Wide-eyed and grinning.

This morning I had the good fortune to have breakfast with Mahesh Butani. (It was the third time in the space of a week we'd tried to get together; I swear, the man has to get himself either an assistant, or a pager.)

I'm very aware of the opinions that some have of the former mayoral candidate. I see it in the 'downvoting' he instantly receives at Raise the Hammer, as well as the sidelong comments made there. Now, I'm not his apologist. I'm his friend, but he doesn't need me to 'defend' him against those who would slag him off. He's more than capable of handling things all by himself, thankyouverymuch. 

Still, I get how people might get their feathers ruffled by his manner, how he approaches discussions, etc. I also get how he might strike some as being supercilious, condescending or even a blow-hard. (Like Clive Owen says in 'Inside Man': "Pay strict attention to what I say, because I choose my words carefully." For these concessions aren't really about him. They're about his anti-fans. And their capacities.)

Phhtt. 

The facts are: 1) Mahesh has a huge heart. 2) He has an even bigger brain. 3) He doesn't suffer fools gladly. 4) He had more platform than The Big Three put together during the last municipal election. And 5) He is, by far, the Greatest Resource This City is Currently Not Using. 

(A disclaiming/preface: I harbour no beliefs that he's perfect. Infallible. Anything akin to those notions. He's as flawed as anyone I've met, he's sometimes wrong, wrong, very wrong...and parody tales notwithstanding, I am hardly Boswell to his Johnson.)

Anyway, I had breakfast with him, and during our meal, prompted him on a project that I've been making mention of in various locales online. 

His 'Double figure-8' transit concept. 

I'm not allowed to give anything away. He's quite intent on 'getting it right' before he shares it. However, on a rumpled napkin he sketched with a fading pen a rough approximation of what he's been alluding to for months now. I'd gotten the somewhat-gist of it previously, but even with its lack of visual acuity (our server eventually offered up some computer paper in a lovely act of sympathetic consideration), it certainly brought on the the title of this post. 

As he sketched it out, I asked him questions. But they weren't technical in nature; as an observer, I'm more intrigued by how things develop in the much bigger sense. So my queries were more along the lines of 'What do you think will be the fundamental reaction from the adherents of LRT to what you're proposing?' Because honestly, this plan of his is a mind-blower. Not because it's outrageously inventive or singularly, conceptually disruptive...but because it's so grounded in common sense. 

Here's the thing: I'm not an LRT expert. I would never claim to have a qualified opinion on what's what, or how things should be designed. However, this is my pedigree: I've been a lifelong public transit user. Here, in the Hamilton area (I used to take the Grey Coach bus in from the North Service Road Winona to Stoney Creek when I was 9.) To Toronto. In Toronto. In Guelph. In NYC, in Norfolk, VA, in London and Brighton & Hove in the UK. I've lived in The Amalgamated City of Greater Hamilton for most of my life, resided at both east and west of the proposed LRT system, and while not a fabulous puzzle-solver, I'm a pretty damned good observer and hardly a dumb-bunny. 

And as a result of all that, I am so looking forward to sitting back and watching the reaction to Mahesh having put his money where his mouth is...because in that reaction, we're going to see so much more than just contrary reactions to his admittedly contrary proposal. We're going to see just how visionary some people really are in Hamilton, how really attached they are to their own pet alignments, and whether there's a spirit of true deliberative dialogue in this city. 

I can't wait. 

M Adrian Brassington