A Toronto city hall watcher’s Christmas wish list

They say the holidays are a time to be hopeful. And so, on Christmas Eve, this Toronto City Hall watcher is making three wishes.

They’re all being made, of course, under the long-shot assumption that I’ve been nice enough this year to earn some presents under the tree. Like I said, it’s a time to be hopeful.

My first wish is for a new focus on the issues. Politicians at the Queen Street clamshell have spent way too much time over the past year retreading old matters from previous administrations. We saw a debate on the very same transit plan that council approved under Mayor David Miller. We watched as councillors — again and again — talked about whether plastic bags should cost a few cents. And don’t get me started on the will-they-or-won’t-they saga that surrounded the Jarvis Street bike lanes.

Enough is enough. Let 2013 be a year about moving forward on new issues. I’m sick of reruns.

Second wish: I’d really like to have complete information about the Gardiner Expressway, both present conditions and options for the future. City staff have said there are maybe six more years of life in the elevated highway unless a huge repair bill is met, but a previously approved study of options for the section of the expressway between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway was, for some mysterious reason, put on hold.

The bottom line is that the Gardiner is an old, decaying structure that carries thousands of heavy vehicles every day. It’s not something that can be glossed over or fixed with a Band-Aid. The lack of information about long-term solutions is depressing.

My last wish is simple: I’d like a mayor.

Honestly, I don’t really care who it is. It could be Mayor Rob Ford. It could be NDP MP Olivia Chow. It could be Adam Vaughan, Shelley Carroll, John Tory or Karen Stintz. It doesn’t really matter. I just want to know who’s going to do the job for the next couple of years.

As it is, in the wake of the court ruling in the Ford conflict-of-interest case, city hall has been gripped by too much uncertainty and wild speculation. There are so many questions — about appeals, appointments, byelections and whatever else — that everything, including the 2013 budget process, has been overshadowed.

It makes for a lousy status quo. As the city manager has pointed out, there are big issues coming down the pike. Council has a serious decision to make on transit-revenue tools in the coming year. And the issue of a Toronto casino seemingly will not go away. If we can’t have real leadership, city hall at least needs stability.

That’s the wish, anyway. Here’s to a happy — and hopeful — holiday season.