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19 Comments

politics

Duly Quoted: Steve Munro

Last night the TTC held an information session for those interested in applying to join the Commission's board. It was not a success.

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“From the outset, it was clear that the City and TTC treated the event as something they had to do, one of those obligatory bits of so-called citizen participation… [TTC Chief Financial and Administration Officer Vince] Rodo talked about the Commission’s hopes for the new ‘citizen’ commissioners and the desire for ‘barons of industry’ who could bring their business expertise to the TTC. That more or less ruled out everyone present.”

—Transit expert (and Torontoist contributor) Steve Munro, writing on his blog about yesterday’s information session, held at City Hall, for Torontonians interested in joining the board of the Toronto Transit Commission. Earlier this year, city council voted to change the composition of the board, shifting from the model they inherited (nine members, all councillors) to an expanded one (11 members, including seven councillors and four ‘citizen’ members).

Comments

  • Anonymous

    I’m not sure I would have used the term “barons of industry” (1920 called, they want their term back), but “citizen” commissioners should be people with very strong records of public achievement, not randoms off the street. And this is what the TTC is doing by going to headhunters.

    My nominee would be John Tory, if he’s interested.

    • Anonymous

      Don’t kid yourself. This has ‘patronage sinecure’ and ‘rubber stamp’ written all over it.

    • Cliff S

      Are you talking about the same John Tory that orchestrated the defeat of the Mulroney Conservatives (-149 seats) from within? Or maybe the one that lost the 2003 City of Toronto election, no it couldn’t be him. Was it the Ontario PC leader that couldn’t win his own seat in 2004 and later had to get parachuted in in 2005? Or was it the one who lost his seat again in the 2007 general election and then got parachuted into another riding for 2009 and then lost that election too?

      I wouldn’t call that a record of public achievement or accomplishment.

    • Anonymous

      Ford dreamed up this “citizen member” scheme to stack the TTC board with business/industry insiders to counter the socialists councillors and staffers who keep pointing out that his other schemes are unrealistic.

    • Canadianskeezix

      “commissioners should be people with very strong records of public achievement”

      Yes, but that does not mean that they all need come from the business sector.

      • Eric S. Smith

        Huh? Oh, you mean like sports.

  • Jason

    Why can I never connect to Steve’s blog? I always get a “can’t find server” error.

    • Anonymous

      His server’s host has weird IP spam blocking going on – there was a while where I was able to see it anywhere except from my home internet connection.

  • steve speaks sense.

    I would love to see Steve Munro on the Board.

  • Cutiepotpie

    There are already enough elected people on the TTC Commission that lack business, financial, and customer service experience. Good on the TTC for seeking people with real world business experience, and not just unelected busybodies with too much time on their hands.

    • Anonymous

      “people with real world business experience”

      Like Rob and Doug Ford?

  • Anonymous

    I hope Steve Munro does not put his name forward in the end. It would paint a target on his back for all the anonymous coward Fordibans to spray the Toronto Sun comment section with “why haven’t you fixed the TTC yet Steve” starting two minutes after his appointment. It might be worth it were it not for the clear signal that the TTC management does not welcome citizen input and is just going through the motions. Furthermore Munro would be bound by collective responsibility and confidentiality and thus might be enjoined from sharing many of the things he current posts about.

    • Anonymous

      I also hope he doesn’t put his name forward, for the different reason that he has spent the last 30 years advocating for LRT, and what’s most needed now is someone who can advocate for rapid transit expansion, like the DRL.

      • Anonymous

        http://stevemunro.ca/?p=6218
        “It was always clear that the line would require a lot of infrastructure (bridge, tunnel) south of Flemingdon/Thorncliffe and given the projected demand for a DRL, putting a subway in such infrastructure makes a lot more sense than an LRT line.”

        • Anonymous

          I agree that he has, from time to time, come out in favor of the DRL. But there is a big difference between being in favor of something and being an advocate. In fact, the wider context of your quote is that Transit City LRT had to go ahead in spite of this design flaw.

          I’m also wary that he would try to block the ARL and Presto, both of which are imperfect but badly needed, and both of which he has loudly criticized.

          • Cliff S

            I think the criticism is fair. Look at the coverage in Ottawa re:Presto roll out, they are having some serious issues and looks like they are going to abort the July 1 launch:

            http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1213993–presto-card-roll-out-in-ottawa-hits-bumpy-road?

            If Presto can’t handle 200K riders a day in Ottawa, how are they going to handle the 1M riders a day in the big smoke?

          • Jason

            Presto had some hiccups early on for Mississauga Transit as well, but it seems to be working there quite well now.

      • Anonymous

        Andrew, would you prefer so somebody continually lobbying for a subway between two malls?

        • Anonymous

          I think I was clear that we need the DRL? If you can find two malls that the DRL connects, then sure.