Ottawans not happy with council: Poll

A Poll done by Decima Research for the Ottawa Citizen indicates that we're not happy with our municipal leaders, those that get a large chunk of our tax dollars:

Indeed, taxes emerged as the most important issue for residents in the survey, with 18 per cent saying it will determine how they vote. Eleven per cent named city budget management as the second most important issue. Traffic and transportation came in third at nine per cent. Protecting social programs garnered four-per-cent support.

Among those who named taxes as the most important issue, 59 per cent said the city was on the wrong track. And of those concerned with transportation problems, 54 per cent said the city was going in the wrong direction. link to article

Note that Traffic and Transportation came in at 9% in importance - above protecting social programs at just 4%. Is that surprising? We care more about traffic and transportation than we do about protect social programs. That's pretty surprising (and revealing) in my opinion.

Why do you think a majority of the 400 residents surveyed think that the city is going in the wrong direction when it comes to public transportation?

While the LRT project is supposed to be the crowning jewel to mayor Bob's list of accomplishments, it's being rushed in order to do so. This has raised criticism from residents, experts, politicians and those involved in the project. That's why public opinion is so low on the transportation issue.