All potholes and bike lanes are not created equally

Torontosun.com
January 22, 2020
Sue-Ann Levy

A few days ago during questions about the 2020 transportation budget,  Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam was upset with General Manager Barbara Gray for deciding there were “no equity impacts” in their budget.

Gray thanked Wong-Tam for her concern about equity budgeting, adding that she believes each of her department’s projects have the potential to “improve the lives of equity-seeking groups.”

In fact, Gray continued,  her department has started to do a “full-equity analysis” including demographic data built into all of their major programs, such as Vision Zero and their 10-year cycling plans.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam speaks at Pride funding debate at City Hall in Toronto Monday May 8, 2017. (Craig Robertson/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network )

Wong-Tam claimed only 6% of transportation funding is going to cycling infrastructure and Vision Zero which “protects the most vulnerable road users.”

Gray said some of the “buckets” in the capital budget do indeed include funding to make improvements for vulnerable road users.

But Wong-Tam wasn’t content to stop there, insisting that Gray and her department do a demographic analysis of who actually drives cars and who uses the sidewalks.

“You will never be able to dig deeper and put the equity lens over this budget … until you know who your clients are,” she said.

I couldn’t believe the time wasted on this nonsense or that Gray -- whose department can’t seem to even fill potholes in a timely manner let alone oversee major road construction projects -- would even admit that they’re doing a “full equity analysis” of each major program.

What does that even mean?

Does it mean that certain groups identified as more oppressed than others are more prone to get involved in pedestrian or cycling accidents? Do oppressed people -- racialized groups, women, LGBTQ types, Indigenous and others that qualify as part of Wong-Tam’s trendy intersectional paradigm -- cycle and walk more?

Do those only with white privilege drive cars? Or really big cars?

Perhaps, we should even take this one step further and question whether some bike lanes, roads, sidewalks and potholes are more oppressed than others -- depending on whether they are located in equity-seeking neighbourhoods of the city.

The possibilities are endless.

According to a lengthy briefing note to budget committee, equity responsive budgeting, which commenced in 2016 with a few programs, has “progressed significantly.”

This year, all city programs and agencies were required to apply an equity impact analysis to budget change proposals -- service reductions, new services, new user fees and efficiencies -- indicating whether all of these will have a negative or positive impact on the oppressed.

Each of the impact statements were reviewed by a panel of oppression industry outsiders to see if they were up to snuff.

The report says 117 staff across different divisions participated in eight training sessions to learn how to apply the “equity lens” to their budgets.

Despite this, “the quality of analysis was not consistent across all city programs and agencies and it is clear city staff require additional training … particularly as it relates to intersectional analysis.” the report adds.

Wong-Tam was back at it this week practically putting words in the mouth of a speaker from the YWCA.

“Is it surprising to you that staff have concluded there are no equity impacts in all of their budgets?” she asked the woman.

“Yes it is surprising,” she said.

“They’re saying programs reach every single Torontonian equally no matter gender or sexuality,” Wong-Tam continued. “Do you believe everybody is accessing services equally?

“Absolutely not,” the woman responded.

No surprises there.

Still folks, this is the sheer madness our weak mayor and equally weak budget chief have created at City Hall -- a giant social engineering experiment led by Wong-Tam and the Intersectional Police.

The practicalities of actually delivering hardcore city services -- garbage, water, paved roads, streets free of litter and construction debris, efficient transit and ensuring tax dollars are treated with respect  -- have been lost in this sea of virtue signalling mumbo jumbo (all with an underlying theme that white privilege must be beaten down).

The great irony is the truly oppressed are those of us who pay the freight for this madness.

Now if only there was taxpayer-responsive budgeting.