Ford Mouthpiece, Shrill-Ann Levy: "City over-promised, under-delivered" the Rubbish
City over-promised, under-delivered
By Sue-Ann Levy ,Toronto Sun
Updated: Sunday, August 12, 2012 08:32 PM EDT
The green and gray bins and the yard waste still sitting outside a home at the end of our street Sunday are testament to a less than smooth first week of newly contracted garbage pickup for District 2.
Still, I’m not surprised that there were growing pains in the first few days — which are likely to continue for a few weeks — with new drivers, new trucks, new routes and new pick-up times.
After two CUPE garbage strikes in 10 years, I’m willing to bet most residents in my neck of town are prepared to give the new contractor Green for Life (GFL) Environmental Corp. time to work out the kinks.
I have no doubt they will.
Having said that, many eyes are watching this first attempt by the Rob Ford regime to contract out city services, up to now heavily dominated by the CUPE unions.
Everyone is watching — especially the unions and the councillors who bow before them, all waiting to pounce like vultures and point out the so-called evils of privatization.
I want contracting out to work and believe many other city services are ripe for the same treatment — cleaning of city facilities, parks maintenance and road repairs, to start with the most obvious.
So the question remains, why would City Hall play into the hands of those so vehemently against contracting out?
As the week unfolded, I began to wonder if those in charge of the rollout were either deliberately trying to sabotage it, or just plain asleep at the switch.
True, the mayor was in hospital. But surely to goodness, there were staffers in his office to help public works chairman Denzil Minnan-Wong keep on top of things.
Gawd knows. It’s not as if this time of year is a busy one at City Hall and everyone had months to prepare — GFL included.
It should have been treated as a key priority and managed with kid gloves. All hands should have been on deck for at least the week before and during the rollout, vacations be damned.
My goodness, senior staffers were tripping over each other during the 2009 strike.
Instead it seemed that everything was done “on the fly.”
They over-promised and under-delivered.
In the week before the launch, I was shocked to discover that all senior communications staff connected with solid waste were on vacation.
Press materials should have been provided before last week ensuring residents impacted knew: a) the contract was changing, b) one’s pickup times and routes would probably change, and c) there was strong likelihood of garbage not getting picked up in the first few weeks.
They weren’t. The week before the rollout, I found myself chasing around trying to find somebody to talk and when I did, I was assured that there would be no major pitfalls — that everything would be “seamless.”
It hardly was. In my own neighbourhood, people used to getting their pickup in the mid-afternoon, were caught “holding the bag” when GFL arrived just shortly after 7 a.m.
Aside from a handful of councillors — like Sarah Doucette — few representing the catchment area reminded their residents of the pending change on their websites.
It didn’t escape my attention that the majority of councillors located in District 2 voted against contracting out.
My councillor, Josh Matlow, said he’d asked new solid waste general manager Jim Harnum a few weeks ago to provide information on the transition that could better equip residents — but he never received anything.
“The city could have done better job ... preparing residents for the possibility that there might be some teething pains,” he said.
Harnum said they knew hiccups would happen and it would be a good “two to three weeks” before everyone got into a rhythm.
“We’re disappointed ... we really wanted to deliver,” he said, noting he spent long hours monitoring the rollout last week. “I’ve apologized to the public for the pain ... we want to get this right.”
But Minnan-Wong said he didn’t think GFL or city staff “were at the top of their game” last week or in the weeks prior to the rollout.
The city should have been on GFL to ensure every problem was anticipated, he added.
“I don’t think we asked all the right questions in making sure GFL was ready,” Minnan-Wong said. “We’ve had a slow start ... a lot of people are watching and expectations are very high.”
If there are any lessons to be learned from the garbage rollout, city officials should have expected the worst and hoped for the best.
After all the stakes are high. This is the “poster child” for contracting out.
Even Shrill-Ann thought the crucial first week of rubbish privatization was an utter disaster. No shit. Hard to spin rubbish into poetry in motion I guess.
Also hard to fullfil the obligations of the 'contract' with an under-manned and under-equiped private sector garbage 'flotilla'.
