Rob Ford's Toronto

[adma]

I'm just surprised that she still talks to you. I suspect that family really doesn't matter to you. Or others' feelings for that matter.

You're practically bragging about not only dissing your sister's wedding, hurting her feelings in the process and showing no remorse at all, you actually seem pleased with yourself. With some weak excuse that your education was more important than some silly waste of time like a sibling's wedding. This speaks volumes on the type of person you are. As for Ford? I support his decision not to attend Pride.

Why should he? He's never been interested before so why fake interest now? The Ford haters need to get a life.

Tkip, you are to families as "Sometimes When We Touch" is to singer-songwriters. Try to be Dylan or Joni instead.

 

[Ak2809]

I think the mayor should attend pride, however, if he is uncomfortable with it then he should have come right out and said so.

If Rob Ford's morals and faith make him feel uncomfortable being at pride, then we should respect that and be tolerant. As long as Mr. Ford does not openly discriminate against homosexuals, and keeps his beliefs to himself then there is no issue.

The problem I find is that he is hiding behind a flimsy excuse.

 

[gabe]

Eug, if you were my kid i would leave you out of the will.

 

[adma]

I wonder who CFRB contacted -- if it was their regular listeners, that 90% is no surprise. If it was Jerry Agar, I'd have thought it would be more like 95%

Here's a hint.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I wonder who CFRB contacted -- if it was their regular listeners, that 90% is no surprise. If it was Jerry Agar, I'd have thought it would be more like 95%

CFRB has been right of centre for decades, no surprise there. What disturbs me are the comments I've been reading in the two national papers and the Toronto Star. Ford has opened up a can of worms in this city now that will take years to heal. Young people who think they've got it so good with gay life in Toronto are about to get a very rude awakening.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

In the spirit of the original post of this thread "What does a Rob Ford Toronto look like", today's Jarvis bike lane reversal as a second example of a Ford alley on a small committee going over the head of the local councillor is an indication of what Ford's Toronto will be like.

You voted for your councillor to deal with your local issues. Now, your vote and your councillor no longer matter if a single member on a tiny committee unrepresentative of Torontonians can simply pull out a surprise objection without consulting the stakeholders, the councillors, and perhaps most importantly without talking to the people who actually understand that issue.

Kristyn Wong-Tam should be furious that a project she was working on that would soon improve traffic flow as a follow up to the bike lane addition and beautify the street was simply swept from under her feet without any indication. This is disrespectful of councillors and definitely disrespectful of democracy and Toronto's citizens who don't have an opportunity to have their say.

Mike Layton was hit first with this strategy in the last minute cancellation of the Fort York Bridge. Now Kristyn Wong-Tam. Every councillor should be concerned that the same will happen to them in their own wards. It's time for some serious action on making Torontonians aware of this dirty strategy which is robbing citizens of advanced projects they thought were coming to their ward, and which is throwing away city money already invested. In both cases, significant time and money have been spent and these projects already had funds earmarked. In both cases, these projects will end up costing the city much more money for no gains.

They lie. Traffic has NOT been slowed down by the bike lanes on Jarvis Street, just because they got some complaints (likely Rosedale types who want to fly up Jarvis/Mt. Pleasant to their homes to the north with three lanes at their disposal) and because Ford doesn't "get" cycling in the city. No surprise, the man sweats when he stands up, so he certainly wouldn't understand cycling let alone walking any distance (like from his office to the flagpole where the Pride flag will be raised on Monday).

I have lived at the corner of Wellesley and Jarvis for 8 years on an upper floor of a highrise, I have a clear unobstructed view from Wellesley down to about Gerrard, and then a more limited view down to about Queen Street. I also walk my dog up Jarvis to Bloor and continue from there every day when I get home from work, during rush hour. Traffic is no heavier than it was prior to the bike lane installation. If anyone doubts my claims PM me and I'll record traffic on Jarvis from my balcony on my iPhone at any time of day that you wish and post it on YouTube as proof.

 

[adma]

CFRB has been right of centre for decades, no surprise there.

Keep in mind that back in '92, its people polls were showing overwhelming Reform Party support federally...

 

[Jonny5]

I have lived at the corner of Wellesley and Jarvis for 8 years on an upper floor of a highrise, I have a clear unobstructed view from Wellesley down to about Gerrard, and then a more limited view down to about Queen Street. I also walk my dog up Jarvis to Bloor and continue from there every day when I get home from work, during rush hour. Traffic is no heavier than it was prior to the bike lane installation. If anyone doubts my claims PM me and I'll record traffic on Jarvis from my balcony on my iPhone at any time of day that you wish and post it on YouTube as proof.

No doubts here. While I live east of downtown now, I used to live in midtown and took the 141 down Jarvis every morning. Traffic did not change the running time after the bike lanes were added.

In fact, that bus route taught me how random traffic is on Jarvis and Mt. Pleasant. Some days it was a 15 minute trip downtown, somedays it was 30 (still better than cramming into the subway at the peak point). There was just no way to predict what the traffic would be like on any given day, which leads me to believe the congestion on this street is caused by problems elsewhere, like when the DVP is badly backed up more people travel this route as an alternate. When traffic on Jarvis is bad it is BAD, bike lanes or not, you will crawl. Most of the tie it moves and moves well, again the bike lanes didn't change that.

