to build a ROW on St.Clair. Let’s do everything in our power to stand up for our neighbourhood now while we have a chance. We have nothing to lose and the potential to save our neighbourhood.
There is a Reasonable Alternative.
We should improve public transit by adding more streetcars. Brown + Storey Architects developed an alternative that allows for just that. The number of streetcars on St. Clair has dropped by one third in the last ten years. During the evening rush hour in 1990, for example, 27 streetcars were scheduled every hour, but today, for the same period the number is down to 19. Fewer people ride the St. Clair streetcar today than 15 years ago despite population growth because there are fewer streetcars. We don’t need a barrier on St. Clair to improve transit service - we need more streetcars. We could also install traffic management measures at the specific intersections that experience rush hour problems. This alternative maintains the working balance of our neighbourhood.
St.Clair Will Set the Precedent for the City
The City Has said that St.Clair is the first opportunity to implement the vision of Toronto's new Official Plan . We are in favour of the Official Plan, and have put forward our proposal for reducing car dependency and addressing intermittent traffic congestion. Our proposal also preserves the integrity and vibrancy of our retail strip and the neighbourhood as a whole. So, if the City insists on installing the ROW despite the harm it will cause to us instead of our reasonable alternative, then beware other neighbourhoods!! You too are at risk! St.Clair will become the precedent for all that is bad about City planning if they sacrifice our neighbourhood to a ROW.
All website contents are approved by the Save Our St.Clair Board. saveourstclair@sympatico.ca 416.658.4632
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