2023 Toronto Mayoral by-election

[christiesplits]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1664650810796523520

Two endorsements for Chow from Councillors Jamaal Myers and Amber Morley.

As I noted before, endorsements themselves aren't necessarily game-changers, but they can provide mayoral candidates with a pool of volunteers and access to donors. It can also show momentum, as an endorsement from a councillor for a winning mayoral candidate can mean getting a plum chair or speaker gig.

One reason I've always been bullish on Bailao is the large number of endorsements she's racked up from municipal provincial and federal politicians, especially in the early days. Many politicians clearly see her as the consensus (or status quo, I'd argue) candidate.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Toronto's property taxes are the lowest in the region.

I just received my 2nd half 2023 tax bill. Up more than 12% from earlier this year. I’m okay with that, provided we clear Allan Gardens. Provide housing, send in the boots, either or, do something.

 

[lead82]

I’d be ok with taxes going up if services were better. But they aren’t. The money is squandered on pet projects and bureaucratic waste and inertia.

 

[Rufus8]

Okay, candidate who promises to shut off TD bank's mother-ship beacon wins my vote. Tonight I am not permitted to stand on my own balcony and enjoy the night sky because TD bank and it's billions-in-profit haven't got the brain cells to understand there are other people on the planet. I hate this damned light pollution! Not even the airport has lights that bright, and who are they signalling? The Chinese? The Borg? Who?

 

[Fresco]

Okay, candidate who promises to shut off TD bank's mother-ship beacon wins my vote. Tonight I am not permitted to stand on my own balcony and enjoy the night sky because TD bank and it's billions-in-profit haven't got the brain cells to understand there are other people on the planet. I hate this damned light pollution! Not even the airport has lights that bright, and who are they signalling? The Chinese? The Borg? Who?

Resistance is futile

 

[Admiral Beez]

Okay, candidate who promises to shut off TD bank's mother-ship beacon wins my vote. Tonight I am not permitted to stand on my own balcony and enjoy the night sky because TD bank and it's billions-in-profit haven't got the brain cells to understand there are other people on the planet. I hate this damned light pollution! Not even the airport has lights that bright, and who are they signalling? The Chinese? The Borg? Who?

Cosmo feels you. But didn’t you buy a condo after the beacon? It shouldn’t be a surprise.

 

[TonyV]

I just received my 2nd half 2023 tax bill. Up more than 12% from earlier this year. I’m okay with that, provided we clear Allan Gardens. Provide housing, send in the boots, either or, do something.

You live near me (referring to Allan Gardens). I’m not ok with “boots” but I struggle with how else to clear the mess. I won’t go near the place. I resent the loss.

 

[DSC]

I’d be ok with taxes going up if services were better. But they aren’t. The money is squandered on pet projects and bureaucratic waste and inertia.

It is a chicken and egg situation. One could argue that City services are bad - or less than adequate - BECAUSE taxes are low. (Not to say that there is no waste in the City but, overall, very few cases of serious waste or fraud are found when there are investigations. The 'gravy train' really stopped running a while ago!)

 

[zang]

It is a chicken and egg situation. One could argue that City services are bad - or less than adequate - BECAUSE taxes are low. (Not to say that there is no waste in the City but, overall, very few cases of serious waste or fraud are found when there are investigations. The 'gravy train' really stopped running a while ago!)

It's really priorities at this point; City hall is throwing money at the Gardiner and the Police at the cost of other departments.

 

[DSC]

It's really priorities at this point; City hall is throwing money at the Gardiner and the Police at the cost of other departments.

Agreed! Several current City priorities would not be mine but with more money (from higher taxes) the problems would be less severe.

 

[lead82]

That’s exactly right. The priorities are wrong. The taxes are also being kept low for seniors who are on average the wealthiest generation that have paid for homes and can most afford the property tax hikes but are vehemently against them. Why for example do we have senior discounts as a society? I’d be fine to have just means tested discounts that would include truly poor seniors and other adults.

Same thing with Transit and policing. On Transit monies are spent on big projects but not to get people moving faster. Signal priority or bus lanes are way cheaper to build and could have resulted in an huge network in Scarborough but instead we wait for a 3 stop subway that will take 10yrs+ to build. Same with bike lanes. There is way too much talk and not enough on setting priorities and then funding them.

The waste I resent is the incessant chatter but no action except to push the ball further down. Instead we debate about flags and parades while the city crumbles and infrastructure and will never catch up to the growth we are already experiencing. Look how long it takes to have any reasonable action taken in this city to build even a simple bike lane. It’s like 5 years of study, a pilot, then rebuilt to make it permanent. That’s the waste I’m talking about. It human resource waste in that we are demotivating staff and smart people in the city by having them do paper work endlessly to avoid decisions and actions. Toronto needs less process and much faster decisions to be made and be bold and take some freaking risk and build stuff already.

 

[TonyV]

Well I’m liking the passion I’m reading in this thread. The more I read you all, the more I think that some laggards who’ve been around too long at city hall need their butts kicked out of office.

“Patches instead of solutions” doesn’t work for long.

 

[lead82]

I’m hoping if Olivia is destined to win that she go bold like Miller did. It was the last time the city achieved some great things in his tenure.

 

[picard102]

I’m hoping if Olivia is destined to win that she go bold like Miller did. It was the last time the city achieved some great things in his tenure.

What did he do that was so bold other than keep taxes low and come up with transit city, that was a political hot potato in the next election?

 

[TonyV]

^ transit city was brilliant. Too bad that the following administration was stupid enough to scrap it.