W. K. Lis
Superstar
From The Star, at this link:
Rob Ford’s playground photo-ops raise questions about voting record
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford cut the ribbon of a Jane-Sheppard park whose funding he had voted against in 2012. His critics say he is being a hypocrite.
Mayor Rob Ford climbs a play structure at the Woburn Park re-opening on. July 21.
There he was last Monday, climbing a jungle gym. There he was on Sunday, riding a teeter-totter.
Mayor Rob Ford is never more endearing than when he is gleefully hanging out with children. Perhaps uncoincidentally, Ford is making the playground photo-op a staple of his election summer.
He says he has a record of investment in playgrounds and parks. His critics say he is being a hypocrite.
On Saturday, Ford cut the ribbon at a new amphitheatre and park in North York’s Jane-Sheppard neighbourhood. In 2012, though, he was the only member of council to vote against a proposal to let the city use $140,000 in private money to build the park. The proposal passed 34-1.
Local resident and advocate Talisha Ramsaroop, 21, said Ford told her and two other young people at the ceremony that he has done more for low-income communities than any other mayor — and that he “started” the park project.
“Those were his exact words: ‘I started this,’ ” Ramsaroop said.
In fact, the park, Reading Sprouts Garden, was a painstaking multi-year initiative of local councillor Maria Augimeri. Ramsaroop said she was “really upset” when she was informed later of Ford’s opposing vote.
“To be quite honest, I didn’t know that politicians were allowed to lie to your face,” Ramsaroop said. “Like, I know this sounds really optimistic, but I was completely unaware that politicians were allowed to lie to the face of the people.”
Ford’s spokesman, Amin Massoudi, did not respond to a request to confirm or deny the comment. In an earlier exchange, Massoudi refused to explain why Ford appeared at the park despite his vote against it.
“He either forgot or it doesn’t matter to him,” said Augimeri. “Is it shameless or ignorant? I don’t know.” She said Ford should have either skipped the ceremony or acknowledged in his speech that he has changed his mind about the worthy project.
Ford is appearing at two more refurbished playgrounds on Wednesday alone, one in midtown and one in Etobicoke. Both playgrounds have received substantial private money.
Ford is a staunch supporter of non-government investment in parks. But he also took a vocal stand last year against the government itself spending more on playgrounds.
Though Ford had never attended a meeting of the parks committee as mayor, he took his seat at the committee in September specifically so he could cast a pointed vote against three proposals to improve parks-related service.
One of the proposals was a motion from Councillor Gord Perks to replace 30 old playgrounds per year rather than the current 12. (Toronto has about 900.) The change would have cost about $2.3 million per year.
“We can’t have these lefties spending like drunken sailors,” Ford said then.
Massoudi said Ford is always mindful of public dollars — but has a “record of making significant investments in important community infrastructure such as playgrounds and parks.” The mayor, Massoudi said, has invested $47 million on 122 “new and improved” playgrounds and water-play structures, “with 49 playgrounds upgraded in 2014 alone.”
Mike Schreiner, the city’s director of parks development and capital projects, said the correct number is 101 playgrounds and water-play structures upgraded during Ford’s mayoralty, not 122.
Regardless, Ford cannot fairly take credit for all of the upgrades.
Only $6 million of the $47 million came from city taxpayers, Schreiner said. Over Ford’s four-year term, Schreiner said, the city will have replaced 48 playgrounds with that cash.
The majority of the enhancements, Schreiner said, are being paid for with private funds — about $41 million secured from developers and other non-government sources by individual councillors.
Neighbourhoods starved of lucrative development have to wait for the city itself to make their playgrounds better. At a 12-per-year pace, they could wait more than 70 years. The proposed funding hike Ford opposed, still being studied by the city, would mean a timeline of closer to 30 years.
“The mayor made the only appearance he has ever made at the parks and environment committee with the sole purpose of making sure that Toronto doesn’t invest in having great parks and great playgrounds,” Perks said. “This isn’t a matter that he accidentally voted against once. This is something that he made one of the most unusual moves of his career to prevent from happening.”
Last edited:
