2018 Municipal Election: Toronto Council Races

[pman]

When I refer to "inadequacy of his opponents", I don't mean inadequacy at doing the job; I mean inadequacy at conveying the message that such-and-such particular candidate is THE one to defeat Mammo. (Clearly, Nick Di Nizio failed to communicate that message in either 2010 or 2014, much less whomever "progressives" supported/endorsed in either election.)

And generically speaking, if one's to blame the voters and articulate unflattering comparisons to chimps et al, I wouldn't look to such a person as a clue to unlocking Mammo's iron grip.

True enough. I find the people who vote for Mammo incomprehensible, and I regret the fact that their ward is part of Toronto.

 

[adma]

Well, if anything redeems Mammo, it's that he went to bat for this tree
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/11/02/vast-historic-tree-might-crowd-out-house-keenan.html

 

[DSC]

True enough. I find the people who vote for Mammo incomprehensible, and I regret the fact that their ward is part of Toronto.

While I must agree with you. we should also not forget the results of the 2010 election, from Wiki.

Furious George may have had his faults and Joe Pants may not have been the best campaigner BUT Ford's craziness was quite apparent for a decade. There are incomprehensible votes all over!

 

[ttk77]

I don't understand the reasoning behind the desire to reduce the number of councilors. It only guarantees that it will be even harder to get our voices across to them. If anything, I think we need more, either added to our current system, or in the re-introduction of a quasi-borough system. Delegate some of the power from city council to the community councils and expand the areas that they cover. Within reason, give each area of the city a little more self determination over what happens in their neighborhoods and make it easier to ensure that peoples' voices are heard by someone with enough power to do something.

...and ranked ballots for sure.

 

[animatronic]

I don't understand the reasoning behind the desire to reduce the number of councilors. It only guarantees that it will be even harder to get our voices across to them. If anything, I think we need more, either added to our current system, or in the re-introduction of a quasi-borough system. Delegate some of the power from city council to the community councils and expand the areas that they cover. Within reason, give each area of the city a little more self determination over what happens in their neighborhoods and make it easier to ensure that peoples' voices are heard by someone with enough power to do something.

...and ranked ballots for sure.

The introduction of 311 should have taken a lot of the advocacy time-wasters out of the council offices, leaving them more time to manage the complex stuff. But even then, most of the grunt work is performed by office staff, not the councillors. I would argue that you'd get superior performance by pushing more stuff down into 311, reducing the number of councillors so that the executive and legislative parts of council can actually function and increasing each councillor's office staff / staff pay so that we have more competent people working the files.

The borough idea isn't necessarily bad, but if it ends up like school boards with thinly-elected and largely unaccountable extremists/incomepetents we're not going to be further ahead. More sensible would be to download more decisions to the community councils and set up an appeal structure that sits outside full city council (e.g., city council should not be discussing individual trees).

 

[DSC]

More sensible would be to download more decisions to the community councils and set up an appeal structure that sits outside full city council (e.g., city council should not be discussing individual trees).

While I agree with you that it is amazingly wasteful of Councillor 'talent' to be discussing parking pads and tree removal they are doing so AS the appeal body. These discussions are appeals from staff decisions - though why a Community Council decision can THEN be appealed to Council seems overkill to me.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

While I agree with you that it is amazingly wasteful of Councillor 'talent' to be discussing parking pads and tree removal they are doing so AS the appeal body. These discussions are appeals from staff decisions - though why a Community Council decision can THEN be appealed to Council seems overkill to me.

Technically yes, but I suspect arguing about trees, showing that they are arguing about it and having their mug on TV while doing so is exactly the kind work they think they are being paid the big bucks to do - and be shown doing. Serious policy work, pfftt, who cares about that?

AoD

 

[W. K. Lis]

Interesting article in Toronto Metro, at this link, on

Fact check: Giorgio Mammoliti is just plain wrong to call downtown Torontonians moochers
Matt Elliott has six reasons why Mammoliti's claim doesn't hold water.

