Fords Working to Fire Webster, Stintz, Scrap Streetcars: Star

[Palma]

I just heard that loud mouth Mammoliti again in the news and he actually said "whoever she is sleeping with and doing a coup with will spit her out"). Now perhaps I did not hear correctly. It doesn't take an imagination to realize who he is talking about. I have never heard any politician in Canada ever make remarks like this. Its something that you would hear in the U.S but not here. This is a new low for him. i did not think he could go any lower but I guess a snake can get pretty low

 

[rbt]

How then do they decide who gets to run in which ward?

Great question.

For the position of mayor or councillor you must be:
* a Canadian citizen
* at least 18 years of age
* a resident of the City of Toronto, or own or lease property in the City of Toronto (or be the spouse of the owner or lessee)
* eligible to vote, and
* not disqualified to hold office by any legislation

You do not need to live in the ward you are running in. You don't even need to live in the city; just own property here (you could have a 5 square foot piece of vacant land in Scarborough and live in Barrie).

http://www.toronto.ca/elections/candidates/faq.htm#running

And he represents a ward in North York that he states can wait 50 years to get a subway.

Much better chance of getting that subway in 50 years if the LRT is packed with 2 minute frequencies and 3-car long trains.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Drivers making 100k per year work 100 hours per week. Hire more drivers and reduce the overtime.

That said, service expansions under Miller were deferred twice due to lack of drivers (not enough new hires). There isn't a line around the block of qualified persons for the jobs at todays pay rates. This is mostly because of the lousy hours; particularly if you get a split shift.

6am to 10am then 3pm to 7pm makes for one heck of a long day.

If you get an 8 hour block it's just as likely to be 4am to noon or 8pm to 4am as anything nice.

Qualifications are in place to keep insurance rates low. The bus is $500k and I imagine medical liability on a full load (50 people) is around the $25 Million mark.

Also, York Region uses a number of private operators and has the lowest salaries in the GTA by far. It's still more than $16 though.

This is where I pipe in and say that some of the requirements for hiring at the TTC are too high. Although a bus driver is the face of the "company" and the front line, is it really necessary to require potential hires to have rigorous customer service skills? Are behavioural style interviews necessary to drive a bus or collect fares?

 

[Palma]

You do not need to live in the ward you are running in. You don't even need to live in the city; just own property here (you could have a 5 square foot piece of vacant land in Scarborough and live in Barrie).

http://www.toronto.ca/elections/candidates/faq.htm#running

I think this should be changed. I also don't iike the fact that someone can own a small business in Toronto yet live in vaughan or Mississauga and can vote in the City of Toronto. Their only concern would be to reduce taxes. I know it probably would not involve enough people to actually make a difference in the election.

 

[BurlOak]

I think this should be changed. I also don't iike the fact that someone can own a small business in Toronto yet live in vaughan or Mississauga and can vote in the City of Toronto. Their only concern would be to reduce taxes. I know it probably would not involve enough people to actually make a difference in the election.

They would also care about transportation - getting themselves or customers to their business, garbage collection, maybe parks near their work, etc., etc.

 

[k10ery]

I think this should be changed. I also don't iike the fact that someone can own a small business in Toronto yet live in vaughan or Mississauga and can vote in the City of Toronto. Their only concern would be to reduce taxes. I know it probably would not involve enough people to actually make a difference in the election.

Tell that to the Toronto Board of Trade, who have been arguing for higher taxes for years.

 

[k10ery]

The election of Cho was strange. The man seems sincere, and he has been the most vigilant (in a peculiar way) at calling out the bs of the Fords. But he doesn't express himself that well politically, and seems isolated. I thought Mammolitti, being an asshole, nominated him as a joke candidate and as a strategy to siphon away votes from other possible nominees. The Ford faction voted for him insincerely, the grownups decided to allow that to stick, and the result was that Cho netted more votes than any other councilor.

Cho was on the opposition slate in advance, as Matlow told the media last week. In fact everybody in the Stintz faction wrote his name down first on the ballots, which I doubt could be a coincidence.

