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Mayor John Tory's Toronto

OneCity said:
Moesers runner up McKelvie is as supportive of the SSE as almost anyone in the City - 23.44%. *Moeser also signed the letter attached less than 4 months back

The support is overwhelming everywhere in Scarborough.

We had a Provincial "subway champion" win Guildwood. The only riding with a non subway Councillor. We had a NDP aligned Councillor recently elected in Malvern run heavy on the SSE in a ward that would have received some LRT in transit City and the subway does not reach. If that doesnt tell the true story, .
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Ya, because those residents were really informed about the issues? Like most Torontoians, not so much
 
OneCity said:
Moesers runner up McKelvie is as supportive of the SSE as almost anyone in the City - 23.44%. *Moeser also signed the letter attached less than 4 months back

The support is overwhelming everywhere in Scarborough.

We had a Provincial "subway champion" win Guildwood. The only riding with a non subway Councillor. We had a NDP aligned Councillor recently elected in Malvern run heavy on the SSE in a ward that would have received some LRT in transit City and the subway does not reach. If that doesnt tell the true story, and why we should be changing the conversation to work or compromise in a more constructive manner than not much else I can say. Thats all in addition to the last 2 election platforms with clear calls for the SSE from the Mayors, the unanimous support from all other elected Politicians but one.

The discussion should not have been LRT vs. subway for some time. It should be about the impacts of Smarttrack on the subway, and how to build the most cost effective extension with stops. Regurgitating the same transfer LRT nonsense which has basically zero chance of ever being supported is not constructive for anyone in this City and should have been clear along time ago. Tory is getting a free pass on Smarttrack and the impacts because of the same transfer LRT vs. subway gutter debate that in reality has been a foregone conclusion for quite some time.
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Question to OneCity: why, to you, does *everything* about Scarborough elected politics revolve around the SSE?
 
W. K. Lis said:
There is a temporal rift in the City of Toronto. People in the center (AKA downtown) seem to be moving forward in the 21st century, while those in outer fringes of the city (AKA suburbs) seem to be stuck in the mid-20th century.
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And since there are more councilors from the suburbs than the core, Council will continue to block any baby steps we attempt to make towards building a progressive, urban city.
 
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Mammo's flagpole strikes again!

Toronto parking executives were inflating the purchase price of a land deal in North York, auditor general says

An investigation into a North York land deal being handled by the Toronto Parking Authority found senior executives were pushing the purchase at an inflated price without proper evaluation following a series of apparent conflicts involving a veteran city hall lobbyist and a city councillor.

The proposed $12.2-million deal for a strip of land south of Finch Ave. next to Hwy. 400 was paused after the auditor general became involved and questioned both the process and the price.

Up until now, the pending deal has been discussed in secret, behind closed doors.

The findings of a nearly 10-month long investigation were released Tuesday in a 76-page report after the auditor general was asked to look into a mundane-sounding land deal being handled by the Toronto Parking Authority.

The land deal is connected to future plans for a Finch West LRT. In March 2016, council approved, as part of a much larger report, that the Toronto Parking Authority acquire the property to be used for city parking and bike share.

It also included the possibility for a public space project that included a long-held dream of erecting North America's largest flagpole pushed by local Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, who was involved in the land sale deliberations.

Auditor General Beverly Romeo-Beehler concluded that the “(Toronto Parking Authority)’s actions created unnecessary risk of overpaying an additional $2.63 million.”

“There was significant risk to the city and TPA’s reputation because of the lack of independence, transparency and judgment expected of the Toronto public service,” she wrote. “The lack of judgment in disclosing information to the lobbyist, not checking for conflicts of interest and not obtaining an independent sign valuation is concerning.”

At audit committee at city hall on Tuesday morning, chair Councillor Stephen Holyday said the confidential report was rightly discussed in public and was released.

“I am persuaded that the confidential attachment should actually be made public,” he said.

In her report, Romeo-Beehler found that the Toronto Parking Authority’s cost assessment of the deal, of which a large digital sign on the property was an essential part, was $2.6 million more than the fair market value and that parking authority executives failed to get an independent valuation, instead directing the analysis provided by a hired sign consultant.

The investigation was sparked after Councillor John Filion, a member of the Toronto Parking Authority’s board, who repeatedly asked for due diligence on the deal, including land appraisals. After fearing there would not be enough time to review the financials and halt the deal if necessary, he contacted Romeo-Beehler in September 2016.

The auditor general found the deal overall was worth $9.5 million. She wrote that had Filion not brought the purchase plan to her attention, the parking authority would have over paid. She noted the Toronto Parking Authority disagrees with that assessment.

