Taking It To The Streets.....

.....the curbside that is!

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TRASHING MILLER'S GARBAGE TAX

Surely you saw this fumble coming, but here's the professional evaluation from Veritas Communications' Bob Reid on Toronto's new garbage plan (touchdownsandfumbles.com).

Selling a tax hike is always an uphill battle, but Mayor David Miller and his cabinet-like Executive Committee of city council didn't do themselves any favours with the roll-out of their new plan to charge Toronto residents a sliding scale of fees for garbage collection depending on how much trash they put out at the curb.

Miller and councillors Glenn De Baeremaeker and Gord Perks did their best to spin the plan as "very effective," "exciting," "all-encompassing" and one which will "place Toronto as a world leader in the way we deal with our garbage."

Nice talk. Good spin effort. But here's the problem: Where did this come from? If there was any advance talk about it, I missed it.

When you're planning to announce a potentially unpopular measure -- and anything that forces people to pay more than they're already paying falls into that category - you need to do everything possible to try and soften the ground ahead of time. People need to get used to the idea, and more importantly, they need to understand why they're being asked to swallow a bitter pill before it's put into their mouths. Spend some time talking about the problem and the need for a solution first, then roll out your proposal to deal with it.

It's better than suddenly whacking people with a hit they weren't expecting.

Reid does hand a touchdown to the governator.

When you're California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, you get huge media coverage just for showing up. Being a Hollywood star and a Kennedy-in-law has its advantages. So quantity of coverage was a given for the Governator's visit, but quality of coverage - how it was focused - was an open question. The answer: A Touchdown.

Schwarzenegger and his staff executed a well-planned series of photo opportunities, beginning from the moment he stepped off the plane. Stop one was to help Special Olympics Canada unveil Team Canada's uniforms for the upcoming World Summer Games in Shanghai. Then it was two quick stops at an LCBO and a grocery store, to put the focus on California wine and food products. Then on Wednesday it was a tour of the MaRS research complex to underscore California and Ontario's emphasis on stem cell research. Getting your picture in the paper and your face all over TV is only half the job in communications - getting the right pictures is the other half, and Schwarzenegger and his team nailed it.