We Have A Right To Know......

Strike cleanup OT bill: $900Gs

Costs still rising as Miller's CUPE pals generously rewarded for terrorizing innocent citizens at dump sites

By SUE-ANN LEVY, TORONTO SUN

Despite claims by our union-friendly mayor that post-strike overtime would be kept to a minimum, it appears that up to $900,000 in OT will have been spent by week's end on garbage clean-up and collection alone.

The city's director of collections, Rob Orpin, confirmed yesterday that the trash crews have been out up to 13 hours each day for the past two weeks to pick up "almost double the normal amount" of garbage, recycling and green materials left from the 39-day strike.

He said a volunteer crew of 400 have worked every night since the resumption of garbage pick-up Tuesday, about 900 hours extra a night, to clear the backlog. Another crew -- he couldn't say how many -- also continued the rounds last Saturday for five extra hours.

He said there's been days when they have not been able to pick the vast amounts of materials set out in a particular area all in one shift.

"We immediately go back the next morning and pick it up," he said, advising people to leave stuff at the curb and "they will get to it."

At an overtime rate of approximately $37.50 per hour, I figure that up to $400,000 in overtime will have been racked up by Saturday alone.

"We have people that still haven't had garbage collection yet since the strike," said Orpin.

Add to that the $475,000 spent in OT to clean out and sanitize the temporary dumpsites the first weekend after the strike was settled and I'd say Mayor David Miller's CUPE pals are being quite generously rewarded for terrorizing innocent citizens who dared dump their garbage at sites stipulated by the city during the strike.

I suspect the OT won't end this week either, since every resident has been given a free pass to set out however much garbage and recycling they wish for the entire month of August.

This is far from the only cost of the lengthy strike -- many of which, like the cost of the hundreds of security guards used to guard the City Hall bunker, sit on their rumps and watch picket lines at dumpsites and transfer stations -- may never be truly known if Miller has his way.

REPORTS DELAYED

It also seems some high-profile reports that have been percolating on the back burner won't be ready for some months yet as some staff take much-needed vacation time and others take their sweet time getting back up to speed.

It appears city officials still can't decide what to do about those recyclable coffee and tea cups with plastic lids they initially proposed banning.

I'm told the report from the $50,000 Hot Drink Cup Task Force, first expected in June and then delayed until September, won't be on the agenda of the public works committee until at least early November.

The results of the $120,000 homeless census -- taken on the night of April 15 -- won't go to the community services committee until early November either, Iain de Jong, manager of the Streets to Homes program said yesterday. The original plan was to release the results this summer.

"During the labour disruption we didn't do any of the analysis," he said, noting they're just starting to re-engage as well with the homeless and panhandling clients they reach under their $13.5-million program.

"During the labour disruption we had minimal outreach," he said, noting they "did what they could" with one small management team. "We're just approaching normal operations now."

De Jong nevertheless denied that more people found themselves out on the street during the strike -- although this summer I've noticed many more homeless men in downtown parks, a proliferation of panhandlers parked on their usual sidewalk spots and even the odd squeegee kid.

-- Levy is considering an offer to run for the Conservatives in the provincial St. Paul's byelection