Rob Ford's Toronto

[TheTigerMaster]

I hope it all backfires, because ward boundaries do need to change. I see more representation for the "downtown elites", which is where the majority of the population growth has been happening.

Heavens forbid if the everyone in Toronto got appropriate representation in Council. Including people downtown. I mean, it's not like Toronto is a democracy or anything (sarcasm).

Anyways, if I remember correctly, downtown Toronto is set to get at least one new ward/councillors and probably a few more. As of now downtown is underrepresented in Council.

 

[RC8]

It is, but not by that much. Each ward, even downtown, is about 60,000 people. There are 2 downtown wards that exceed that number, but all that could come from that is an extra ward and, frankly, it wouldn't be hugely beneficial from an administrative viewpoint.

The real issue is that in council there's either an 'urban' or 'suburban' agenda. The urban agenda makes sense, since people in downtown wards all benefit from the same policies. The suburban agenda, however, is a mess: people in Etobicoke do not benefit from pro-Scarborough policies and vice-versa, and neither benefit from anti-downtown policies in spite of what they want to believe.

The horrible Toronto traffic, for instance, would be much worse if taking transit, walking, or cycling was not an alternative for wealthy downtowners. Cycle Toronto members are on average much wealthier than Toronto's average and most would opt for a car if they couldn't bike to their destination - that would lead to thousands of cars on the road at rush hour. The union station revitalisation project - painted as a pro-downtown project - will continue sucking many more thousands of suburban commuters who would otherwise be clogging the streets in their cars into rail service.

Consider this: only 15% of people downtown - the cities densest area - drive to work. Can you imagine the extent of the chaos if (consistent with the national average) 72% drove a car to work?!

The whole suburban agenda is just a massive derailment of populist self-harm. There is no logic that can justify it.

 

[scar_resident]

It is, but not by that much. Each ward, even downtown, is about 60,000 people. There are 2 downtown wards that exceed that number, but all that could come from that is an extra ward and, frankly, it wouldn't be hugely beneficial from an administrative viewpoint.

The real issue is that in council there's either an 'urban' or 'suburban' agenda. The urban agenda makes sense, since people in downtown wards all benefit from the same policies. The suburban agenda, however, is a mess: people in Etobicoke do not benefit from pro-Scarborough policies and vice-versa, and neither benefit from anti-downtown policies in spite of what they want to believe.

The horrible Toronto traffic, for instance, would be much worse if taking transit, walking, or cycling was not an alternative for wealthy downtowners. Cycle Toronto members are on average much wealthier than Toronto's average and most would opt for a car if they couldn't bike to their destination - that would lead to thousands of cars on the road at rush hour. The union station revitalisation project - painted as a pro-downtown project - will continue sucking many more thousands of suburban commuters who would otherwise be clogging the streets in their cars into rail service.

Consider this: only 15% of people downtown - the cities densest area - drive to work. Can you imagine the extent of the chaos if (consistent with the national average) 72% drove a car to work?!

The whole suburban agenda is just a massive derailment of populist self-harm. There is no logic that can justify it.

What exactly do you perceive the suburban agenda to be? Also De Baeremaeker represents a Scarborough Ward and is pretty much the guy who pushed bike lanes across the city. He's been elected member of council for a decade now.

 

[RC8]

The suburban agenda basically consists on maintaining the status quo for drivers and detached-home neighbourhoods around the city, even if at the detriment of themselves or others. Most problems experienced by drivers and low-density hoods are caused by other drivers and by the low-density of their neighbourhoods! Fighting off density and development and then arguing for subways leads to very unproductive debates.

I've been a fan of De Baeremaeker in general for a while, but he is the only suburban councillor who regularly embraces progressive ideas and change. He donates office space to environmental NGOs, too. Regardless of disagreements over subways and whatnot, we need more councillors like him.

 

[scar_resident]

The suburban agenda basically consists on maintaining the status quo for drivers and detached-home neighbourhoods around the city, even if at the detriment of themselves or others. Most problems experienced by drivers and low-density hoods are caused by other drivers and by the low-density of their neighbourhoods! Fighting off density and development and then arguing for subways leads to very unproductive debates.

I've been a fan of De Baeremaeker in general for a while, but he is the only suburban councillor who regularly embraces progressive ideas and change. He donates office space to environmental NGOs, too. Regardless of disagreements over subways and whatnot, we need more councillors like him.

This is a major preception issue that people have of the 416 suburbs. 45% of Scarborough's population is under 24 or is over 65, vs only 36% of old city Toronto and East York. Further to this only 45% of people in Scarobough have their first language as English vs. 62% in Toronto and East York.

These demographic differences drive a lot of what we want from our city councillors. Most people that live in an area with children or seniors want clean safe streets and parks. If you look at a Scarborough City council agenda most topics related to traffic are for speed limits, stop signs, and cross walks. We also want clean protected parks as we have seen too much of our green space sacrificed to build condos in the name of density. Downtown had parking lots to convert which was praised for desnity, in the suburbs the developers took over small forests and parks which for some reason was praised for density as well.

 

[nfitz]

I hope it all backfires, because ward boundaries do need to change. I see more representation for the "downtown elites", which is where the majority of the population growth has been happening.

Something needs to shift. The current federal and provincial boundaries are based on the 2001 census, but the feds are now updating to the 2011 census, increasing the the number of Toronto ridings from 22.5 to 25. However, the city boundaries are based on the old federal ridings from the 1991 census, when there were only 22 ridings.

