The king is dead. Long live the king.
David Miller has announced that he will not be seeking re-election.
At a jam packed press conference outside his second floor office at City Hall this morning, the mayor cited family reasons for his decision.
A dark day indeed for the city.
His budget-cutting critics on council are loath to admit it.
But the mayor has put Toronto on the map as a progressive city.
We have labour peace with the police and a force that reflects the diversity of the city (crime rates are the lowest they’ve ever been).
We have the most ambitious public transit initiative in North America and more buildings under construction than all the cities in Canada combined. The architectural renaissance continues.
The homeless are actually being housed – some 2,000 under the Street to Homes program. Housing in priority neighbourhoods is being fixed. The arts are flourishing. The city is greener.
So what gives?
Miller has always tried to put his family first, only, as the mayor of the fifth largest city in North America, it hasn’t always been easy. The point arrives for every politician, the really good ones at least, when duty to those closest to you must come before duty to cause and the city you love.
There will be much speculation in the papers tomorrow about the whys and wherefores. That he couldn’t win a third time because of the city worker’s strike. That loyalists on campaign teams past have deserted him, blah blah blah.
Sometimes it just is what it is.
After a decade and a half, the mayor had reached that point.
But I can’t help thinking that the mayor’s decision had a little something to do with the media forces arrayed so obviously against him. The Star has been quick to criticize on those rare occasions he’s missed a city function for taking a vacation with his family.
Following the mob is the modus operandi of media outlets when it comes to covering municipal politics, or any level of government for that matter.
At City Hall, save for perhaps a few scribes for local papers, the big boys and girls that work for the dailies and TV networks (sometimes they’re one in the same) have adopted an attack dog mentality when it comes to the mayor.
Only yesterday, the Star was at it again trying to make an issue of the fact the mayor will miss next week’s council meeting because he’s decided to accepted an invitation from the California governor to speak at a UN-sponsored eco summit in Los Angeles. That’s what world-renowned civic leaders do.
The Sun’s Sue-Ann Levy could barely hold back her glee.
“Oh, that’s not a nice thing to say,” was her dripping-with-sarcasm retort when someone in the crowd blurted, “We’ve got rid of him.” Sure, Sue-Ann.
Others among the gathering, though, fought to hold back tears, although it was becoming more obvious to them, one councilor confided, that this day was coming, that someday, the progressives on council would have to push the city forward without the most eloquent voice they’ve had in years, perhaps ever, leading the way.[rssbreak]
