Lack Of Leadership

Councillors' axle of evil By JOE WARMINGTON

Drunk with power -- and flaunting it.

How else do you explain the scheduling of a low-end bicycle race that closed off four major streets in downtown Toronto during Friday night rush hour? What kind of city council would allow such a thing?

Toronto's, of course. It's not a war on cars. It's a war on sanity. And they seem to be winning.

"It's absolutely insane," says Councillor Rob Ford, who adds his new job is "fighting communism."

Veteran Councillor Case Ootes doesn't go that far but says he's never seen anything like this. "It's no longer what we can do for the public but how can we promote our agenda?"

For example did they really have to have that silly race at that time?

Lance Armstrong wasn't there so have it on Sunday morning. But that wouldn't make the same anti-car point.

In the meantime seven members of council are packing their bags to leave Monday for Vienna for a transit conference. They are not travelling on their bikes.

"There would be eight going but one is part of the 12 councillors going to Whistler, B.C. and can't make both," said Ford sarcastically. "It's an appalling waste of money."

Ootes agrees. "We have $350 million worth of potholes that need repair and we are going to spend $6 million to remove a lane on Jarvis St. for a few bicycles? "

And never mind the bike lane to nowhere on Eastern Ave. We're neglecting the basics of municipal government. We have billions of dollars worth of sewers and water pipes that need to be replaced and we are screwing around with all this other stuff!"

Perhaps while in Vienna they will come up with some more brilliant ideas of how to retrofit transit vehicles to accommodate bikes.

Taxpayers spent $9 million to put those racks on the front of the TTC buses and I have never seen a bike on one. Nor have I once seen an $85 ticket handed out to a cyclist riding on a sidewalk.

"Wonder what would happen if I drove my car up on the sidewalk?" AM 640's Mike Stafford wisely asked this week.

One thing we do see a lot of is the parking assassins nailing people like secure courier professional Sean Callacott who gets five tickets a day -- usually from the same one.

Hey, somebody has to pay for the trips to Vienna and Whistler. Maybe one day those talented parking officers could be retrained to police bad cyclists who should be made to have licences and registration if they are going to be on the roads.

Think of the cash that would bring in that the city could waste.

Reader Bill McDonald makes a good point -- if there is a $127.09 city permit needed to pave your driveway, these bikers can pay their share, too.