Sunday, January 11, 2009

City's measures to help Ottawans inadequate: Sun

A story in this morning's Ottawa Sun is fairly harsh in its appraisal of the measures recently announced by the City to help Ottawans who have taken a hit, especially a financial one, during the current transit strike.

Joe the Commuter won't get much help in his quest to ease financial pain brought on by the lingering transit strike.

The measures announced by city officials Friday aimed at helping people cope with the 33-day-old bus strike won't apply to the majority of people affected by it.

Taxi chits? Not unless you can prove extreme need. Financial assistance? Not unless the loss drops you down into what the city considers a low-income bracket.

Several of the measures announced at a press conference at City Hall Friday have been in place for many years.

[...]

As of yesterday, staff manning the line weren't familiar with any additional measures in place. [Manager of operations and program support with the city's social services branch, Janice] Burelle said staff would likely be receiving training tomorrow as to how to deal with calls from people seeking strike-related help.
At the bottom of the story, there is a Q&A that answers questions about who is eligible to receive compensation through some or all of the City's measures.

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