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Dale Duncan at City Hall: Feb 8, 2007

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Getting out the muzzle

Allan Crawford isn’t allowed to talk to me anymore. The outspoken Parks, Forestry and Recreation employee faced a disciplinary hearing Feb. 1 for blabbing to me about an idea he had for breathing life back into BikeShare, Toronto’s now-defunct, popular bike-lending program. I wrote about Crawford’s plans in Eye Weekly on Jan. 18 (“Can BikeShare be saved?”).

The problem, I’m assuming (since Crawford’s been reprimanded, he’s a little short on details), wasn’t that he was spouting bad ideas, but that he was saying the city had the capability — and cash — to follow through on good ones. When the message coming out of city hall is “we’re broke,” having a member of staff tell people they can rejig a few things to find money for certain projects can be dangerous.

Crawford isn’t the most patient of men — this is the same guy who boasts of building a small BMX park by the Wallace Emerson Community Centre in a matter of three days, and huffs incredulously when anyone asks why the community wasn’t consulted. When Crawford sees an inkling of opportunity to build a program, public space or partnership that’ll promote youth engagement or skills development, he pummels ahead with an enthusiasm that evokes either admiration or exasperation, or a little of both.

It’s easy to sympathize with the frustration he feels towards policy and protocol. Considering all the people who could use a bit of help in this city, and the urgency with which they need it, taking the time to go though all the proper bureaucratic procedures — such as maybe waiting until council approves its budget before talking to the media — can be excruciating. I suppose that’s what we have to expect when a big government deals with local matters. In a city the size of Toronto, there are many worthy programs to consider. Staff must stay on message. It’s the politicians’ job to make promises they may or may not be able to deliver.

Rookie city councillor Adam Vaughan says he wasn’t surprised to hear Crawford was disciplined for speaking out of turn. “It’s part of a disturbing sense I get that we’re not supposed to talk about stuff,” he says. Are there more appropriate channels? “There could be, [but] everything I’ve felt so far [as a councillor], I’ve felt like we’re not supposed to talk about it. I’m finding it really uncomfortable.”

As for BikeShare, cycling advocate Glenn De Baeremaeker says he and other councillors haven’t given up on finding funds for the program yet. “At the political level, we’re still looking under rocks everywhere,” he says.

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6 comments

  2. Adam Vaughan knows he can’t be fired though right? Because if our councillors are being muzzled that’s a serious problem. (Except Ford, of course)

  3. I don’t know Allan Crawford but my impression is that he’s arrogant, tactless and/or new to the job. No City of Toronto employee could think that they’d get away with something like that (the exception is if we’re talking about legit whistle-blowing on corruption/scandal, then he should absolutely be protected).

    If Crawford felt compelled to get that message out in the media then he should have asked to not be named in Dale’s story.

    The more tactful approach, however, would be to work with the folks defending BikeShare and have them become the mouth piece for his brilliant idea (assuming they buy into it).

    As far as Crawford is concerned, he would still get the credit he deserves as the staff person actioning the concept and BikeShare defenders would have all the liberty in the world to pressure councillors and senior staff into investing their political will.

    …And I’m not buying Adam Vaugan’s sob story. This is the difference between politician and media personality. The camera no longer buys him friends out of fear. His fellow councillors and the mayor’s office will hold him to account for what he says in the media. It’s part of doing politics.

    Though Vaughan was a very skilled reporter and is one of the best at crafting sound bites on the fly, figuring out how to strategically use the media for political gain (when to talk, what to say, how to say it) is part of his learning curve as a politician.

  5. Sob story might have been a bit of hyperbole but “I’m finding it really uncomfortable” sounds like unnecessary whining.

    Reading between the lines, it’s not hard to see that those making him uncomfortable are the more senior rank of politicians.

    My response is also based on the way that Vaughan approached his election campaign media strategy (and I said this to him at the time).

    He made very few friends at City Hall with the way that he tried to baste Miller & Co., especially early in the campaign. Getting into whether what he said was right or wrong is irrelevant. My point is that in taking that route Vaughan, according to his quote, seems to be finding that the senior pols aren’t anxious to support him. Also, in that culture, they will try to get him to fall in line by making him feel “uncomfortable” when he strays from the songbook. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’ll let you decide. But I just have trouble seeing a quote like that because Adam is a savvy enough person to know that his words have consequences — some positive, some negative.

  6. Returning to the bikeshare problem, does anyone want to look at saving maybe $200 million in a 2-for-1 waterfront transit project? If we avoided the road folly of the Front St. Extension and did some good transit instead eg. GO trains, a Front St. transitway and a quick-start hybrid of diverting the Queen cars down to Front St. via the Weston railtracks (but we have to toss out the OMB okay of impairing this option in the Queen W. triangle and save 48Abell), instead of spending $250M plus $350Mill for the less effective West Waterfront LRT and just spent $400M on direct waterfront transit, we could fund Bikeshare, or is my math wrong? Or what about tolling the Gardiner, etc. etc. Even within the bike budget and lower Pantalonia where Bikeshare is, the Strachan Ave bikelane just done had a new turn lane tacked onto it because the bike lane was going to affect cars turning onto Liberty St., so that’s maybe $75,000ish that is mis-applied in my view and should be used for Bikeshare. Aren’t we glad that Mr. Miller wants to help bikes and do good things about climate change – can you imagine how much roadkill there’d be if he was like a few other politicians?
    As for Crawford, a big part of the problem in my view is that the eye article had his picture in it. That’s profile – and it should have been Magosha or someone from the political realm like deBaeremaeker who has a good profile in today’s/Sat Star. Duh – and that’s a lack of judgement somewhere.
    Mr. Vauahan is likely shut out – the NDP may well play party politricks at the expense of the public interest in the very heart of Toronto. The rot and farces of dorkness that make the amanglemated motoropolis carrupt and suck out resources in a parasitical governance by suburbanites who don’t hold urban values, may well be supplemented by the “left” that resents losing Chow’s seat, and Adam is also firmly against the FSE by the way.