I think it's a natural. Not only is he from Scarborough, but he had started out as a soft Ford supporter. Putting him on a key committee brings him into the new governing coalition for good. In the fall (?) when all the committee members get reappointed, I think we will see the Stintz faction doing this again, putting old Ford supporters (Luby?) into key roles to solidify their coalition.

 

[rbt]

I think this should be changed. I also don't iike the fact that someone can own a small business in Toronto yet live in vaughan or Mississauga and can vote in the City of Toronto. Their only concern would be to reduce taxes. I know it probably would not involve enough people to actually make a difference in the election.

In practice, we don't tend to elect people who do not live in the city.

 

[Palma]

They would also care about transportation - getting themselves or customers to their business, garbage collection, maybe parks near their work, etc., etc.

My understanding is that private businesses already have private garbage collection, I doubt very much they care about parks. The main concern is to have street parking. I heard this same sentiment in the 2010 election because there was so much interest in Ford especially from people not living in the city

 

[rbt]

This is where I pipe in and say that some of the requirements for hiring at the TTC are too high.

Perhaps true but outsourcing would reinforce current hiring standards (via the contract tendered).

Penalties for excess complaints don't seem to work well (in software at least) when the measuring stick (call centre or QA testing) have also been outsourced. Even if it is a different firm kick-backs can be made to suppress issues.

Learned the hard way to keep a double-blind between the group being penalized and the group doing the measuring. That's impossible when you publish a complaint phone number.

I would much prefer the TTC outsource things like their call centre than driversand don't expect good results if both are outsourced.

 

[Palma]

I would much prefer the TTC outsource things like their call centre than driversand don't expect good results if both are outsourced.

Did not realize the TTC even had a call centre

 

[Palma]

And now the latest from Tim Hudack who will be putting forth his own motion calling the Liberals to endorse a Sheppard subway extension, and honouring the $8.4 billion committment to put the entire Eglinton Crosstown underground. Guess he is trying to take a page out of Ford's book to suck up to Scarborough and is trying to set himself apart from the Liberals. When the truth be told if he was in power now he would cancel the whole funding due to the debt. If he think the Liberals should not listen to the will of council why should the Liberals listen to the will of MP's

 

[Electrify]

And now the latest from Tim Hudack who will be putting forth his own motion calling the Liberals to endorse a Sheppard subway extension, and honouring the $8.4 billion committment to put the entire Eglinton Crosstown underground. Guess he is trying to take a page out of Ford's book to suck up to Scarborough and is trying to set himself apart from the Liberals. When the truth be told if he was in power now he would cancel the whole funding due to the debt. If he think the Liberals should not listen to the will of council why should the Liberals listen to the will of MP's

Let's not forget who canceled Eglinton in the first place...

 

[TheTigerMaster]

And now the latest from Tim Hudack who will be putting forth his own motion calling the Liberals to endorse a Sheppard subway extension, and honouring the $8.4 billion committment to put the entire Eglinton Crosstown underground.

Isn't this the same commitment that Rob Ford broke by not getting approval from City Council?

 

[rm20010]

And now the latest from Tim Hudack who will be putting forth his own motion calling the Liberals to endorse a Sheppard subway extension, and honouring the $8.4 billion committment to put the entire Eglinton Crosstown underground. Guess he is trying to take a page out of Ford's book to suck up to Scarborough and is trying to set himself apart from the Liberals. When the truth be told if he was in power now he would cancel the whole funding due to the debt. If he think the Liberals should not listen to the will of council why should the Liberals listen to the will of MP's

Yup. The babbling idiot quacks again: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...y-to-overrule-toronto-council-on-subways?bn=1

On a brighter note, I am very pleased with yesterday's result. Not sure of what the outcome of the Sheppard report will be, but I'll be content either way knowing Ford won't be successful at pulling any BS from this point on.

That, and he can no longer claim "Scarborough wants subways" when there are now two Scarborough councillors, both of them pro-LRT, on the Commission. I live in Cho's riding, along Sheppard, of which Ward 42 would be served by the Sheppard LRT but definitely not the subway.

Very clever strategy overall from yesterday: recompose the Commission with a diverse set of political views, from the suburbs as well - but also backed by downtown councillors. It's quite laughable how the hacks on the right continue to play the same tired "anything left of me is a communist" card. We don't need that stupid divisive bullshit here.