Mayor Rob Ford is heading to Austin, Texas, in two weeks to visit the Austin City Limits festival, where he will groove to the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cure, Lionel Richie, Phoenix and Wilco.
Toronto city council in July approved a “Music City Allliance” with Austin, an alliance also approved by Austin’s city council.
“It’s kind of like a factory visit,” Renato Discenza, chief executive of Invest Toronto, said of the trip in early October. Mr. Discenza will accompany the mayor on the trip. He said Invest Toronto will pay the airfare and expenses for councillors Michael Thompson, Gary Crawford and Josh Cole to accompany the mayor on the trip, while the mayor and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, will pay their own expenses out of their own pockets.
“Austin is the live music capital of North America,” Mr. Discenza added. “We want to understand how they do it.”