The auditor general said there was no evidence of Toronto Parking Authority staff or their sign consultant directly benefiting from the land deal. “However, we are comfortable concluding that the approach does not meet what is expected of Toronto public service staff,” she wrote.

Toronto Parking Authority President Lorne Persiko and Vice President of Real Estate and Development Marie Casista “said that they would have come to the same conclusion” about the value of the land, Romeo-Beehler wrote, and that “they always intended to obtain the opinion of the independent business valuator for the sign.”

Romeo-Beehler went on: “We disagree. The board was informed that it was their sign consultant who was valuing the sign and the real estate appraiser was asked to include the opinion of the sign consultant.”

The auditor noted she had difficulty obtaining information and that explanations to the questions she posed were “inconsistent.” That struggle to obtain information “limited our ability to form conclusive findings,” Romeo-Beehler wrote.

Though Casista was on vacation, the auditor general found documentation that she was actively working with the sign consultant involved on the file and that a spreadsheet related to the sign’s value was deleted from her inbox.

“The VP said that it was deleted in error and she could not recover it,” Romeo-Beehler wrote.

The auditor general’s report shows Mammoliti was involved in having a veteran sign lobbyist, Paul Sutherland, a former North York councillor, continue working with the Toronto Parking Authority to negotiate the land deal even though he was also the lobbyist for the sign consultant assessing the value of the billboard on the land.

Sutherland was working for the Emery Village BIA, of which Mammoliti is a board member, to move the flagpole project forward.

Sutherland was negotiating for the Toronto Parking Authority to develop the flagpole and public space as part of the purchase agreement. The project was estimated at $5 million with the Emery Village BIA covering costs.

Mammoliti suggested to TPA president Persiko, the auditor general wrote, that city-held funds — cash collected from developers for community benefit — could be used for that purpose.

More to come
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https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...-deal-in-north-york-auditor-general-says.html
 
W. K. Lis said:
There is a temporal rift in the City of Toronto. People in the center (AKA downtown) seem to be moving forward in the 21st century, while those in outer fringes of the city (AKA suburbs) seem to be stuck in the mid-20th century.
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This is such a divisive misinformed statement and says alot about the state of our current politics in this City

The problem is both the downtown and inner suburban areas have differing needs in how to transform into the future. And even then our City is so large and diverse there are differing needs within specific parts of these greater areas.

I would argue the problem for this City is that the downtown growth needs and preferences have been highlighted and heavily reported while the inner suburban issues had been ignored and therefore not well understood. This has frustrated residents to a boiling point. The suburbs in Toronto and certain aspects of this "suburban" lifestyle are reported in a very unhealthy negative light. This is not a 905 problem

We need to transition and connect the differing areas into the future and not expect to push a blanket approach to any issue. The attitude that "everything we do is right" and "every one else is wrong" is very narrow and is holding us back from moving forward more than anything else.
 
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People are getting married later, having less kids and are driving less. Gas and electricity are going up as well as commute times. The newer generation who are in the market grew up with seinfeld and friends which encouraged city living. The suburbs haven't been hip to anyone since leave it to beaver. Sure it's cheap but so are American made cars. Guess what... no one wants domestic cars either. One city is on the wrong side of history
 
sixrings said:
People are getting married later, having less kids and are driving less. Gas and electricity are going up as well as commute times. The newer generation who are in the market grew up with seinfeld and friends which encouraged city living. The suburbs haven't been hip to anyone since leave it to beaver. Sure it's cheap but so are American made cars. Guess what... no one wants domestic cars either. One city is on the wrong side of history
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What im saying is urban-ism and suburban-urban-ism takes takes time to transform and its not a blanket solution in how to transform. You dont just pick up a wand and say this is how its going to be done everywhere because this is what works downtown or this is how Paris, Beijing or Calgary does it so therefore we should to.

Also you have alot of false statements in your post.


1. "The suburbs haven't been hip to anyone since leave it to beaver"?

Please take an UBER trip and see the growth going on in the 905. People love the suburbs as well. There are great aspects of both lifestyles, the goal is too live a lifestyle which best suits your work and lifestyle needs. No need to disrespect anyone. There is no right or wrong way in living around a great City.

1. b)"Sure it's cheap"

Nothing is cheap anymore when it comes to real estate. Sure many areas close to the downtown core are now commodities. But many 905 suburbs (most of Durham) are outpacing Toronto in appreciation growth. I safely assume that mean there's is demand. Check out Oakville, Burlington parts of Hamilton, Mississauga, Vaughan, Richmond Hill to name a few. Not very cheap places to live whatsoever fro all types of housing yet all still very desirable suburbs.

