Rob Ford - Why the Supervillian?

[scarberiankhatru]

It would be incredibly efficient if they canceled all routes except the Yonge/University subway. It would also be incredibly efficient if we stopped offering street cleaning and garbage removal to low density neighbourhoods in Toronto's suburbs.

If they cancelled all the routes, the YUS line would lose most of its riders and would become very inefficient.

The adjective I have heard around the locker room from a bunch of gents who aren't exactly of the left - is "buffoon". And yes, I have a feeling the bunch clamoring for him is the same batch who voted for Mel. Some people never learn.

Don't forget that that bunch/batch is more than half the city. That just might matter on election day.

And, again, North York (and then Toronto) could have had Mike the headless chicken as mayor all those years and would have pretty much ran itself...Rob Ford would prefer to alienate or dismantle the entire municipal support network (from councillors to services) rather than work with them or rely on them. Rob Ford would not have called in the army to help with the snow - he'd be too busy counting paper clip consumption per councillor.

 

[shilly]

I'm pretty certain there will be a watershed moment where Rob Ford loses it and implodes his own campaign. Having people follow him at his campaign events and call him out on his campaign platform (if he ever forms one) would go a long way to trying to anger him. Actually, that would be a pretty good idea to ensure that he doesn't get elected and alienate millions of potential voters at the same time...

I'm also in the belief that GraphicMatt was being sarcastic.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

I'm also in the belief that GraphicMatt was being sarcastic.

Sarcastic and also not quite right about where transit inefficiency actually occurs...it is not a subway/bus split since our subways like the heralded Yonge line are only 'efficient' because other routes pour riders onto them at great or minor expense. The subways run at minimum service levels, too.

We could turn some surface routes profitable - and most nearly profitable - by slashing back service. Someone like Rob Ford might point to these slashes and say they're worthwhile, especially because 80% or 90% or 95% of riders wouldn't notice a difference, which is technically true, and thousands and thousands of people in this city might overlook buffoonery and agree with him and vote for him for no other reason. Lots of people respond to penny-pinching because they believe if a government is wasting small amounts of money in places where it should be easy to control this spending, they'll be unable to control larger amounts of money, or they believe that tiny wastes are always the tip of a massive iceberg of waste, lurking somewhere in the bowels of the bloated government budget and consuming all their tax dollars.

Everyone's assuming Rob Ford will implode...and if he doesn't? I agree that he'll probably need to be prodded. Maybe people are waiting until the election is a few weeks away to poke Ford.

If they're lucky, the mayoral candidates will split about 750,000 votes. Hell, they may only be splitting 500,000 votes. Unless the 5 major candidates drift apart due to scandal and whatnot like in 2003, the election will be very, very close and securing the votes in a single ward, plus scattered votes elsewhere, could be enough to win. I'm not saying Rob Ford will win (though a strong second would not surprise me at all), but I am saying that if anyone wants to stoke Rob Ford and fire up an outburst of classic buffoonery, they may not want to wait until the last second, and they definitely won't want to assume someone else will do it, or that it'll happen naturally.

 

[Glen]

I And yes, Glen, if that isn't sufficient proof of system efficiency (I don't mean efficiency at the operational or management level even) - perhaps you should go out, do the math and figure out say the operating cost of the system on a per ride or even per km/person-trip basis.AoD

Again, the fare recovery ratio is not an indication of efficiency. To use is as a proxy for such you need the data which would allow calculation of efficiency in the first place. Rendering it (FRR) superfluous . Or, stupid.

 

[nfitz]

Again, the fare recovery ratio is not an indication of efficiency.

It's a very good indicator of efficency. I've pointed this out already.

 

[adma]

The adjective I have heard around the locker room from a bunch of gents who aren't exactly of the left - is "buffoon". And yes, I have a feeling the bunch clamoring for him is the same batch who voted for Mel. Some people never learn.

