what is becoming increasingly clear is that people like CNTower, malvern, future builder etc. aren't even following the story anymore. they tuned it out weeks ago, when they knew the battle was lost. they have no idea what's going on and are still ragging on about stuff that just seems irrelevant at this point. 'proof of aliens'? whatever.
Nope - and the worst part is, none of them are even interested in having a
discussion. They just want to repeat the soundbites they've heard, and when you challenge them or present a strong argument that they may not have thought of, they just disappear and avoid answering for a while, then reappear as if they had never been questioned.
And you would convict on circumstantial evidence at best? Innocent until proven guilty.
I think you'll have to define what
you think circumstantial evidence is. Because as the commenter you were responding to said, you have basically asserted that unless an unimpeachable video exists, there's no way you can ever convict anyone of anything.
I live downtown but still keep close ties to my old neighborhood and the anger in burbs is very real, tell me who can come forth and bridge that gap and I will gladly vote for them, until then I stand firmly by the one guy who took on the unions, championed subways in the burbs, tries to cut taxes (i.e. land transfer tax), saves money with things like privatized waste collection and cutting excess jobs at city hall
Here's the thing - if money was no object, everyone would champion subways everywhere and
we would probably already have a lot by now. But because of finnicky real-world limitations like "ridership" and "budgets", real-world achievable compromises have to be made. It's amazing that you want to get rid of the land transfer tax but you also want
subways in the suburbs. How do you think they get paid for? Do you think money comes from the government or city out of thin air? Where do you think
all of the city's revenues come from???? Do you realize that nearly everything in the public realm is being paid for by tax dollars or consumers of some kind?
Without taxes being paid, nothing happens. Some would say that it's far more important to build an amazing city before getting bogged down with "efficiencies" - if cutting staff at city hall saves a bit of money but slows down development and city-building, in the long term
that's actually a bad thing. Personally I'd rather they double the number of people on the transit file if it will get the DRL built twice as fast (huge boon to the city and easing congestion), whereas Ford and his ilk would sit around championing a subway in a part of town where even the buses aren't used that much.
Just a meta-comment: I think it's hugely encouraging that, once we begin talking about specifics, the heat tends to drain away from the conversation and we get more light. While I strongly disagree with malvern2's position on Ford, I think kudos are deserved for malvern2 moving to engage in the substantive issues, and enumerating specifics -- it really helps to foster genuine communication.
Not sure if sarcastic or genuine... pretty sure sarcastic.