Next Mayor of Toronto?

[archanfel]

Our governments have lots of money with substantial revenues every year. They also, at the provincial and federal level, have had significant deficits in recent years. There's also sizeable debt. That doesn't mean that they should stop providing or funding important services.

It's not heresy to suggest that the provincial government ought to fund a portion of the TTC's operating budget. The TTC is critical to the provincial - not just municipal - business economy.

It's one thing to have a temporary deficit, it's another to have structure deficit. For example, while it's natural to have a mortgage, it would be a disaster to buy beyond one's means. Yes, the TTC is important, however, if its operating cost goes beyond what the city/province can afford, then it is simply not feasible.

It also does not affect my point that the $100 million will be founded by tax payers. Basically George Smitherman's strategy is to cut vehicle tax by $20 to buy our vote and then let the province tax us $50 extra to make up the difference.

Of course, it's also possible the province would simply say no as it has done repeatedly. If Smitherman couldn't make it happen when he was the deputy premier, what makes him think it's doable now? Or was he purposely withholding money from Toronto to aid his mayoral run?

 

[MisterF]

Is the current council's policy of reducing commercial property taxes while raising residential property taxes still being implemented? It was a long term project and future councils would be wise to continue it.

I'd love to hear more about this issue from the candidates too, but the reality seems to be that voters care more about paying an extra sixty dollars a year for their cars and five cents for plastic bags. Or at least that's what we're being fed.

I don't think the 5 cent plastic bag fee is all that controversial. Stores all over Ontario are charging it now, without the government telling them to.

what? so now she's a whore because she dropped out of the race and threw her support behind smitherman?

Either that or he's accusing her of taking bribes. Those of us who aren't wearing tin foil hats realize that this happens in municipal politics all the time.

 

[Glen]

Is the current council's policy of reducing commercial property taxes while raising residential property taxes still being implemented? It was a long term project and future councils would be wise to continue it.

Despite Mayor Miller and Joe Pantalone repeatedly saying that they have reduced business taxes, all they have done is raise them slower than residential. It is not enough. Even these small increases along with the 5% capping adjustment per year for the vast majority of older commercial/retail/industrial means that every year brings a substantial increase in the tax payable.

 

[Oliver Tweed]

I started looking at Ford's budget press release. http://www.scribd.com/doc/38280842/Rob-Ford-s-Saving-Our-City-Plan

I couldn't get very far, it's very bizarre.

For justification of cutting councillors from 44 to 22 it refers to Greater London and says "Greater London (UK) with a population of over 7.5 million
has 14 constituencies and elects a total of 25 members of its assembly."

However, it completely ignores that the Greater London council is a senior level of government. Something like if we had a GTA council comprising of Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Pickering Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, etc. Each of the 33 cities and boroughs that make up Greater London also have their own councils. And they have far more councillors than we do. For example, the Hackney (pop 212,000) has 50 councillors. Hammersmith and Fulham (population 172,000) has 46 councillors. Camden (population 235,000) has 51 councillors.

To suggest that London only has 25 councillors for 7.5 million people (about one per 300,000) is massively fraudulent. The truth is London has over 1,000 councillors; much less than 1 per 10,000. If we were to have a similar structure here, we would elect councillors for both the district and city councils, with perhaps 10 councillors a the city level, and 500 at the district level.

I just can't believe how Ford will say these really bizarre things with absolutely no basis.

Agree, but these are not really bizarre things. They are ordinary things which happen to be false. And I certainly can believe that Ford would say them.

Early in the campaign I gave Ford the benefit of the doubt, but since then he's proven that he really is a one-trick pony with no vision for the city.

What angers me most is that he wants to cancel Transit City. It has taken so much effort to get to this point that it would be a huge mistake to pull back on it now. We can't afford subways and they aren't coming. People need to get that out of their heads right now. Even if Ford is elected they won't happen. If only Ford could realize that.

 

[archanfel]

Agree, but these are not really bizarre things. They are ordinary things which happen to be false. And I certainly can believe that Ford would say them.

Early in the campaign I gave Ford the benefit of the doubt, but since then he's proven that he really is a one-trick pony with no vision for the city.

What angers me most is that he wants to cancel Transit City. It has taken so much effort to get to this point that it would be a huge mistake to pull back on it now. We can't afford subways and they aren't coming. People need to get that out of their heads right now. Even if Ford is elected they won't happen. If only Ford could realize that.

Hmm.. Aren't we building an extension of the Spadina line? How many people said that's too expensive and not coming?

Having said that, I have no doubt that Ford knows perfectly well that he can't get the subway he wants (or pretending to want). The best way to kill something is to replace it with something that seems better but not feasible. While I agree with him on the vice of streetcars in mixed traffic, it would be shame to lose transit city altogether. What Ford doesn't understand is transit helps car owners as much as they help transit riders. Unfortunately, I don't think Miller understands that either, thus the whole "war on car" PR disaster.

