City hall change must come from within: Posen

[attach]2074[/attach]Ward 21 candidate Shimmy Posen wants to fix city hall from the inside.

“We all know city hall is broken,” said Posen, who has a degree in political science. “We see it with cost overruns and delays with St. Clair right-of-way. We see it with the (2009) garbage strike and every dollar wasted.”

“The main issue is we need to address inefficiency in public transportation,” said Posen, who supports subways along Eglinton rather than the approved light rail transit.

“We need to reject the short sighted Eglinton LRT and build a long term subway instead,” said the local resident.

He said it won’t cost that much more as the current streetcar plan under Transit City already includes underground portions being paid for by the province.

He also proposes selling air rights above TTC stations to developers in order to raise additional capital to afford a new Eglinton subway line.

“We want to have an amazing international city and (subways are) necessary,” said Posen.

The candidate says constituents are looking for change.

“I have been getting overwhelming support from residents so far,” said Posen, who has training from Osgoode Law School.

On his website [url=http://www.shimmyposen.ca]www.shimmyposen.ca[/url] he also proposes a city project charter, so that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for delays or cost overruns of construction.

“My training as a lawyer has helped me see the city (should) not be responsible if these projects are overrun or over budget,” he said.
Instead, contracts could be written so contractors are on the hook for delays or extra costs.

Posen has volunteered for years with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, at food banks, as a medic and with special needs children.
He also helped create a bike-safe education program for kids in city camps to learn how to navigate on the road.

He said he volunteers because that’s the best way to bring neighbours together and build a stronger community.

Now Posen is dedicating himself full-time to running in St. Paul’s against incumbent Joe Mihevc.

“I am getting a lot of support from people who don’t normally vote because they are inspired that (city hall) doesn’t have to be broken. There doesn’t have to be a gap between the community and city hall.”