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Next Mayor of Toronto?

archanfel said:
If it was your private garden, I would just shake my head and then move on, since it doesn't concern me. Unfortunately, this monstrosity is partly paid by my tax dollar too. Now, if the entire waterfront is already covered with grass and we have a huge surplus, then I can see adding a bit flare here and there. Even then, I'd say we should keep it as simple and as natural as possible. The lake should be the main attraction. Also the maintenance cost should be low, both in term of money and in term of environment. If you want to see concrete stream, go to Markville mall and they've got a very nice one.

So attacking Ford with unreasonable claims is called humour? Well, ok, I got one too. Smitherman will waste 10 billion in Toronto, increase our debt load, cut essential services, impose a infrastructure premium which union members don't have to pay, and then let another scapegoat take the fall for him. Funny? Or is it not outrageous enough?
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Do you realize we are talking about downtown Toronto here? Why should a downtown, urban district, be mainly grass and trees? Sounds kind of boring to me. If I want grass, trees and nature I can go to the Leslie Street Spit, Music Garden, Marilyn Bell Park, Cherry Beach Park, Scarbourgh Bluffs Park, Sunnyside Park or a dozen other waterfront parks that are all mainly trees and grass. Are you opposed to anything unique, original and creative? Have you been to the waterfront in the last 10 years? It's mostly grass and trees, from end to end, for gods sake. The ONLY part of the waterfront that is urban is the central waterfront, downtown. So why is it anti-urban people like yourself, should all get what they want, yet the people who want a downtown, urban waterfront ,should just be ignored? Do you realize how selfish that is? What about a little diversity on the waterfront too?

Sorry buddy, a downtown needs an urban waterfront, not more unprogramed parks with grass and trees, that few people go visit. Have you ever noticed how Harbourfront, with all it's buildings, is the most popular place on our waterfront? It is like that for a reason. People want something to do besides sit on the grass and stare out at the lake. The central waterfront from Cherry Street to Bathurst Street should be full of restaurants, stores, entertainment venues, amusements, condos, culture and FUN! Screw the grass and trees. Keep that in Scarbourgh, Etobicoke, The Beaches and Sunnyside.

You know, the world doesn't revolve around you. It would all be nice if we only paid our taxes, towards the things we wanted. Hell, I wouldn't be paying for schools, community centres, highways, suburban roads, psychiatric hospitals or parking lots, but in the real world, we ALL share the costs of all those things. If you don't like the system, work to change it and quit complaining. Why is it all the Ford supporters are constantly bitching and whining? Do something productive with your time, instead of constantly being anti-everything. Talk about bloody EMO!

Hell, I wouldn't even be a bit surprised if you don't even pay taxes. (living with mom & dad?) I know a guy who's always complaining about taxes and he hasn't worked in over 20 years. lol The tax payers are taking care of him, yet he complains about taxes all the time. When I remind him that he doesn't pay taxes, he just says "shut up". lol PEOPLE!!!
 
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I never heard the details. Was waiting for them like everybody else.

Twitter is indeed talking contradictory poll predictions. The only consensus seems to be that a new poll will be out on Tuesday.

Some say Smitherman is now in the lead, others that Ford has widened his lead. I suspect this is campaign spin. Let's wait for the real deal.

My own experience is that people who were previously not paying much attention to the election liked Rob Ford because he was saying the right things. Now that they're engaged in the election, I hear almost no Ford support amongst my group of friends and acquaintances. Some who were pro-Ford are now appalled that he might get elected.

Smitherman's momentum in the past couple of weeks suggests that he'll indeed be in 1st or at a statistical tie with Ford. Rocco has been on fire in the debates and picking up previously Ford supporters. Joe got a boost over Miller's endorsement but I've found that to have fizzled very quickly. Pants cancelled his Financial plan announcement @ the Prince's Gates on Friday. Not sure if he didn't want to be upstaged by Ford's announcement or what happened. Morale seems pretty low once again.

I'm not going to venture on numbers but I'm going to bet that the poll will show this ranking:

Smitherman
Ford
Rocco
Pantalone
 
The central waterfront from Cherry Street to Bathurst Street should be full of restaurants, stores, entertainment venues, amusements, condos, culture and FUN!
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The waterfront should be indistinguishable from any other streetscape in Toronto? How would anyone know they were at the waterfront if they can't see the water?
 
Ford camp on Twitter seems really confident that gap between Smitherman continues wide enough to guarantee election win. :(

I'm dying for good news here. This next poll needs to show Smitherman up, Ford down. Please please please.
 
How can you follow any of the #voteTO stuff on Twitter? I just keep seeing spam by the same 5 people (who I seem unable to block) who all have their own weird agendas (one guy claims to be Smitherman's drug dealer and somehow posts every minute of the day).

