City Completely Dysfunctional

A good friend spends much of his time these days around City Hall.

If I told you half of what he tells me, we'd all be sued.

Suffice it to say that the themes are consistent.

Nobody can get anything done.

No large projects are moving forward.

The Mayor has no idea about any of this or what to do about it.

The staff don't talk to the Mayor.

The Mayor, devoting all his time to re-election and getting drugs to addicts, is completely out of the loop at City Hall. His interest in the daily affairs of state is less than zero, and that is only matched by his knowledge of current affairs.

Nevertheless, the pathetic NPA have given this idiot a complete Pass; his candidacy will not be contested.

Which leaves COPE and Vision to come up with a winner, without splitting the vote.

Lord help us that they have the strategic wisdom to join forces and push the little fellow down the OUT ramp next November.

A banker sitting next to me at a fundraiser last Sunday had this comment after Sam received an underwhelmingly damp response:

"At first I was proud of this city that we could elect a quadriplegic as mayor. But it soon became evident that it's all about Sam. He's dreadful."

Playing to the Dangerous Doesn't Help

Doctors Withouts Borders withdrew from North Korea in 1998. Think about that.

Now the NY Philharmonic is considering a concert there after its upcoming tour in China.

This would be a dreadful mistake.

Read the editorial in the NY Times and tell me if you agree.

Our Juvenile Offender Programs are as Sophisticated as The Borstal Boy

The grass is always greener somewhere down the hill, and so called "experts" are fond of telling us how fabulously ahead of us the Europeans are in handling social problems (These are the experts who have never walked though the infested gauntlets in the main streets of Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zurich and Dublin.)

Having said all that, do have a look at a little item in this morning's NY Times regarding the new approach that the state of Missouri has been using for juvenile offenders. It looks sensible and promising. I guarantee you we have nothing close to this in Canada.

My Answer to Peter Ladner's Oh-So-Cavalier Suggestion about Asking for a Refund From the City With no Services for 3 Months

I survived 3 months of no garbage pick-up.

That's a clear indicator that garbage pick-up could easily be once every TWO weeks.
But that's not going to happen is it?

Nor are any of the thousands of cost savings that are possible, because there is no political will to do so.