news An Object Lesson in City Services

Mark Towhey is Rob Ford’s chief policy advisor. A part of Ford’s team from the earliest days of the mayoral campaign, he’s known for his conservatism and is a major architect of the mayor’s ongoing push to trim services in the name of fiscal restraint. (Famously, about this time last year Towhey suggested privatizing the TTC.)

Last night, in the aftermath of an intense storm that brought down trees across the city, Towhey found himself in need of a City service—specifically, the 311 information line.

Unfortunately, it seems he had a bit of trouble getting through…

[View the story “An Object Lesson in City Services” on Storify]

This may be a good juncture at which to remember that as a councillor, Towhey’s boss—and now our mayor—voted in December of 2009 to eliminate funding for 311.

It is, after all, clearly an expendable service people don’t rely on in any way.