City workers take care of business
When the right person gets involved, it doesn’t take the city long to fix a problem. And it’s too bad more people don’t recognize it.
An easy target for those who think ill of government are its employees, the people who clear snow, fix broken pipes, administer social assistance and keep the city moving in ways that are not so obvious.
The 35-day shutdown of parts of the U.S. federal government that just ended is a good example of the value of people who work for taxpayers; dangerous cracks in vital services were growing by the day, until the stable genius in charge backed down on border wall funding.
But some people cling to the charade that government employees are lazy and shiftless. Who hasn’t heard the story about one worker digging, while five guys pick their noses and watch?
It is our experience that Toronto municipal employees are good value. They take pride in their work. And if something slips through the cracks, it’ll still get fixed, if it’s brought to the attention of a manager.
That would be the case with a transit shelter missing glass panels at the corner of Kennedy Rd. and McNicoll Ave., the subject of our column earlier this week, which left occupants exposed to bone-chilling winds from the west.
We sent a note last Friday to Ryan Lanyon, who’s in charge of city street furniture. He replied within hours, saying it just happened to be on his to-do list for Monday, and that he’d see if it could be fixed even sooner. On Monday we got a note from the reader who reported the problem to us, saying she went past the shelter on Sunday afternoon, “and was shocked to see three (new) glass panels attached.
“It was quite the blustery day, so the shelter provided real protection. Thank you for the influence of the Toronto Star in getting our tax dollars working.”
And thanks to Lanyon, who looked after it immediately.
Likewise with one of our columns last week, about railings on a pedestrian island on Kennedy Rd., which were knocked down by vehicles that smashed into them, leaving people standing on it feeling exposed and vulnerable.
Edison Alexander, who’s in charge of area road operations, responded to a Monday note from us by saying he’d get right on it.
And when Alexander promises to do something, he means business.
He sent us an email at noon on Thursday that included a photo showing all the smashed railings had been replaced. We went by a few days later to take pictures and saw the repairs for ourselves. City officials 2, naysayers 0. On three occasions in the past two weeks, city officials said problems would be resolved right away, and they were.
In our books, it’s safe to say the city is pretty darn good at taking care of business. Keep that in mind, the next time a blowhard wants to talk about five guys watching a sixth guy digging a hole. What's broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email or follow @TOStarFixer on Twitter