Once upon a time in york, Frances Nunziata was a newbie councillor blowing the whistle on the biggest municipal corruption scandal going.
How times have changed. Now the tiny perfect councillor, a member of Mayor Rob Ford’s inner circle, finds herself a willing participant in some dirty dealing of her own.
I’m speaking of the “consultations” being held supposedly to hear residents’ thoughts on the proposed 2011 operating budget. We shouldn’t really call them consultations, because the rules stipulate no debate. In reality, the meetings have amounted to little more than an empty exercise.
The event on Thursday, January 20, in Nunziata’s York South-Weston backyard should’ve given Ford and Co. pause. The ward is among the poorest in the province. But the meeting, one of four public sessions on the budget, followed an all too familiar script.
Whether the Budget Committee and sub-committee members really listened to locals’ concerns is anyone’s guess. Scarborough Southwest Councillor Michelle Berardinetti seemed engaged. The same cannot be said for others.
Budget chief Mike Del Grande continued to act the buffoon in the farce these sessions have become, his annoying beeping timer at the ready to cut off speakers the moment their five minutes were up.
Del Grande seemed to be only half-joking when he told one young girl extolling the benefits of arts funding, “You’ve got 29 seconds. Anything more you want to say?” Funny guy.
The mayor, who dropped in halfway through the meeting on his way home from the other budget confab in Scarborough, was a study in cognitive dissonance.
Ford made his “You’re the taxpayer, you’re the boss” speech upon arrival, but if you happen to be a taxpayer who disagrees with him, you’re shit out of luck.
The mayor spent most of his time checking his fingernails or losing himself in the tip of the pen he would periodically rotate when he wasn’t drawing stars on a piece of paper.
Ford was awakened once from his near slumber, but just barely, by a speaker who noted the large bottle of water the mayor toted. He proceeded to berate Ford for not drinking the good stuff that comes out of the city’s taps, “some of the best water in the world.”
But that hardly got a rise from Ford, who’s acquired an uncanny ability to tune people out now that he’s mayor. The arrogance is a sight to behold.
No area of the city has been harder hit by the recession than have-not York South-Weston. It’s “strategically located to take all the crap,” according to the other local rep, Frank Di Giorgio. The disappearance of York’s industries has left a huge hole in the ward’s tax base. Kodak, a major employer, packed up a few years ago, taking with it hundreds of jobs. The 30 hectares the company used to occupy at Black Creek and Eglinton remain vacant.
The community centre promised more than a decade ago on land across the street is still nowhere to be seen. In fact, plans for a business centre, a satellite downtown envisioned years ago for the entire intersection, are kaput. Things have a way of blowing up in York.
Before Mike Harris and amalgamation, there was talk of the former city merging with Toronto, but the deal was so financially unviable for Toronto that its council quickly pulled the plug.
Nunziata’s memory of that episode is a bit foggy now, perhaps conveniently so, but she should understand the challenges facing this community. She’s represented the area since 1985, first as a Catholic school board trustee.
Average annual household income ($52,859) here is some $28,00 lower than the city average. Half of all tenants spend 30 per cent of more of their income on rent. A quarter of the more than 15,690 families in the ward survive on low incomes, spending 50 per cent of their money on food, shelter and clothing.
Both residents and business owners raised questions at the meeting about the Eglinton Crosstown, part of the Transit City plan now threatened with years of delay if replaced by Ford’s subway fantasy. The LRT envisioned by Miller’s regime is a lifeline the community desperately needs.
Metrus, the present owner of the Kodak lands, is said to be in talks with the TTC about its possible sale, but it’s unclear how those discussions may be tied to the future of Transit City, if at all, or to job creation for that matter.
Residents, committee members heard, often work three and sometimes four part-time jobs to make ends meet. They rely on public transit, but cuts proposed to the 32D bus along Eglinton, which serves five large apartment blocks, will leave riders stranded. Many are visible-minority women and shift workers who use the bus at off-peak times.
So what about that election pledge not to cut services? In Ford’s brave new Toronto, some promises are more sacred than others. For vulnerable York South-Weston, the forecast is for more long-term pain.
enzom@nowtoronto.com