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Rob Ford's Toronto

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This is just getting more and more insane. I want to know if there is a way to formally complain about misuse of staff time. Even if Kimmel is paying for them, surely the loss of productivity considering they will be in LA on Monday has be against the code of conduct. This bizarre trip at best is a campaign event, using city staff.


Also, Acme, thanks! I would submit that to Daniel Dale.
 
rightwingSUVdriver said:
For posterity in case they change it:
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One of Rob Ford's "Accomplishes" listed was "Improving TTC service"?

Under Rob Ford, he REDUCED TTC service. From The Star, at this link:

Two long, snaking lines form on the platform at Finch Station waiting for bus 36 westbound. It’s 4:30 p.m., rush hour, and in the end about a dozen people are left behind. The bus is too full to pick anyone up at the first few stops.

“Another bus is right behind me,” the driver assures those waiting at the first stop west of Yonge.

Starting Jan. 8, that driver may not be able to make that promise, as Mayor Rob Ford’s budget cuts take a toll on 62 transit routes across the city.

The “major service cuts” to 56 bus and six streetcar routes, revealed in a memo leaked Thursday by the Toronto Environmental Alliance, touch every corner of the city. Wait times will increase from as little as 15 seconds to as much as 6 minutes, 20 seconds, with many in the 2 minute range.

Busy bus routes that will be squeezed include the 25 Don Mills, 29 Dufferin, 35 Jane and Airport Rocket. Streetcars affected include the 501 Queen and 504 King.

The TTC is also increasing wait times on the 36 Finch West bus, which was going to be replaced by a provincially funded light rail line under the Transit City plan that Ford killed after taking office last December. Ford has committed to “enhanced bus service” on Finch, prompting the TTC to consider building a dedicated bus lane.

Nancy Jules takes the 36 Finch West twice a week as part of her multi-bus commute to a cleaning job.

“Oh my goodness,” she said when she learned of the city’s plans. “If they take off any of these buses, that would be terrible.” The route needs more buses, not fewer, she says. She already often waits 30 minutes for a bus and has trouble getting to work on time. “I don’t know what I’ll do because it’s my only transportation,” Jules said.

“This is horrendous for the communities along Finch that almost had an LRT at their doorstep,” said Councillor Maria Augimeri, a TTC board member who cast the sole vote against the cuts. “Now they are going to be packed in like sardines, and it’s going to be rush hour all day.”

TTC chair Karen Stintz said in an interview that nobody likes reduced service, but riders have made it clear they don’t want poorly used routes axed entirely.

“So if we have to make adjustments, and no routes are to be cut, then we have to change the standards,” Stintz said. “It has been difficult to meet demand with a reduced subsidy, but this was seen as the best option.”

She couldn’t say why the TTC didn’t reveal affected routes until after environmental group leaked it. The TTC had planned to wait until next week.

Longer waits and more crowding are also coming to the 85 Sheppard East bus, to be replaced long-term, according to Ford’s transit plan, by a subway extension funded by the city and the private sector, as well as to the Eglinton 32 and 34 buses, to be replaced by the provincially funded crosstown LRT scheduled for completion in 2020.

“It’s the wrong direction for a transit system when you have 500 million customers a year — a record number — and growing,” Jamie Kirkpatrick, TEA’s public transit campaigner, said of the service cuts.

“It makes me wonder whether commissioners actually knew the severity of cuts that would be the result of budget decisions they made in September.”

The TTC board voted for the service cuts to help meet Ford’s directive that all city departments and agencies slash spending by 10 per cent, in the TTC’s case $70 million. Some departments, most notably the Toronto Police Service, are far from making that target.

The TTC will save $15 million per year by reversing service enhancements made as part of its ridership growth strategy, back to 2004 levels.

That means, during rush hour, buses will have to get 10 per cent more crowded before another bus will be put on the route, extending wait times. “Crowding standards” are also being increased for buses and streetcars in off-peak hours.

After TEA leaked the memo, the TTC rushed out the list and a news release confirming “reductions to 52 bus routes in the peak periods, and 36 reductions to bus and streetcar service in the off-peak periods.”

“Customers will experience longer wait times and more crowded vehicles in some cases. The TTC is also increasing service in January, with 21 bus and streetcar routes seeing an increase in service,” the release said.

The increases are tiny compared to the cuts, however. In a Nov. 16 internal memo, Mitch Stambler, a senior TTC service planning officer, wrote that the “major service cuts” will chop about 4,350 hours of service per month. (That includes time being lost simultaneously on different routes.)

Augimeri said the cuts amount to 204,724 fewer vehicle trips per year across the city, 16,018 along the already packed Finch corridor and 22,256 in Downsview.

TTC spokesman Brad Ross said the utility had planned to reveal the affected routes next week. “We usually give riders about two weeks notice . . . and, with Christmas and the holidays coming up, we felt that would have been sufficient notice” before Jan. 8, he said.

No notice is enough for Hailee Gibson, 25, a University of Toronto student who has lived in crowded Bangkok, Sao Paolo and South Korea, and says Toronto has by far the worst public transit.

“I would never wait this long in Bangkok,” Gibson said, as she waited for the Finch West bus that takes her to campus five days a week. Gibson says she has to leave extra early in the morning to ensure she gets a ride.

“If you don’t leave at 7:45 a.m. or earlier, you won’t get picked up.”

Affected routes

Bus routes that can expect longer wait times include: 6 Bay, 7 Bathurst,9 Bellamy, 10 Van Horne,

11 Bayview, 16 McCowan, 17 Birchmount, 21a Brimley Kennedy to STC, 22 Coxwell, 24 Victoria Park, 25 Don Mills, 26 Dupont, 28 Davisville, and 29 Dufferin.

