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The Toronto Parking Authority's Board of Fools.

The Inattentive Chair

Chair George K. Soulis demonstrated how not to run a board meeting. It's a democratic board with each member voting on various motions by raising their hands. Generally one needs to look at people to count the number of hands in the air. For the first two votes Soulis asked for a vote and announced carried without ONCE looking up from his notes. How can he count what he couldn't see?

For one vote, and we won't make it easy on Soulis by telling him which one, less than 1/2 of the board members had their hands in the air when he announced carried. How can a motion carry with a majority either abstaining or voting against it? George Soulis was helped by the rest of the board, who were asleep at the switch, letting him continue without a peep of protest. If they were paying attention they would have voted or pointed out to Soulis that the motion had not carried.

No-so-secret Sessions

The board went in-camera for 3 items on the agenda. That is supposed to mean it's secret. Now everyone was asked to leave, but the majority of voices could be heard clearly in the hallway. The meeting room shared a wall with a one-room library. Walk into the library and listen to every word of the top secret in-camera board meeting, with ease. The idea to lower their voices didn't cross a single mind on this board of fools.

TPA's staff had recommended two sales of used equipment that didn't quite seem kosher. One sale apparently received bids from individuals with similar or the same last names, the other was possibly to be sold to an employee. Michael Feldman observed since they were under scrutiny it probably wasn't a good idea. It became clear that the TPA does not have a policy of getting the best value for the dollar, you know serving the people of Toronto effectively, when selling used equipment they don't want to store. Announcing it's not a good idea to do something because of public interest isn't exactly swift. Far better not to do it because it's wrong!

Apparently The Toronto Tribune ruffled a few Dodo feathers at the TPA. Prior to start of the board meeting of January 28th, the article was a popular topic among some of the members, the ones that weren't asleep. We held the TPA board accountable for failing to clear the ice and snow from the sidewalks next to their parking lots. All other Toronto properties, whether business or residential are required under a city by-law to do so. The TPA failed miserably in the December snow storms and this inaction continued in January. Stan Kumorek made a really foolish statement of excuse. In his battle for the title of biggest fool of the board of fools, he repeated it when the Board discussed TPA media coverage.

Stan Kumorek babbled incessantly about the Maitland parking lot. Apparently a residential property dumps a portion of their snow on the sidewalk. (Not 100% of the sidewalk but when avoiding taking responsibility for inaction this board of fools isn't about to let facts get in their way of a good dodge). The TPA may not be the only Torontonians with nasty neighbors who clear their ice by dumping it on their neighbors property. It is the property owners responsibility to meet the 12 hour by-law deadline. Kumorek didn't suggest he that he had contacted the nasty neighbor to deal with the issue. No, it was merely his excuse to explain why the TPA board failed in their responsibility to the pedestrians in Toronto and TPA customers.

Gwyn Thomas took partial responsibility for the failure in January. He refused to answer for the December failures when directly asked. He also cut the amount of time it took the TPA to get it's act together when reporting on the issue to the board.  He correctly pointed out he had spoken to The Toronto Tribune prior to the January article and his comments hadn't been printed. He seemed put out by this fact.

Editorial control of The Toronto Tribune remains with The Toronto Tribune. Thomas apparently is unaware that being interviewed, isn't a guarantee his comments will get coverage. The Toronto Tribune, in turn, doesn't write the Agenda for the TPA board, nor would we want to. If we did item one would read

 

Fire all Fools!

Kyle Rae skipped most of the board meeting. He was present for the discussion of the media coverage. Asked if he wanted to discuss any article he shouted "the stupid one". Kyle immediately turned around and smirked at The Toronto Tribune, in a fit of immaturity. Unprofessional behavior anywhere; especially at a board where he is representing the people of Toronto. At the very least, professionalism should be demonstrated at all times by an elected city official. Thin-skinned board members are in the wrong job.

Calling The Toronto Tribune's article 'stupid' doesn't even place Kyle Rae in the running for the title biggest fool on the board. The Toronto Tribune isn't interested in Kyle Rae's opinion. We are interested in having all of the board members doing their jobs for the people of Toronto. We are interested in the man who slipped and fell on an ice patch in December on a sidewalk in the city's east end thanks to the TPA failing to clear their ice. We are interested in the seniors who complained that they had to go out of their way to avoid the TPA sidewalks that are never cleared. [Note to Gwyn Thomas the seniors first complained to us in December]

Kyle, who this reporter had never met or ever spoken with, announced he had been interviewed by the reporter from The Toronto Tribune and his comments weren't in the article. Technically his comments were in the article: he didn't make any. There wasn't any direct communication between Rae and The Toronto Tribune. This reporter contacted Rae's office who said they'd have him call. Kyle Rae never returned the call. He didn't leave a voice message nor did call display show a call from him or his office.

That seemed really strange, to refer to a non-existent interview, until it became crystal clear where Rae was going with this stunt. It backfired spectacularly on him. The Toronto city councilor, Kyle Rae, wanted to know the name of the contractor who was responsible for clearing the TPA parking lots, and was genuinely surprised to learn it is TPA employees. He's on the board of the TPA and isn't aware of their functionality? If there was a contractor then the TPA would have paid the invoice. A good chunk of the TPA meeting was taken up with invoice payments. This was the only thing that seemed to wake some but not all  of these board members out of their self-induced comas. Other than voting for a $21,000 ritzy dinner to be held on February 19th Toronto at the Intercontinental Hotel, what exactly does Rae do on the board? Then, earning his prize title, Rae had to be corrected when he declared the City of Toronto was responsible for clearing "all the sidewalks". Really! Why did the City spend a fortune on the 'be nice, clear your ice" promotional campaign. Maybe Mel Lastman had the same erroneous information when he called in the army because Toronto had a snowfall. The clear your ice by-law doesn't read 'everyone except Kyle Rae must clear their sidewalks within 12 hours of ice or snow fall.'

The Toronto Tribune was right in the January article. Instead of dealing with the issues raised, this bunch of fools went into damage control and made a bigger mess faster for themselves. This article was supposed to be about the lack of a equitable selling policy for used equipment. We didn't expect this board to vie for the title biggest fool on the board but they did and we covered it.

Kyle Rae was not contacted for this article. There isn't much point in interviewing someone when you have to fact check every word that comes out of their mouth. Kyle, it seems, was put out that he and Michael Feldman were singled out in the January article. The Toronto Tribune will make it up to little Kyle. We'll pay for his pacifier.