|
|
|
2023 Toronto Mayoral by-election
- Thread starter SJD_Toronto
- Start date
vic
Senior Member
At least 43 if Chow and Penalosa get around to signing up.
Richard White
Senior Member
goreckm
Active Member
He doesn't stand a chance in hell, and he's a little wacky, but, he has more good ideas than bad ones so I hope he runs to at least bring attention to them.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Wonder when the debates start and how many of the mayoralty candidates will attend? Can't see 41+, 43+, plus at any one debate.
Richard White
Senior Member
I can see the main candidates with name recognition appearing.
- Olivia Chow (if she runs)
- Ana Bailao
- Josh Matlow
- Mark Saunders
- Mitzie Hunter
- Brad Bradford
That being said, I wonder if they will take a page from the federal election and use a certain vote threshold (or anticipated threshold based on polling) to determine who gets an invitation.
picard102
Senior Member
Does he imagine spinning up a new department at the city level, on top of all the consultations and approvals would be any quicker than Housing Now has been, or is he just going to SmartTrack this and claim the existing work is his own plan?
If the city is going to become the developer, do we have the people power available to expedite these projects?
Northern Light
Superstar
That is what he's suggesting (a new agency); and he is advertising it would be faster........ which given that not one Housing Now site has broken ground in 5 years would not be a heroic achievement....... but I digress.
I don't believe he is advocating the City be its own construction company or GC, but rather that it be the 'owner' and 'financier'.
Since the City's own CreateTO did much of the planning work on the Housing Now sites, yes, there are staff who can do that work, as there are inside TCHC and for that matter, some inside Toronto Planning.
Whether those staff are the right staff or can be shifted to this new agency is a different question. The City's Treasury staff are more than capable of handing the financing side, whether there are enough of them to do so.......... I would say not if the pipeline actually moved a worthwhile number of units......but there would be a lag before they had to staff up....
picard102
Senior Member
Is the Housing Now "progress" a symptom of the city not being the owner/financer? The one down the street from me seems to be taking forever, but a good portion of that time appeared to be dealing with NIMBY's, and then the pandemic. Does taking on that role actually speed things up?
Northern Light
Superstar
There isn't an easy answer to that.
The planning process was flawed, in a few ways, which I and @HousingNowTO have discussed.
Those aren't necessarily tied to who finances or is the ultimate owner of said housing.
That said, using, third-party financing has proved an issue here due both to rising interest rates in general and lack of cooperation from CMHC, the federal agency.
Would doing things in-house have made a difference? In a perfect world, a reduced financing cost, and potentially faster movement would have seen some shovels in the ground and maybe more affordable units.
On the other hand, that's a bit unknowable, as the same folks who managed a slow-rollout of the planning process might not have been overly expeditious in the execution phase either.
Last edited:
SJD_Toronto
Active Member
Yep, he is probably correct.
HousingNowTO
Senior Member
Day One assessment of Councillor Matlow's affordable-housing platform... (long-thread)
Northern Light
Superstar
Excellent review; and I think quite fair.
Offering some positivity towards stated objectives, and some of the means by which they might be obtained.
As well as lauding a certain measure of transparency in what can be achieved and how.
Equally, critiquing what one might reasonably describe as optimistic assumptions about contributions from other levels of government.....
and raising questions about some other assumptions, both clear and vague.
Right how you want to see it. Fair, but asking for further clarity and accountability.
If @HousingNowTO doesn't bring his full thread forward, I will some time tomorrow so the click-averse still get a full look at it.
HousingNowTO
Senior Member