The Unkindest Cuts: Your Response To City Hall
Posted August 10, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You’ve spoken – but will they hear you? It’s not a stretch to say your reaction to the cuts announced at City Hall on Friday is less than positive. Politicians likely suspected as much, but whether it will make any difference in the long run may well depend on how often you let them know of your displeasure. You certainly let us know. We asked for your feedback and were flooded with emails – from which, thankfully, there are no cutbacks.
Unions, politicians and litterbugs all came in for a thrashing in your response to the City Hall chop. Here’s a random sampling of what you had to say.
“I have been living in Toronto for 14 years and in my opinion this city has been getting worse every year. Toronto is a first world city with a near third world infrastructure. The TTC that the mayor pushes aggressively for us to use is a joke. The subways look awful, the stations look more like public restrooms than subways stations, the service is constantly delayed, etc. There are potholes galore all around the city …
“The Liberal Government allowed the City of Toronto Act which is giving the mayor way too much power to start taxing whenever he feels like it. If my property taxes go up one more time in the next 2 years, or the mayor introduces more taxes, I will sell my house and my business and move to the 905 … The Mayor needs to start looking at privatization of services such as garbage collection and ESPECIALLY the TTC! It will save the city a lot of money and would better those services.
“Fix this city soon mayor or I’m out of here!”
Harminder Singh
“I don’t even live in Toronto and I’m appalled. The city councillors and the mayor obviously can’t run the city. It’s a business essentially and it needs to run like one. So how about they free up some money by getting rid of their expense accounts and perks? Or how can they keep the golf courses but cut other services? It’s just mismanaging at its best with a little fear mongering thrown in by making some of the cuts they have. If these people worked for a large corporation in management and finance they’d probably all be fired.”
Shawn Nielsen
Waterloo
“I’m tired of the cry babies on Toronto City council always looking for more money. Toronto City property taxes are undercharged. I would pay $600.00 less per year for my home if I lived in Toronto based on my provincial home value assessment! Not only do I pay higher taxes to live in York Region, but the biggest kick in the pants is the huge cash flow from York Region to Toronto … So start taxing Toronto homes appropriately and elect some better people for city council. If Hazel McCallion can always have a balanced budget, what’s the matter with Toronto???”
Connie Walker
“This has absolutely got to stop! These services were not downloaded onto Mayor Miller and his council, but on former Mayor Mel Lastman. David Miller has done nothing since taking office but beg the province and the federal government for money, money, money. He is surely a man who has no idea what he is doing in the office to which he was elected!”
Al Kavanagh
“I am a 23-year-old mother of 2 young children and I am absolutely disgusted with the proposed cuts to city services. My husband is taxed heavily every year because of the income he makes, which in turn disqualifies us for any type of benefits … and now they are going to cut accessibility to libraries and ice rinks? I think what needs to be done is for the City Council to look within itself and make considerable cuts there.”
Michelle O’Donnell
“Until the citizens of our great city unite and collectively protest not only the suggestion of these horrific tax cuts but also the mean-spirited manner they have come about, these kind of scare tactics will not end. This is clearly Mayor Miller’s way of scaring us into submission. There needs to be more accountability at City Hall.”
Peter Bailey
“I can’t believe the media is buying into this issue that the taxes are tied to service cuts. That isn’t the issue, the issue is that the city has been mismanaged for quite some time now. The real issue is the incredible wages that are being paid to city staff in, for instance, public works and the TTC. This city was sold to the unions a long time ago and nothing will get better until the city breaks away from that.”
Justin
“The cuts announced were as expected – but where is the list of staff and benefit cuts and rollbacks? Where is it written that the employees of the city who are paid with tax dollars are entitled to stress days, full medical and dental and a myriad of other benefits that we in the private sector are not privileged to receive? Difficult times call for leadership – Mayor Miller does not show true leadership when it comes to dealing with finances. Wages need not be cut, but benefits must be. Basic services such as snow removal are a safety issue.”
Tom Bochynek
“This city is nowhere near and certainly doesn’t seem to be on its way to becoming a world class city. Miller needs to admit there are problems and admit where those problems are being created and who creates them. Moving out of the city truly sounds better everyday.”
Katie Burak
“I would think it to be interesting to learn exactly how our city ended up in this “hole”; it seems as if, in the last few months, city money has just disappeared! Where did it go? When did it go? You’d think the onset of a budget problem such as this would come face-to-face with the public a year before the city threatens us with all of these closures and reductions!”
Andrew Dunlop
“In my neighbourhood and parks, and in the TTC I will continue to pick up garbage dropped by my piggy neighbours and deposit it in bins, which should help reduce the effect of lowered union presence in the garbage pickup line …
“We are not getting any pothole fixes as it is, and city services are so slow that nobody will even notice the cuts. Because the temperatures have been warmer lately, likely there won’t be decent ice till January as there was not last year, so outdoor rinks won’t be missed.
“In fact, nearly everything that has been cut out can be replaced by volunteers and/or people taking responsibility for their own neighbourhoods. This may lead to an epiphany among those who still remember when Toronto was not inhabited by people who thought their half-empty Starbucks cup vanished from the earth between the time they dropped it and the time before it would have hit the steps in front of Scotia Plaza and splattered all the people walking behind them …
“Short answer: this is a good start. Now if they would put Rob Ford on the matter and make some serious cuts that would be a better finish.”
Kate Shaw
And finally a succinct comment that may sum up many feelings.
“If Toronto is to be a “world class” city, its politicians have to lead by example.”
Rik James
