News   Jul 15, 2024
Sculptural Pre-Cast Panels Now Adorning ANX near Dupont Station
 5     0 
News   Jul 15, 2024
Resubmitted Agincourt Condo Proposal Bumps Height, Reduces Parking
 311     0 
News   Jul 15, 2024
News Roundup for July 15, 2024
 531     0 

Toronto Municipal Election 2018: Mayor’s Race

Northern Light said:
I don't think Tory has been a terrible mayor. Insufficiently bold at times, on any number of fronts, but relatively little to offend. Just some wistful disappointment of opportunities missed.
Click to expand...

Tory is Mayor Do-Nothing, IMO. I'm willing to take a leap for someone who actually believes in something for a change.
 
MetroMan said:
I’ve received confirmation that Keesmaat will absolutely not run for Mayor in this election. Unless any other high profile candidate is waiting until the last possible moment to run, Tory is going to be running virtually unopposed. As much as I like Sarah Clemanhaga, she doesn’t have the campaign team, organization and funding needed to mount a serious campaign.

I’d be surprised if the media pay any attention to the mayoral race. They’re going to focus heavily on city council races like Vuong vs Dong vs Malik, Bailao vs Palacio, Mammo vs Tiffany Ford and Jaye Robinson vs Kyle Ashley. Maybe that’ll give incumbents less of their usual staying power with the media featuring their challengers far more prominently in this election.
Click to expand...

What a difference a week makes, eh?
 
Filip said:
Great.. Keesmat.. If her time as head of planning is any indication - she is useless.

The worst time Humber Bay Shores has had under Toronto planning has been under her watch.
Click to expand...
Keesmaat had very little, if not, nothing to do with what's happened with the ineptitude of planning that took place in Humber Bay. The mass growth and development already began when she was the chief planner, and there was virtually nothing that could be done to stop it once the OMB essentially took the planning out of the city's hand for the area since the city had no clear and concise plan for the neighborhood.

If you want someone to point the finger at, point it primarily at David Miller, and to a smaller extent to the late Ted Tyndorf and Gary Wright (both former Chief City of Toronto planners). Tryndorf served as chief planner from 2004-2008 while Wright held the post from 2008-2012. The city had years to come up with a plan for Humber Bay, and under the regime of David Miller he failed to do just that. He was so in love with the land transfer tax and development, that he basically encouraged development anywhere and everywhere in the city.
 
I hope she can quickly walk back her calls for "secession" last night on Twitter. That will quickly brand her as a fringe candidate.
 
Keesmaat is far too polarizing to have a chance against Tory. At this time im thinking this isnt the best direction her or the Left if they want to be taken seriously in the City. Digging a bigger hole possibly but it will atleast it will be fun to listen to the debates.
 
Amare said:
Keesmaat had very little, if not, nothing to do with what's happened with the ineptitude of planning that took place in Humber Bay. The mass growth and development already began when she was the chief planner, and there was virtually nothing that could be done to stop it once the OMB essentially took the planning out of the city's hand for the area since the city had no clear and concise plan for the neighborhood.

If you want someone to point the finger at, point it primarily at David Miller, and to a smaller extent to the late Ted Tyndorf and Gary Wright (both former Chief City of Toronto planners). Tryndorf served as chief planner from 2004-2008 while Wright held the post from 2008-2012. The city had years to come up with a plan for Humber Bay, and under the regime of David Miller he failed to do just that. He was so in love with the land transfer tax and development, that he basically encouraged development anywhere and everywhere in the city.
Click to expand...

It's the lack of planning for services and infrastructure in the area that is her fault, not the approval of all the condos. She purposefully ignored the needs of the community for things like transit, parks and rec, infrastructure (roads), streetscape, all while going forward with these things for other new development areas like the Lower Don Lands which has PLANNED densities in the future (10+ years down the road), all while HSB already has that density. Her department under-reported the numbers of Humber Bay Shores during the Ward Boundary review - although I guess that doesn't matter now). All of this is my opinion, and reflects the entire planning department, but it was under her watch.
 
