2023 Toronto Mayoral by-election

[toonderly]

Note that the below would require provincial government approval.

The promise is only to push the province, so not exceeding her grasp at all. I'm still holding it against Hunter that she supported the Scarborough subway as an MPP though.

 

[vic]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642016427308662784

 

[Richard White]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642016427308662784

Oh FFS!

 

[rbt]

No where did I say he cut services. But Miller, like every other Mayor championed low taxes.
That he could keep them low due to an influx in cash from development, wage suppression, and "cost cutting" doesn't make it more nobel.

Don't forget spreading capital debt repayments from 10 years to 30 years. [Fiscally this is a reasonable and good thing but it did significantly open borrowing room]

 

[ShonTron]

Oh FFS!

Be mindful of the date, Richard.

 

[Richard White]

Be mindful of the date, Richard.

I wouldn't put it past him.

 

[afransen]

Bob Rae is relatively fresh faced relative to the corpses running for President in the US.

 

[christiesplits]

Councillors Shelley Carroll and Paul Ainslie have endorsed Ana Bailao.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642208246592143361

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642224881231093764

 

[ShonTron]

Ainslie and Carroll are both centrist Liberals (Carroll has been drifting slightly to the right since the Miller/Rob Ford days), but still really surprised and disappointed by Moise backing her. Bradford and Matlow are both Liberals too.

Bailao is well-positioned to run as a "Tory, but kinder" safe candidate (as opposed to Bradford's "Tory, but faster" quip), but I'm really suspicious of her campaign, especially because of Koulvais' backing, and her idea that Toronto would do fine if the province just uploaded the Gardiner and DVP. That's hogwash.

 

[adma]

Ainslie and Carroll are both centrist Liberals (Carroll has been drifting slightly to the right since the Miller/Rob Ford days), but still really surprised and disappointed by Moise backing her. Bradford and Matlow are both Liberals too.

Bailao is well-positioned to run as a "Tory, but kinder" safe candidate (as opposed to Bradford's "Tory, but faster" quip), but I'm really suspicious of her campaign, especially because of Koulvais' backing, and her idea that Toronto would do fine if the province just uploaded the Gardiner and DVP. That's hogwash.

Ainslie supporting Bailao might (or might not) also be a death blow to Mitzie Hunter, given how he represents her riding municipally.

 

[W. K. Lis]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642284370957328384

 

[TonyV]

Many of you have probably read this. Here goes anyway. I don’t think anyone has encapsulated the situation better than Shawn Micallef:

Opinion | No money, no vision, reduced trust: Here’s the bleak legacy of John Tory that the next mayor must face

Toronto’s next leader must thwart the Ontario Place spa, reckon with the city’s rough finances, and more, writes Shawn Micallef.

www.thestar.com

 

[W. K. Lis]

One result of the "efficiencies" over the past 12 years is the slow disappearance of streetsweepers. Last year, only ONE streetsweeper was seen by me on my street (or the result of getting clean gutters) in all of last year.

Without a more regular sweeping, we have ended up with sticks and stones (and glass, and nails, and screws, etc.) along the gutter. How many tires (both motor vehicles and bicycles) have gotten a flat from a curbside nail or screw? Guess more likely bicycles would get them, and since the councillors tend not to use curb lanes of regular streets, they don't see the need for more frequent streetsweeping.

It is not "efficient" if the city is going downhill on keeping the city clean.

 

[concrete_and_light]

The gutters around me are so full of garbage and natural detritus composting into dirt. There's now basically a permanent layer covering the sides of roads, especially on the side with parked cars for which the city seems to have no plan or intention of ever cleaning I guess. This is just the state of "good enough" falling apart that our city is at now even though it costs an absurd amount of money to live here. In some places the mounds of new earth rise up nearly to sidewalk level. It's a little lower now than it was earlier in the season because leaves etc. are more composted into dirt (often mud) are more compact now and some gets washed away down the drains eventually, that is when it's not completely blocking the drains and flooding the street.

