Ford era begins in Toronto

[Shady]

living as you do in your folks' basement in whatever two-bit shithole you call home.

I think that might violate the forum rules. And you're all about the rules right?

Anyways, I don't understand the hostility towards differing opinions. You need to calm down.

[guyser]

Unfortunately, places exist outside of the GTA. I know, it's hard to imagine.

Of course you do, you're a statist.

Shh....adults are talking.

[Black Dog]

I was watching the news last night on the latest report from the core service review (still looking for all that gravy) and it hit me that there's been one big thing missing from the discussion: the mayor.

Outside of his characteristically brief and shambolic appearance at the presser where he put his lap dog Mammoliti in charge of three new task forces, Ford has been pretty much absent from this debate. To my knowledge he hasn't made any public statements on the reports and their findings (which contradict his oft-repeated guarantees that no services will be cut). Ford quipped in February that “it's pretty hard to hide 300 pounds of fun;" apparently, it's not, as the man has been conspicuous in his absence.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Black Dog

[guyser]

I was watching the news last night on the latest report from the core service review (still looking for all that gravy) and it hit me that there's been one big thing missing from the discussion: the mayor.

He is hiding at the cottage with 'family' until every Pride Parade participant goes home.

[Black Dog]

And then I read this line from back when he was axing the VRT:

Asked about the looming budget pressures in 2012, Mr. Ford stood behind the tax cancellation.

“I’m not worried about 2012,” he said. “I take one year at a time, so we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

link

That's leadership, folks.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Black Dog

[Black Dog]

What's the mayor smoking?

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says there’s not enough work for the city’s employees while suggesting that labour costs are four times higher than they should be.

...

“The last thing we want to do is lay off, Johnny, but when [labour] makes up 80 per cent of your budget, there’s a lot of gravy there, there’s a lot of people. Unfortunately, it’s just not enough work to go around and we have to start finding efficiencies,” he said.

However, a staff report to incoming councillors last fall said salaries and benefits represented the largest share of the 2010 budget, taking up 44.8 per cent of total expenditures

Also, reading between the lines, Torontonians can expect a future 10-15 per cent tax hike. Why? Because Ford says that won't happen.

Mr. Ford, who froze property taxes for a year, said Friday he would accept hiking taxes by up to 3 per cent “at the very, very, very most.”

“That’s it, we’re not going one dime higher than that. And then after that, we have to find efficiencies and people understand that and people accept that. But when you hear about raising taxes 10, 15 per cent – that is not going to happen. I will guarantee we’re not increasing taxes higher than like I said, 3 per cent. There’s no way.”

Link

Edited July 15, 2011 by Black Dog

[Shwa]

I was watching the news last night on the latest report from the core service review (still looking for all that gravy) and it hit me that there's been one big thing missing from the discussion: the mayor.

Outside of his characteristically brief and shambolic appearance at the presser where he put his lap dog Mammoliti in charge of three new task forces, Ford has been pretty much absent from this debate. To my knowledge he hasn't made any public statements on the reports and their findings (which contradict his oft-repeated guarantees that no services will be cut). Ford quipped in February that “it's pretty hard to hide 300 pounds of fun;" apparently, it's not, as the man has been conspicuous in his absence.

As I said earlier, referring to to Jame's article in the Star, this line is hilarious:

That’s how Mayor Rob Ford seems to have started his much heralded attempt to tame the city’s behemoth of a budget.

As citizens tuned in to hear how the mayor intends to reduce the size and scope of government — his winning mantra in last fall’s municipal election — Ford was absent from the parade, ...

Maybe he takes the summers off and, at the rate he is moving, will likely make that a policy for the City too.

[Shwa]

Another sign of the "Ford Era" in Toronto? In the story below I refer to the high level of bullshit coming from one of the actual Fords. It is this bullshit, easily digestible soundbytes designed to appeal to ignorance, that makes the Ford Nation look like a bunch of dolts.

Doughnuts vs books? In Ford's Etobicoke, it’s 3-1

Councillor Doug Ford’s provocative statement that there are more library branches than Tim Hortons in his area has prompted people to check his numbers.

Turns out the library is not quite as ubiquitous as Ford suggested in a recent comment in a radio interview. According to library union president Maureen O’Reilly, Etobicoke has 13 library branches and 39 Tim Hortons. Three library branches are in areas Ford represents, Ward 2, Etobicoke North, while the Tim Hortons website shows seven of their shops in the ward.

Ford didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The budget committee vice-chair and brother of Mayor Rob Ford also mistakenly said Toronto has more libraries per person than any other city in the world.

