[Juan_Lennon416]

I just want an end to this stupid soap opera. The Ford-Stintz-Webster drama does absolutely nothing for TTC riders

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Political agendas aside, has Webster been an excellent manager of the TTC? Under his leadership were projects completed on time and on budget? Was the St. Clair ROW for instance completed on time and budget?

You can blame ridiculous lawsuits and city hall politics for the delays.

 

[EnviroTO]

I just want an end to this stupid soap opera. The Ford-Stintz-Webster drama does absolutely nothing for TTC riders

The only way the soap opera will end will be Ford leaving in four years.

 

[BurlOak]

The general consensus appears to be that he's done a good job and that his level of expertise and experience will be very difficult to replace.

If Webster is so irreplaceable, then he should be making at least 3 times what he currently makes – something more similar to the CEO’s of hospitals.

If Webster has 35+ years at the TTC and is 60+ years old is means he could theoretically retire at any moment. The fact that the TTC does not have any succession plan for a replacement is another indication that the Commission is not run that well. I would expect in most organizations they would have about a half dozen people who should have the experience and qualifications to be able to step in and take over.

And by the way, even at the end of his contract as CGM at TTC, I believe Webster would still be entitled to a severance pay, so I think the $500k is a highly exaggerated number.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Originally Posted by Admiral Beez:

Political agendas aside, has Webster been an excellent manager of the TTC? Under his leadership were projects completed on time and on budget? Was the St. Clair ROW for instance completed on time and budget?

Your answer to that is found at the south end of Rosedale station, where, supposedly, an elevator is to be installed in a longer period of time than it took to construct the 50+ storey Four Seasons tower a few blocks away. Or the supposed elevator at Lawrence West. Or look through Drum's old photothreads of the Kipling and Vic Park station rebuilds that took years longer than they should have. Or Broadview station. The list is endless. Project management under Webster would have led to lawsuits and class actions were the TTC a private company. How quickly did the TTC adapt Next Bus and other apps without kicking and screaming? How far behind are they in fare collection? How low have standards slipped regarding vehicle and station and ROW upkeep? The list is endless.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

Funny that Ford's hand-picked expert consultant said Webster's tha bomb, but the Ford Nationistas continue to deny reality. The earth actually is spherical, people, despite what Rob Ford might say.

 

[nfitz]

The fact that the TTC does not have any succession plan for a replacement is another indication that the Commission is not run that well.

I'm curious as to what you are referencing as the source for the "fact" that the TTC does not have a succession plan for a replacement. Surely the recent hirings suggest otherwise.

 

[spider]

Originally Posted by Admiral Beez:

Political agendas aside, has Webster been an excellent manager of the TTC? Under his leadership were projects completed on time and on budget? Was the St. Clair ROW for instance completed on time and budget?

Your answer to that is found at the south end of Rosedale station, where, supposedly, an elevator is to be installed in a longer period of time than it took to construct the 50+ storey Four Seasons tower a few blocks away. Or the supposed elevator at Lawrence West. Or look through Drum's old photothreads of the Kipling and Vic Park station rebuilds that took years longer than they should have. Or Broadview station. The list is endless. Project management under Webster would have led to lawsuits and class actions were the TTC a private company. How quickly did the TTC adapt Next Bus and other apps without kicking and screaming? How far behind are they in fare collection? How low have standards slipped regarding vehicle and station and ROW upkeep? The list is endless.

Agreed, the endless list of TTC failures and shortcomings has to be viewed as acceptable to the top management on whose desk the buck is presumed to stop and be dealt with. The top 3 or 4 layers of TTC management should relieved of their duties and re-assigned to peddling fares in a subway station allowing a new group of managers to take over with visions of what happened to the last group dancing in their heads.

 

[Electrify]

Your answer to that is found at the south end of Rosedale station, where, supposedly, an elevator is to be installed in a longer period of time than it took to construct the 50+ storey Four Seasons tower a few blocks away. Or the supposed elevator at Lawrence West. Or look through Drum's old photothreads of the Kipling and Vic Park station rebuilds that took years longer than they should have. Or Broadview station. The list is endless. Project management under Webster would have led to lawsuits and class actions were the TTC a private company. How quickly did the TTC adapt Next Bus and other apps without kicking and screaming? How far behind are they in fare collection? How low have standards slipped regarding vehicle and station and ROW upkeep? The list is endless.

