After reading yet another article about how my ward’s city councillor (Cesar Palacio) is just a lackey for Rob Ford, I decided to write a letter to him expressing my disapproval.
Councillor Palacio,
I am extremely disappointed with your continuing blind obedience to the wishes of the mayor. It has become increasingly clear that you do not care about the best interests of your city or your ward. I cannot otherwise explain your repeated votes to cut services (the number 47 bus is now even more crowded than it used to be), and your willingness to be party to the increasingly petty vindictiveness of the mayor whenever someone disagrees with him.
Shame on your for how you have treated Councillor Stintz, and shame again for your vote to have meeting to fire Gary Webster, who has apparently committed the unforgivable crime of disagreeing with the mayor.
You may not have realized it, but your ward is changing. Increasingly, new construction and the revitalization of St. Clair is bringing in new residents (such as myself) whose views you are not representing (and often, not even acknowledging). You of all people should know the long-term value of surface transit — it is already evident in the many new businesses opening along St. Clair.
If you don’t stop blindly supporting a mayor who has been showing himself to be unable to compromise (even when offered several opportunities to do so), and who cannot turn even his well-intentioned and publicly-supported ideas into actual executable plans, you will find yourself on the losing side of an election fairly quickly. And I will do my best to see that happens sooner rather than later.
Chris Micacchi
Resident, Ward 17
Toronto
I don’t expect a (meaningful) reply — he’s clearly in love with being in a position of power — but it was a nice way to vent.
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