Rob Ford's Toronto

[JWBF]

You still have to have some kind of actual personal friendship.

No, not really, there are other ties that bind (and gag?) such as church, religion, sobriety (AA, etc.), or "social/community" clubs, just for examples; "tribal" connections run deep.

 

[casita]

Borrowed "Crazy Town" from TPL. ( I was on the waiting list. ) Skipping most of it, because it's too depressing to read.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Borrowed "Crazy Town" from TPL. ( I was on the waiting list. ) Skipping most of it, because it's too depressing to read.

We'll expect your book report by next week. Spelling and grammar counts.

You could always wait for the movie to come out. Are "Coles Notes" still available?

 

[uptown]

WRT: Muzik giving Ford Foundation or Ford Nation or whatever it's called booze for their Etobicoke Party I thought the AGCO keeps a very close eye on what licensees are buying and the volume they're selling and that it's supposed to balance out. Is a licensee able to give booze away like this?

 

[uptown]

Prediction: Ford's going to manage to sneak a few hard drinks in on the ride to the funeral. He'll interrupt the service by yelling at Kathleen Wynne or Charles Sousa from the back of the church. Nobody will be able to make out exactly what he's slurring but you'll hear things like "gas plants" "billion dollars" "unelected Premier" Nobody will know quite what to do until he starts stumbling towards the pulpit at which point the priest will demand he be removed from the church. It will all wash over as it will be claimed Ford was inconsolable over the death of his friend and hasn't slept since the news broke or something.

 

[casita]

We'll expect your book report by next week. Spelling and grammar counts.

You could always wait for the movie to come out. Are "Coles Notes" still available?

She wrote about "Eglinton Street". Not a bit deal, I guess. But, it leads me to wonder how well this reporter knows her way around "Crazy Town".

The chapter "He won't give up the blow". Why would the wife drive an hour to meet some druggie to discuss addiction rather than a health care professional? It's confidential. Obviously, the druggie did not treat their conversation as such.

The book confirmed my opinion - and I could be wrong - that Ford will be re-elected, baring a medical catastrophe. Which I consider unlikely due to his light work-load and relatively young age. Doug is there as a potential replacement, if required.

This quote from the focus group, "If I have to choose between someone who wastes our money and someone who beats his wife, I'll choose the person who beats their wife".

What the hell happened to this city? Or, was it always like that just below the surface?

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

I never said that this issue is worse than the transit anti-policy or the other terrible ideas Ford has tried to pass. I said this is worse than the crack smoking. In some ways the crack smoking is the least of our Ford-caused problems. I think the cronyism of the Fords is tied to many of their stupid policy ideas from Muzik to the portlands.

I'm convinced that at the municipal level, the right is much more likely to be involved in cronyism than the left (this does not necessarily hold for the province or the feds). There is a culture of wheeling and dealing among Toronto's right wing politicians that just does not exist among the left who come from the more anti-growth NYMBY culture. The people who have the ear of the right are private business owners. The people who have the ear of the left are academics and NGOs.

I really hope that this gets overturned at council.

My apologies, S&M. Poor editing skills as well, apparently, but when I said 'you', I meant in the generic -- i.e. the average person, not you personally. I then put in an edit bullet to that effect, but it obviously didn't help much.

 

[Kat_YYZ]

Not being deferential, just pointing out that he's now relegated to 'old news' as we all will be one day. Whatever influence he had is now gone. As with all public figures, others will take his place. Cronyism will continue if we continue to accept this as our lot. We, the people, may have to resort to looking at political neophytes in order to interrupt the unfortunate cycle of corrupt political appointees we have found ourselves beholden to. It may be time to pin our hopes of redemption on a candidate with no history or known political connections. Does that sound naive? Maybe, but now, in the day of the internet is it possible to find a candidate without smelly connections? Yes. That should be our goal. There must be someone out there who is not corrupt. Let's find him, or her, and stop this revolting cycle.

There's a saying in the old country I'm from: don't touch my mosquito.

My mosquito is fat and bloated with my blood (taken in an attack launched years ago; can't change that now). He only has enough energy to defend his territory and occasionally tap an old bite for a little "top-up" of my blood. If you get rid of him, the hungry, young new mosquito will come and launch a fresh attack of new bites, which is much more painful. The old mosquito just takes a nip off me now and then. The new, young ones are lean, mean and hungry -- they want to be like the old one.

What that means in politics is that the old guard have already looted the public pretty badly. Now, they are just taking a little bit to maintain their lifestyle. The newbies have nothing and are looking at those old fat guys, thinking "I want that lifestyle!". They will have to launch a whole new raid on the public to get themselves up to that level. That means a whole new round of devastating pillaging and looting. Better the devil you know... or something like that.

Not saying I'm a subscriber to this worldview... just thought I'd throw it out there.

Nice mixture of cynicism and optimism.

and mine is a nice mixture of cynicism and cynicism on steroids!

 

[casita]

Prediction: Ford's going to manage to sneak a few hard drinks in on the ride to the funeral. He'll interrupt the service by yelling at Kathleen Wynne or Charles Sousa from the back of the church. Nobody will be able to make out exactly what he's slurring but you'll hear things like "gas plants" "billion dollars" "unelected Premier" Nobody will know quite what to do until he starts stumbling towards the pulpit at which point the priest will demand he be removed from the church. It will all wash over as it will be claimed Ford was inconsolable over the death of his friend and hasn't slept since the news broke or something.