Also: 30 Lambton, 32 Eglinton West, 34 Eglinton East, 35 Jane, 36 Finch West, 37 Islington, 39 Finch East, 41 Keele, 42 Cummer, 44 Kipling South, 45 Kipling, 46 Martingrove, 47 Lansdowne, 52 Lawrence West, 53 Steeles East, 54 Lawrence East, 57 Midland, 58 Malton.

Plus: 60 Steeles West, 63 Ossington, 66 Prince Edward, 67 Pharmacy, 68 Warden, 69 Warden South, 81 Thorncliffe Park, 84 Sheppard West, 85 Sheppard East, 89 Weston, 96 Wilson, 102 Markham Road, 110 Islington South, 112 West Mall, 116 Morningside, 117 Alness, 123 Shorncliffe, 129 McCowan North,131 Nugget, 133 Neilson, 134 Progress, 139 Finch Don Mills, 190 Scarborough Cntr Rocket, 192 Airport Express, 199 Finch Rocket.

Streetcar routes affected include: 501 Queen, 504 King, 505 Dundas, 506 Carlton, 510 Spadina and 511 St Clair.

The longest additions to wait times are:

• 6 minutes, 20 seconds for Warden South during rush hour (every 11 minutes to every 17:20)

• 5 minutes on the 30 Lambton bus (every 15 minutes to 20) during morning rush hour and also for 47 Lansdowne north of St. Clair (every 15 minutes to 20).

• 4 minutes on routes 31, 42, 45, 102 and 139
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Some service has been improved, but only after customer complaints and a rearranging of the TTC board. Even the Blue Night Network was on the chopping block.

The TTC service still needs much, much more improvements. That will only happen after the Ford brothers leave city hall.

And since Stintz was following Rob's directions during the first half of his administration, she is not the one that would do that.
 
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pattycakes said:
TMZ has video of Ford's arrival, at least his collar is down and no stains on the front of his shirt, other than that he comes across as a doofus:


http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_85ytaxv9/
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Something I noticed. Rob and Doug get into a chauffeur ( Jimmy ) driven limo. The "main man" always sits in the rear passenger seat. Note where Doug directed Rob to sit.

Interesting how Jimmy met them at LAX. Is that common for talk show hosts to pick up their out of town guests personally?
 
casita said:
With so many handlers, I suspect Rob will be kept on a short leash.

Doug will be parked beside him at any talk show visits.
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David Price was with him in Vancouver. My understanding is that addicts manage to find ways to get their fix - particularly when presented with so many opportunities.
 
casita said:
Something I noticed. Rob and Doug get into a chauffeur 9 Jimmy ) driven limo. The "main man" always sits in the rear passenger seat. Interested to note where Doug told Rob to sit.

Interesting how Jimmy met them at LAX.

Is that common for talk show hosts to pick up their out of town guests personally?
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My guess is it's part of 'the bit', and that Kimmels crew has been filming since he landed.
 
casita said:
Interesting how Jimmy met them at LAX. Is that common for talk show hosts to pick up their out of town guests personally?
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They are filming a comedy bit for the show - one imagines it'll end up as "fish out of water" story a la The Out-of-Towners by way of Strange Brew.
 
I'm not a follower of Kimmel, I've just seen a few clips of his stuff with Rob online. What can we expect Kimmel to do with Ford? It looks like he's being nice and friendly right now, but I get this feeling that he's reeling Rob in for the kill. Am I right?
 
pattycakes said:
I'm not a follower of Kimmel, I've just seen a few clips of his stuff with Rob online. What can we expect Kimmel to do with Ford? It looks like he's being nice and friendly right now, but I get this feeling that he's reeling Rob in for the kill. Am I right?
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Unless Jimmy has a secret film, there is nothing embarrassing he can say about Rob that hasn't been said already. It's always about the video.

For any sit-down interviews, Doug will be in control.

"Rob may have his personal quirks, but he saves the taxpayers money, blah blah blah".
 
pattycakes said:
I'm not a follower of Kimmel, I've just seen a few clips of his stuff with Rob online. What can we expect Kimmel to do with Ford? It looks like he's being nice and friendly right now, but I get this feeling that he's reeling Rob in for the kill. Am I right?
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I'm honestly afraid that it's going to have some sort of conciliatory spin to it, where Rob comes off looking like "not such a bad guy," and a "good sport." I don't think Kimmel would have the balls to trash him to his face. That's sort of what happened after his Twitter "feud" with Kanye, a few months back - if you believe that whole thing wasn't manufactured to begin with.
 
pattycakes said:
I'm not a follower of Kimmel, I've just seen a few clips of his stuff with Rob online. What can we expect Kimmel to do with Ford? It looks like he's being nice and friendly right now, but I get this feeling that he's reeling Rob in for the kill. Am I right?
Click to expand...
When has a tv host on a comedy talk show ever had a guest on where they "killed" them? It doesn't happen. Ford will be on the show, they'll have some laughs, it'll be entertaining. Kimmel isn't going to play nice and then all of a sudden ask him "so, how did you get home from the Steak Queen that night?" and hope that Ford runs off the set crying. Ain't gonna happen.
 
Is Ford really going to be a guest on the show or is his skit from his landing through to the end of the Oscars going to be it? I would prefer that because he won't know what is going to be shown. As for Doug being next to him if he is interviewed, it's not Doug's call, if Kimmel just wants Rob, that's what he'll get. The Fords are different with the American media than the Canadian.
 
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