Did Johnson cave in or see the light?

Ward 1 councillor says he’s been working on road repair plan for months

A question needs to be asked in the face of what appears to be a spectacular political flip-flop by Coun. Aidan Johnson.

After years of spending “zero” area rating dollars to fix potholes on his west Hamilton roads, why did he suddenly do a turnabout and fling $747,000 at the problem, plus another $870,000 from a different designated fund?

Did the Ward 1 councillor see the light after being taunted by several councillors for using his area rating money on less pressing infrastructure projects?

Or did Johnson simply cave like cheap cardboard in the face of growing complaints about the woeful state of the city’s roads and spiking legal claims for car damages.

The way Johnson explains it, it was neither. He says he’s been working on a plan for remedying local road problems for months.

“I’ve been thinking about how much to put into roads from the infrastructure area rating reserve since Christmas.”

That naturally raises the question: why didn’t Johnson mention the plan last week when councillors lectured him?

Johnson says he “regrets” not speaking up, but also notes he hadn’t decided at the time exactly how much money he was going to commit.

Let’s back up a bit. Each year the eight old city wards receive roughly $1.7 million in area rating funds to be used on local infrastructure improvements. Johnson raised eyebrows by admitting that during this term of council he’s spent “zero” of that money on road repairs.

The discussion arose while council was approving Johnson’s request for $1.4 million for emergency repairs to rut-plagued Main Street West. That’s coming from two sources — $700,000 from unallocated capital reserves and $700,000 from a previously untapped Ward 1 fund for minor maintenance projects.

During the finger-wagging, Johnson pointed out he gets advice on how to spend area rating dollars from a committee of Ward 1 residents through a participatory budget process. He also noted that spending on roads is endlessly debated during the process but a primary argument against it is it wouldn’t go very far.

What Johnson didn’t tell councillors, however, is the idea of repairing roads is not only routinely submitted to the participatory budget process but that in 2016 it placed second on the list of priority projects.

Why didn’t that result in any road work getting done? Here’s where the story gets really twisty, if not downright tortured.

Johnson says he made the decision not to spend any money on roads back then because of an “equity question.” In short, because he didn’t know how to fairly decide which roads should be repaved, Johnson decided not to repave any of them.

“It was my call based on advice from the participatory budget advisory committee.”

But, weirdly enough, Johnson is now using 2016’s priority to justify peremptorily spending 2018 dollars without input from the advisory committee.

“I think it’s totally responsible for me to honour the 2016 ballot results with the motion I moved Friday.”

To be clear, his motion calls for spending $147,000 from the 2017 area rating fund, $600,000 from the 2018 fund, and $870,000 from the aforementioned minor maintenance fund, which Johnson has now feverishly emptied to pay for road repairs

So what about that “equity question” that derailed road work in 2016?

No problemo. Johnson says he’ll work with city staff to prioritize projects. Still, he intends to view the list through an “equity” lens, meaning, all else being equal, he’ll consider arguments for fixing roads in lower income neighbourhoods first. No doubt that will please all those holierthan-thou cars out there.

By the way, Johnson says he now “regrets” not moving ahead with any work in 2016.

A couple of points: Over the years, millions of dollars have been spent or earmarked for Ward 1 roads from the city-wide roads budgets. In addition, councillors have just approved new money for road repairs across the city.

What we’re talking about here is strictly area rating dollars and the Ward 1 minor maintenance fund.

We’re also talking about a progressive councillor who, while feathered with regrets, belatedly seems to realize road work, area rating dollars, and participatory budgeting can go hand in hand.