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2006 Municipal Elections: Sewell to run against Mihevc

S

spmarshall

Guest
I guess Margaret Smith isn't electable in her own "neighbourhood" - John Sewell responded to the want ad. We'll see how deep the "grassroots" are on St. Clair.

Ex-mayor set to run for city council
Jun. 24, 2006. 01:00 AM
VANESSA LU
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Former Toronto mayor John Sewell is getting ready to jump back into the political waters, this time with a bid to unseat Councillor Joe Mihevc in November.

Sewell was still playing coy yesterday, saying he's not giving any hints as to what he will say at his city hall news conference on Monday.

"I've got a weekend to think about what I'm going to do," he said. Mihevc said he fully expects Sewell to throw his hat into the ring for the Nov. 13 municipal election, but added that he's not worried.

"I've done my work. I've worked very hard for the residents. This is all part of democracy," Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul's) said.

Mihevc, who has represented the area since before amalgamation in 1998, has come under heat from some residents for supporting the dedicated streetcar line along St. Clair Ave. W. between Yonge and Keele Sts.

The city says the line will improve transit in the area, while opponents say it will ruin the street and provide only marginally faster service.

After losing in court, members of the Save Our St. Clair community group vowed to take their fight to the political arena and work to defeat Mihevc.

Mihevc said he understands that SOS members are working on Sewell's campaign.

"It's all fair game. Let the political process unfold," he said. "I am prepared to defend the wisdom of that decision and many other decisions."

Sewell is no stranger to city hall. In fact, he is often a visible, at times confrontational, presence speaking out on a variety of issues — from the Union Station revitalization project and police accountability to council's governance structure.

A lawyer by training, Sewell was first elected to the former city of Toronto's council as an alderman in 1969. In 1978, he was elected mayor for a two-year term before being defeated by Art Eggleton.

He led the grassroots group Citizens for Local Democracy, which opposed the plan to amalgamate all of the former Metro Toronto municipalities into one megacity.

In 1999, Sewell ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in Toronto Centre-Rosedale in the provincial election.
 
As background, John Sewell on the ROW in an eye article that he wrote in 2003: www.eye.net/eye/issue/iss...state.html

"Those who have opposed the ROW are the ones who favour a solution that reduces commuter traffic and gives priority to transit and bikes. It makes sense. The car commuters don't add anything useful to the street. They don't shop there, and if the space for their cars is being maintained, there's no reason for them to take transit. It wasn't really clear until now, since these points only came into focus when the politicians realized that there weren't easy ways to deflect the objections, but the streetcar ROW doesn't offer anything to local residents or businesses. It may look good in principle, but in the real world it's not good enough."

...and yet, on the SOS website, the first thing they list as being impacts of the ROW is to "reduce the capacity of the road for traffic to less than half of current levels." they further go on to say that the "commercial district on or near St.Clair is dependent in large part on shoppers from outside the community, much like the city itself. Making the area less attractive discourages shoppers from travelling to this area. Local businesses cannot survive on the basis of local shoppers alone."

The ROW on St. Clair is in no way perfect, and I am not a fan of reduced sidewalk widths or no bike lanes, but I'm concerned with the very strange bedfellows this issue has made of Sewell and the SOS folks.

Hopefully the residents of ward 21 will support Mihevc. And hopefully the folks in my neighbourhood of ward 22 will oust Walker!
 
I'm amazed at how deluded Sewell seems to be on this issue. Every SOS person I've ever met has road capacity and parking as their first concern.
 
I am curious what, if anything, Sewell and the SOS could even do at this point, other than punishing those that supported it by kicking them out of a job. Is it still possible that they could find anyother way to stop or stall work on St. Clair?
 
From the Globe:

Sewell to run for council against key Miller ally
Development, streetcar are major issues as former mayor takes on Mihevc

JEFF GRAY

Former mayor John Sewell, who confirmed yesterday that he is seeking a seat on Toronto's city council in the fall election, plans to take on a key ally of Mayor David Miller.

Mr. Sewell, 65, registered yesterday to run in Ward 21, St. Paul's West, in an attempt to unseat Joe Mihevc. The move kicks off a campaign likely to focus on controversies over development and the St. Clair Avenue streetcar project.

With about 70 supporters behind him at a news conference outside city hall, Mr. Sewell, who as an activist in recent years has decried a plan to redevelop Union Station and called for a better police complaints process, said he was getting frustrated on the sidelines of politics.

