The Sutcliffe article sounds like "I'm doing a great job and I'll continue to do so" while Leiper article seems to offer up more ideas of the "how" things could get done.
Neil's "Open Books 100 Days" sounds like his "The Thousand". He likes flashy things. I think he'd find that opening the books to the public is legally challenging.
His "buck a ride", another slogan that sounds better than reality, would be disastrous for the City's books.
Lawson, the rural, ultra conservative McMansion builder is the worse of the bunch. Let's start with his pledge to reinstate rush hour express buses. That would take a whole lot more buses, and it would undermine the investment in rail. And it sounds like he wants to cut the transit budget, so how the heck would he bring back express buses?
Quote:
“It’s not a popular opinion, but I don’t believe that government should get more involved in things, and I would normally say that government shouldn’t be involved in building houses. I do believe in smaller government,” Lawson said.
“But in a situation like we have now … once we give the private sector every opportunity to bring these prices down — whether it’s land availability, cutting red tape, cutting development charges, whatever it is — let’s give them all the tools at our disposal. If they still don’t do it in 12 months, we’re going to do it. We’re going to step in … we’re going to hire the people that know how to do it, to dig holes, pour foundations, or frame houses or put roofs on them. And then people are going to live in them and we’re going to charge what people can afford.”
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So you think the private sector will build affordable housing out of the goodness of their hearts? Even if you remove all fees and taxes, housing prices won't go down so dramatically that those living on the street will be able to afford them. And then you've created another problem by removing a major revenue source from the City.
Anyone who thinks they can run the City (or any Government) like a business is missing the point. Job #1 of Government is serving its citizens. Job #1 of a business is profits, often at the expense of quality and service. Those are not compatible goals.
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