Whenever traffic was borked, that bizarre fifth lane just made it worse, especially around Charles where it suddenly appeared/disappeared.

 

[Ak2809]

I would keep the bike lanes on Jarvis, but the ones on Pharmacy and Birchmount have to go.

 

[archanfel]

The solution is easy, if drivers wants to remove the bike lane, they should donate the money to do it and if bikers wants to add the bike lane, they should donate the money to do it. One of the groups will give up sooner or later.

 

[W. K. Lis]

So much for transparency in the mayor's office. From link to The Star:

Who’s the mayor meeting? Hard to say
Daniel Dale

Mayor Rob Ford no longer includes on his schedule the names of the businesspeople and politicians he has meetings with.

Ford endured a brief spate of bad publicity in March after the Star obtained his itineraries for his first three months in office under the freedom of information law. The itineraries revealed that he had met with a controversial entertainment impresario who was successfully sued for driving away from the 2003 post-SARS benefit concert with $578,000 in other people’s cash.

Ford’s office has attempted to prevent such disclosures. The itineraries for his second three months omit both the names of his meeting partners and all details about the meetings.

The first batch of itineraries, for mid-December through mid-February, listed meetings with councillors, other politicians, corporate executives, developers and campaign donors. The names of constituents were censored; all other meetings were listed with an annotation such as “Windmill Discussion with Councillor Ainslie†or “Dinner with Mario Cortellucci.â€

The second batch, mid-February through mid-May, includes a “Lunch with Archbishop,†meetings with foreign delegations, and a day of “Housing Meetings.†Otherwise, all non-constituent meetings are listed with a single word: “Meeting.â€

Ford’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said the change might have been made to protect non-politicians.

“I suspect that when you’re starting to list private names there, there’s others involved besides just the mayor who maybe don’t wish to be the centre of a media story,†Holyday said.

Said Councillor Josh Matlow, a centrist: “I’ve got mixed views. Because I think it would be preferred if the mayor’s schedule was transparent. But I also empathize with the mayor that virtually any meeting he has might be taken out of context or sensationalized, and that he may want to protect the privacy of the residents who he meets with.â€

But Councillor Adam Vaughan, a frequent Ford critic, said: “I don’t know who he’s trying to protect, his visitors or himself.â€

“He’s a public official, and unless they’re private meetings that have nothing to do with city business, there should be a record made public. He’s doing public business, and it should be done in the light of public scrutiny,†Vaughan said.

Unlike David Miller, Ford does not release even a bare-bones weekly schedule. Councillor Doug Ford criticized the Star at a March committee meeting for inquiring into his brother's non-council activities, arguing that the mayor should be afforded privacy.

The first batch of itineraries listed about 100 events held by community groups, charities and businesses. Though Ford skipped many listed events, Holyday worried he would exhaust himself if he kept up the frenetic pace.

The second batch lists about 40 events, suggesting either that Ford significantly curtailed his appearances or that his staff stopped listing some appearances in his schedule. Holyday said he wasn’t sure.

The new itineraries listed about a dozen functions held by ethnic and religious groups, including a Tanzanian Canadian Association banquet, a fundraiser for Catholic World Youth Day, and a show put on by a South Asian arts charity.

The itineraries included about 10 charity events, including those held by the CNIB and the local C. Dennis Flynn Foundation. Among the other listed events: a High Park Little League baseball game, a Leaside Lawn Bowling Club ceremony, the National Home Show, and the Juno Awards.

Ford also made time for a party held at a Rosedale mansion for the Canadian launch of the upscale Magnum brand of ice cream bars, whose spokesperson is Ivanka Trump, Donald’s model-businessprson daughter. The party was listed “Ivanka Trump: Launch of Magnum Ice Cream to Canada.â€

 

[tkip]

Tkip, you are to families as "Sometimes When We Touch" is to singer-songwriters. Try to be Dylan or Joni instead.

Not sure what this is even suppose to be mean. As for bike lanes? It's obvious that some of them are a waste and should go. The one on Vaughan is never used for example. Get rid of it..

 

[ShonTron]

I would keep the bike lanes on Jarvis, but the ones on Pharmacy and Birchmount have to go.

Why? The 2 lane plus left turn lanes makes traffic more predictable and smoother and eliminates weaving and ending up stuck behind a left-turning car. Neither are major arterials; that's the job of neighbouring Vic Park and Warden. You seriously want the old way back?

 

[archanfel]

So much for transparency in the mayor's office.

Did you keep track of who David Miller was meeting? I didn't, nor do I care. David Miller could be meeting big businesses all day long, as long as his policies are progressive,I still wouldn't have voted for him. And vice versa.

 

[jje1000]

Did you keep track of who David Miller was meeting? I didn't, nor do I care. David Miller could be meeting big businesses all day long, as long as his policies are progressive,I still wouldn't have voted for him. And vice versa.

The difference is, if you wanted to, you could find out who Miller was meeting with. Here, you can't even find out who Ford is meeting with.