I’m interested in this because it says something about the
struggle over extending services for people at the start of the twentieth century.
What should a city do? What shouldn’t it do? Who wants to pay?
But, really, not much has changed. This editorial could have
been written by on of Toronto’s newspapers (probably not the Star) during the
last civic election.
No Money for Frills
It is remarkable that the present time seems to be prolific in schemes and projects for spending civic money on frills, when there is no money for anything but works of absolute necessity. There are bathing places, and omnibus services, free ferry boats, bicycle paths on untraveled streets, and elaborate scheme for a system of channels at the Island, and now, an aquatic course on Ashbridge’s Bay.
This latter scheme involves extensive improvements on the north shore of the bay, an extension of street railway track of over a mile that citizens may reach the beach, which, of course, would be immediately built up with summer cottages, and made the most popular of all our resorts. The picture is a fascinating one, but the fatal drawback is that it would require money, and a considerable amount of it, too. If those who are so busy evolving these schemes, would come down to common sense for a while, and allow the city to provide every day necessities such as good pavements and clean streets and lanes generally, they would be helping the city along in the way of establishing a good name and reputation for itself, far better than by hamporing it with projects which cannot, however desirable they may be in themselves, be carried out at the present time, for the simple reason that there is no money in the civic treasury for the purpose.
Let us first provide the essentials for a really great and attractive city.[1]
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