You really should write for the Sun, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Whether you are correct or not (I'll let others who are more knowledgeable on the subject debate you on the matter), you did shed light on what appears to be legitimate criticism on Webster's job performance. Certainly did a better job than that overpaid troll Sue Ann Levy did with her piece.

 

[jje1000]

Questions That Must be Asked

Agreed, the endless list of TTC failures and shortcomings has to be viewed as acceptable to the top management on whose desk the buck is presumed to stop and be dealt with. The top 3 or 4 layers of TTC management should relieved of their duties and re-assigned to peddling fares in a subway station allowing a new group of managers to take over with visions of what happened to the last group dancing in their heads.

And your dream may come true:

TTC transit chief Gary Webster may not be only one to lose job: Di Giorgio
Published On Sun Feb 19 2012
Brendan Kennedy
Staff Reporter

One of five city councillors behind the expected firing of the city’s transit chief suggested Sunday that more senior transit managers may lose their jobs for not “respecting the office of the mayor.”

“We will discuss whether removing some managers — and it may in fact be three, four, five — we may discuss whether that’s the way to go,” said Frank Di Giorgio, a TTC commissioner allied with Mayor Rob Ford, and one of the councillors who called a special TTC board meeting for Tuesday where it is believed chief general manager Gary Webster will be sacked.

Di Giorgio said the responsibility of the city’s bureaucracy is to follow the will of the mayor and achieve the objectives set out by his mandate, which TTC managers have failed to do.

“We’re trying to eliminate some of the problems that surfaced over the last month that should not have surfaced and need not have surfaced.”

The city’s uncertain transit future has been especially tumultuous as of late, as Ford’s apparent unwillingness to compromise his underground-only transit vision has left him struggling to get that vision on track.

The mayor was sidelined earlier this month when city council voted 25-18 in favour of a competing transit plan — one that essentially restored former mayor David Miller’s light-rail plan — championed by former Ford ally TTC chair Karen Stintz.

Ford dismissed council’s decision as “irrelevant” and, along with his executive committee, is continuing to pursue his original plans.

Webster, a civil engineer who has worked his entire 35-year career at the TTC, has long drawn the ire of the Ford administration for his refusal to build an operational case for extending the subway on Sheppard Ave. E. or burying the entirety of the Eglinton Ave. LRT.

It is well known at city hall that Stintz had been protecting Webster from Ford. Now that Stintz is no longer in the mayor’s favour, Webster is exposed.

The five councillors who signed the petition for the special meeting — Norm Kelly, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Vincent Crisanti, Cesar Palacio and Di Giorgio — represent a majority of votes on the nine-member committee, so they will be able to oust Webster if they choose.

Since he has come under fire, Webster has been praised by his industry colleagues and several councillors as a diligent professional who has simply put forward the best evidence for the city’s transit future.

Di Giorgio said Webster’s integrity and job performance are not what is at issue.

“The issue is a matter of — in my view — whether a bureaucrat has the responsibility to undertake a task as mandated by the people and reflected in the mayor’s mandate.”

Di Giorgio lamented the “one-sided” and “one-dimensional” information contained in reports from senior transit staff, which have prioritized light-rail and contradicted the mayor’s vision for transit expansion in the city.

“We basically accept as gospel what’s put before us all the time as the best way, as the only way,” Di Giorgio said. “I think we should start acknowledging that there are other viewpoints out there, which may have benefits that we’re not aware of.”

Councillor John Parker, the deputy speaker who usually supports the mayor but has recently opposed him on transit, appeared to be comparing Webster’s pending fate to the assassination of Julius Caesar in a series of Twitter posts over the weekend.

“Woe to the hands that shed this costly blood,” Parker wrote, quoting Mark Antony in Act III of the Shakespearean tragedy. “They that have done this deed are honourable; what private griefs they have, alas I know not, that made them do it.”

