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2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

StevieD said:
Soknacki is shooting himself in the foot by wanting to go back to the LRT plan. If Toronto City Council were to actually go back to the LRT plan, then bringing better transit to Scarborough gets pushed back yet again.
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LRVs are a better alternative than the crap we have right now. And quite a few of us remember when the SRT was shortened to use the mrk1 cars, not unlike what using HRVs (underground or not) would do to the people of Scarborough for a second time. Transit is needed in the densest parts of Scarborough which is in the Malvern and Eglinton (Kennedey to Kingston), not even the new plan has a stop at Brimmley or Danforth.

Besides, the current Liberal government is pushing for a subway instead. Heck, even if Tim Hudak's Tories get elected this spring (We all know an election is coming), a subway is still coming to Scarborough. In the end, it doesn't matter if he wants the LRT plan because it's completely dead in the water. A subway extension is coming. I think Soknacki should accept the Bloor-Danforth extension but push for more LRT like on Sheppard in Scarborough. That's a win win for him.
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At least, if we are to get no new transit then the plan along the present SRT corridor will not give Toronto a new debt, especially one Robbie and others would be paid for by anyone but Toronto.

There still needs to be an environmental assessment (for one) on both proposed routes, and if neither can provide the proper numbers then a subway extension still might not happen. As far as I know, the SRT alignment is still being used in transit maps for future development, for HRVs or LRVs.

StevieD said:
Well, I disagree with you that the Scarborough subway is a terrible financial mistake. I think it's the right choice for the route that is being pushed for (McCowan), but Soknacki could also campaign on what Karen Stintz had in her OneCity plan - a Scarborough-Malvern LRT from Kennedy station up to the future Morningside Station.
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Surely you mean Danforth-McCowan? Scarborough-Malvern was part of the original Transit City, and a part of it that should have not been cancelled since it serve some of the densest areas of Scarborough.

Going with the LRT plan would give the transit levy over to extending it properly into the Malvern area, or the aforementioned Malvern-Scarborough LRT.

It’s an extension of the Bloor-Danforth subway (Kennedy to Sheppard), not a “Scarborough Subway”. We have had three subway stops in Scarborough since November 1980 (a little more than 32 years), it’s the other half that needs more than just more buses.
 
evvabeing said:
If this is a preview of the Toronto mayoral race, get ready for one heated campaign.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/13/rob-ford-karen-stintz-ice-storm-video_n_4591599.html
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Hmm......this is not good. Stintz was rattled while Ford was on his game. He was, as usual, not answering the question. But to the casual observer that is not as important as the perception that she was flustered and he was cool as a cucumber.

She needs to keep her cool. I hope she will review this video and learn from it. Otherwise she will be mince meat in the debates.
 
PinkLucy said:
Didn't someone post that he announced on his show that he is not running? That doesn't seem to have made it to the media -- are people ignoring him or hoping he'll change his mind?
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Tory later explained that what he meant was he is currently not in the race. Who knows if he'll enter or not.
 
VTB said:
Hmm......this is not good. Stintz was rattled while Ford was on his game. He was, as usual, not answering the question. But to the casual observer that is not as important as the perception that she was flustered and he was cool as a cucumber.

She needs to keep her cool. I hope she will review this video and learn from it. Otherwise she will be mince meat in the debates.
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The sooner Stintz is out of the running, the better. I can't think of many reasons one would support Stintz over Soknacki.
 
ShonTron said:
The sooner Stintz is out of the running, the better. I can't think of many reasons one would support Stintz over Soknacki.
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I agree but Soknacki needs to:

1. Ramp up the name recognition factor big time. The reaction I get from everyone I've spoken to has been "David who?" and

2. Explain his stint as David Miller's budget chief. A common reaction when I start explaining who he was has been a gut reaction to the garbage strike and all the perceived ills of Miller's reign. I didn't even get the chance to explain he quit after a short period.
 
There's one candidate that has proven he can unite a lot of young non-voters.

Marnaugh originally just intended to run for City Counsel, on a platform of undoing many of the cities most oppressive policies allegedly designed to target drug users and dealers, including the random stop and search tactics of the TAVIS program.

But finding that much of the 420 support base is scattered accross the GTA, he found it actually more feasible to run for mayor.
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http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/torontos-mayoral-race-could-have-positive-outcome/20750
 
VTB said:
I agree but Soknacki needs to:

1. Ramp up the name recognition factor big time. The reaction I get from everyone I've spoken to has been "David who?" and

2. Explain his stint as David Miller's budget chief. A common reaction when I start explaining who he was has been a gut reaction to the garbage strike and all the perceived ills of Miller's reign. I didn't even get the chance to explain he quit after a short period.
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I had a chance to talk to some one from Soknacki's campaign they are well aware of these issues and have plans to address them.

Also from Daniel Dale yesterday

""Major policy announcement" from mayoral candidate David Soknacki tomorrow morning at the Lawrence East SRT station."
 
Councillor Gloria Lindsay-Luby endorsed David Soknacki this morning at his transit policy announcement. Seems so far that Soknacki has at least 3 current councillors backing him - Lindsay-Luby, Paul Ainslie and Josh Matlow.

Also, I rolled my eyes at his plan to go back to the LRT plan. This is just delaying transit in Scarborough. Build the Bloor-Danforth extension, build the Sheppard LRT, plan for a Scarborough-Malvern LRT from Kennedy Station and plan for a BRT along the SRT route. Do all that and Scarborough gets a little of everything. Everyone is happy and we can finally move on from focusing on transit in Scarborough so we can work on more pressing transit projects like the Relief Line.
 
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"He's a self-made businessman. Daddy did not give him a business to run" - Councillor Gloria Lindsay-Luby on David Soknacki.

Nice one!
 
I'm still very much on the fence on who to vote for (it won't be Ford, obviously), especially if Tory and Chow jump in as they are expected to, but I will say I saw Soknacki on Global tv a week ago or so and one thing that stood out to me was a discussion of the age old argument of running a government like a business. He something along the lines of 'the city needs things that don't make money like a bike share program while looking at other budgets that continue to rise rapidly like the police budget'. He then proceeded to rattle off some figures about how the TPS budget has ballooned over the last several years, and if it was the best use of money. To my knowledge I don't think I've ever heard of a candidate or mayor make such a claim as they usually side step the issue, or they take the opposite 'tough on crime, let's hire x amount more officers this year' stance we usually see. Kudos to him for at least addressing the elephant in the room
 
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