News   Jun 28, 2024
Streetsville Centre Plaza Redevelopment Proposed North of GO Station in Mississauga
 5K     6 
News   Jun 28, 2024
GALA Developments Unveils Danny Danforth in Toronto's East End
 2K     3 
News   Jun 28, 2024
News Roundup for June 28, 2024
 709     1 

Rob Ford's Toronto

Status
Not open for further replies.
the lemur said:
What if the dealers living in the house are renting from Ford? Ford would be getting income from the rent, and a cut of the take from selling crack would be, um, gravy.

Is there a way of finding out what interests in numbered corporations a person might have?
Click to expand...

That is true.

But if I was the landlord, I'd probably not want my real estate to be occupied by crack dealers and used as a crack house. Not exactly value enhancing moves.

And if I was part of a distribution operation, I would want my operation to me easily movable, in case the police gets wind of the comings and goings. Ownership is too permanent.

There is a case to buy real estate as an investment, but not for it to be used as a crack house.
 
pattycakes said:
Maybe it's just locations where Rob likes to party, he might even look at these properties as investments. There is no way he's doing lines and getting all sorts of crazy with Mama and Doug looking over his shoulder.
Click to expand...

Indeed - and I could even see this as currying favours (or even an altruistic move) on behalf of his "friends". You know, the flip side of all that loyalty stuff. To understand it you have to think like Rob Ford (shudder). This is an individual who simply can't be popular unless he is seen as doing something on behalf of someone - and this would be a good way to do it. He is well-to-do, he has friends in need of a place or whatever, bingo. It would also explain why the resident of said house is so loyal as well (think the whole standing up for the little guy stuff, plus the recent cashman episode)

In fact, I think this web of loyalty stuff is a highly undesirable quality for a mayor - it basically creates an internal system of accountability that simply cannot be subjected to external scrutiny because at the end of the day, everyone involved is a big giant fail in the ethics department.

AoD
 
Last edited:
Ford has some personal connections to the sleazebags living at those properties, though, doesn't he? All are people he knew in high school and their families, i.e. fellow thugs of like-minded temperment/"friends." (When he's not sending enforcers armed with lead pipes to work them over to retrieve incriminating evidence, that is.) It wouldn't surprise me if he was willing to lend a helping hand to similar types he regarded as his own kind, and he probably didn't disapprove of the use they put their rented homes to. Why would he? It's not like they're common criminals; he knows them! And if he could put their connections to personal use whenever he was in the mood for partying, all the better.

After all, when it comes to Rofo (Dougie, too), the only real crime is getting caught.

Edited to say: What AoD said above. The same point I was trying to make, but stated far more eloquently.
 
Exactly John D - it is imperative to see these relationships not from the perspective of buyer/seller but more from a friendship/loyalty one.

AoD
 
I don't think Ford owns the house on Windsor. What I think might be happening is that he is being blackmailed. Or maybe he's initiating the silence himself. He's paying the bills to keep the occupants quiet about his drug habits. Let's go back to the comment made by "rinse" on Toronto Mike's site a few months ago:

Here's the thing: Rob Ford DOES use crack cocaine. A friend of mine, her mother is a serious drug addict. Rob Ford regularly goes over to her house to smoke crack.
The problem is this: The daughter wants to expose Rob Ford's drug abuse, but her oldschool Italian grandmother won't allow her to "bring shame" upon the family, long story short. So basically the daughter has become complicit with the entire thing instead of doing the right thing. Shame on you Jasmin.

Long story short, but the long version is that the Basso family is being paid off?

Why is Ford willing to help out his criminal friends and associates? Is it because they all know the dirt on him and he's offering money and assistance for their silence?

Also, I think the Scott MacIntyre-angle needs more investigating. “You and your family are going to get it", “You are going to pay for it", "“You owe me money, your sister owes me money, if I don’t get it, they will kill me". Those are things he shouted when he busted into the Ford household. What did he mean by all that? Is it because Ford refused to be blackmailed by him?
 
Jimmi T said:
Didn't you guys conclude a while back that there was no connection between Deco and that convicted coke dealer? This past summer I actually convinced a realtor to send me some recent past ownership and rental details for that place but I never found out if Deco owned the place at the time buddy claimed it as his residence.
Click to expand...

