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Red tape is killing Toronto: Editorial

Our mayoral hopefuls could do the city a big favour by promising and delivering an end to the red tape and rule-itis choking City Hall and Toronto itself.
Dealing with our local government is not easy.
There are some bright spots but all-in-all, many bureaucrats seem to revel in justifying their existence by hiding behind the tangle of overbearing rules.
That blame can be shared with politicians, too.
What we end up with are debacles like Toronto’s A La Cart street food program that flopped badly.
Onerous rules scared off potential chefs, and heavy regulations and demands from the nervous nellies at City Hall, killed the businesses before they started.
Or the bungled Bloor St. reno Coun. Kyle Rae blasted last week for being held back by bureaucrats who refuse to strive for excellence.
At the economic development level, if our city can’t speed up the pace at which it completes work and grants permits and approvals, investments will go elsewhere.
Council has often been warned time is money for corporations.
We’re competing for business against cities around the world — and slow doesn’t cut it.
Frustrating the businesses we have will encourage them to look elsewhere for a better fit.
It’s not just taxes that scare off investment.
That’s at the macro level. Here’s the micro one.
An event on Danforth Ave. last weekend nearly died by bureaucratic strangulation.
Art of the Danforth invited Toronto residents to an art walk, but the permits, insurance and hoops volunteers have had to clear to put it on have been a nightmare.
Local councillors had to intervene numerous times just to help an event that can only be positive for the city.
Mainly, though, it’s been the tireless local organizers who’ve been run ragged by numerous city staff.
Why does a weekend in the park and a small kids’ parade require paperwork like it’s the G20, the involvement of numerous city departments and what clearly is thousands of dollars of staff time?
As Coun. Janet Davis finally wrote to staff: “We need to encourage and support community efforts like this, not make it a nightmare.”
Exactly.
Davis has vowed to come up with a new system so anyone who wants to hold a similar community event can go to the city’s website and know exactly what is necessary in terms of permits, for a street festival or park event.
There ought to be more reasons to enjoy our city and fewer reasons to scream about it.
But what we have now is not city building, it’s city crushing.
Toronto has to be open for business to the world and to its neighbours.
Toronto’s next mayor must have a plan to make this city work for its residents, businesses and potential investors, not against them.
And a way to measure the progress of that plan.
Quite simply, we need Toronto’s bad case of rule-itis cured.