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rfmcdonaldThe National Post's Sara Boesveld reports the news that Mayor Rob Ford, in what seems to me (and others) as an attempt to grab power from a city council that opposes him, wants to remove city councillors altogether from the Toronto Transit Commission's board and replace them with professionals.
A case can be made that a purely professional TTC board, apparently similar to New York City's would work. In the current climate of the mayor's hostility towards the majority of council, though, it looks very much like he's retaliating against council by removing Toronto's elected officials from positions of responsibility. (Question: Who will appoint the professionals?)
Perhaps surprisingly, comments at the right-leaning paper's site are largely hostile to the plan. Democracy matters.
A case can be made that a purely professional TTC board, apparently similar to New York City's would work. In the current climate of the mayor's hostility towards the majority of council, though, it looks very much like he's retaliating against council by removing Toronto's elected officials from positions of responsibility. (Question: Who will appoint the professionals?)
Perhaps surprisingly, comments at the right-leaning paper's site are largely hostile to the plan. Democracy matters.
Mayor Rob Ford says he will support a motion to make the Toronto Transit Commission politician-free when the battle over who should oversee the city’s transit system shakes out in council Monday.
On his Newstalk 1010 radio show Sunday afternoon, Mr. Ford and his brother Councillor Doug Ford said they will back a motion crafted by Scarborough councillor Michael Thompson to create a transit commission entirely made up of civilians with expertise in areas such as transportation, finance, engineering, social services and law.
The news comes as current TTC chair Karen Stintz plans to move a motion to dissolve the current nine-member transit commission — including herself — and replace it with an 11-member board made up of seven councillors and four citizen members.
Her proposal was an about-face from a deal she says she struck with the Mayor last week that envisioned a TTC with six seats for politicians and five for civilian professionals. On Friday, Mr. Ford aired his disapproval by saying she would “ruin the city” with streetcars if her plans proceeded.
Mr. Thompson, who represents Ward 37 Scarborough Centre, said his vision for a civilian-only board would erase all of the power struggles over transit, that have been particularly pronounced as of late, and square focus on moving the city forward.
“We’re seeing politics become too much the issue in transit and I think we need to focus on transit being the issue,” said Mr. Thompson, who is a past member of the commission. “We have politicians who are short-sighted, near-sighted, far-sighted in their thinking and their vision, which basically creates a situation in the city where we’re not able to articulate a real transit vision that really speaks to the need of the common man and woman in the city.”
The team of qualified professionals could include the city manager, and the deputy minister of transportation of municipal affairs, he mused — civilians with clear knowledge of governance but without any of the political baggage.
