T.O. Service Cuts To Be Revealed Friday
Posted August 9, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Here’s a question you don’t get asked very often: what can you live without in the city of Toronto? The answer will likely come Friday, as the city reveals its long awaited and much feared plan to cut services to save money. By now you know the entire story of how the mayor tried to impose levies on land transfers and motor vehicle registrations to keep Toronto from going broke. When the plan was deferred until after the election by a single vote, David Miller warned that his fiscal planners would have to take drastic measures.
Just after the noon hour at the end of the work week, we’ll find out what they are. Many city councillors are already predicting the worst, possibly including cutting TTC routes, slashing garbage collection, leaving parks and city property unmowed, reducing snow clearing in the winter and more. For newly elected City Councillor Adam Vaughan. it’s a recipe for disaster. “You name it, you’ll see less of it,” he fears. “Parks. Lighting in the streets. Action on crackhouses. Action on daycare centres. School pools. All of it is at risk. Every single thing is at risk!”
“It’s like death by a thousand cuts, and that’s what I’m really concerned of,” adds Etobicoke Centre’s Gloria Lindsay-Luby.
The mayor’s not looking forward to the bad news, either. “It’s very, very regrettable, you know,” Miller emotes. “We need to invest in this city, not cut. It needs investment. But at the moment we have no choice.”
Miller blames the province for not contributing its fair share and urges voters to make it a campaign issue in the October election. Still, not everyone’s buying the ‘gloom and doom-it’s not our fault’ scenario. “Complete fear mongering to threaten to close a subway, to close a park and to close the libraries,” fumes Councillor Karen Stintz. “Those aren’t the kind of thoughtful strategies that this public is looking for.”
She believes blaming Queen’s Park is just a deflection of the real problem – profligate and out of control spending at City Hall. But the mayor has his own warning for residents – things will get a lot worse until Ontario pays up. And so far, the powers that be have shown no intention of doing anything close to that.
So what do you think should be on the chopping block (presuming we can still afford the chopping block?) Road repair, tree trimming, police, fire, ambulance, TTC and library services have all been suggested. But some are hoping they can find the needed millions in more benign areas. “I think litter picking is something we can do without. I think it’s irresponsible that our city has evolved to the point where it has. Before we cut anything I think we should have an audit of City Hall and Toronto’s spending because I think it’s out of control,” posits David Cole.
But Stephanie Germain has another idea. “To save money, I’d fire half the councillors,” she offers. “Get rid of them and then I’m pretty sure we’d have a lot more money.”
You can be pretty sure that won’t be in the list released at high noon – which according to the old movie, is the traditional time for a showdown.
