Reason to Love Toronto: because the city ombudsman fights city hall—and wins
Fiona Crean skis double black diamonds. She paraglides off cliffs in Peru. And as Toronto’s ombudsman—our Judge Judy on all matters municipal—she takes on the power brokers at city hall. In October, she pulled off her biggest coup since starting the job in 2009. Crean discovered that over 90 per cent of the 12,000 claims residents made to the city between 2005 and 2010—over sewer backups, fallen tree branches, potholes and the like—had been automatically rejected. Her team’s sweeping, 14-month investigation unearthed something even more gobsmacking: the staffers who were dismissing these claims were lying to claimants, telling them that an investigation had been conducted. Crean is a seasoned political animal, having worked as interim ombudsman for Ontario, so she knows how the game is played. She held a press conference to reveal her findings, essentially giving Ford—the mayor who prides himself on quality customer service—no option but to comply. She made 10 recommendations, which the city manager, Joe Pennachetti, quickly accepted, promising to implement a new service standard by the end of this month. For a resident with a flooded basement or a cracked axle, that means no more bureaucratic foot-dragging on the other end of the line. Within 18 months—a nanosecond in the glacially paced world of government—Crean spotted a gargantuan problem and fixed it, turning her fury into results. Now that’s something we can get behind.
It doesnt look like she fought city hall, it looks like she went over the head of crappy managers and city staff, directly to leadership (and the public) to point out what some of the problems are. Either way, awesome job.
I find the most impressive stuff in the first two sentences. That, and her smashing white hair.
The article is interesting and is good to know that there is someone raising issues. But the reality is that she is not fighting city hall per se. She is pointing out that people working at the city hall don’t do their job properly. And if you ask anyone that had to deal with city hall would say the same thing.
The sad reality is that most of these people are part of CUPE, and they ask for all kind of perks and benefits, without having the civic morale to do their job properly at least. No mayor good or bad can change these people.
i want white hair
give the woman a star on yonge
Whatever she is saying,,,,,,she looks like a star! Go for it Fiona!
I concur with all of the other comments
Keep up the good work and
Who is your hairdresser??