Is Mayor David Miller and the executive committee even listening?

It's funny how politicians never seem to listen, except when there's an election. There willingness to listen to the people during election time is overwhelming, however all that seems to change when they get elected and forget who there really working for, which is definitely not themselves or their vested egos for that matter, but the very people that had them elected is who there suppose to be working for, yet in most cases that isn't happening.

Take for instance the bringing down of the section of the Gardiner Expressway east of Jarvis St. It seems our overzealous mayor, Mr. David Miller and the Waterfront Toronto board of directors are determined to go ahead with their decision to just tear down the section of the Gardiner Expressway and replace it with an eight lane Lakeshore Blvd which would involve traffic signals and pedestrians. What this means for drivers everywhere in Toronto and the suburbs is more chaos and headaches, as drivers would be forced off the Gardiner Expressway at Jarvis Street and forced onto the eight lane LakeShore Blvd where they'll have to deal with numerous traffic signals, and pedestrians, all in an attempt to get back onto the Don Valley Parkway which right now is completely connected with the Gardiner, meaning driver's aren't forced to deal with any of these kind of situations.

The real issue here isn't just the utter chaos, frustration and headaches it would create for Torontonians trying to get to work, or just trying to get across the city, the bottom line is the money that Mr. Miller and the Waterfront Toronto board of directors want to spend on having the section of the Gardiner torn down, not to mention the utter congestion it would create for motorists trying to get into and out of downtown Toronto.

If you read the Toronto Sun on June 28? Sun Media reporter Antonella Artuso did a fine piece of journalism on what's continuing to happen with the Gardiner Expressway situation. She mentioned that city council is being asked to approve a $11 million dollar environmental assessment that will take up to five years to assess and city Councillor Michael Del Grande has come up with a way to save Torontonian taxpayers from spending out all that money for an assessment. Instead Mr. Grande suggested that closing down the Gardiner/Don Valley Parkway link for a week would be a cheaper and easier way of seeing the effects this would have on motorists and traffic along the Gardiner/DVP link, as well this way city Council could get a more broader sense of whether tearing down the link between the Gardiner Expressway and the DVP would be a good idea or not.

Of course with all good ideas to save taxpayers money, Councillor Michael Del Grande's proposal to shutdown the Gardiner/Don Valley Parkway link was rejected by the executive committee.

Which brings us back to the issue at hand. Is Mayor David Miller and the Waterfront Toronto board of directors set firm in their decision to just go ahead with their plans no matter what the cost, or what the people of Toronto think? Or is Mayor David Miller and the Waterfront Toronto board of directors and Toronto city Council themselves willing to finally concede to the fact that they made a mistake and should really rethink this issue further. Seeing all this money that's being spent, 11 million dollars just for an environmental assessment alone, could be spent on Toronto East General Hospitals expansion plans to renovate and expand their current facilities. That 11 million dollars alone would guarantee that no indoor or outdoor public pool in Toronto would have to be closed. That money could help fund the cash strapped Toronto Transit Commission with alleviating some of the traffic of Toronto roads and highways.

The 11 million dollar question right now on Torontonians minds is, Mayor David Miller and Toronto city Council members are you listening to what Torontonians are trying to say, or are you just waiting for another general election to happen to hear what we have to say?