Privatization 'on the fly' not properly vetted and hastily approved has led to this outcome
City over-promised, under-delivered
By Sue-Ann Levy ,Toronto Sun
Updated: Sunday, August 12, 2012 08:32 PM EDT
The green and gray bins and the yard waste still sitting outside a home at the end of our street Sunday are testament to a less than smooth first week of newly contracted garbage pickup for District 2.
Still, I’m not surprised that there were growing pains in the first few days — which are likely to continue for a few weeks — with new drivers, new trucks, new routes and new pick-up times.
After two CUPE garbage strikes in 10 years, I’m willing to bet most residents in my neck of town are prepared to give the new contractor Green for Life (GFL) Environmental Corp. time to work out the kinks.
I have no doubt they will.
Having said that, many eyes are watching this first attempt by the Rob Ford regime to contract out city services, up to now heavily dominated by the CUPE unions.
Everyone is watching — especially the unions and the councillors who bow before them, all waiting to pounce like vultures and point out the so-called evils of privatization.
I want contracting out to work and believe many other city services are ripe for the same treatment — cleaning of city facilities, parks maintenance and road repairs, to start with the most obvious.
So the question remains, why would City Hall play into the hands of those so vehemently against contracting out?
As the week unfolded, I began to wonder if those in charge of the rollout were either deliberately trying to sabotage it, or just plain asleep at the switch.
True, the mayor was in hospital. But surely to goodness, there were staffers in his office to help public works chairman Denzil Minnan-Wong keep on top of things.
Gawd knows. It’s not as if this time of year is a busy one at City Hall and everyone had months to prepare — GFL included.
It should have been treated as a key priority and managed with kid gloves. All hands should have been on deck for at least the week before and during the rollout, vacations be damned.
My goodness, senior staffers were tripping over each other during the 2009 strike.
Instead it seemed that everything was done “on the fly.”
They over-promised and under-delivered.
In the week before the launch, I was shocked to discover that all senior communications staff connected with solid waste were on vacation.
Press materials should have been provided before last week ensuring residents impacted knew: a) the contract was changing, b) one’s pickup times and routes would probably change, and c) there was strong likelihood of garbage not getting picked up in the first few weeks.
They weren’t. The week before the rollout, I found myself chasing around trying to find somebody to talk and when I did, I was assured that there would be no major pitfalls — that everything would be “seamless.”
It hardly was. In my own neighbourhood, people used to getting their pickup in the mid-afternoon, were caught “holding the bag” when GFL arrived just shortly after 7 a.m.
Aside from a handful of councillors — like Sarah Doucette — few representing the catchment area reminded their residents of the pending change on their websites.
It didn’t escape my attention that the majority of councillors located in District 2 voted against contracting out.
My councillor, Josh Matlow, said he’d asked new solid waste general manager Jim Harnum a few weeks ago to provide information on the transition that could better equip residents — but he never received anything.
“The city could have done better job ... preparing residents for the possibility that there might be some teething pains,” he said.
Harnum said they knew hiccups would happen and it would be a good “two to three weeks” before everyone got into a rhythm.
“We’re disappointed ... we really wanted to deliver,” he said, noting he spent long hours monitoring the rollout last week. “I’ve apologized to the public for the pain ... we want to get this right.”
But Minnan-Wong said he didn’t think GFL or city staff “were at the top of their game” last week or in the weeks prior to the rollout.
The city should have been on GFL to ensure every problem was anticipated, he added.
“I don’t think we asked all the right questions in making sure GFL was ready,” Minnan-Wong said. “We’ve had a slow start ... a lot of people are watching and expectations are very high.”
If there are any lessons to be learned from the garbage rollout, city officials should have expected the worst and hoped for the best.
After all the stakes are high. This is the “poster child” for contracting out.
Even Shrill-Ann thought the crucial first week of rubbish privatization was an utter disaster. No shit. Hard to spin rubbish into poetry in motion I guess.
Also hard to fullfil the obligations of the 'contract' with an under-manned and under-equiped private sector garbage 'flotilla'.
Privatization 'on the fly' not properly vetted and hastily approved has led to this outcome
