Sometimes it takes longer than it should, but the city eventually gets around to fixing just about everything, even stuff that seems forgotten.

After many years of looking into municipal problems in need of repair, one thing is clear: the city is a lot better at fixing things than many people credit it for.

Whenever I was asked to speak to a community group, one thing I’d state at the outset is that Toronto works much better than most people realize. In fact, it’s a daily miracle that the city works as well as it does, especially compared to many major U.S. cities.

Despite what some would have you believe, it’s not true that to work for the city is to rip off the taxpayer, and that municipal workers are by nature lazy, indolent and protected by cynical unions.

My experience is pretty much the opposite — unionized city workers, as a group, work hard, take pride in a job well done and offer good value for the money we pay them.

But it can still take longer to fix things than it should, which likely has more to do with how city employees are managed than their motivation or work ethic.

Christopher Bozek emailed to say, “It never ceases to amaze me just how often derelict construction leaves residents and local businesses hurting while the city is either ignorant or unwilling to advance the work.”

He pointed out a situation at Gerrard Street and Greenwood Avenue, “where a water main break led the city to open up the street, and for which the ‘open pit’ repair has persisted for going on a year to date.

“In addition to being an eyesore, there remains a temporary release of water that has been running so long that in summer there was green algae forming, and in winter has left a river of ice along the west curb side of Greenwood.”

He added the problem recently caused the Brickyard Bistro, a popular local bar and eatery, to close during the day, due to frozen pipes related to the leaky water main.

But when I went there last Thursday, I found a city crew in the middle of fixing the leak. Maybe they should have gotten there months earlier, but they can’t be faulted for the timing. That’s a management issue.

Status: Diala Homaidan, a spokesperson for Toronto Water, emailed to say the repairs were completed last Friday. She went on to say sewer main repairs at the same intersection were completed last May.

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“In early Spring 2020 (approximately end of April, early May), the city will permanently restore the site to its original state or better, including paving and painting of bike lanes.”

Huzzah for a job well done, even if it could have been completed sooner.