Parker — who is also on the TTC board — was coy when asked directly for the meaning of his tweets. But he was unequivocal in his support for Webster, saying it would be a “serious mistake” to fire him.

“Gary is a solid, competent professional who has been given strong leadership to the TTC and good advice as to its future priorities.”

The future of the TTC board as a whole is also in doubt after a motion was approved last week by Ford’s executive committee to change the board’s makeup “to a hybrid, skills-based” committee of four councillors and five citizens, rather than the current nine councillors.

Di Giorgio said the board needs to be “disbanded” and a new one should include professionals with “alternate points of view.”

Critics say the changes would allow Ford to appoint like-minded commissioners to do his bidding and plan the city’s transit future without council’s input. The item will be voted on by council on March 5.

Since it is a personnel matter, Tuesday’s special TTC board meeting is expected to be conducted mostly behind closed doors.

TTC spokesman Brad Ross said Webster would not be making any comment ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. He added that Webster “remains committed to leading the TTC and acting in its best interest for the system’s 1.6 million daily customers and 12,000 employees.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/transpo...er-may-not-be-only-one-to-lose-job-di-giorgio


We need to ask several questions before celebrating this event:

1. Is there not a likelihood that if Ford is looking for new TTC managers, he may in fact overlook qualified and competent candidates and instead hire those who would rather trumpet his views? If Di Giorgio says is true, and that it isn't about Webster's performance, is this going to improve the TTC at all?
2. If Ford is serious about being a fiscal conservative, why won't he replace Webster the next year when his contract expires? Instead, we are going to pay half-a-million dollars to end his contract earlier. Moreso, what Di Giorgio says again comes to mind- it is not Webster's performance that is seen as lacking, it is his loyalty. Is that not grounds for potential wrongful dismissal suits, if not from Webster, then from the other TTC managers expected to be sacked?

All these point to Ford's being a idealogue, not a fiscal conservative. For Ford, wasting money is perfectly fine, as long as it furthers his own ends.

 

[nfitz]

Wow. If firing one will cost us $0.5 million, will we be spending $2.5 million here? Perhaps more if there's a wrongful dismissal lawsuit (say perhaps the courts find that TTC has to follow will of council, instead of the will of the mayor.

This is getting ridiculous. Rob Ford has once again demonstrated why he is not fit to serve the public. The man is a disgrace, and should resign.

 

[jje1000]

Firing Gary Webster could cost between $400,000 and $500,000 to buy out his contract, according to councillor Joe Mihevc. In 2010, Webster earned $281,931.37. He has been at the TTC for 35 years.

http://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1133277--ttc-s-gary-webster-faces-axe

Here's a direct quote, if people want one. Then again, it's from the Star and Joe Mihevc, so it's obviously been tainted by dastardly commie cooties.

 

[nfitz]

His salary is almost $300,000 and he's got 35 years? And they think the buyout would only cost $400,000 to $500,000 for someone in their late 50s? They'll be lucky if it isn't under $1-million given his earning potential 7-8 years before he turns 65.

 

[Rainforest]

We need to ask several questions before celebrating this event:

1. Is there not a likelihood that if Ford is looking for new TTC managers, he may in fact overlook qualified and competent candidates and instead hire those who would rather trumpet his views? If Di Giorgio says is true, and that it isn't about Webster's performance, is this going to improve the TTC at all?
2. If Ford is serious about being a fiscal conservative, why won't he replace Webster the next year when his contract expires? Instead, we are going to pay half-a-million dollars to end his contract earlier. Moreso, what Di Giorgio says again comes to mind- it is not Webster's performance that is seen as lacking, it is his loyalty. Is that not grounds for potential wrongful dismissal suits, if not from Webster, then from the other TTC managers expected to be sacked?

All these point to Ford's being a idealogue, not a fiscal conservative. For Ford, wasting money is perfectly fine, as long as it furthers his own ends.

They will not even get a more loyal GM instead of Webster. They can only appoint an interim manager at tomorrow's meeting, but the permanent appointment will be made by the Council's majority that opposes Ford.

It is very likely that the Council will vote all Ford's allies out of the TTC board before the permanent new GM can be confirmed.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Is the mgr of the TTC supposed to support the mayor, the TTC or council?