[URBAN NOTE] "Mr. Mayor, where are you?"

[rfmcdonald]

The fact that Rob Ford's former press secretary, Adrienne Batra, would want to and can get a column published in the criticizing Ford for his non-participation in city council says many things. If the populist right is becoming disenchanted with the man, what of Ford Nation?

When I was Mayor Rob Ford’s press secretary, the city hall press gallery used to ask me relentlessly, every day, “Where’s the mayor?”

The question is still being asked because, these days, no one has a good answer.

If the mayor doesn’t tune into the fact “decisions are made by those who show up” soon, he risks jeopardizing much of what his administration has accomplished in the past 16 months.

Despite rantings at the Toronto Star and by some councillors, Ford hasn’t yet lost the reins at city hall, but they are slipping from his hands.

[. . .]

There are limits to what his already-stretched, skeleton crew of a staff can do in his absence.

The mayor has to be there to look into the whites of councillors’ eyes, before any given file goes to hell at the 11th hour.

On the 2012 budget, Ford should have been credited with bringing down year-over-year spending for the first time since amalgamation, a remarkable achievement.

Instead, a minor motion by Coun. Josh Colle, supported by the left, to restore $19 million in cuts was used by the mayor’s critics to capture undeserved headlines.

The now-halted increase in recreation fees was a tailor-made issue for Ford with regard to championing the little guy, but he failed to get out in front of it, despite repeated advice to do so.

Ford’s critics gleefully suggest it’s not a bad thing he isn’t leading, since this allows council to set the agenda at city hall.