Feels like seeing the creation of an archeological site in real time. Really gives you a sense of how a city can deteriorate and literally be buried under layers of new earth quite quickly without maintenance.

 

[W. K. Lis]

This is dated April 22, 2021. Let's see what has changed for better, the same, or worse, for this year?

City botches street-sweeping contract, leaving Toronto's roads facing dirtier spring​

Sources say company that won $339K contract didn't have the vehicles to do the job​

From link.

Torontonians will be dealing with dirtier roads this spring after the city awarded a street-sweeping contract to a private company that didn't have the vehicles to complete the work, CBC News has learned.

Two sources with knowledge of the deal say Rafat General Contractor Inc. won the lucrative contract to clean streets across the city as well as the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway. Documents show the company bid $339,000 in total, winning the right to clean up all four lots of the city by offering a rate nearly $100,000 less than rival companies.

The problem: Rafat didn't have the 12 machines needed to get the work done, the sources say. The clean-up work the company was supposed to do was slated to run throughout April, but never started.

Now, the city will have to use its own fleet of sweepers to do the work, but crews will have to make up at least a month's worth of work and it's unclear when that will happen — particularly on the two major highways, where the work is only supposed to take place overnight.

What's more, the city only has 30 new street sweepers, down from 50 a decade ago, to get that work done.

Street sweeping is important work for Toronto's environment. This reporter recently picked up several bags of trash including discarded COVID masks, coffee cups, cigarette butts and a surprising amount of broken plastic on just one small west-end street (you could probably do the same wherever you are in the city).

But it's not just the obvious litter. The city itself says sweeping its 5,500 kilometres worth of roadway is important for maintaining good air quality and preventing flooding. And the longer waste sits on the streets, the more likely it is to wash into Lake Ontario or other waterways.

City officials aren't denying the bungled contract, which was not disclosed to councillors until CBC Toronto's reporting. But they also refused to answer key questions about this story, including:

• How the city plans to get the sweeping work done and how many of its 30 vehicles are available for use right now.
• Whether or not it was aware Rafat had the vehicles needed to complete the work, or if those vehicles were ever inspected (the city tender says officials have that option).
• Whether any money has been paid to the company, or if the city will pursue any punishment.

Instead, Vincent Sferrazza, the director of maintenance with the city's transportation services division, issued an email statement saying only: "City staff remain committed to satisfying the approved service levels for street sweeping on all city roadways."

Sferrazza later pointed to a news release listing all of the city's spring cleaning efforts, which began on April 6. However, he again declined to answer specific questions about the deal with Rafat or what this might mean for the city's environment.

The same news release states: "The city saw an increase in the amount of litter in Toronto's public spaces last year."

Councillor told city now taking 'all hands on deck' approach​

Scarborough Coun. Jennifer McKelvie, who heads the city's infrastructure and environment committee, said she's sought answers from staff and been told the work will get done.

"City staff have assured me that they've got 'all hands on deck' to ensure that street sweeping service levels are met with existing resources," McKelvie said in an email statement.

However, it remains to be seen whether that's possible. In 2019, staff admitted they were missing sweeping targets on local roads due to fleet maintenance issues.

"The City of Toronto is taking steps to improve our street sweeping program," McKelvie added.

CBC Toronto has also reported on the latest consultation work regarding sweeping, which also raised questions at city hall.

...

Private company facing stiff penalty, but city won't say what's next​

Rafat, meanwhile, did not respond to multiple calls or emails about this story.

The company should be cleaning at least 240 kilometres of roadway per day right now, according to the terms of the city tender. That document also notes failure to complete that work will result in fines of $100 per kilometre.

However, it's unclear if the city will pursue that punishment. If it did, Rafat could be facing a penalty worth upwards of $100,000.

The city has not issued a second bid to do the cleaning work.

Of course, the reason the city is contracting out the streetsweeping duties is that they will do it more "efficiently" and most importantly "cheaper". With a profit for the companies' balance sheet and shareholders, of course.