Rob Ford's Toronto

[guitarchitect]

You're right - I can't defend the decision. I don't know the guy, I don't the details of his criminal exploits, I don't know exactly what the job entails, and I don't have the slightest clue whether he would be appropriate for the position. I'm not going to make a judgement without the relevant facts, and hence, won't defend any decision. The school board were - or should have been - the ones with the proper facts and resources to make that decision.

It's quite simple - a guy with a history of violence, towards peace officers, no less, and "enforcer" for Sandro Lisi - whom Rob Ford knows the exploits of very well - is being brought in by the Mayor of Toronto to coach high school football. That's either a good thing, or a bad thing, regardless of the guy's qualifications for the job.

As others have stated, it's just another example of poor judgement on the Mayor's part. I'd even give him benefit of the doubt if he addressed the critique/questions head on, with something remotely similar to "I really want what's best for the kids and this guy is a really, really amazing coach. I won't speak to accusations about his character or the company he keeps or how he filled out forms, but he is good with kids and I did not believe that events in the past would influence his capacity to coach football".

You know, the kind of thing that Mayors of major cities are supposed to do.

 

[Dubster]

Canadian laws aren't as unforgiving as the ones in the US but Ford could be looking at a good 5 years for some of the charges that are being alleged. With what we already know, the police are investigating him because they have reason to believe that he's done something illegal. We already know Ford is stupid enough to leave traces and that while he can fool gullible members of Ford Nation, he won't outsmart the highly experienced detectives on this case. Because of this, I'm highly confident that charges will be laid at some point and that once they are, at the very least Ford is going to be coming out of this with a criminal record and a very public confirmation that he's a liar who has been purposefully deceiving everybody who put their trust in him.

I hope you're right. Couple of things I think will present problems here though: the "TPS should recuse themselves from investigating the mayor" as we've seen via Warmington, and, if Enzo has any credibility whatsoever, TPS turf wars messing up the investigation.

 

[guitarchitect]

Considering his office is grossly understaffed compared to previous mayors, I do believe he has been economically responsible with his hiring practices.

That wasn't even the question!!!!

You're a politician of some kind, aren't you?

 

[typezed]

Same goes for Ford. I judge them on their actions in office and the decisions they make, as well as their competency at their jobs.

You're doing a piss-poor job of judging if you're taking an honest look at the actions and decisions of Ford in office, as well as his competency at the job, and seeing anything worth defending here.

There's no transparency with Ford. What part of answering every question with "Anything Else?" is transparent? What part of running from the media is transparent? What part of refusing to reveal his schedule is transparent? The guy is leading at least one double life, his day if full of secrets to hide. His office is closed to even other councillors. It's a myth that he answers every phone call and responds to every problem. He supports some people who are sympathetic to him and his politics, blows that up to make it seem like more work than it is, and ignores all else.

 

[dforthandbview]

His office can't even spell "transparent". Ford released a statement today saying he is committed to "transport government" rather than "transparent government"

 

[pattycakes]

I hope you're right. Couple of things I think will present problems here though: the "TPS should recuse themselves from investigating the mayor" as we've seen via Warmington, and, if Enzo has any credibility whatsoever, TPS turf wars messing up the investigation.

Maybe the OPP is involved. We didn't know about the TPS Cessna, or Brazen 2, my guess is OPP has been involved from the beginning .

 

[TheTigerMaster]

More-so than most politicians. He has kept many of his promises - some he has attempted to keep, but failed either due to council or his own incompetence in delivering them. Some he just hasn't kept, but he's at least been forthright about those (such as eliminating the land transfer tax). There are also some that he just didn't keep, but I think he has a much better ratio than most politicians.

What promises has he kept?

These are (some) of the ones he hasn't:

Extending the Sheppard Subway
Eglinton Subway
Eliminating land transfer tax
Lowering taxes overall (he just raised our taxes)
Lowering spending at City Hall (spending is higher than ever before)
Cutting the size of council
Cutting the debt (again, he just raised it to a ridiculous amount)
Hiring more police
More bike lanes
Private investment in transit
Cutting the "gravy". The Mayor's own report showed that the "gravy train" was nonsense. \
Not cutting any services.

What has promises has he half fulfilled:
-Eliminating vehicle registration tax. But he offset that tax by increasing other taxes
-Privatizing garbage. Only half city is privatized
-He delivered a subway somewhere in the east end. And of course, I'm being generous by saying he did it. It was council who proposed the line and got the feds and province on board. And it isn't even the subway Rob said it would be.

What promises he has kept:
-Eliminating vehicle registration fee. But this has been offset by Rob Ford's other tax increases.
-Eliminating Jarvis bike lanes.

Now I know you're probably going to mention that it was council's fault for not letting Rob keep his promises. But part of being an effective politician is having control over your council. Mayor Ford is a completely ineffective politician who has no control over council. Full blame lies with him for not keeping the promises he made.

 

[MetroMan]

It turns out that if Ford ends up losing the next election, the City's commitment to putting itself in debt to pay a share in the Scarborough subway may be the best thing to happen to transit in a long time.

The majority of Pro-LRT councillors aren't going to further debate this subway, instead they're going to fix the irresponsible financing method behind it. Instead of a 30 year debt repayment via property tax increases, solutions such as KWT's public bank concept may be used exclusively to fund city capital infrastructure costs such as transit expansion and the Gardiner replacement.

The next Mayor will be left with a mess to fix and many people on both the municipal and provincial levels are pretty confident that the City isn't going to bet the farm with property taxes on the possibility of the Scarborough subway going over budget and the certainty that the city has to pay to maintain and run an unprofitable subway extension.

Committing to funding $1B was a big step and now Council will be forced to make it work, and that will leave a legacy for other transit and city infrastructure priorities.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

MetroMan:

I certainly hope so. In the transit funding threads, we've speculated about using a municipal auto insurance corporation to fund transit expansion in the city.

Are you of the opinion that Chow will be bringing something big to the table regarding transit? I would love to see something on the scale of OneCity from her.

 

[guitarchitect]

Committing to funding $1B was a big step and now Council will be forced to make it work, and that will leave a legacy for other transit and city infrastructure priorities.

That's fine in principle, but it should be the downtown relief line that gets us there

 

[MetroMan]

MetroMan:

I certainly hope so. In the transit funding threads, we've speculated about using a municipal auto insurance corporation to fund transit expansion in the city.

Are you of the opinion that Chow will be bringing something big to the table regarding transit? I would love to see something on the scale of OneCity from her.

100% certain. A National Transportation Strategy has figured significantly in Chow's work as a Federal MP. The next election is going to be about transit (finally!!!!) and there couldn't be a more perfect timing for Olivia to run. She's very well versed on the subject and already brings a well developed policy to the table. My guess is she won't try to re-litigate the Scarborough subway and instead will use Ford's property tax increase against himself: Ford raised your taxes and put us in debt for 30 years to pay for a 3 stop Scarborough subway, I'll get rid of the tax raise and bring in a fair city run insurance plan or a Toronto Bank to pay for the Scarborough subway AND a Downtown Relief Line. She's going to outsmart him and turn his tax and spend mantra against him.

 

[Dubster]

100% certain. A National Transportation Strategy has figured significantly in Chow's work as a Federal MP. The next election is going to be about transit (finally!!!!) and there couldn't be a more perfect timing for Olivia to run. She's very well versed on the subject and already brings a well developed policy to the table. My guess is she won't try to re-litigate the Scarborough subway and instead will use Ford's property tax increase against himself: Ford raised your taxes and put us in debt for 30 years to pay for a 3 stop Scarborough subway, I'll get rid of the tax raise and bring in a fair city run insurance plan or a Toronto Bank to pay for the Scarborough subway AND a Downtown Relief Line. She's going to outsmart him and turn his tax and spend mantra against him.

"Do we really need the government involved in car insurance or running a bank? NO! Who brought the Subways! Subways! Subways!? Vote Rob Ford! I will beat these charges to serve the great city of Toronto!"

 

[soimelk]

I wanna have a go

Cowboy Logic: Some questions for you:

1) Do you think Rob Ford runs a transparent government like he said he would?

Refusing to answer questions about his conduct in relation to criminal activities and unethical behaviour is the definition of unethical.

2) Do you think he has responsible hiring practices?

No women on his executive committee. Hires felons to assist him. Prefers loyalty over qualifications.

3) Do you think he is a good face for the city, locally and internationally?

The world refers to him as Toronto's Crack Mayor

4) Do you think his choice of friends calls his character into question?

When you consider it seems to be his entire social circle who has a criminal record, then yes, it affects how you view his character.

5) Do you think he is forthright and honest?

He never answers tough questions. He runs. He lies. He smears others.

6) Do you think he owes the public an explanation for any of the countless questions they have?

Any reasonable person should feel he owes an explanation for his links to crack, gun and drug gangs, and other scandals. If not, their level of ethics should be called into question as well.

7) Do you think he speaks primarily in catchphrases or does he have a sophisticated understanding of the problems that face the city?

One word x 3: Subways, Subways, Subways

8) Do you think the arrests, the police investigation, the photograph, the respected journalists citing a video they have seen, the trip to the prison, etc., are all a coincidence?

There is more evidence for Bigfoot than there is to show that the media have lied about the Ford story.

9) Do you think Ford has kept all of his promises?

My taxes went up this week on a subway which was supposed to be built by the private sector.

10) Do you think his recent trip was effective?

Who cares. He signed some meaningless agreements and proclamations. He hung out at a music festival, and then caught a football game.

11) Do you think it's okay for a mayor to be involved with hard drugs, as long as he hates streetcars, bicycles, the arts and taxes?

Even if he cycled to work and built an LRT in every ward, I'd have an issue with his connection to drug and gun gangs.

 

[typezed]

"Do we really need the government involved in car insurance or running a bank? NO!"

Well, it's a good question. If the competition comes on saying we need a city run car insurance program or a city run bank to get decent transit planning and development, I'll start thinking things like E-Health, and be almost tempted to vote for Rob Ford myself.

There's a reason such a moron has near half the city sympathetic to what he says.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

I agree with you, just wanted to mention that he did take Michael Hollett who is a co-owner of NXNE.