Rob Ford's Toronto

[adma]

First article I've seen that takes a deeper look at the Ford's wealth. I know we don't like them, but I don't know why we should doubt that at least Doug and their father have worked hard and made difficult decisions to get where they are. If building and keeping afloat a multi-million dollar business was easy we'd all be doing it.

Though I also get the feeling that Doug Jr. is taking undue credit for Doug Sr.'s hard work (what's the business about *him* starting the company? *His father* started the company!); plus, the whole cloud over how Doug Jr. spun his own youthful "hard work" principles (drug trade, et al), which may or may not be surreptitiously playing out in Deco today.

It's like, Doug Sr. built the company; the boys, unchecked, may well wind up overinflating it and corrupting it, etc, if they haven't already...

 

[freshcutgrass]

Another thing that doesn't get enough attention about the Florida arrest is that Ford also basically tried to bribe the cop.

"The def[endant]approached me and took all of his money and threw it to the ground. The def was acting nervous. When the defendant spoke to me I could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. His eyes were bloodshot."

That particular pattern of behaviour is something I'm becoming increasingly aware of as well. All those "lose it" moments of the past (caught on tape in Council) the ACC event, plus all the latest investigation allegations. The "I'll rip his eyeballs out" video is beginning to seem like "regular" behaviour for Rob Ford.

As bad as that video is, the real eye opener was last Monday when he decided to antagonize the public gallery. Then on cue, Doug got into it. All they needed was to bring in the third Ford brother and they could have been the Hanson Brothers in Slap Shot. The spooky moment came when Rob did his charge to the gallery for whatever "backup" he thought Doug might need, and ran through Pam, never once taking his eyes off the area where Doug was. What he had just done simply wasn't registering in his mind. It wasn't til much later that he acknowledged that incident.

This is not the behaviour of a mentally stable person. And I don't think he can blame booze on that.

 

[adma]

Y'know, quite a number of pages back, I'm thinking of that fish & chip place on Weston Road as the perfect place to gauge the illusion-vs-reality nature of Ford Nation--like, superficially, one might think of it as the benign support of an honest, plain, salt-of-the-earth longstanding local business. And one might even empathize--like, Ford being to Smitherman as a down-home old-school F&C joint is to hipster/designer joints like Chippy's or The One That Got Away.

But then: a little research reveals that the owner/proprietor isn't exactly "benign", esp. if his comments on Muslims and such are deemed of enough concern to make it into on-line restaurant reviews. (And likewise, the "little research" reveals that the old-school involves old-school culinary shortcuts like frozen fries, etc--stuff that we might have taken for granted a few decades ago, when all that mattered was that it was "local eating". Almost an attitude that the restaurant-reviewer sensibility that calls such stuff into question is, well, "elite" or something)

 

[ThinkRicky]

First article I've seen that takes a deeper look at the Ford's wealth. I know we don't like them, but I don't know why we should doubt that at least Doug and their father have worked hard and made difficult decisions to get where they are. If building and keeping afloat a multi-million dollar business was easy we'd all be doing it.

I've met and seen far too many stupid rich people that lucked into their lot in life to ever believe we live in a society that resembles a meritocracy. For every one hypothetically squeaky-clean Ford family that builds itself from nothing, there are many, many more that work just as hard if not moreso and end up with a quarter of as much or less than nothing at all to show for it.

Look at how his boys behave and what they appearently believe; I'd lay good odds that Ford Sr. probably didn't build his empire with squeaky clean bootstraps either.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I just gave B(l)obby a shot of gin in a laneway, down Queen Street way. He looked krunk.



Just funking wiv ya.

 

[kbdid]

Like SQUIRREL I see Fish and Chips mentioned. Which F&C place on Weston, just had a few recommended....'though I don't want to buy from a bigot.

Gotta say it's kinda sad that Ford turns up red and sweaty and we all (including me) attribute it to withdrawal or use of other drugs. Could also just be nerves plus being extremely overweight.

 

[Johnny Au]

That Rob Ford documentary on Kickstarter raised $65 in five days with 25 days left to go, with its goal being $100,000.

