The time has more than come for Adam Giambrone to do both himself and city residents a favour by stepping down as chair of the Toronto Transit Commission.
Really, the final straw was months ago for the embattled Davenport councillor when it comes to his credibility in the job. The latest controversy regarding lack of consultation with residents over plans to build emergency exits at subway stations along the Danforth line, should stand as the final exclamation point on his less than stellar performance as head of our transit system.Giambrone has made a mess of numerous issues during his tenure as chair which began in 2006. To recap, Giambrone has led the TTC through such shining moments as snoozing ticket collectors, drivers allegedly assaulting passengers, fare hikes, token hoarding, abysmal customer service, lack of communication and consultation, huge provincial cuts to the Transit City plan, and the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way debacle, which was late and grossly over budget.Why is he still in the job?Giambrone, as is his political protector Mayor David Miller, is a lame duck. In the wake of a scandal involving sexual relations with a young woman on his couch in his city hall office, Giambrone quickly abandoned his plans to run for mayor earlier this year, despite a flashy party in February in which he appeared on stage with another woman he presented as his partner. Shortly afterwards he also announced he would not be seeking re-election in Ward 18 Davenport.At least in past years, rightly or wrongly, Giambrone had some semblance of power as TTC chair since it was apparent the job was his for as long as he wanted it. Time is now ticking out on Giambrone, and seeing the mess being made by the TTC concerning its Danforth Avenue stations is just too much.TTC officials were left scrambling earlier, over the past few weeks, when angry residents found out about plans to expropriate homes on Strathmore Boulevard to build emergency exits for Greenwood and Donlands stations. The furious residents complained they'd only been given two weeks notice about the expropriations.A sheepish Giambrone apologized to a hastily arranged community meeting that more notice and consultation was indeed needed. "You're absolutely right, it should have been better handled," he said.Two weeks later, the TTC said it would not expropriate the homes on Strathmore, instead taking one property on Linsmore for the Greenwood exit. Only one problem there, they did not tell the property owner of their plans.Truly, it is time for Giambrone to hand in his Metropass and hop on the next bus out of town when it comes to his run as TTC chair.