One thing is clear, Twitter hasn't been a great tool for this election. Everyone seems to try to grab attention with hyperbole and versions of the same post over and over again and I just haven't found it useful to get any sort of election news via twitter beyond outlets like Spacing and Torontoist
 
spider said:
The waterfront should be indistinguishable from any other streetscape in Toronto? How would anyone know they were at the waterfront if they can't see the water?
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Well, let's get this straight, Toronto has a huge waterfront, stretching many miles. I'm specifically talking about the central waterfront, from Cherry to Bathurst. Other than the central waterfront and the portlands, which will contain, lots of non-animated parkland, almost all the rest of our waterfront is parkland. It's only people who don't go to our waterfront, who think it's all concrete and massive condos. Even where there are condos, as in Etobicoke, the waterfront has public access and it's all grass and trees. How many other cities in NA even have this much public access to the waterfront.

Toronto's waterfront has a different character in every part, some parts are more built up than others but we only have one really urban stretch and it is downtown. Almost all the best loved waterfronts in the world, are urban. (Chicago, Miami, Rio, Sydney NYC, Barcelona) It's the most urban waterfronts that attract the huge crowds. If we want to use our waterfront to build our tourism industry, as well as provide a fun, lively place for ourselves, we only have one real option and that's the central waterfront. There is plenty of quiet, underused parkland for those who prefer solitude.

Not only that but Toronto has more ravines than any other city in the world and it's all natural, grass and trees. (and guess what? Almost nobody uses it) We also have the largest urban park in NA called Rough Park. It's huge, undeveloped and empty of people. It goes all the way from north of steeles to Lake Ontario. You can walk for miles in that park and not see a single person. What more do people want?

I don't think it's too much to ask for one tourist friendly, crowded, animated section of waterfront. If Ford does anything to screw that up, he's not only ruining a great financial opportunity but he's also taking away our one chance to have a great waterfront. I don't hear many people referring to our undeveloped parcels of waterfront as "great".

The waterfront can and does look different than other parts of Toronto. That's exactly what I'm saying, don't make it like the rest of the waterfront. (parks, grass & trees) It's urban, build it up but keep the access for the public, all along it. Something like the Chicago Pier, NTC's South Street Seaport or The Rocks in Sydney, would be great. We still need an iconic building on the waterfront. (I'm waiting impatiently)

Hopefully Sherbourne Common will be the start of great development on the east side, as long as Ford doesn't screw it up. What does that guy have against economic development and developers making money? I though he liked money?
 
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jn_12 said:
How can you follow any of the #voteTO stuff on Twitter? I just keep seeing spam by the same 5 people (who I seem unable to block) who all have their own weird agendas (one guy claims to be Smitherman's drug dealer and somehow posts every minute of the day).

One thing is clear, Twitter hasn't been a great tool for this election. Everyone seems to try to grab attention with hyperbole and versions of the same post over and over again and I just haven't found it useful to get any sort of election news via twitter beyond outlets like Spacing and Torontoist
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I also tried to block those same people but I mostly use it for the links that people put up to articles about the election. The best site for the municipal election has been www.TorontoElectionNews.com
 
Torontovibe said:
Are you opposed to anything unique, original and creative?
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Well, again, keep in mind the comparison point that archinfel raised. Not HTO Park or the wave walks, not stuff like Yorkville Park or anything else that's more "designed" than "natural"--but the indoor river in Markville Mall. That's right: a suburban mall-retail gimmick.

Within an Urban Toronto context, if he's going to be such a amateurish dunce in his landscape-design reference points, he's woefully out of his element...
 
archanfel said:
So attacking Ford with unreasonable claims is called humour? Well, ok, I got one too. Smitherman will waste 10 billion in Toronto, increase our debt load, cut essential services, impose a infrastructure premium which union members don't have to pay, and then let another scapegoat take the fall for him. Funny? Or is it not outrageous enough?
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Of course my remark was unreasonable, that's why it is funny. But you don't get funny. That is clearly evidenced by your remarks.

Maybe you can inform everyone here of the last time that the waterfront area in question was natural?
 
I also think that Rocco Rossi's new found strength is going to eating away support from Rob Ford. Geogre Smitherman and Rocco Rossi are performing excellent in the debates, while Rob Ford has been terrible. I believe that people are starting to follow the election closer and these debates are game changers. Rob Ford is taking a beating in these debates and he is going to lose this election because of it.
 
I believe that Rocco Rossi's new found strength is going to eat away at the right wing support of Rob Ford. George Smitherman and Rocco Rossi are doing excellent during debates, while Rob Ford has been terrible. People are starting to pay attention to the election race, and Rob Ford has taken a beating during the debates. The debates is where Rob Ford is going the lose this election.
 
^ That's what I've been thinking, but then I fear that I'm giving the Rob Ford supporting demographic too much credit. For people who are even considering voting for Rob Ford, are they really listening to the debates?

If they are, then Ford doesn't stand a chance. He's been murdered at every debate that I've seen or listened to. People are practically throwing tomatoes at him from the crowd. He's been laughed at, booed at, even shouted at, and Smitherman, Rossi and Pants are always waiting with a zinger. There's no way voters can think he's the best candidate after he's been proven wrong so thoroughly during the debates.
 
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