To the documentary creators, just give up. If someone wants to create a Rob Ford documentary, it would very likely be a professional team with a much larger budget with little to no need for crowdfunding.

Do you think that the F&C place in Weston/Mt. Dennis should be nicknamed "Chick-Fil-A of Toronto"?

 

[aghost]

Re: the photo of Ford with Chuvalo... my thoughts are that it could be a set-up along the lines of Chuvalo saying 'I know personally what drugs can do to your life...and Robbie, he's just such a great guy - I want to personally help him get his health issues under control, so we've began a rigorous fitness routine and pretty soon, well, you're not even gonna recognize ol' Robbie"

a concern at that point: a man of his stature, most likely out of practice in regards to any serious fitness routine...It's a heart attack waiting to happen.

 

[Les Nessman]

heres the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgoDvnebHRw

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Yes I am well aware (as everyone is) that Ford has a DUI conviction from Florida dating back to his youth. Here is the difference. When confronted with his Florida DUI Ford owned up to the mistake. In contrast - after Bailao was charged with a DUI she surrounded herself with council colleagues to proclaim that she was going to fight the charges - i.e. she proclaimed her innocence BEFORE finally admitting the truth that she was indeed way over the drunk driving limit that night. Another big difference is Bailao drunk driving arrest came after a night of being wined and dined by Casino lobbyists and yet somehow she is so virtuous that she can stand in judgement of Ford?

There is no question that what Rob Ford has admitted to and is alleged to have done are far worse than Bailao's offenses. What I hate is the hypocrisy of a Councillor who was convicted of drunk driving after a night being entertained by lobbyists piling on Rob Ford's because of his personal failings.

Peepers, you've gone insane. Ford denied the DUI for weeks, like he auto-denies everything. Bailao didn't cover herself in glory by any means, but your Ford narrative is grabbed out of your ass, despite an entire 2010 campaign worth of stories. Please stop.

 

[Adjei]

How is someone who was 30 a "youth"?

 

[freshcutgrass]

Is it safe to assume at this point, that all the litigation the Mayor threatened against his former staff and City Council is not proceeding? Or is it his intention to wait til the entire contents of the investigation is made public, in the event there are more people for him to sue?

 

[Admiral Beez]

How is someone who was 30 a "youth"?

With a now seemingly huge population of 20-something man-childs living in their parents' basements today, this is not such a stretch.

"Youth" is more a state of self than of age. I look at my grandfathers, at 18 yrs one was a military policeman in India fighting the Japanese, and the other was commanding an anti-aircraft battery in tge British Home Guard. By the time he was 20, my great grandfather was an officer on clipper and than steam merchantships. No youths here, but young adult men. My father was married and had three kids by 23, and took his family to Canada in 1976, starting his own successful business.

I'd say it is easy to be a youth in your 30s. You just don't bother to grow up.

 

[salsa]

Peepers, you've gone insane. Ford denied the DUI for weeks, like he auto-denies everything. Bailao didn't cover herself in glory by any means, but your Ford narrative is grabbed out of your ass, despite an entire 2010 campaign worth of stories. Please stop.

Maybe his account got hacked by Cowboy Logic

 

[typezed]

I've met and seen far too many stupid rich people that lucked into their lot in life to ever believe we live in a society that resembles a meritocracy. For every one hypothetically squeaky-clean Ford family that builds itself from nothing, there are many, many more that work just as hard if not moreso and end up with a quarter of as much or less than nothing at all to show for it.

Look at how his boys behave and what they appearently believe; I'd lay good odds that Ford Sr. probably didn't build his empire with squeaky clean bootstraps either.

Rob Ford as leader of the most important city in the country is our greatest example that we don't live in a meritocracy. And I've speculated here before that the family's success probably involved some slippery tactics and suspect associations. I'd guess that there are other members of the Ford clan as practiced at slipping envelopes as Rob has shown himself to be in the ITO. Still, somewhere in the couple generations of building the company there must have been some long days, difficult struggles and big risks. We can at least grant them that. People sometimes overdo it with the silver spoon characterization of the Fords. There must be hundreds of successful families in Toronto, many far wealthier and better connected than the Fords. But somehow the Fords were the ones that were able to seat the Idiot King.