Friday 3 December 2010

More news about the clown prince of Toronto

Newsstand: December 3, 2010 - Torontoist
Excerpts:
Rob Ford plans to set an appropriately clownish tone for his mayoralty by having Don Cherry introduce him at his first city council meeting on December 7.
...
Also on the Fordwatch, our miserly mayor is moving on his campaign promises,
asking his executive committee to approve proposals that would reduce
councillor office budgets by 40%, cut the mayoral office budget by 20%,
and offer guidance for a 2011 operating budget no greater than this
year's $9.2 billion without major service cuts. He'll also look to
repeal the city's $60-a-year vehicle registration fee and have the TTC
declared an essential service, limiting TTC workers' right to strike.
Of course asking for stuff is the usually the easy part, while doing stuff can be tougher. Any recommendations out of the executive committee would have to be approved by city council vote.


If he drastically slashes office budgets, how does he expect the level of service to citizens to also improve? The level of service will drop drastically too.

By making the TTC an essential service, the workers will have to end up being paid much higher (that's how it works when you make something an essential service). This will cost the city, and the riders (fare increases) much more. How is this good fiscal management Rob?

...
It remains to be seen whether all stakeholders will buy into the mayor's
vision of a city where residents and awestruck Pan-Am Games athletes
can travel from Sheppard station to Scarborough Town Centre underground,
as long as they drive cars everywhere else.


A good point and this sums up Fords plan exactly. With Transit City, large areas of the city will be serviced by new rapid transit. With Ford's plan, all that is cancelled and only a tiny piece of Scarborough will be serviced by rapid transit.

No comments: