Candidates and their subway plans... The Star tells you which one is more credible

[nfitz]

Your attitude is condescending (and quite frankly a little insulting) because you assume that if somebody votes for Ford, they support wife-beating.

If you choose to believe that, then that's your choice.

Many Americans voted for Clinton, does that mean they endorse philandering?

Last time I checked, that is legal.

Does Bush getting elected mean that Americans support alcoholism and drug use?

I was quite outspoken about Bush in the 2000 election, and not only did I say this, I also said that he didn't have it in him to be a good leader. Bush's drug and alcohol dependence demonstrated this. I think I nailed that one quite well. Bush didn't have it in him, Ford didn't have it in him ... and frankly, for some of the same reasons, I don't think Smitherman has it in him.

More condescension from you. So anybody that votes for Ford is now less than human?

No ... I think they would be human. But surely supporting a bigot does make one a bigot.

Ford doesn't deserve respectful comments. Apart from his bigotry, racism, and wife-beating, he has also violated ethical rules at council many times.

 

[Mapleson]

I have been reading a bit about Ford and he, from what I can gather, he is totally against TC and streetcars. If he was to completely stop all TC streetcar lines including the current Sheppard East then I would vote for him.
TC was Miller's baby which no one in Toronto wanted and it has consumed 5 years of debate with nothing to show for it. TC was not a great idea but was going to be a catastrophic waste of funds the way they where going to institute it and would do nothing to improve the long suffering TTC patron's commute.
I would also not vote for anyone who would extend the BD to STC right away. It has to be done eventually but they already have rapid transit and they can lease cars from Vancouver to keep it alive. Use those funds to extend the subways to new areas not just replace existing lines.

These are the opinions to watch out for. Those that will elect a leader for not doing something. I can not do a million things a day, will you vote for me?

Rob Ford's popularity makes as much sense as Sarah Palin's. They are great at getting those of a similiar mindset (irrational small-minded or conservative, family-value orientated) to be mad at the state of the world. However, they aren't constructive candidates that aim to do things and make this better. They are destructive candidates that aim to cut things and make them simpler.

Smitherman has a lot of political baggage coming from the Liberal party, so people that don't like the Liberal's will be looking for his antithesis. You can't get more oppose from an openly gay left-leaning candidate than an anti-homosexual bigot. I don't call Rob Ford a bigot to insult him. I call Rob Ford a bigot, because he has a long history of questionable activities.


June 2006 (In response to a $1.5 million AIDS prevention campaign)
Rob Ford: "It is very preventable. If you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn't get AIDS probably, that's bottom line."
Mayor David Miller later responded: "The facts speak for themselves, and the facts are clear. The single biggest group in which AIDS is growing is women."
Ford's response: "How are women getting it? Maybe they are sleeping with bi-sexual men."

 

[rbt]

These are the opinions to watch out for. Those that will elect a leader for not doing something. I can not do a million things a day, will you vote for me?

I think if Giambrone had stuck it out he would have a pretty good chance at this point.

 

[GenerationW]

I'd think that the media in Toronto has enough ammo to sink Ford pretty quickly if he looks like he might win in the fall. He has little media support - don't doubt they'll use it.

You're dreaming. A media outlet sitting on something big regarding Ford runs the risk of being scooped, and of earning Ford sympathy support for opportunistically releasing a dated story close to the election. If there was something big, it would already be out there.

Frankly, I think a vote for Ford is a vote in favour of paralysis and doing nothing across the board;

That's hardly a secret, but it resonates with a fair number of voters.

I think if Giambrone had stuck it out he would have a pretty good chance at this point.

If he stayed in and everyone else pulled out, I completely agree!

 

[nfitz]

If there was something big, it would already be out there.

Surely it's already out. The bigotry, the wife-beating, the racism, the ethical issues, the substance abuse problems, his brushes with the law, his ignorance. His abuse of other councillors. That's enough paint for a canvass to be completed.

 

[GenerationW]

^ If "it" is already out, then, based on his poll numbers, the tree in the forest made little or no noise.

 

[Dan416]

So at least there's a positive to Ford getting elected. Transit City would be dead. On top of all the reasons not to vote for him. I guess there's a silver lining in every cloud.

 

[nfitz]

So at least there's a positive to Ford getting elected. Transit City would be dead. On top of all the reasons not to vote for him. I guess there's a silver lining in every cloud.

How so? Ford only has one vote on council. I'd think that it would be difficult to get council to kill the portions of Transit City that are already 100% funded by other than the city, and would have someone (presumably the city) pay out for cancelling the contracts.

 

[Dan416]

How so? Ford only has one vote on council. I'd think that it would be difficult to get council to kill the portions of Transit City that are already 100% funded by other than the city, and would have someone (presumably the city) pay out for cancelling the contracts.

I look to Ottawa as an example for killing a flawed plan that won't actually improve transit.

 

[Second_in_pie]

Ottawa's actually an excellent example. They had a crap transit plan, so they cancelled it and started fresh. And look now, they're back on the path to building an excellent network.

 

[Dan416]

Ottawa's actually an excellent example. They had a crap transit plan, so they cancelled it and started fresh. And look now, they're back on the path to building an excellent network.

Exactly. There's no reason to stick with a crap plan just because we don't have the foresight to think of something better.

 

[nfitz]

Ottawa's actually an excellent example. They had a crap transit plan, so they cancelled it and started fresh. And look now, they're back on the path to building an excellent network.

I haven't seen a proposal from any mayoral candidates opposed to the current plan that who are building a network of any significance ... well other than Thomson's underpriced effort.

 

[Dan416]

I haven't seen a proposal from any mayoral candidates opposed to the current plan that who are building a network of any significance ... well other than Thompson's underpriced effort.

You only need one. Now if only Thomson (it's not Thompson) got some more media attention.

 

[nfitz]

You only need one. Now if only Thomson (it's not Thompson) got some more media attention.

But if the pricing makes no sense ...

... and what of the rest of her platform? Her platform says "Streetcars add to road congestion". That makes no sense. Only a fool would say this. Do we want a fool as mayor?

Is she still running? I can't see any content on her website, that's not almost a month old!

 

[Second_in_pie]

But if the pricing makes no sense ...

... and what of the rest of her platform? Her platform says "Streetcars add to road congestion". That makes no sense. Only a fewl would say this. Do we want a fewl as mayor?

Is she still running? I can't see any content on her website, that's not almost a month old!

When you take into account that much of the network she proposes could be done for significantly less than bored tunnels (i.e. elevated track along Sheppard, Eglinton east, parts of Eglinton West, trenched along the Richview corridor, etc) I think her numbers make tonnes of sense. And if she wanted to do some real work, there's tonnes that could be done to actual tunneling to make it cheaper.

LRT will add to road congestion. Even if you add new lanes to the outside of the road, cars will still have to navigate around with an insurmountable obstacle in the middle of the roadway. Makes turning harder, lights trickier to navigate, and adds pedestrians darting across the road for motorists to worry about. That kind of subtle pressure on motorists could be useful if they actually had a solid RT network to navigate their way around the city with, but is just frustrating if there's no alternative. A great example of why LRT works great, just not at where Toronto's network is.

btw, I spellchecked your fools because I have to admit I actually lmao'd reading them like that