Toronto is likened to The Maple Leafs, prosperous and forever trying, but never getting to the pinnacle of success

BY STEVEN KASZAB

Watching the Maple Leaf fans reaction to being elevated to the second round of the playoffs only to have the Leafs fall onto their face once again was not a surprise.

The loving fans elicit a certain emotion however, one of sorrow with the label “I told you so.”

Having travelled to many real great cities, I always return home to the city I was born in, Toronto. Not that it is a marvellous city, and if I were a tourist visiting Toronto I’d be very disappointed in what it has to offer. Not many destination attractions, lots of in-city transportation chaos, long waits, very high costs, and non-existent customer service. Perhaps I’d be happy with what is left of Toronto’s waterfront?

Back to the multi-millionaires playing a game, paid no matter whether they perform well or not. Yah, that’s Toronto! Torontonians think they are the centre of Canada’s universe in every way.

Know something needs to be done in the city. City Council studies it to death, on and on, again and again, lacking any initiative to achieve any greatness for the city. Look at their transit, and lack of historic city planning

Even when they do plan something, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. One service lays pipe, places concrete over the work only to have another service come by and dig it all up to place electrical wiring. Their city piping is over a hundred years old and they claim to not have the funds, or ability to fix what can be a terrible problem in the future.

The City Council is mostly made up of a bunch of elitist socialists who live and die within the city they have mismanaged. An original idea coming out of their combined talking head will never happen. The City of Toronto expands; its population grows while plans for the future remain unheard of from their City Council.

A downtown of no real consequence, with a waterfront riddled with condos and unused warehouses. These folks cannot even decide what to do with their exhibition-waterfront playhouse. Needed housing, a park, entertainment or spa centre? Talk, talk and talk some more. That is all they do. The Premier wants action, decisions to be made, while the City Council looks upon him as opposition instead of a financial partner; ideologies that do not mesh well.

The rest of Ontario often is ignored while Toronto cries out for more revenue, more decision-making, and more attention.

Toronto cannot live within its own financial means, whether they are in a pandemic, or not. Excuses abound, yet Torontonians live in a city divided by: the stressed working class, shrinking middle class and Royal Blue upper class. Class distinctions abide everywhere. Can Toronto identify itself, where it is going and how it’s going to get its bankrupt self-there?

Toronto is likened to The Maple Leafs, prosperous and forever trying, but never getting to the pinnacle of success. Why do you think Toronto fans are so rabid? They have nothing else to look forward to.