(46)
That's the job.
Mayor Miller was also on vacation when the tanks blew up. He came back to town in a hurry and did good work on our behalf in the early going. And then he returned to his vacation. He did not stick around for the funeral of Bob Leek. He sent a letter instead.
What kind of job is that?
A bit of perspective: Sunrise was not Bhopal – there, but for fortune – and Miller is no Giuliani. But symbolism acquires the weight of substance in a crisis, and leadership cannot be mailed in.
When things go fatally wrong in the city, the mayor must be here to articulate our fears, focus our anger, allay our suspicions and assure us that matters are well in hand.
And when there is a death of a city worker, the mayor must be here to grieve on our behalf.
I'm sure the mayor grieves, but he was not at the funeral. He is supposed to have explained his absence to the Leek family. They are supposed to have said they understand.
What else could they say?
Mayor Miller may have had a perfectly good reason for skipping the funeral of a man who died in our employ. But it is odd of him not to tell us what that reason was. And surely not to tell us is worse than having a lousy or a selfish reason.
An aside:
We must remind ourselves that a body has been recovered from the ashes, and a worker has yet to be accounted for; there is also a family whose son has gone missing, although no link has yet been made between the burned body and those heavy hearts.
We need the mayor here.
There are some men and women who remain forced from their homes, and some of them face financial ruin. Opportunists are lurking in our darkest corners. Creeps of all political stripe patrol our public meetings looking to lay blame or to duck it.
We need the mayor here.
Some people do not like David Miller but being disliked has never been an impediment to achievement; some of us did not like Mel.
Miller has done his best to clean up city hall, and to deal with the aftermath of amalgamation; his achievements are not insignificant. But he has an odd blind spot for a politician: He doesn't seem to see things the way other people see them. He could not sell ice cubes in the tropics. He finds it far too easy to put a foot wrong. His reasoning tends to be abstract and his political decisions are puzzling; nothing against her, but if I were mayor I would not let Maria Augimeri stand in loco parentis. We need a voice of reason.
She's not it.
Heads are going to roll over Sunrise – heads will surely roll at Sunrise – just as heads must roll at the agency charged with inspecting the plant for safety. Other heads will also roll.
I have a hunch one of them will be blond.
Joe Fiorito usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Email: jfiorito@thestar.ca
