adma
Superstar
completion of the Spadina Expressway (drop it underground at least south of Bloor).
I'm not sure if that would have been possible under *any* mayor btw/Sewell and Miller. Lastman-as-megamayor not excepted.
completion of the Spadina Expressway (drop it underground at least south of Bloor).
All in all, Miller is a step-up from Lastman. But when the bar was that low, it's not saying much. I predict that we are going to paying for some of Miller's mistakes for a while yet:
We have a historic opportunity to build a significan amount of public transit in Toronto and what do we get? Transit City. I am a Malvernite and I could tell you that Malvern doesn't need that many transit lines. Years from now we'll look back on this decision and wish that we had not squandered the opportunity to build up the subway network. Contrast that with Pitfield who had the sound policy of building a stop every year.
My other gripe is the union friendliness. All those clauses promising the highest wage in the region or only agreeing to do business with companies that provide a 'living wage' (in reality a sop to the unions - why do they need this if they claim that unionized labour can be economically competitive?). Worst of all on this point is that he has not even taken on the favourite union of the right: the police union. At least if he had tried to rein in law enforcement costs, I would have been a little more appreciative.
All that said, given the history of mayors in Toronto, he's squarely middle of the pack in my books. He's not proven as visionary as we thought he would be in the beginning, but nor has he been a total flop as many critics make him out to be. His re-election will depend squarely on what the other guy is offering because as it stands Miller's record is mixed.
The only country where this doesn't happen is the USA. For some reason, most* Presidents there usually pass into history as respected figures. Now, most people have accepted Reagen as generally good and even hardcore Republicans wouldn't say anything bad about less than competent Democrats like Kennedy or Carter, at least in public.
*A few examples like James Buchanan or probably GWB, are exceptions.
Property taxes have to go up every year to keep up with inflation. The property tax rate went down this year and is currently lower than when Miller was elected.[*]holding the line (or reducing) property taxes overall, although I think there is a problem with the ratio between apartment taxation and house taxation that needs to looked at
The densification that's happened under Miller was anything but "forced", whatever that means. It's been the result of market demand, without which development doesn't happen.[*]stop council from social engineering. I have no problem with densification but it should be allowed, not forced.
Yes, it's provincial now. Most provinces have similar bans, including Alberta and Quebec. It's an issue of health, not where you are on the political spectrum.[*]repeal the smoking ban (or is that provincial now?)
If you mean that not building new highways will drive business out of downtown, I think the experience of the last 40 years has proven you wrong. Downtown has continued to grow despite the lack of highways. Perhaps you can show us some studies that prove that not building new highways to city centres results in business being driven away.While I don't have a car, I realize that lots of people do and it would be a bad idea to disincent people from coming downtown -- all that will achieve is to drive business away from downtown.
The only country where this doesn't happen is the USA. For some reason, most* Presidents there usually pass into history as respected figures. Now, most people have accepted Reagen as generally good and even hardcore Republicans wouldn't say anything bad about less than competent Democrats like Kennedy or Carter, at least in public.
*A few examples like James Buchanan or probably GWB, are exceptions.
even hardcore Republicans wouldn't say anything bad about less than competent Democrats like Kennedy or Carter, at least in public.
Are you kidding? Bashing Carter is like a Republican Party nightly tradition.
Re the asterisk, don't forget Nixon. Or at least, his "respectedness" comes with an asterisk...
Anyways, I don't think I am wrong that the POTUS is a far more respected position than the PMO, and certainly the Mayor of Toronto. People still gripe about how Diefenbaker canned the Arrow and how Trudeau flipped a bird to some locals. That kind of petty sniping doesn't tend to happen so much down there.
I seriously don't get how three right-leaning newspapers survive in a Liberal stronghold such as Toronto. Who reads them? Most people in Toronto read the Star. It is the most popular in the city.
Let's see, mouth breathing louts read the Sun, terribly earnest socialists read the Star and the National Post is supported by hard hearted right wingers who eat the babies of the less fortunate (in season only).
How do the superficial categorizers in this thread of newspaper subscribers file those who read 3 or 4 papers every day. Are we interested in hearing more than one opinion or just confused.