Asked to comment, the library provided some comparisons. Toronto has one library for every 28,120 citizens, fewer than Hamilton (one branch per 21,629); Ottawa (27,527); and Vancouver (27,976). But Toronto does better than Mississauga (40,555); Montreal (36,833) and Calgary (61,346)...

Seriously, if you want to make cuts and enact other austerity measures Doug, nut up about it.

Plus don't use doughnut analogies when you could stand to lose a few pounds.

[Black Dog]

How Rob Ford can improve T.O.: ban panhandling, scrap plastic bag fee and license bikes.

Glad to see The Sun has its finger on the pulse of the city's most pressing issues.

edit: best comment right here.

One really easy way Rob Ford could make Toronto a better city is he could move to Calgary.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Black Dog

[Oleg Bach]

Kindness towards others does not rest solely in the domain of socialism. I mean 'social" in the sense of "others." No man is an island entire of itself...

My dad use to say "there are others" Ford is right for Toronto now - but in time we will have to get rid of him to balance the city...a small push to the right is healthy - but not to far.

[Black Dog]

Seriously, if you want to make cuts and enact other austerity measures Doug, nut up about it.

Good article here. It's not about getting the city's finances in order, but ideology.

Shrinking government, not deficit, drives Ford

For Mayor Rob Ford, no matter what he says, this painful budget exercise is not about slaying Toronto’s annual deficit.

Ford’s actions and words, to the public and those around him, are not those of a bean counter trying to solve a financial puzzle. While real, the hefty “structural deficit” is his ammunition, not his target.

The colourful gut-led ideologue is on a mission to radically reduce the size and cost of city government — amputating services, grants and agencies. In doing so, he wants to erase most or all the 5,000 mostly unionized jobs added under his predecessor, David Miller.

In carefully chosen words before the start of Thursday’s epic executive meeting, Ford decreed that “must have” services stay and the “nice to haves” go. In his mind-the-shop view, cities don’t hand out arts grants, bolster poor student’s meals, spur environmental research or own a zoo.

[Shwa]

Good article here. It's not about getting the city's finances in order, but ideology.

Shrinking government, not deficit, drives Ford

Sure, but this comes as no surprise - Ford's ethics or the Star's distaste for them. Although I did think using the word 'gut' twice, as well as the phrase 'ham-fisted' were nice plays.

Torontonians will have to waddle through this administration...

[Black Dog]

Ford holds out tin cup to McGuinty

Now, I don't have an issue with asking the province for money; many of Toronto's fiscal problems started when the province downloaded services and cut subsidies after amalgamation. However, in light of Ford's repeated statements that Toronto has a "spending problem, not a revenue problem" this is pure hypocrisy from the fat man.

[Oleg Bach]

Ford holds out tin cup to McGuinty

Now, I don't have an issue with asking the province for money; many of Toronto's fiscal problems started when the province downloaded services and cut subsidies after amalgamation. However, in light of Ford's repeated statements that Toronto has a "spending problem, not a revenue problem" this is pure hypocrisy from the fat man.

Let the fat man push things a little to the right - and get a nice balance - once that is done - he will be dumped.

[Black Dog]

Follow up:

Premier Dalton McGuinty has responded coolly to a request from Mayor Rob Ford for quick help funding the Sheppard Ave. subway expansion, a project that was supposed to proceed without provincial assistance under the March transit agreement that killed the Transit City plan.

McGuinty said Ford asked him to speedily provide some of the money - up to $650 million that the province agreed to direct toward Sheppard if it had leftover funds from the $8.2 billion Eglinton Ave. light rail project it is responsible for.

But I thought the private sector was supposed to come in and make it rain?

[Black Dog]

Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car monorail. What'd I say?

Monorail!

Doug Ford’s vision for Toronto’s Port Lands

Monorail

Fans of The Simpsons who recall the monorail episode might need some convincing, but Doug Ford envisions an elevated rail line connecting Union Station, Ontario Place, Air Canada Centre and Rogers Centre before heading down Cherry Street to the Port Lands.

High-speed ferry

The last high-speed ferry (to Rochester and back) didn’t last long, but this one could connect the island airport with a proposed massive hotel in the Port Lands

Fresh cherries

Ford wants wide European style sidewalks along Cherry Street, complete with cafes and cherry trees, to live up to the street’s name.

The mall

It would be small compared to the 3.8 million square foot West Edmonton Mall, but still one of the biggest in the country: a 1.6-million square foot shopping mecca, with the likes of Nordstrom, Macys and Bloomingdales.

The Hearn

The mammoth, and mothballed, Hearn generating station could be the site of a new sports complex, featuring arenas and indoor soccer.