I don't remember reading that conclusion, but then again it was some 15,000+ posts back. How recent was the info that you received on the property?
 
pattycakes said:
Maybe it's just locations where Rob likes to party, he might even look at these properties as investments. There is no way he's doing lines and getting all sorts of crazy with Mama and Doug looking over his shoulder.
Click to expand...

Sort of how a different class of wealthy politician might own an apartment for a mistress, have secret bank accounts, etc?
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Indeed - and I could even see this as currying favours (or even an altruistic move) on behalf of his "friends". You know, the flip side of all that loyalty stuff. To understand it you have to think like Rob Ford (shudder). This is an individual who simply can't be popular unless he is seen as doing something on behalf of someone - and this would be a good way to do it.
AoD
Click to expand...

There might be something to that. It seems to be Ford's way of doing things that nothing should be left to collective responsibility (311, city staff, etc.) but that he should be hands-on and taking care of business himself. It looks like a way of seeking approval.

Owning the house and allowing it to be used by crackheads and dealers of his acquaintance could also be seen as part of his way of doing things personally on a case-by-case basis rather than allowing structural, institutional solutions to be implemented (because those are associated with bureaucracy and gravy). 'I'm dealing with the drug issue myself, at no cost to the taxpayer, by taking care of users, bringing them in off the street. Into a house. That I own and pay the bills for'.
 
SecretSquirrel said:
Someone here - I forget who, but perhaps someone can fill in the blank - suggested that Doug despises Rob. I've been watching the Fords since before the 2010 election. As soon as I read that theory, it rang true to me.

Contrast Doug's "clean eating" household of baked-potato-looking health-and-fitness-obsessives with Rob's total lack of impulse control, sprinkle with a dose of various things Ford staffers told police in the ITO, and it makes sense. I suspect Rob worships Doug, but sometimes hates Doug for being cruel (witness Cut The Waist, particularly the final weigh-in) or for having more self-control than he himself.

It wouldn't surprise me if further cracks appear in this already strained relationship in the coming weeks & months, particularly as Doug weighs his provincial ambitions against Rob's squandering of so much capital, political and otherwise...
Click to expand...

That dynamic seems to fit. Doug needs Rob in the political sphere because Rob is the family's chosen emissary in the world of politics, to keep him away from the family business. Rob has charisma of sorts and Doug needs some of that to be associated with him, because Doug by himself has too much unvarnished nastiness about him to appeal to many voters. Rob needs to be scripted and guided by Doug, but he is not easily controlled. Doug realizes Rob is not going to become a straight-edge health-nut übermensch that he is, but can't do without him. Rob has poor impulse control and relies on Doug to fix things for him and tell him what to do, but he resents him for it.
 
the lemur said:
Is there a way of finding out what interests in numbered corporations a person might have?
Click to expand...

The corporate records maintained by the provincial government (which are publicly accessible) do not include shareholders, just directors and officers. CRA should, theoretically, have information about corporate shareholders, but that would be self-reported by the taxpayer (and not publicly accessible in any event).
 
Last edited:
voxpopulicosmicum said:
The corporate records maintained by the provincial government (which are publicly accessible) do not include shareholders, just directors and officers. CRA should, theoretically, have information about corporate shareholders, but that would be self-reported by the taxpayer (and not publicly accessible in any event).
Click to expand...

I cannot support taxing the taxpayer, particularly when the cost of running a crack home is higher than ever.

Pun intended.
 
flonicky said:
One of the funny parts of the ITO is when David Price tells the police that he doesn't think Doug is talking to Rob but Rob doesn't know it.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Also humourous was how nearly every one of the mayor's employees described himself as being one of the two or three people in the office who was "close" with the mayor on a personal level or was someone whom the mayor liked/respected the most, but at the same time none of them had any idea what the mayor was up to most of the time.
 
voxpopulicosmicum said:
Or how the low-rent version of ^that just hits up a property owner (that does significant business with the city) for a sweetheart deal, as in this case:

Mammoliti, Shiner get rent deals from Toronto developers
Click to expand...

Was there ever any sort of consequence for either Shiner or Mammoliti for this? Strange how those who took such umbrage at another councillor's appearance on a publicly-accessible $250 condo presale list were largely silent on this one.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top