WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT: By the end of last Tuesday’s news cycle, Mayor Rob Ford had steered his gravy choo-choo train to a politically intriguing destination: after the tumult of the summer core service review, Ford’s subsequent threats about drastic tax increases, and the left’s dire warnings about gutted municipal services, city manager Joe Pennachetti delivered a spending plan for 2012 that was hardly apocalyptic.
Yes, there will be some service cuts, a few closures, layoffs and a tax hike of 2.5% (which is actually a shade over the inflation rate yet a whole lot less than what Hazel McCallion is poised to inflict on Mississaugans). But the recommended budget is hardly a catastrophe. So Ford, with cover from Pennachetti, got to make good on his pledge to bend the curve of city spending, and do so on the first anniversary of taking office.
By the end of Friday, however, the mayor’s party had succeeded in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory…again.
We had budget chair Michael Del Grande’s what-were-you-thinking moment, with his revealing rumination about the possibility of banishing non-English language books from the city’s library system. (Memo to Mike: Every other Torontonian is an immigrant. This isn’t Gravenhurst, in case you hadn’t noticed.) Paul Ainslie, one of Ford’s generals, simply couldn’t get himself up to the press gallery fast enough to denounce council’s bean-counter-in-chief.
Then the Fords lost a pointless vote on environment days, revealing yet again that the mayor operates on a different political planet than most of his council colleagues – left and right – who understand the value of community schmoozing.
Lastly, we watched the brother’s self-immolating proxy battle with the Toronto Star over those wayward press releases, a story as infectious as a three-year-old with a runny nose, but far more entertaining. (Memo to Doug: John Honderich sees himself as a progressive Hearst. Best not to fuck with that.)
Bottom line: a year in, the Ford administration still needs adult supervision.
WHAT WE DIDN’T TALK ABOUT: Did you know that the city has quietly decided that the TTC is no longer going to bother with expanding Toronto’s transit infrastructure?
Neither the Commission nor city council have said so explicitly, but the TTC’s 2012-2021 capital budget offers all sorts of clues to suggest that there’s now an unspoken understanding that financial responsibility for growing the network rests squarely with Metrolinx.
The recommended capital budget [PDF] defers new subway and LRV purchases — a move made possible by the reduction in service levels — and punts way down the field a number of capital projects, such as a new subway maintenance facility and the installation of new automated signaling technology on the Bloor-Danforth line that will increase capacity by reducing head times.
But according to the charts on pages 4 and 5 of the document, capital expenditures relating to service improvements and growth will slow to a bare trickle over the next decade, accounting for just 3% of total investment. Indeed, the growth-related outlay recedes to zero in 2019, after the completion of the Spadina subway extension and the implementation of the new Presto fare system.
Even more telling is the graph on page 14, which shows the funding sources for the 2012-2021 capital plan. With the passage of time, the city’s contribution — in the form of debentures, reserve draws and development charges — all but vanishes as part of the Ford administration’s obsessive drive to reduce debt costs on the operating budget. Never mind that ridership breaks new records each year and the city’s population grows steadily thanks to denser development and immigration.
Despite some general discussion from city officials last week about applying future surpluses and the proceeds of asset sales to the capital budget, I fearlessly predict that a Ford-run council will never agree to allocate funds to any major new transit expansion project, such as the downtown relief line or even bus rapid transit (BRT) for Finch.
Ford, after all, is far more interested in showing voters that he’s slashed borrowing costs than in growing the TTC, so he’s happy to delegate that task to Metrolinx, with its leisurely timelines and provincial spending constraints.
Perhaps, when Gordon Chong tables his long-awaited proposal for the Sheppard subway later this month, it will recommend a cost-sharing deal involving the TTC, the province, the feds and private investors. But I’m guessing the city won’t be part of the formula. Transit, after all, is merely a nice-to-have in Rob Ford’s city.
6 comments
Metrolinx SHOULD takeover responsibility for transit…….Ford is cunning in this method to deflect the issue onto the Province FINALLY…
I also thought that having Metrolinx coordinate transit on a region wide basis would be desirable for many reasons, not least of which would be the distribution of costs. What is missing in this discussion is the framework that would determine how much Toronto pays into the scheme. Wouldn’t there still be a line item in Toronto’s annual budget for Metrolinx? Shouldn’t we be hearing some kind of comment from Metrolinx right now, before the budget is passed in January? What other services will be on the chopping block once Toronto is forced to pony up funds for Metrolinx that have not been included in the budget forecast?
As for Metrolinx’s leisurely attitude to timelines, if they are to take on the scope of activities suggested, they will need to (or be made to) realign their schedule priorities.
Looking forward to hearing more on this.
Careful what you wish for in having the province take over transit. Ontario, like most Western democracies, has a legislature that undervalues urban votes and overvalues rural ones. Given transit is exclusively an urban issue…
I’m no Ford fan but Honderich is a coward. He wouldn’t even own up to what started it in the first place in his column when he said “for reasons that we won’t get in to”.
The only thing worse than hitting kids is being falsely accused of being physical with children. Ford denied it (which doesn’t mean much) but then the kid/alleged victim came out and clearly stated that Ford did NOT hit him but the Star ran with the story anyway. That gutter press reporting belongs in the Sun and it is a major reason why I cancelled my Star subscription (and judging by their latest numbers, I see I wasn’t the only one).
Doug clearly stated what was required to make it go away – a front page apology – but the coward Honderich won’t even do that and prefers to practice the politics of division and literally invent stories of violence against minors to sell papers. Shame on the Star!
So when Mike Harris downloaded services to the city from the province It was horrible but when Rob Ford uploads services from the city to the province it is also a disaster. Apparently a basic sense of logic is no prerequisite for being a Pinko.
“But the recommended budget is hardly a catastrophe” Must be nice for you. It’s quite a catastrophe for the people being laid off that you so casually mentioned. Most of the people suffering in this are young people who are just starting out. I know people who just bouhgt their first homes, just had a kid, now their future is so uncertain they’re all scared shitless, thanks to this supposedly non-catastrophic budget. Enjoy your Christmas, over 1000 of us will be able to.