Rob Ford's Toronto

[ParkdalePetunia]

"I know during the whole crack scandal, he showed up to deal with a complaint of Corey Mintz's"

He brought himself and 8 staff members and looked at the hole for like half an hour, probably longer. Think about the amount of money that cost the city for the Mayor to go out and look at a hole. Not responsible use of time or tax dollars.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

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.

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.

I really wish this site had a like or an upvote button. That was incredible.

 

[guitarchitect]

Can't we just copy whatever LA did, since we know it works? Oh I wish it was that simple...

Here's the thing - no one is ever going to be happy about paying a new tax. but everyone is happy to have better transit. It's a classic case of not wanting to pay for the thing you need, then you get it, then you're glad you paid for it because you can't live without it. If memory serves, in LA there was something like 25% support for the different transit funding options... but once the transit arrived, support was over 70%.

I'd be ok with:
- a vehicle registration tax
- a 1% sales tax

and after transit has improved (since you can borrow against future revenue) -
- a congestion charge for people coming into downtown. make it the equivalent of $100/month (say, $3 to get downtown) and a lot of people would think about taking the new and improved transit.

 

[guitarchitect]

"I know during the whole crack scandal, he showed up to deal with a complaint of Corey Mintz's"

He brought himself and 8 staff members and looked at the hole for like half an hour, probably longer. Think about the amount of money that cost the city for the Mayor to go out and look at a hole. Not responsible use of time or tax dollars.

If I recall correctly, The mayor stood around not doing much, looking off into the distance, and didn't interact with him much. Really not the best use of his time...

That's exactly what people who say "I'm so glad he looks after the little things" don't understand. The Mayor's salary is probably 4x the amount that an assistant in a city councillor's office makes. The Mayor's time is better spent getting them all to do a better job than it is going out to deal with every little issue. Not to mention all of the other things the mayor should be devoting his time to. It's like if Andy Byford was taking fare or cleaning up subway stations, instead of focusing on improving the entire system. In the former, he's just being paid way too well to do someone's job - in the latter, he's bringing immense value to the system. But hey, it'd make a good photo-op right?

I quite honestly think he'd be much happier in that role, and still can't understand why he actually wants to be the mayor. It's great that he wants to get out there on the ground and help people - but in a city like Toronto, that simply isn't the Mayor's job.

 

[TOvp]

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

Make that, hires felons who beat women to assist him and family business excludes women in family from positions of power. Female family members sole role seems to be staged photo opps.

 

[pattycakes]

I quite honestly think he'd be much happier in that role, and still can't understand why he actually wants to be the mayor. It's great that he wants to get out there on the ground and help people - but in a city like Toronto, that simply isn't the Mayor's job.

Big bro Doug wanted in on the action, working towards Provincial politics, the only way was through Rob's secure council seat. As usual, Doug was looking out for Doug, Rob was probably quite content, and was pushed into running (as the youngest brother, I suspect he's been pushed around a lot by Randy and Doug). With a brother like Doug, who needs enemies? Think "Cut the Waist" challenge, and how quickly he tried to distance himself in the beginning of the Crack Scandal.

 

[DD13]

I keep coming back to this paragraph:

"Lights had flicked on at the mayor’s house in Etobicoke shortly before 9 a.m. and a young man knocked at the door around 9:20 a.m. to deliver dry-cleaning. He was let in by a side entrance, carrying what appeared to be one black suit."

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha...ht_video_among_two_arrested_in_etobicoke.html

Beyond the dry cleaning delivery (which could certainly be construed as suspicious given the arrest of the dry cleaner) there's also the question of where his children were. I know they're rarely seen with him (other than the occasional misguided photo op) but don't they live in the house? Don't they go to school?

 

[blackballed]

What promises has he kept?
-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.

You are being extraordinarily generous in using the term "delivered". Does this subway exist? Can we ride on it? Not without a time machine that can take us about a decade into the future. And what will the EA tell us? There's a decent chance that it will either add substantially to the project costs, or it will force us to go back to the drawing board, which would result in us doing what we should have done all along before Bumblefuck McShitforbrains started (illegally) fucking around with Transit City. Even if by "delivered", you mean "voted for", then consider that the "final" vote on this wasn't even 48 hours old before we found ourselves in yet another standoff between different levels of government.

It will take us decades to recover from Ford's bungling of transit.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

You are being extraordinarily generous in using the term "delivered".

I know. But I figured that I needed to sneak in more than the Jarvis street bike lane removal.

But really, the only promise Ford has fully fulfilled was removing the Jarvis bike lanes. Everything else either wasn't done at all, halfway done (only for a few of them), or he did the complete opposite (eg promising to cut spending, taxes and debt when he's raised all three). Absolutely pathetic.

 

[blackballed]

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

How is this even a question? If you want to know the answer, Google the following: "Mayor Rob Ford" "did not respond"

Then try it with David Miller and compare the number of results. Below is a sample of questions that Ford won't respond to. You tell me if we as citizens and taxpayers deserve better than "Anything else?":

What are the circumstances of the photograph of Ford outside 15 Windsor Road with Anthony Smith, Muhammad Khattak, and Monir Kasim?

Under what circumstances was Mark Towhey fired?

Why did Ford fabricate the pretext of wanting a "tour" when seeking to visit Bruno Bellissimo in prison?

Did Ford have any role in falsifying documents that allowed "Peter Payman" to avoid a background check?

What are the responsibilities of Ford's "Director of Logistics" David Price?

What is Ford's relationship with Elena Johnson and Fabio Basso?

Is Ford aware whether he is the subject of the "Project Brazen 2" investigation?

Did Ford authorize Lisi to exchange marijuana in order to recover his lost cell phone?

Please feel free to add to this list.

There's also:

What does Ford know about Metrolinx investigation into David Price's behaviour at the Georgetown GO station?

Did Doug Ford speak with two TPS Superintendents about air surveillance of the Fords - as he initially claimed? Why did he reverse his story within 24 hours?

On top of all the above questions, there's also the fact that when they are asked, he literally yells "SUBWAYS" repeatedly and laughs like a lunatic as he runs away. If this meets your definition of "transparent" you need to give your head a shake and get a new dictionary.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

"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!"

Unfortunately, there are many voters who when seeing the "government" in "government auto-insurance" will freak out and vote for Ford. But I figure 90% of those people are already part of the 25% of people who are hardcore Ford supporters.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

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.

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

Do you think he is forthright and honest?

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

Let me help you drive home the point:

https://soundcloud.com/jackson-proskow/rob-ford-oct-8

 

[W. K. Lis]

Whoever the next mayor will be after Ford, he or she will have to raise taxes to make up for the slashing of needed projects and department budgets. We've seen this happen many times before when tax or fee or fare increases are kept at zero or below inflation, they usually jump up big time to make up for any shortfalls.

At least keep increases to the rate of inflation, as a start. In August, 2013, Canada's inflation rate was at 1.1%. Adding the cost of Toronto's share of the subway extension, estimated at 1.6%, that means I estimate my city's property tax bill to increase by 2.7%.

Wonder what will be cut in the next city budget?

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I really wish this site had a like or an upvote button. That was incredible.

What we really need is for someone to print out my previous post along with ParkdalePetunia's summary of Rob Ford's criminal activities (formatted by dforthandbview) and put give them to the remaining Ford supporters. Should help to drive home the point about Ford.

 

[soimelk]

Amazing. If Ford shows his face at any campaign town hall debates in 2014, these questions will do nicely. (realizing as I write that he'll try to run a campaign for 'the people' without ever facing questions directly from them)