Smell that? That repugnant aroma is the
relations between city and citizen going sour in the summer heat. Not that the
relationship between Joe Q. Public and the government he hates so very much has
ever been a cozy one, but it certainly seems that tempers are flaring with more
alarming frequency during these first few days of Summer 2010.
First there seemed to be an incident a
couple of Saturdays ago on transit where afternoon shoppers at Stone Road Mall
had to face the fact that maybe they weren’t going to get downtown in a timely
manner as a supervisor arrived to pull the driver before departure. The
supervisor told those gathered on the bus that they’ll have to wait for the
next trip as that bus was going out of service, but the riders revolted and the
bus took them downtown as planned. However, anyone wanting a transfer to the
Number 23 or 24 was left, well, wanting, because both buses were delayed.
Another transit supervisor came over to those waiting in front of the Bank of
Montreal on Quebec St. and said that while the 24 will be arriving late, the 23 wouldn't
be arriving at all.
So what was going on with the bus system on
this particular sunny June Saturday? Certainly there’s been a cold war between
management and drivers since the “summer schedule” got underway, which leaves
transit users caught in the middle as usual. Between management’s clinical
detachment and the drivers’ work-to-rule literalism, an average, everyday
normal bus rider is left no quarter. Complain to a driver, go tell it to city
hall; complain to city hall and they’ll “look into it.”
Things seemed to exacerbate with the
arrival of the first of five so-called “Karen Days” last Monday. City
facilities were closed, library books sat unborrowed, and garbage was not
picked up and hauled to the dump. All this, apparently, was a genuine surprise
to several people. Now I don’t typically expect the average citizen to be as
informed as someone that writes about local politics for a living, but the
outrage from the ill-informed surprised me. I offer this bit from a Guelph
Mercury article last Tuesday about one man’s reaction to the lack of garbage
pick-up:
“Well, that’s just great,” said Jim Stevenson, owner of a three-unit
apartment building on Alma
Street which had about a dozen
blue and green bags sitting at the curb. “Whoever’s in council now, I’m not
voting for them again, put it that way.”
Stevenson went on
to say that he had “no idea” that this effort to stymie the need to increase
taxes further was coming, and that the city “owed him” $20 for a trip to the
dump. The article went on to tell other stories of people blocked from their
city facility-related activities including a student looking to study at the
library and a mother looking to take her child for a swim in a pool before an
educational jaunt to the civic museum. Quote the mom: “I had no idea it was
closed.”
The revelation on
the Mayor’s blog that the five days of city closures were factored into the
property tax hike for 2010 (hence no refund) drew Samuel L. Jackson-like
furious anger from those reading about in on the Mercury’s City Hall blog. “I wonder how many spin doctors it took to come up with that!”
exclaimed Cathy. “Oh come on, Karen. You either run a city or you don't. You
don't partially run a city,” said D.C. What’s interesting is that in a
political sphere run by partisan rancour at the other two levels of government,
it’s nice that we can all agree to hate the government together on a local
level.
The anger isn’t what strikes me, although
the way things are going on a transit I doubt anyone’s going to want to ride
anymore come the return of the 20-minute schedule in the fall. What strikes me
is the anger combined with ignorance. Now the informed angry I give a pass, but
the people I referenced from the Mercury article don’t have a leg to stand on
in my opinion. Truly, it seems that that the only way some people can get
informed is if a city employee comes to their house and explains things to them
face-to-face. Forget newspapers, advertising, word-of-mouth, press releases and
posted notices on city facilities. Of course, then they’d be complaining about
the waste of taxpayer’s money. Again.
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