Eglinton Crosstown stations should celebrate hard-hit Little Jamaica: councillor

After 15 years of construction in Toronto's Little Jamaica, residents say the community’s identity has been lost after small businesses were forced to close.

A Toronto councillor is calling for the newly opened Eglinton Crosstown to celebrate one of the communities that was most severely impacted by its drawn-out construction.

Coun. Josh Matlow said Wednesday he wants to see the new transit line celebrate Little Jamaica, a cultural and business strip in his ward running along Eglinton Avenue West roughly from Allen Road to Keele Street.

“Little Jamaica should be respected, reflected and celebrated in new Eglinton Crosstown LRT stations such as Cedarvale, Oakwood and Fairbank,” Matlow said in a post on X.

The Toronto-St. Paul’s rep said he’s working on a motion to bring to the next TTC board meeting that would move the idea along.

• We rode the whole length of the Eglinton Crosstown on opening day. Here’s how long it took

“I want any of us who arrive at stations within Little Jamaica, to know where we’ve arrived at, and I’d also like to see a celebration of the businesses,” Matlow told CP24.com in a phone interview.

He said that might look like a walk of fame highlighting many of the great musicians associated with the area, or other reflections of Black and Afro-Caribbean cultures.

The motion, Matlow said, would call on the TTC to reach out to Metrolinx to begin the process of working with the community to determine what shape the celebration could take.

Metrolinx, which owns the stations, said in an email that an independent panel selected four “pre-qualified artists” to provide artwork for six stations on the line under the previous Integrated Art Program. Those stations include Mount Dennis, Caledonia, Cedarvale, Eglinton, Don Valley and Kennedy.

“At Cedarvale, you’ll find ‘Super Signals’ by Douglas Coupland is made up of large aluminium panels in colour and black and white. These designs are exaggerated versions of graphics some transit systems use for wayfinding,” Metrolinx said.

The agency did not directly comment on Matlow’s proposal about promoting the Little Jamaica community through the stations.

Throngs of businesses have closed

The long-awaited Eglinton Crosstown finally opened on Sunday after nearly six years of delays and overruns.

When construction on the project started, Metrolinx said it had taken lessons from the TTC’s disastrous right-of-way construction for the St. Clair streetcar, which necessitated the road being torn up multiple times because work was not properly coordinated.

The provincial transit agency also promised that with provincial zoning authority and other powers, work would be faster and smoother along Eglinton Ave.

But despite government promises to the contrary, work on the 19-kilometre light rail line decimated many businesses along the strip as construction dragged on, with years of construction creating noise, dirt and detours that made it almost impossible for some businesses to operate.

Matlow continues to call for a public inquiry into the project, which was led by a provincially selected consortium of construction companies.

“While we’re all happy and we’re moving on and the line’s open, there really were literally hundreds of businesses that went down,” Matlow said. “I just remember conversations with people who were crying in front of me because they lost everything, and we shouldn’t forget that.

“We need a genuine inquiry to understand how those mistakes were made, so that we never have a project that was six years delayed again.”

Premier Doug Ford has ruled out an inquiry, saying it would be “a waste of time” and that the province should move forward.

Business leaders in the area say the neighbourhood is in a state of emergency an continue to push for compensation.

They have expressed concern that rents along the strip will skyrocket now for those businesses that endured all the difficulties and are trying to recover.

• IN PHOTOS: Here’s what opening day looked like on the Eglinton Crosstown

The new transit line itself got mostly good reviews when it opened for service Sunday, with many in the community expressing enthusiasm about the new transit option and relief that it had finally opened.