People needs to understand that cars have their places in the city and make sure the transition from car to public transit is as smooth as possible. For example, massive overnight parking lots on subway terminals, negotiate lower insurance rate for transit takers, plan transit route to lower impact on car traffics, etc... The "Car Bad, Transit Good" mentality can only alienating drivers. Instead, it should be "Cars and Public Transit working together to get Toronto moving".

 

[js97]

What angers me most is that he wants to cancel Transit City. It has taken so much effort to get to this point that it would be a huge mistake to pull back on it now. We can't afford subways and they aren't coming. People need to get that out of their heads right now. Even if Ford is elected they won't happen. If only Ford could realize that.

What angers me is that only those that live in the core, and do not take transit from the outter burbs, are the strongest supporters of 'transit city'. Go live in the burbs of scarborough for a bit, then see if it's still a good idea.

It's a disaster, it's slow (only shaves of 6 minutes of commute from the scarborough line), and it creates gridlock (see st clair west, Dufferin to Keele).

'LRTs are NOT going to be faster than 'street cars' They will be no different than the ones on spadina, st clair, or queens quay (those are 'LRTs') It's interesting how they draw it up on the map as it was some srot of high speed commuter rail.

Voters are much more intelligent than this.

 

[js97]

Hmm.. Aren't we building an extension of the Spadina line? How many people said that's too expensive and not coming?

Dont' even get me started on the spadina line.

They are burrowing on wide open spaces all the way to Vaughan! They can easily build it above ground, like sections of the the current spadina line. Cost would have been substantially less... WHY?

Certain Politician's and their families, including current Mayor candidate, owns land along the trail....

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Hmm.. Aren't we building an extension of the Spadina line? How many people said that's too expensive and not coming?

Having said that, I have no doubt that Ford knows perfectly well that he can't get the subway he wants (or pretending to want). The best way to kill something is to replace it with something that seems better but not feasible. While I agree with him on the vice of streetcars in mixed traffic, it would be shame to lose transit city altogether. What Ford doesn't understand is transit helps car owners as much as they help transit riders. Unfortunately, I don't think Miller understands that either, thus the whole "war on car" PR disaster.

People needs to understand that cars have their places in the city and make sure the transition from car to public transit is as smooth as possible. For example, massive overnight parking lots on subway terminals, negotiate lower insurance rate for transit takers, plan transit route to lower impact on car traffics, etc... The "Car Bad, Transit Good" mentality can only alienating drivers. Instead, it should be "Cars and Public Transit working together to get Toronto moving".

See, this is workable. If more people thought like this then we would be in better shape.

 

[nfitz]

People may know about London's councillor numbers but I'm not sure how many will read Ford's claim and connect the two like you did. I think you should send it to the Toronto Star's "smell test" writer.

Good idea, and I have now. But perhaps not as timely any more. I don't follow Torontist, BlogTO, Spacing and Toronto Election News much. And I'm pretty much not on-line for another 36 hours. Someone go ahead and do this if they think it's a good idea!

 

[Justin10000]

Done and done. Credited to you, er your board name.

 

[js97]

Cito gaston for mayor!!!

 

[Torontovibe]

Agree, but these are not really bizarre things. They are ordinary things which happen to be false. And I certainly can believe that Ford would say them.

Early in the campaign I gave Ford the benefit of the doubt, but since then he's proven that he really is a one-trick pony with no vision for the city.

What angers me most is that he wants to cancel Transit City. It has taken so much effort to get to this point that it would be a huge mistake to pull back on it now. We can't afford subways and they aren't coming. People need to get that out of their heads right now. Even if Ford is elected they won't happen. If only Ford could realize that.

I believe Ford does know that. Ford is focused on subways because he can blame the Liberals, when they refuse to give him the money to build them. Ford can then say it's not his fault, blame McGuinty. Of course, if McGuinty did give ford the money he wanted, and then had to go into a serious deficit, those same cons would be screaming to have his head on a platter. McGuinty of course, knows this, as well as Ford. This is just the kind of political games people like Ford play. If Transit City is not built, expect nothing to get built. (except for what's being built now) The reason why Toronto now has the worst traffic in North America, is because no new transit has been built in decades. Do we really want to keep changing plans and getting nowhere?

 

[PinkLucy]

I don't give Ford enough credit to have figured all of that out.^^^ I think his brain works much more simply than that.

 

[Torontovibe]

I don't give Ford enough credit to have figured all of that out.^^^ I think his brain works much more simply than that.

Oh come on, tight-fisted Ford, knows we don't have huge amounts of money to pay for new subways. (WITHOUT raising taxes and tolls) He's just putting the Libs in an impossible situation.


Ford is stupid but not that stupid.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I agree with PinkLucy, mostly. The reality is that Ford doesn't care about transit. He turned to his 'transit guru' - who happens to be the guy who was advocating a complete privatization of the TTC earlier this year - who drafted up a plan. Now that people are poking holes in it, he's just shrugging his shoulders.

He's not going to fight for it. He's shown that already.