OP-ED: Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow waltzes through a city in decline

Sue Ann Levy writes, "The joke being shared in Toronto is that Mayor Olivia Chow dances while the city burns, I wish it were a joke."

Source: Facebook

By Sue-Ann Levy

The joke being shared in Toronto is that Mayor Olivia Chow dances while the city burns.

I wish it were a joke.

In all my years writing about city affairs, I have never seen a mayor so inept and so disconnected from what is taking place in the city she is supposed to oversee.

Every weekend over this past summer, I wince whenever I see her flailing her arms in her version of dancing at some outdoor festival, often cosplaying in some sort of ridiculous costume or posing with a variety of diversity groups — except Jewish groups, of course.

This past weekend was no exception when she took to the stage at Jerkfest — a Caribbean event — to rail on semi-coherently about the 51st state, diversity and the evils of Trump.

“We believe when we come together we are stronger … because of our love, because of our diversity,” she shouted while waving a Jamaican flag.

She also posted on Facebook, as she does after every weekend, how many festivals and diversity groups with which she shmoozed. She outdid herself this past weekend.

Meanwhile, on that very same day as she was waving the Jamaican flag, there was yet another protest at Yonge and Dundas by a cast of nearly 2,000 Jew haters.

At about 2:30 p.m., they took over the intersection, shouting their usual crap and aided and abetted by a top cop. In this video, he’s even permitting a protest truck to get through.

On that day, as well, I walked along Eglinton Ave near Avenue Road and saw the city garbage bins filled to overflowing, not to be emptied until Monday.

A few days earlier — after bugging the city for six weeks — workers from the city’s road operations came and hacked down some of the trees covering the sidewalk and the long grass and weeds that had grown unchecked on a boulevard outside a derelict home on Chaplin Crescent.

Hacked is a good word because they left all the brush behind on the boulevard ,where it has remained for days — kind of defeating the purpose of clearing the boulevard.

Can we say lazy, poorly managed union workers?

But this is Chow’s Toronto, where new street names and bike lanes take priority over actually keeping the city clean and safe

While our useless and incompetent mayor rails on stupidly about Trump, he’s been like a whirling dervish trying to clean up Washington, D.C. and bring an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia.

The irony is not lost on many.

I’ve written many times about the decline of a once beautiful and clean city I’ve reported on since 1998. But never has it looked so sad, pathetic and certainly not world-class.

In fact, when I biked down to Nathan Phillips Square last week, the seat of government where I used to have an office, I was astounded.

It looked like a ghost town.

The tour groups I used to see every summer were almost non-existent, as was the vibe of people once crowded into the Square.

The cafe that used to host people outside City Hall sits empty, chairs piled on top of each other.

It made me sad.

I have heard from many people afraid to go downtown now.

And why would they?

Parking is almost non-existent and where it does exist, it is squeezed between bike lanes. The one place where people do seem to congregate is outside safe injection sites, harassing innocent residents and shooting up with impunity on our streets and sidewalks.

Encampments are allowed to fester and poor mentally ill people are left on the sidewalk to fend for themselves while Chow fawns over “well-fed” (her words) Gazan refugees who have come to Toronto.

The black man I wrote about in early August, across from the entrance to the Distillery District, is still there with a bag over his head and scabs on his legs.

Will Chow and city officials allow him to remain there when the weather starts to turn cold?

Here I thought socialists were supposed to embrace love and diversity.

Most days I wonder if the city will ever be the same again.

Every single day I hear about another person who has left (and is glad to have done so) or is looking to leave Toronto.

I’m not the slightest bit surprised.

Chow is notorious for dancing around the truth.