Ferris wheel

Think of London, the city that used to be known for Parliament and The Tower of London, but whose skyline is now dominated by what has been known as the Millenium Wheel, among more recent corporate names. Doug Ford thinks Toronto needs one just like it.

NFL Stadiums! Condos on the Gardiner! Monorails and ferris wheels!

Doug Ford needs to realize that "city building" does not refer to Lego.

[Boges]

Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car monorail. What'd I say?

Monorail!

NFL Stadiums! Condos on the Gardiner! Monorails and ferris wheels!

Doug Ford needs to realize that "city building" does not refer to Lego.

Perhaps but what exactly was the organization doing for the Toronto waterfront in the past few years?

BTW didn't the Monorail work for Odgenville and North Havenbrook?

Edited August 30, 2011 by Boges

[Black Dog]

Perhaps but what exactly was the organization doing for the Toronto waterfront in the past few years?

Have you been to the waterfront? There's been lots of action happening. As for the Port Lands, the city only last year approved the flood prevention project that must be completed before any development can go ahead. Seems to me that's the kind of thing you'd like wrapped up before you start talking development. Then again, maybe Dougy's magic wand that makes private sector money appear out of nowhere (though it doesn't seem to work on subways) also staves off flood waters.

[Black Dog]

It's also telling that a giant mall, casinos and tacky shit like a big ferris wheel is the height of sophisticated urban cool to these rubes.

[Boges]

It's also telling that a giant mall, casinos and tacky shit like a big ferris wheel is the height of sophisticated urban cool to these rubes.

As opposed to what? Another government funded theatre? A Beach Volleyball Court?

Man you must hate Niagara Falls.

[Black Dog]

As opposed to what? Another government funded theatre? A Beach Volleyball Court?

How about greenspace, and a mix of residential and commercial development? You know, the kind of thing that will create a community in the area as opposed to a spectacle site that caters primarily to tourists?

Man you must hate Niagara Falls.

I can't imagine I would like it. Here's the thing: Doug Ford is as full of shit on this as his brother so often is on, well, everything else. He claims that Americans have 12 times more commercial space than Canadians (it's actually closer to only two times more and, in any event, who gives a shit?) and that there's only one place to shop in all of downtown (Eaton Centre), which makes it abundantly clear he's never set foot in Yorkville or on the Queen West retail strip (both of which would involve actually walking around downtown).

The questions are: who is driving this? What Ford crony stands to benefit? What's the rush anyway?

[Boges]

Apparently there is a plan and it'll be privately funded. Whether you believe Doug or not.

You may think these things are tacky but those are the type of things that may bring people to see the Toronto Waterfront from outside.

That's why Niagara Falls is really successful. Sure there's an impressive Waterfall but it's got tons of stuff to do there entertainment wise. You call it tacky but at least it attracts tourists from all over the world.

I think residential development along the water has kinda ruined the west-end with all the Condo-buildings.

[Black Dog]

Apparently there is a plan and it'll be privately funded. Whether you believe Doug or not.

Just like the Sheppard subway, right? Anyway, if there's a plan and things are all lined up, why are we only hearing about this now? What about transparency?

You may think these things are tacky but those are the type of things that may bring people to see the Toronto Waterfront from outside.

Does Toronto currently have a problem attracting visitors? Also, we've only got one waterfront: that land would be better used for all Torontonians and not geared to people from out of town.

That's why Niagara Falls is really successful. Sure there's an impressive Waterfall but it's got tons of stuff to do there entertainment wise. You call it tacky but at least it attracts tourists from all over the world.

But so what? Do we need a giant mall when there's already plenty of shopping in Toronto? What about building some actual new affordable (and I don't mean social) housing, given the state of the real estate market?

This scheme is little more than a attempt to shift publicly owned resources into the hands of the private sector while building a legacy the small-town minded Ford's can claim as their own.

I think residential development along the water has kinda ruined the west-end with all the Condo-buildings.

The west end "condo curtain" was precisely what precipitated the current development model: you know, the one Ford wants to cast aside in favour of a return to ad hoc, backroom planning.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Black Dog

[Saipan]

Torontonians will have to waddle through this administration...

OR they could pay increasingly higher taxes under David Miller and similar administration.

[Black Dog]

OR they could pay increasingly higher taxes under David Miller and similar administration.

The tax hikes will come sooner or later anyway, whether under Ford or the poor bugger who'll have to clean up his mess. The Mayors Ford complete lack of fiscal acuity will see to that. I guess running a city is a bit different from running the business your daddy handed you.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Black Dog