If we go with the old system and divide each riding into 2 wards, we will have 50 councillors instead of 44. With 2 new ones from Scarborough, 2 from downtown, and 2 for eastern North York.

Hardly a great increase for downtown relatively speaking. Only Etobicoke loses out with no significant changes to boundaries in Etobiooke, York, western North York, etc., since 1991.

There's a thread discussing the new proposed federal riding distribution - http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/19091-New-Electoral-Boundaries

And somewhere I broke down what this meant for Toronto's ward make-up ... which I'm having problems finding.

 

[RC8]

I've lived in GTA suburbia, I have a 2-year-old sister, and I was personally responsible for taking care of my grandfather for years.

All things considered, I find Toronto's suburbs are a terrible place for children to grow up, and a terrible place for people to grow old. Walking to school is a dangerous odyssey, teenagers have no way to get around and nowhere to go, and old people are forced to live a car-centric lonely secluded life that invariably turns them cranky and depressive.

If you think that a place like THIS is suitable for children or seniors, or that it is green space and worth saving, well... enjoy.

The middle-aged people I know in Scarborough are mostly struggling to make ends meet because they need to drive and can't afford their cars. Alternatively, they take transit and hate where they live.

Don't get me wrong, downtown is not a very nice place to raise a family either, but if councillors Vaughan and Layton had their way, it would be.

 

[nfitz]

And somewhere I broke down what this meant for Toronto's ward make-up ... which I'm having problems finding.

Oh, hear it is. About 500 pages earlier in this thread. Back then, I assumed that the new wards would be in place for the 2014 election, but it will be 2018 at this rate.

Area	1997	2006	2018
Etobicoke/York	11	11	11
North York	11	11	13
Scarborough	10	11	12
Toronto-East York	12	12	14
TOTAL	44	45	50

Ref 1, Ref 2, Ref 3

2006 of course never happened. But that's what would have happened if the city had redistributed then, based on the 2001, like the Feds did.

 

[scar_resident]

I've lived in GTA suburbia, I have a 2-year-old sister, and I was personally responsible for taking care of my grandfather for years.

All things considered, I find Toronto's suburbs are a terrible place for children to grow up, and a terrible place for people to grow old. Walking to school is a dangerous odyssey, teenagers have no way to get around and nowhere to go, and old people are forced to live a car-centric lonely secluded life that invariably turns them cranky and depressive.

If you think that a place like THIS is suitable for children or seniors, or that it is green space and worth saving, well... enjoy.

The middle-aged people I know in Scarborough are mostly struggling to make ends meet because they need to drive and can't afford their cars. Alternatively, they take transit and hate where they live.

Don't get me wrong, downtown is not a very nice place to raise a family either, but if councillors Vaughan and Layton had their way, it would be.

You're joking right? First of all the picture from streetview is when the strip mall was going under contsruction. That intersection is walking distance to the mall, a grocery store, a high school, banks, a renovated expanded public library (with many seniors programs), a pretty much brand new gym, beer store and lcbo, and other ethnic shops. Also a 5 minute walk to a very large park with bike trails and creeks.
The bus service is terrible in this neighbourhood and that is one that the city councillor needs to address.

 

[Gavin]

@goldsbie: Could this have something to do with what @robyndoolittle was investigating in Florida? http://t.co/MpePVqOkQZ

And the link leads to something he tweeted on Feb 12:

‏@goldsbie: Here's some oddness. This person shares an address with the (former?) Florida location of Deco Labels & Tags: http://bit.ly/zNMcR7

And that link leads to this: http://mugshots.com/US-Counties/Florida/Broward-County-FL/Darrius-T-Heaven/details/

Three charges: two separate ones for cocaine possession, plus one for aggravated battery. And sure enough, if you Google his stated address it's also listed to Deco Labels & Tags.

 

[PinkLucy]

I think these guys have to stop tweeting until they finish uncovering a story. Don't want to give Rob and Doug the heads up -- people and things may disappear.

 

[RC8]

So you would happily let your 10 year old daughter/sister go shopping with your 75 year old mother/grandmother by foot/transit on that area?

I guess we just have different standards, then. Vastly different.

 

[scar_resident]

I feel more in danger crossing Spadina and King than Markham and Lawrence, which has a way higher volume of traffic by the way. I guess we do have vastly different standards.

 

[Peepers]

Interesting tweet from Jonathon Goldsbie (National Post)

Jonathan Goldsbie ‏@goldsbie 18m
Could this have something to do with what @robyndoolittle was investigating in Florida?

Here's some oddness. This person shares an address with the (former?) Florida location of Deco Labels & Tags: http://mugshots.com/US-Counties/Florida/Broward-County-FL/Darrius-T-Heaven/details/

A google search for this address brings:

http://www.ibegin.com/directory/us/florida/hollywood/deco-labels--tags/

Probably just a weird coincidence.

 

[Silence&Motion]

Came across this quote from Doug Holiday in the Toronto Star today:

"We could have had a beautiful system in place right now if 30 years ago someone would have started building little bits of subway. We can get the ball rolling with this matter,” (Doug Holiday) added, referring to the Scarborough subway push as dismissing questions about the previous Conservative premier Mike Harris’s 1995 decision to fill in the Eglinton subway tunnel started under former NDP premier Bob Rae.

“There was simply no money to do it,” Holiday said.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the insane troll logic of Toronto Conservatives: "We want subways and we want them now! And by now, we mean when we have enough money! And if we have enough money to build a subway, we should cut taxes first and build a subway later! ...We want subways now!"