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Mayor John Tory's Toronto

AlvinofDiaspar said:
But already? Barely one year into his mandate? There is something impolite about it.

AoD
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It is not impolite. It was in response to a question Steve asked and the way Tory was talking Steve mentioned "so you will be running again" (something like that). And Tory made a good point that by 2 terms you have made an impact. With 1 term any changes taking place can just be erased when a new mayor takes over. I don't think there is a person that could be mayor that some of you on here wouldn't complain about
 
Mayor John Tory explains how tech innovation will sell Toronto to the world
“You don’t normally think of City Hall as the place of innovation, and we have to change that. I’m trying to change that with a team of people including public servants and elected representatives,” Tory said, stressing how important it is to help fund innovation to solve the city’s problems, and to also help people outside of the startup community see the benefits of innovation and embrace change — something that most human beings, whether they want to admit it or not, are reluctant to accept.

“What I’m in favour of is that people can, should, and must be developing, and I want as many of them as possible to be developed here — disruptive technologies that move us forward and are inevitable in many respects,” he said, adding that he has faced criticism from none other than Rob Ford about taking overseas trips to bring awareness to Toronto’s startup community.

“Rob Ford will criticize me and say it’s a waste of time or money, but I beg to differ. We’ve got to go out and sell the city, and we’ve got to take people like that [startups] where I get access to the mayors of the world cities and government leaders, and I can say ‘Have you met my friend from Toronto? This is one of the smartest people we’ve got in our town, and there are thousands more like them at home’.”
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http://betakit.com/mayor-john-tory-explains-how-tech-innovation-will-sell-toronto-to-the-world/
 
Expo 2025? Go for it, Toronto!
When I first heard Mayor John Tory was exploring the possibilities of bidding for Expo 2025, I thought, “Here we go, another waste of time and money for an event that’s going to choke the city’s roads and empty our coffers.”

But then I thought, “There’s a big difference here; the Olympics only run for a few weeks while Expo goes for six months and it’s not just about athletics.”
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http://www.torontosun.com/2016/01/29/expo-2025-go-for-it-toronto
 
Waterfront Toronto doles out quiet 10% pay hike for execs
The Toronto Sun has learned that Waterfront Toronto quietly gave some of its top brass a pay hike around 10% and made them eligible for bonus pay up to 25% of their base salary.

In a statement, Mayor John Tory’s spokesman, Amanda Galbraith, seemed to suggest the mayor has already tried to pour cold water on the hikes.

“The mayor called the chair of the Waterfront Toronto board to express his concern about these salary increases,” Galbraith said Tuesday.

“The mayor supports the important work being done by Waterfront Toronto but has been clear that the agency needs to show restraint on expenses — to ‘go on a diet,’ as he has said publicly a number of times.”

Because it is an arm’s length corporation, Tory actually can’t stop Waterfront Toronto from doling out the pay hikes.
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http://www.torontosun.com/2016/01/05/waterfront-toronto-doles-out-pay-hike-for-execs
 
The Trouble with Charters: How Charter Status Can Actually make it Hard for Cities to Raise Money - Report
According to two detailed and in-depth reports released today by The School of Public Policy and municipal policy experts Harry Kitchen and Andrew Sancton, the experience has been that charters, and the additional tax powers that come with them are not a silver bullet for municipal financing. Why? In short, because while charters give cities that ability to raise taxes, raising taxes is politically painful. Voters don't like tax increases, and the opportunity to increase revenue is often snuffed out by the threat of voter anger. At the same time, because cities are given additional taxation room, they sacrifice their ability to go to the province asking for funds. So, Calgary and Edmonton should be careful what they wish for. In Kitchen's words, "… if Toronto is any guide, even having a wider scope of taxing powers does not mean a city will take advantage of them. It may be that local politicians relish the idea of new taxes in theory, but recoil at the political reaction the new taxes are sure to provoke."

Author Sancton puts it very clearly when he writes, "virtually none of the desires that Toronto expected would be served by a city charter have been fulfilled. Quite the opposite, it would appear that the dreams once imagined by charter-city proponents have been snuffed out… In the pursuit of more funds for transit infrastructure, the current mayor, John Tory, has returned to the traditional model of attracting funds from higher levels of government, rather than seeking to use any of the revenue tools provided by the City of Toronto Act. It would be truly surprising if municipal leaders anywhere else in Canada sought to emulate Toronto's experience with charter status."
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http://www.newswire.ca/news-release...cities-to-raise-money---report-566853141.html
 
Palma said:
It is not impolite. It was in response to a question Steve asked and the way Tory was talking Steve mentioned "so you will be running again" (something like that). And Tory made a good point that by 2 terms you have made an impact. With 1 term any changes taking place can just be erased when a new mayor takes over. I don't think there is a person that could be mayor that some of you on here wouldn't complain about
Click to expand...

Yes, four years isn't much time to get things done, especially when it comes to transit projects.
 
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