2.No one wants domestic cars ?

There are many downtown residents who can falsify that car argument. Whether its a shot at only domestic cars to try prove an untrue point and you feel imports are OK. Or as i took it as a shot at cars in general. I will say Tesla didn't recently open a dealership near Victoria Park and Lawrence area because they thought they were on the wrong side of history and no one wants cars

3. Im on the Wrong side of history?

I live in one of the most beautiful underrated suburbs which happens to neighbour this big City that we all enjoy. Im good thanks.

"Suburbs" are not the diseased land full of people living a foreign lifestyle some Torontonians are led to believe. They are just another great part of an ever evolving landscape within the City and Province which happens to have unique needs for growth compared to Downtown. Its great to love the way you live, just have respect for others as well.
 
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It's not under rated. It's fairly rated. You just have a bias, are a contrarion, and or are too stubburn to admit you are wrong. Scarborough has earned the names associated with it. People didn't just wake up one day and decide to loath the place.
 
sixrings said:
It's not under rated. It's fairly rated. You just have a bias, are a contrarion, and or are too stubburn to admit you are wrong. Scarborough has earned the names associated with it. People didn't just wake up one day and decide to loath the place.
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Care to debate any of the points in your previous post i responded to?

The point I had originally made was that there is great misunderstanding, intolerance and disdain towards the inner suburbs being narrated in the City and the impact of this on our Municipal Politics. Care to debunk that? Id say your response might even somewhat back up my statements.

There is absolutely no reasonable justification for anyone in this City to loathe Scarborough to begin with. You can call it bias, but I didn't grow up here, and I spent years living downtown before moving here. Not sure why it bothers you I believe Scarborough is a nice place to live. Really no need to start getting overly personal about things either.
 
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OneCity said:
You can call it bias, but I didn't grow up here, and I spent years living downtown before moving here. Not sure why it bothers you I believe Scarborough is a nice place to live.
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1rst sentence response... mistakes were made...
2nd sentence response... I don't care where you think is nice to live. Some people think Barrie is a nice place to live. I really don't care, I am indifferent. The problem is because you live there and apparently you think it is nice that it deserves a new shinny subway for fairness sake. As if this subway will make your place a magical utopia that will cause others to follow suit and leave their downtown paradise for your suburban wasteland. Actually I don't even care that you think you deserve a subway. That is great, have some Scarborough pride. What bothers me is that you have monopolized these boards with your Scarborough deserves rhetoric and how the rest of the city has conspired against you. You act as if you are a social justice crusader against the evil rich white bike riding pinkos downtown. In fact you are simply wasting valuable resources and delaying realistic transit which could have done far more for the east side of the city. As a former Scarborough resident I am ashamed of you and am happy you won your one stop which will be appear in god knows how many years. Likely you will be dead before it opens but hey you're so nobble you probably are not fighting for your own property values but for your children's children. I used to think Ford was a complete idiot. Now I realized as dumb as he was he was smart enough to know he could fool Scarborough into thinking they were going to get anything and anything soon. A real case of dumb and dumber.
 
The discussion between Sixrings and OneCity illustrates the degree to which our current municipal structure doesn't work for anyone. Our municipal governments have changed over the years, and as our city-region grows, there's no reason to think that our current structure must be cast in stone for all time. It's crystal clear that people in the suburbs want a radically different city than people in the core, because they keep electing councilors who have a fundamentally auto-centric view of what a good city should be. So a modest proposal to improve abysmal streetcar service on King will be decided by councilors like Karygiannis, Holyday and Pasternak, to the detriment of anyone who actually relies on the King streetcar. Conversely, my Councilor, KWT, has a (minority) voice on what happens in Scarborough, even though I, and I suspect most Ward 27 residents, never go there and have zero interest in the place. It doesn't have to be this way. Other, vastly more successful cities than Toronto have relatively local councils that deal with local matters, while uploading major regional functions like transit to higher-level bodies insulated from local politics. Sydney and London are two examples. When every single thing we attempt in the core to make ourselves more of a safe, walkable, transit-positive city is stymied by Council's suburban brain trust, it's time to call bullshit on the whole system. As OneCity notes, the suburbs and the core are radically different places with completely different aspirations. We are not one city. We can debate individual issues until we're blue in our collective face, but the root cause of every single one of these intractable UT yelling matches is that the amalgamated city makes no sense and will never serve the wildly conflicting aspirations of its widely diverse residents. Sometimes it's best to admit the relationship is at a dead end and file for divorce. No fault, it's just that we'd be better off without each other.
 
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