It's rare to experience smooth sailing when your job is administering a city the size, breadth and diversity of Toronto.
Even accounting for that - it's been a pretty rocky week at City Hall.First, city staff finally revealed that the mayor's goal of reaching 70 per cent residential waste diversion by 2010 was too ambitious and the city would fall short of it. Then, a second unsettling lurch: debate, finally, of an auditor general's report on the state of repairs (or lack thereof) of the city's parks, recreation and forestry facilities.Presented before the audit committee on Tuesday, the report was scathing. In 2008, the total backlog of repairs was $233 million and it's expected that number will grow to $600 million by 2018. Bad enough, said Auditor General Jeff Griffiths, that the city has no proper work plan for dealing with these facilities. He also warned that continuing to spend operating dollars on under-utilized, poorly maintained facilities, is unsustainable.In fact, he said, the city will soon be faced with the unappealing alternatives of facility closures or finding alternate funding streams to keep them open.This is serious; these are big numbers and they matter to Torontonians. Nobody ever wants to hear of facilities' potential closures. But the current situation can't persist; action must be taken.Taxpayers don't like hearing of their money being spent on services that aren't being taken advantage of to their fullest potential. They have every right to demand and receive better accountability in this area. As a result of the report, the committee recommended senior staff examine the current infrastructure and prepare a list of priorities so that elected officials can make some decisions to get this whole thing back on track. It's a prudent - if not overdue - step.Speaking of steps, the next ones to take will be all the more challenging when a range of choices is placed before councillors. Are those impending choices difficult? No doubt. But one of the reasons councillors are elected, after all, is to make these difficult choices.Ultimately, if this report plays a role getting the city on track in stabilizing and streamlining the maintenance and care of these facilities, then good. It's a necessary - albeit challenging - facet of effective municipal administration. Hopefully, when that time comes, it will take place sooner rather than later.