Her office also told Metrolinx the PL GO station was not required. This is why ML rejected the station all the way back in 2016 - stating city support required first.
 
Admiral Beez said:
So, what did she do?
Click to expand...
That question may be better posed to @Filip who thinks Keesmaat is at fault for most of the current conditions at Humber Bay

toaster29 said:
It's the lack of planning for services and infrastructure in the area that is her fault, not the approval of all the condos. She purposefully ignored the needs of the community for things like transit, parks and rec, infrastructure (roads), streetscape, all while going forward with these things for other new development areas like the Lower Don Lands which has PLANNED densities in the future (10+ years down the road), all while HSB already has that density. Her department under-reported the numbers of Humber Bay Shores during the Ward Boundary review - although I guess that doesn't matter now). All of this is my opinion, and reflects the entire planning department, but it was under her watch.
Click to expand...
While she's not perfect and it's fair to pin some of the issues on here (and rightly so), it is wrong to put the blame on her for why Humber Bay is the mess that it is today.

I agree that she and the planning department could have, and should have done a lot more for transit in the area. The department's wilful ignorance of the transit issue was disgusting to say the least. With parks and rec, that ties in closely with the surrounding development that has already taken place. It was a missed opportunity, and half of the developments were already in the pipeline by the time she was selected the chief planner. By that time it was already too late since the OMB was just having their way with the neighborhood because of the failure of the city's failure for the 6-8 year period before that. There is nothing that could have been done with the road network by the time Keesmaat was chief planner because Humber Bay is in essence an island that is separated by the Humber River to the west, rail tracks to the north, and Mimico Creek to the east. The road network should have been planned out beforeall of the developments wer in the pipeline, and that again comes down to the city's lack of planning before all of the developments were proposed. Since the city didn't have a plan, the OMB essentially devised one for them through the Places to Grow Act.

I'm in no way giving Keesmaat a carte blanche for what has taken place in Humber Bay, but if people are going to blame her at least know exactly what it is that you're putting the blame on her for.

Like I said before, the large part of the blame should go to David Miller and Mark Grimes who were all present when Humber Bay was a quiet motel strip with nothing actively planned for the neighborhood. Ted Tyndorf and Gary Wright also deserve blame to an extent for not coming up with a concrete plan, or even having a plan in general
 
Amare said:
That question may be better posed to @Filip who thinks Keesmaat is at fault for most of the current conditions at Humber Bay


While she's not perfect and it's fair to pin some of the issues on here (and rightly so), it is wrong to put the blame on her for why Humber Bay is the mess that it is today.

I agree that she and the planning department could have, and should have done a lot more for transit in the area. The department's wilful ignorance of the transit issue was disgusting to say the least. With parks and rec, that ties in closely with the surrounding development that has already taken place. It was a missed opportunity, and half of the developments were already in the pipeline by the time she was selected the chief planner. By that time it was already too late since the OMB was just having their way with the neighborhood because of the failure of the city's failure for the 6-8 year period before that. There is nothing that could have been done with the road network by the time Keesmaat was chief planner because Humber Bay is in essence an island that is separated by the Humber River to the west, rail tracks to the north, and Mimico Creek to the east. The road network should have been planned out beforeall of the developments wer in the pipeline, and that again comes down to the city's lack of planning before all of the developments were proposed. Since the city didn't have a plan, the OMB essentially devised one for them through the Places to Grow Act.

I'm in no way giving Keesmaat a carte blanche for what has taken place in Humber Bay, but if people are going to blame her at least know exactly what it is that you're putting the blame on her for.

Like I said before, the large part of the blame should go to David Miller and Mark Grimes who were all present when Humber Bay was a quiet motel strip with nothing actively planned for the neighborhood. Ted Tyndorf and Gary Wright also deserve blame to an extent for not coming up with a concrete plan, or even having a plan in general
Click to expand...
As I said... her office said the go station wasn’t required. That’s why there’s a minimum 5 year delay on that right now.

I can blame her for fucking that up. And giving me and my colleagues a lot of work to do.

Either way she will lose and lose hard. She’s very unpopular outside the downtown core and we all know the downtown core doesn’t call elections here.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top