So Mammoliti thinks downtowners are a bunch of moochers. Let’s count all the ways he’s wrong.

1. He’s wrong because of economics. According to the city’s TOCore planning report, downtown — defined as the area bounded by Bathurst Street to the Don Valley Parkway, and the waterfront up to Dupont Street — accounts for 33 per cent of jobs and 51 per cent of Toronto’s GDP.

2. He’s wrong because of city tax revenue. A Metro analysis of Toronto’s property tax system in 2015 found that the three wards in the downtown core – representing just three per cent of Toronto’s land area – contribute about 25 per cent of total tax revenue in the city. Downtown’s Ward 20 contributes in excess of four times more revenue from residential property taxes than Mammoliti’s Ward 7.

3. He’s wrong because of growth. The core accounts for 37 per cent of the city’s residential development pipeline and 45 per cent of non-residential. The downtown population is projected to double between now and 2041.

4. He’s wrong because of major infrastructure spending. All of the major transit projects that currently have fully committed funding are in fact suburban projects. The list includes the Eglinton Crosstown, the Scarborough subway, the Spadina subway extension and the Finch West LRT – a billion dollar project that just so happens to run right through Mammoliti’s ward.

5. He’s wrong because of parks. There are 0.4 hectares of parkland per 1,000 residents in the downtown core, way below the city-wide average of 2.8 hectares. The reason downtown has seen a flurry of new park openings this summer isn’t because downtowners are getting spoiled – it’s because the downtown has been neglected for years.

6. And beyond all the numbers, Mammoliti is wrong because he’s perpetuating divisive nonsense that needlessly pits downtown against the suburbs.

 

[ttk77]

The introduction of 311 should have taken a lot of the advocacy time-wasters out of the council offices, leaving them more time to manage the complex stuff. But even then, most of the grunt work is performed by office staff, not the councillors. I would argue that you'd get superior performance by pushing more stuff down into 311, reducing the number of councillors so that the executive and legislative parts of council can actually function and increasing each councillor's office staff / staff pay so that we have more competent people working the files.

The borough idea isn't necessarily bad, but if it ends up like school boards with thinly-elected and largely unaccountable extremists/incomepetents we're not going to be further ahead. More sensible would be to download more decisions to the community councils and set up an appeal structure that sits outside full city council (e.g., city council should not be discussing individual trees).

311 is great, but if the city wants people to turn to it first instead of their local councilors they need to do some marketing to show it's more effective at getting results. They need to overcome the assumption that if you want something done, you need to voice your concerns at the highest level possible.

 

[animatronic]

311 is great, but if the city wants people to turn to it first instead of their local councilors they need to do some marketing to show it's more effective at getting results. They need to overcome the assumption that if you want something done, you need to voice your concerns at the highest level possible.

Shitter clogged? Call 416-397-FORD.

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

Shitter clogged? Call 416-397-FORD.

Discovered a troll? Call 416-397-ATRONIC

 

[ShonTron]

Discovered a troll? Call 416-397-ATRONIC

That makes no sense.

 

[DSC]

From OMB website

E-Status Case Details MM170033

Property Address Data Information Case Description Status Case Number
Ward Boundaries, BLs 267-2017/464-2017 Open MM170033


Hearing and Decision Information


Prehearing 10 Jul 2017 10:00 AM Ontario Municipal Board (Toronto) 16th Fl, , 655 Bay Street, 16th Floor Toronto ON M5G 1E5

Prehearing 21 Aug 2017 10:00 AM Ontario Municipal Board (Toronto) 16th Fl, , 655 Bay Street, 16th Floor Toronto ON M5G 1E5

Individuals should appear at the start time of the proceedings.

 

[JGHali]

Shitter clogged? Call 416-397-FORD.

 

[Bob Burnhamthorpe]

That makes no sense.

A lot of the posts here are like that.

They're like George Sawision.