ShonTron
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- Joined
- Apr 24, 2007
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- Ward 13 - Toronto Centre
He's baaaack!
(And tell me why Dalton is at a two-bit furniture store opening?)
City service cuts 'completely stupid': Lastman
Former mayor has a few ideas to fix the city's fiscal crisis, starting with councillors' salaries
Aug 14, 2007 04:30 AM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
KITCHENER–Toronto councillors are making such a mess of the city's budget, former mayor Mel Lastman says people are stopping him in the streets begging him to come back.
"They're making the biggest hero in the world out of me. Please stop. I'm no hero.
"Everybody tells me I have to run again. I don't want to run again. I'm really happy," Lastman, 74, said in an interview yesterday after sharing the stage with Premier Dalton McGuinty at the grand opening of a Bad Boy Furniture and Appliances store in Kitchener.
But the man who led North York for 25 years and then Toronto for another six, until his retirement in 2003, does have some ideas to save the city money.
The first stop: City Hall.
The 9 per cent salary increase councillors recently voted themselves has got to go, as does the $40 million overhaul of Nathan Phillips Square. Councillors' annual office budgets also need to be reduced.
"If you don't bleed yourself, how can you ask the people of Toronto to bleed?" Lastman said.
Once councillors have made some cuts they'll feel personally, then they can look at bigger ticket savings, he said.
On the top of that list is staff overtime, particularly police waiting to testify in court.
"Cops should not have to go to court. That is a fortune in overtime," he said.
Toronto should use a system used in other jurisdictions where police representatives testify in court instead of the officers, he said.
"I'd get that legislation put through quickly. The province and federal government are most receptive to helping now because they see what's going on," he said.
Toronto's fiscal crisis hit home last Friday when city officials revealed a cost containment strategy, which trims $34 million from the city's operating budget this year and $83 million next year.
The cuts fall far short of the city's projected $575 million budget deficit next year.
Miller, who has repeatedly said he wasn't elected to cut city services, called the cuts "a diminution of the quality of life in Toronto."
But councillors have to go much further to deal with the budget crisis, Lastman said.
They have to look at contracting out services and cutting staff. Buses on nearly empty routes need to be pulled off the road. Instead of buying new garbage bins for Toronto's planned garbage-fee system, council should just charge a per-bag fee, he said.
"They have to cut staff. They can't continue this way. Their budget has gone up by $1.5 billion since I left," he said. "Politicians have got to learn ... to say: `We can't afford it.' " There's one service cut Lastman isn't willing to put up with, and that's city snow clearing at the end of driveways.
Lastman still remembers with pride that as the mayor of North York he was known as the man who had the snow cleared before it fell.
"The city is a great city and they've got to keep it great and you can't keep it great by telling seniors to shovel windrows that you've put at the end of their driveway," he said.
"You can't cut necessary services. That's stupid, completely stupid with four O's," Lastman said.
He recognizes that several of his ideas, contracting out services and cutting staff being at the top of the list, wouldn't sit well with city unions.
"You try to work with them but sometimes it's impossible," he said.
Also, Toronto property taxpayers are paying hundreds of millions for provincial social services like welfare, drug costs for the disabled and housing for the poor. The city's budget can never truly be fixed until that's dealt with, Lastman said.
Lastman, dressed in his trademark flashy style, with white shoes and slacks, a hot pink shirt and checkered jacket, was under the familiar glare of lights and TV cameras yesterday while opening a Bad Boy store. And though the local MPP, during his introduction, elevated him to "Toronto's premier," Lastman said he has no intention of returning.
"I get wound up and that's a problem for me. I'm not fit to live with anymore and I've been living a wonderful life (since retiring in 2003)," he said. "I love my wife, I've got to know her all over again, she's got the greatest personality, the greatest sense of humour and I have a laugh every day."
(And tell me why Dalton is at a two-bit furniture store opening?)
City service cuts 'completely stupid': Lastman
Former mayor has a few ideas to fix the city's fiscal crisis, starting with councillors' salaries
Aug 14, 2007 04:30 AM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
KITCHENER–Toronto councillors are making such a mess of the city's budget, former mayor Mel Lastman says people are stopping him in the streets begging him to come back.
"They're making the biggest hero in the world out of me. Please stop. I'm no hero.
"Everybody tells me I have to run again. I don't want to run again. I'm really happy," Lastman, 74, said in an interview yesterday after sharing the stage with Premier Dalton McGuinty at the grand opening of a Bad Boy Furniture and Appliances store in Kitchener.
But the man who led North York for 25 years and then Toronto for another six, until his retirement in 2003, does have some ideas to save the city money.
The first stop: City Hall.
The 9 per cent salary increase councillors recently voted themselves has got to go, as does the $40 million overhaul of Nathan Phillips Square. Councillors' annual office budgets also need to be reduced.
"If you don't bleed yourself, how can you ask the people of Toronto to bleed?" Lastman said.
Once councillors have made some cuts they'll feel personally, then they can look at bigger ticket savings, he said.
On the top of that list is staff overtime, particularly police waiting to testify in court.
"Cops should not have to go to court. That is a fortune in overtime," he said.
Toronto should use a system used in other jurisdictions where police representatives testify in court instead of the officers, he said.
"I'd get that legislation put through quickly. The province and federal government are most receptive to helping now because they see what's going on," he said.
Toronto's fiscal crisis hit home last Friday when city officials revealed a cost containment strategy, which trims $34 million from the city's operating budget this year and $83 million next year.
The cuts fall far short of the city's projected $575 million budget deficit next year.
Miller, who has repeatedly said he wasn't elected to cut city services, called the cuts "a diminution of the quality of life in Toronto."
But councillors have to go much further to deal with the budget crisis, Lastman said.
They have to look at contracting out services and cutting staff. Buses on nearly empty routes need to be pulled off the road. Instead of buying new garbage bins for Toronto's planned garbage-fee system, council should just charge a per-bag fee, he said.
"They have to cut staff. They can't continue this way. Their budget has gone up by $1.5 billion since I left," he said. "Politicians have got to learn ... to say: `We can't afford it.' " There's one service cut Lastman isn't willing to put up with, and that's city snow clearing at the end of driveways.
Lastman still remembers with pride that as the mayor of North York he was known as the man who had the snow cleared before it fell.
"The city is a great city and they've got to keep it great and you can't keep it great by telling seniors to shovel windrows that you've put at the end of their driveway," he said.
"You can't cut necessary services. That's stupid, completely stupid with four O's," Lastman said.
He recognizes that several of his ideas, contracting out services and cutting staff being at the top of the list, wouldn't sit well with city unions.
"You try to work with them but sometimes it's impossible," he said.
Also, Toronto property taxpayers are paying hundreds of millions for provincial social services like welfare, drug costs for the disabled and housing for the poor. The city's budget can never truly be fixed until that's dealt with, Lastman said.
Lastman, dressed in his trademark flashy style, with white shoes and slacks, a hot pink shirt and checkered jacket, was under the familiar glare of lights and TV cameras yesterday while opening a Bad Boy store. And though the local MPP, during his introduction, elevated him to "Toronto's premier," Lastman said he has no intention of returning.
"I get wound up and that's a problem for me. I'm not fit to live with anymore and I've been living a wonderful life (since retiring in 2003)," he said. "I love my wife, I've got to know her all over again, she's got the greatest personality, the greatest sense of humour and I have a laugh every day."