AoD

Well, *a* same batch. But Mel was much more of a coalition-builder--indeed, in his goofy Krusty The Klown way, he was as much of a "mayor of all the people" as Nathan Phillips ever was. And at worst, when it comes to buffoonery, he was more akin to Ottawa's Larry O'Brien or Winnipeg's Sam Katz than to a Rob Ford.

Heck, I can see Team Ford as the sort were disappointed by Mel from the *opposite* end, i.e. as someone who gave the tax'n'spend left too much leeway on council...

 

[Fresh Start]

The adjective I have heard around the locker room from a bunch of gents who aren't exactly of the left - is "buffoon". And yes, I have a feeling the bunch clamoring for him is the same batch who voted for Mel. AoD

Please don’t sully the legacy of Mel Lastman. We had during his terms as mayor, a well functioning city: reasonable taxes, 2x a week garbage collection, used the private sector to renovate schools at no cost to the public, the driving force behind the Sheppard subway and condo rezoning projects, etc. No, he was not an intellectual but as an experienced and successful business person he had the life skills to do a good job as mayor. He left office with higher esteem than will Mayor Miller. Toronto needs someone who can act in that vain; a practical, experienced leadership type of person because we must get a lot done well with less funds available. The surface "rapid transit" is a good example of wasted money. We really need subways like all major cities have.

Therefore, we must vote wisely and hope that the winner lives up to what we expect from him/her. I still feel confident that Ford can get a consensus, and he doesn't have to be a sycophant to the left-of-council in order to reach it either.

Some people never learn.

So true, how else could you possibly explain the former deputy Premier and deputy Mayor whom led under two of the most parasitic, spendrift, self-serving, nonresponsive governments in Ontario/Toronto history even being serious contendors to be our next Mayor?

 

[kettal]

Pop quiz: how many balanced budgets did Toronto produce with Lastman as mayor?

 

[adma]

He left office with higher esteem than will Mayor Miller.

Mel? Really?!?

 

[nfitz]

2x a week garbage collection

This is a good thing? Why would anyone want garbage pick-up twice a week? It's only once every 2 weeks at the moment - and I still can't fill the small-size can.

He left office with higher esteem than will Mayor Miller.

LOL! Well we've seen what Mel has done since he left office; let's see what Miller does ...

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

kettal:

Pop quiz: how many balanced budgets did Toronto produce with Lastman as mayor?

Every one of them - just like Miller did - muncipalities cannot run budget deficits. That said, obviously someone didn't remember Mel's spats with the province and the "bailouts", not to mention the glorious episode that is what, the MFP. And yes, I can totally see the competent RF running the Ministry of Health - there is a reason why he is in municipal and not provincial politics.

AoD

 

[Parkdalian]

I had a discussion with someone last night who is fairly competent over city issues, but who is planning on voting for Rob Ford. I pointed out all of the ways that he is logically and reasonably the worst person for the job, but the person I was talking to just kept giggling at the idea of RF basically effing stuff up. I have a feeling this is where the core of RF's support comes from - people who actually hate the city and sort of want it to be destroyed.

 

[PinkLucy]

So he's going to vote for someone he hopes will screw up while in office? Couldn't he just go to a comedy club or something for his entertainment?

 

[Parkdalian]

^Yah, seriously. But what I mean more is I think it's this annoyance with "liberal elites" that gets to RF's core support. Some people don't like the idea that everyone is doing everything reasonably and for the best reasons. They want someone to go in there and make a huge kerfuffle because they see that as "getting stuff done." The demolition-as-urban-renewal. Destruction as progress. The Mike Harris ethos. It's weird that this used to be the forte of socialists and hippies and now it is a standard tactic by conservatives.

 

[GraphicMatt]

There are some people who seem to long for the provincialism of old. They're the type that immediately recoil when someone suggests Toronto should be more like European cities or could one day be a 'world-class city.' To them, Toronto shouldn't strive to be anything except fiscally efficient. Leave the fun and ambitious stuff to Montreal. People like this will vote for Rob Ford.