LOL And throw it smashing into the curb, as Webb Pierce - reportedly - did during a parade in his honour in Louisiana. So the story goes.

"On the big day Webb had to be helped into the convertible. All during the parade, as people cheered and threw accolades his way, it is said that he kept sipping from his pint of bourbon, hardly aware of his surroundings. When the bottle was empty he is reported to have tossed it to the street, causing the spectators to scramble from the shards of broken glass. He was never invited back."

 

[uptown]

LOL And throw it smashing into the curb, as Webb Pierce - reportedly - did during a parade in his honour in Louisiana. So the story goes.

"On the big day Webb had to be helped into the convertible. All during the parade, as people cheered and threw accolades his way, it is said that he kept sipping from his pint of bourbon, hardly aware of his surroundings. When the bottle was empty he is reported to have tossed it to the street, causing the spectators to scramble from the shards of broken glass. He was never invited back."

Jerry will be instructed to remain parked in front of the church and to keep the engine running during the service.

 

[Crazy]

Jerry will be instructed to remain parked in front of the church and to keep the engine running during the service.

That's a step up from Ford having his staff hand out campaign magnets, as happened during Peter Worthington's funeral last year.

 

[sublime]

Glad some of us are still mulling, or fuming, over the EDM ban.
Despite our four daily papers, many eyes glaze over at the start of Portlands and transit discussions. Smoking crack while at the office is just innuendo, and part of the laugh-track.
But mess with the Ex? Our space glibly handed over to private interests that want to transition it into their monopoly?
Neglecting the Spring weather, I spent too long going through musik's on-line galleries yesterday, hoping to find one of our nasty little bit players. Instead I got Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlie Sheen and John Malkovich. And an image of Z's animatronic grin seared into my mind.
I'm going to kick this file around another day or two, and hopefully provide some ammunition to Vaughn and Perks. Hell, maybe candidate for the mayoral office Richard Underhill could make some hay with this.

 

[JWBF]

Jerry will be instructed to remain parked in front of the church and to keep the engine running during the service.

WARNING!!! DARK HUMOUR... I can see the headlines now:

Mayor Rob Ford Shot Dead During State Funeral

Earlier today, Mayor Rob Ford was shot dead by police after attacking then with what we know now were fridge magnets.

The fridge magnets, that at the time were thought to be shuriken, or throwing stars, were tossed at police after Mayor Ford burst from the church where former Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's state funeral was taking place.

It is now know, according to experts, that Ford had a full blown psychotic break. According to witnesses, Ford was at first somber, and then became jittery, and finally started murmuring and shouting in what has been identified as “Jamaican Patois” when Premier Katherine Wynne started her comments...

 

[Jude]

Can someone explain the relationship between the CNE Board and Council? Is there one? I read that one of the councillors (Perks maybe?) is hoping to get this issue revisited by Council. I sincerely hope it can be done, so that (a) this stupid decision can be overturned, and (b) the door would open for the public, the media, and other candidates to hold Ford's feet to the fire about it.

Exhibition Place Board of Governors (made the relevant vote)

"Agencies have delegated decision-making authority and deliver their services, but Council approves their budgets, sets certain policies, and makes certain significant decisions. Some examples are the TTC, the Toronto Parking Authority, and Exhibition Place."
City Agencies & Corporations

Good starting point to learn more:
- Agencies and Corporations
- Exhibition Place
- Canadian National Exhibition Association

The CNE is a provincially incorporated Agricultural Society. It is officially separated from Exhibition Place and the City of Toronto. The CNE retains its revenues and can re-invest in the fair.

 

[anne]

Dude(ette), "what do you do?" is literally the most commonly asked question in Toronto. Hung out last night with a few people and this one girl from California, and the first thing people asked her was "oh, what do you do?". I mentioned how that's "so Toronto" and she's like "yeah! Everyone here cares so much about that!" (paraphrasing). We are so career-focused in Toronto. No one asks "what do you do for fun" or "what kind of music do you like" as an opener.

That being said, in terms of the Mayor job, it does require political experience and skill ... if RoFo can be Cllr for 10 years or whatever, it's clearly not a very high bar, but you WOULD expect your Mayor to at least have SOME experience managing large operations, whether as a politician or in industry...

edit: As for who on council would be good for mayor... Adam Vaughan, in my opinion. I mostly dislike the guy, but I feel I could trust him to make reasonable decisions based on facts and expert advice (well, except on the whole airport thing). He's also a loudmouth and a jerk which would be incredibly amusing to see. I mean, not just from an entertainment point of view, but politicians are so shy usually of saying how they truly feel. A more practical example would be Krystin Wong-Tam...

"What do you do" is mostly just a conversation starter. I don't think most people mean anything by it.

Great point about Ford's 10 years on council. I'd be using that if I ran for council anywhere simply because of those voters who tend to pick the incumbent over anyone new. It's doubtful either Ford has read the municipal act, or any of the items that are given to them for council preparations. Why should they if they will just vote no?

Why do so many people think business experience is a stepping stone to politics? Politics to me is about building support, forgoing short term gain for long term benefit, putting yourself in a position to understand other points of view. You don't need a business degree or experience in business to know that balancing the books is important. Besides, business people hand off that stuff to accountants anyhow.

We've come full circle to the point I originally tried to make is that we need to rethink who we are electing. We have been too busy electing cut-throat, corrupt, ambitious people. Business people are about the pursuit of money. Politics is (or should be) about a common goal. Government was supposed to be "we the people", a cross-section of the people they represent. It's never that now.