Run a major marathon in High Park? Is he serious? Just keep running round and round? lol This clown is going to turn Toronto into a punch line for comedians.
More brilliance from our future mayor.
Mayoral candidate Rob Ford says the city isn't doing a good enough job alerting citizens of road closures for special events and construction. Hear from Ford.
Mayoral candidate Rob Ford offered an alternative to closing streets for marathons like the one that snarled traffic on Sunday.
Park them, said the campaign front-runner. As in city parks.
“I don’t know why they don’t use them,” he added.
Despite years of complaints, city officials keep closing main downtown streets for such worthy events — sometimes more than one at a time.
But much of the detouring, directed by street-and ramp-closing signs and Toronto Police, surprised residents this weekend, Ford said.
“I’m a city councillor and I didn’t know the waterfront marathon was on,” he said. “I had calls from constituents who didn’t know.
“It’s up to the city to advertise through the media,” Ford said.
Several off-ramps were closed to traffic on the Gardiner Expressway. Lake Shore Blvd. was off-limits to motorists from 5 a.m. to mid-afternoon on Sunday and there were other street shutdowns to accommodate the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. About 20,000 people took part in the event which raised $2.7 million for charity.
One of the runners who covered a 5 kilometre route was veteran marathoner George Smitherman — Ford’s closest of four opponents in the mayoral race.
In addition to walkers and runners, on June 6, 13,000 cyclists free-wheeled along the closed Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway, raising a record $3.2 million during the Becel Ride for Heart.
“Maybe they should hold them on a huge piece of land,” Ford mused.
“There’s High Park, a great place, and Downsview Park,” he said, adding bike paths would be good for marathoners.
For longer runs, Ford suggested starting from James Gardens, northeast of Royal York Rd. and Dundas St. W., trekking south to Lake Ontario and along the Humber River.
“I guarantee, if I’m fortunate enough to be mayor, I’ll be studying the alternatives,” he promised.
Ford also said motorists on the Gardiner were doubly miffed seeing no construction crews at the Jameson Ave. bridge site, where one of three lanes remains closed.
“They should be working 24/7,” he said, adding “give them some sort of incentive such as bonuses, like private enterprise does.”
Smitherman said in an email that “a marathon event like today covers 42 kilometres and involves ten of thousands of runners.
“Rob Ford would have benefited from seeing the diverse crowd raising huge sums for charities and improving human health at the same time. Then maybe he would understand it can’t always be about the car,” he said.
“Just because his name is Ford, he doesn’t have to think like a Ford Expedition,” Smitherman added, referring to the large gas-guzzling SUV.
