Mayor Larry O'Brien

Why Larry O'Brien Should Not Be Re-Elected

#1: What does zero mean?

2009 number projected as of June 2008.

(Note that if you were a rural taxpayer, in 2008, zero really meant 6.3%).

#2: Light Rail

O'Brien got the $700 million LRT project killed (total cost to the city for cancelling the project is undetermined at this point), and then replaced it with a $4 billion project. Economics much?

More specifically, he replaced a north-south run with a north-south run that connects to a tunnel. Somehow a tunnel makes the previously unacceptable run magically better.

Now sure the previous plan had its faults -- principally among them being that Mayor Chiarelli never let the public or council see the text of the deal that they were voting on -- but it was both a place to start and it was one fifth the cost of the current plan.

#3: Election Impropriety (if true)

Candidate Terry Kilrea has alleged that O'Brien offered him a political position in exchange for his withdrawing from the mayoral race. The OPP has investigated, and this allegation has enough legs to warrant criminal charges and a trial.