"But rather than stand outside and continue to be frustrated, I've decided to fight back," Mr. Sewell said, accusing the current crop at city hall of "jumping to every demand by developers" and saying proposed reforms now before council will only "centralize power in the mayor's office."

Mr. Sewell, who lives in Ward 21, first ran for the old city of Toronto's council in 1969, and was elected mayor in 1978, serving a two-year term before losing to Art Eggleton. The former columnist for The Globe and Mail and Eye Weekly led an activist group that opposed amalgamating Metro Toronto in the late 1990s.

He pulled few punches yesterday about Mr. Miller, who he supported in 2003 but who has now, he said, disappointed him. "I don't think he's delivered on anything I can think of."

Asked why he decided not to take on Mr. Miller directly on Nov. 13, Mr. Sewell said: "The mayor is there with the largest developers' fundraisers that we have in the city. . . . He's got an enormous war chest, one can't ever hope to compete with that."

Mr. Sewell also said he is a "downtown guy" who would have trouble attracting votes in Scarborough and North York, and never seriously considered running for the top job.

It's time to "re-establish community planning" to give neighbourhoods more of a voice in the shape of the development around them, he said. Toronto must "restructure the megacity to restore local democracy," he added.

Mr. Sewell has been a vocal opponent of controversial plans, championed by Mr. Mihevc, to create a dedicated right-of-way to separate the St. Clair streetcar from traffic.

Margaret Smith, founder of the group Save Our St. Clair, an alliance of local businesses and citizens that delayed the project with a court battle, was among those standing behind Mr. Sewell yesterday. She said she and many in her group were supporting his campaign.

"I think many of us believe that if we had local democracy in Toronto, if neighbourhoods really counted in Toronto, then we wouldn't have a dedicated right-of-way forced down on our community and our neighbourhood," Ms. Smith said.

Mr. Sewell, who during his time as mayor was seen as a bike-riding progressive who was vocal in his support of gay rights, also ran as an Independent for a provincial seat in 1999 in the riding of Toronto Centre-Rosedale.

Mr. Mihevc, who said he believed the community was being consulted on both the streetcar project and development projects, said he expects a hard-fought campaign.

"I think I know my community pretty well. It's my bread and butter. . . . I'm going to run a campaign of hope, not of negativity."

AoD
 
I hope the real citizens of St. Paul's (not the scattering of SOS people) see Sewell for what he is - a man way past his prime. I think Sewell can still do some good on council, I just wish he could run against one of council's boneheads. Hmmm. Sewell for Moscoe, Mammolitti or Ford?
 
s

The good part of all this is the debate that will come out -- between one of the right wing boneheads and a sewell, the debate would be what we expect -- but between two progressive minded people, things will be a lot more specific, -- broad, empty statements won't work because they'd be the same on both sides.
 
Re: s

Now, to spread rumours that the Sewell campaign is a front for the Illuminati, har har, hardee har har
 
Re: s

Mihevec, IMO, is the counsellor for a neighbourhood that currently has two of the neatest projects being developed in the city.
The St Clair ROW
and the TTC Art Barns
are two great examples of small price-tag urban developments that will have a HUGE impact on the neighbourhood and community at large.
 
Re: s

adma:

Not really necessary. All one needs is a recording on his rants during various council sessions.

pw20:

Indeed, and the sick thing is both of these projects raised such a big stink. It comes with the ward.

AoD
 
Re: s

I know we can't choose our names, but every time I hear Joe Mihevc's name I think of Yugoslavian tyrants. Not his fault, we can't choose our names.
 
Re: s

The blowfly evidence suggests that John Sewell's political life ended no later than 8 p.m. on November 10th 1980, but he keeps digging himself up and trying to prove otherwise.
 
Re: s

[Note: my reference was to John Sewell's son being Illuminati bassist Nick Sewell. A very curious disconnect btw/realms, there...]
 
Re: s

^ Your posts reach new levels of obscurity! Thanks for the clarification.
 
Re: s

Mihevc is very popular in the ward aside from small pockets of NIMBYs. Most of the active anti-ROW people don't even live in the ward (or the city, for that matter). Sewell might do alright in some of the Annexy bits on the southern fringe, but I can't see the Elm Ridge, Vesta Dr, Strathearn, etc. types voting for John Sewell.
 
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