Is Toronto building too many speed bumps? Probably—and it’s council’s fault
Here’s a small example of our favourite type of trouble (that’s the kind city council gets itself into by ignoring staff recommendations): it turns out that Toronto is building tens of thousands of dollars worth of unnecessary speed bumps to calm traffic in neighbourhoods throughout the city. Apparently, city staff recommended against speed bumps in most cases, but councillors that prefer the “better safe than sorry” modus operandi often overruled them. It’s not as juicy as councillors picking up each other’s legal fees or crazy sole-sourced contracts to political donors, but we like to remind councillors that they hire expensive, educated staffers for a reason. They might want to listen them more often. Read the whole story [Toronto Star] »
I’m glad somebody in the media is checking out some of the other types of gravy being spilled under the dome.
Orchardview Blvd., a street immediately north of Eglinton on east side of Yonge, was closed-off recently at the sole request of the local councillor. (There may have been another reason but that’s what is being said for public consumption) There was no technical review done, no advance notice or communication to the area residents, and no feedback or concerns gathered before the closure. Area residents left wondering if their local streets would now be more heavily traveled, or rendered less safe, were ignored. We pay big bucks for staff in the Transportation Department (see how many appear on the Sunshine List) but they admit that they were simply told, “just close it” by Karen Stintz. (The local community has been asking for a comprehensive traffic study for Orchardview Blvd for years now.)
This is no way to run a city. If we have $100K+ salaried engineers on staff we should be letting them do their work and not insulting them. Little wonder why so many end up demotivated on Toronto City payrolls.