Tag: councilwatching

Okay, so. Top bureaucrats who have stepped down this term:

• City manager Peter Wallace (to the Treasury Board)
• TTC CEO Andy Byford (to NYC)
• CFO Rob Rossini (retired)
• Head of Transportation Stephen Buckley (to Philadelphia)
• Deputy City Manager John Livey (retired)
• Chief Planner Jen Keesmaat (to non-profits/think tanks)

A number of city councillors have also announced they’re not running for re-election:

• John Filion
• Janet Davis
• Mary-Margaret McMahon (who, admittedly, promised she would only serve two terms and is in favour of term limits)
• Josh Colle

I mean, like…does anyone get the sense they’re not running to something so much as running from something? 🤔🤔🤔

One possibility is that, after years of budget cuts and “kicking the can down the road”, the City has run out of road. And if MLTT revenue flattens or falls, which it’s bound to do eventually, we’d be well and truly fucked. As successive City Managers have said, there is no “gravy” left at City Hall. Serious cuts would have to involve mass layoffs, and the unions representing City staff would fight back. It could get unpleasant.

Or they’ve all realized that, deep down, Toronto is a potential NYC with ambitions of becoming, like…Akron, Ohio, and any forward-thinking bureaucrat or politician can make a bigger impact elsewhere.

Or some oracle has revealed to the elect that a massive sinkhole is going to swallow up Hellmouth is going to open up under City Hall some time in the next four years, but she’s not quite sure when, and everyone’s just decided to play it safe.

Or it could just be coincidence. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’m just being a bit paranoid, right?