Video transcript:

I skipped the celebration of Toronto’s subway extension to York University and Vaughan last weekend. Finishing 10 km of subway in over 30 years didn’t seem that thrilling. I know people who’ve been hired and retired at York in that span. They’ll never get to ride it. Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, built 32 km of LRT in just four years — with China’s help.

Toronto’s subways are embarrassing.

The map is nice but you don’t need a map for something that puny. Centreville on Toronto Island is trickier to navigate.

It’s like the downtown raildeck park. Great concept but does anyone think it’ll actually happen in any of our lifetimes. Or the lonely windmill at the CNE built 15 years ago. It was supposed to be the first of thousands and even it doesn’t work any more.

What’s lacking in Toronto is impatience. Leaders who can’t stand waiting around.

There’s inspiration in Chicago’s former mayor Richard Daley. He wanted to get rid of an island airport in Lake Michigan and put something else there. It dragged on so one night at midnight he sent bulldozers over and plowed up the runway. It was quasi-illegal but they sorted that out.

I like our island airport. That’s not my point. It’s the relief of finally doing something large for your city. Can you think of anything mayor Tory would be willing to risk a midnight, possibly illegal, act just to get it done? If you asked, he’d say, I’ll have to get back to you on that. When? In 30 or 40 years.

Rick Salutin’s video commentary appears Tuesdays.