Let's all send Mr. Ford a cup of coffee.

I'm a big girl.

Well, actualy I'm not.  I can be as petulant, arrogant, and blind as the next person,  perhaps even more so because of my turbulent nature.  But I can, now that I've been in this body for a few (okay a lot of) decades, see the symptoms of full blown denial and can back down until I get my reason back on.  In those moments, if I can embrance what's really in front of me, if I can hear what the statistics are saying, sometimes I can change my mind.  It is rare for folks to change their minds and irrationally held beliefs are the most difficult to shake.

And, if you've been following Mr. Rob Ford's odyssey with the TTC, you've seen a prime example of a guy who isn't looking at the facts, justing doing what he believes is right.  And, as schmarmy and lowbrow as he is, he should be lauded for doing what he believes is right.  I will defnitely grant him that.   However, when we start to mix in some of the facts, his position looks myopic at best.  He's digging in his heels on the transit issue (perhaps because he's faltered on so many others) and, again, perhaps laudably, he's doing this for the most noble of reasons.  I just wish he could support his position.

For those of you who might be new to this conflict in the fair city of Toronto:  Rob Ford, the city's Mayor, is currently fighting for his vision of mass transit.  This includes cancelling the proposed Transit City program, a comprehensive transit plan that would service 175 million riders a year, of which there would be a projected 75 million new riders, in favour of the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown Line, a subway that would run along Eglinton from Black Creek in the west to Kennedy Station in the east, a significant reduction in overall service.  Both plans would cost about the same amount - somewhere around 8-9 billion dollars.  Ford insists that transit routes do not belong on roads because they  contribute to congestion and make the city less livable.  Proponents of Transit City believe that all that new ridership would take vehicles off the road and reduce congestion not only on Eglinton but on twenty other extremely busy routes in the city, making the city more livable. 

Ford says he was originally voted in on a subway-subway-subway platform.  Actually, he was voted in on overall budget issues, the promise that he would cut spending without cutting service.  The TTC was also an issue on his platform but I think people only heard the following message during Ford's campaign:  That Toronto was grossly overspending and that if it were run more like a business with business folk at the helm, there would be a lot of money saved without sacrificing services.

But it looks very much like Mr. Ford didn't know what he was talking about where the city budget is concerned.  He was only expressing a heatfelt opinion.   Once the city budget was analysed, it became clear that, in order for the city to meet Rob Ford\s bottom line, services would have to be cut.  This was exacerbated by Mr. Ford pushing through a tax reduction for folks driving cars.  Instead, it made sense to reduce children's access to city pools and libraries.  Because sixty bucks a year to a person who drives a car is a pittance and access to knowledge and fun is paramount for children, I am having trouble embracing this logic.  And we must remember that Ford's basic premise, that the same services could be provided for less, was deeply faulty on analysis.

But he kept on going.  Oh boy, for sure.  Best not change your opinion just because a few facts get in the way.  He had to reduce the budget at any price.  And he did.  Services are being cut across the board.

So, now Ford is pushing his vision for mass transit.  If he's able to force this through, his crosstown line will service only a fraction of the original proposal and rapid transit services will take, probably, fifty or sixty years to reach parts of the city that desperately need them right now.  Doug Ford, Rob's brother, has even gone so far as to say that the TTC needs an overhaul, that it needs a businessman to run it.  He actually said that the TTC needs an 'enema'.  Because he's really a class act. 

But doesn't this refrain sound familiar? Rob Ford is, again, saying that as a business person he knows best and that the TTC is, obviously, poorly run because there is little mind to the bottom line.  The standard neoliberal refrain.

Okay, actually, the TTC is one of the least, if not the least, subsidized transit system in all of North America.  The least. (The fact that it is the least subsidized transit service is a crime but let's talk about that another day.) I am not sure what bottom line the Ford brothers have in mind for the TTC but if they want to reduce costs, then they will have to cut service.  Oh wait!  That's what they're already doing as part of the city budget overhaul.  Excellent.  If they want to overhaul the TTC, then, they will, likely cut services even more.  Cheers.

I am really feeling that on this issue it is not the TTC that needs an enema.

So, on that note, I would invite all of you to go down to your closest Timmies, buy Mr. Ford a coffee, and take it down there to the city hall.  If Ford drinks enough coffee, I hear tell that the caffiene might get the body going enough to allow him to clear up any constipation of...thought.  It might not change his mind -- like I say, it is rare for a person to change their mind on deeply held beliefs and irrationally held beliefs are the hardest to shake -- but, at the very least, it might help him lose a few pounds.