Next Mayor of Toronto?

[GraphicMatt]

Re: Shelly Carroll: That's a good point.

However, I think this was totally worthy of a press conference about a major announcement. The media set it up for something about Miller and the election which it proved to not be. It was their speculation that made the actual announcement "underwhelming" and "weird". The Mayor mentioned an uploading of TTC costs to the province which will be a huge development as it's been the ball and chain that routinely drags the city down..

The more I read about the announcement the more it makes sense - it's good news for the city. The 'totally weird' part only comes in for me when I look at this through the lens of the upcoming election. Is Miller really working so hard to fix the city's budget when there's no candidate out there who looks to continue on the course he set? Where's his standard-bearer?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

The surplus is from the last fiscal year - i.e. the city spent less than budgeted for. How does that statement makes one a "con artist"? Now, let me tell you what a con artist is - one that take the MOST optimistic of budgetary projections and insist that in all likelihood one will have a balanced budget in 5 years. I can't wait to hear the round of denouncations about that one.

AoD

 

[Dilla]

The media set it up for something about Miller and the election which it proved to not be.

I don't know about that. The media didn't set it up, the Mayor's office fuelled the speculation by not declaring what the press conference was about, which is highly unusual. You can't blame the media for thinking it was something personal, nothing else made sense.

 

[js97]

Re: js97 - So which major city service would you cut to avoid any tax increases going forward? Probably subsidized housing and social services for the homeless, right?

Matt: I'm not sure what you where speaking to, but I was speaking to the fact that he had to take the time to try and SPIN a tax increase by telling us that it was a SURPLUS this year.

It's so easy to retort back and say we can't cut spending on the essential services sector, but that's a little over 1/3 of the budget. There are ALOT more frills in the budget.
We dont' need another 100+ police officers in the city. Invest that 30 M into youth programs, not cut them (but I guess those don't produce a unionized voting block).

And homeless programs? I'm more than certain that we can find efficiencies.

i.e. peter/john homeless shelter with an Operating budget of 2 million plus... that turns out to be about 150.00 dollars A NIGHT/per bed.
If you don't think that's too much to spend to provide someone with a bed and shelter, then there is really no point in further debating that topic. We should just continue to sabble rattle on our sides.

 

[kettal]

I think he should have used the surplus to cut business tax rate instead [/Glen]

 

[Eug]

As mentioned before, I get the impression that some in the media who actually aired his speech are irritated. Waste of airtime for them.

Is Pantalone inheriting Miller's PR advisors? Cuz if so, he may want to rethink that.

 

[kEiThZ]

I think he should have used the surplus to cut business tax rate instead [/Glen]

Or dealt with the infrastructure backlog or the myread of minor transit infrastructure intiatives. Instead, he decided to try and protect his legacy and leave the bills to his successor.

 

[kettal]

As mentioned before, I get the impression that some in the media who actually aired his speech are irritated. Waste of airtime for them.

Is Pantalone inheriting Miller's PR advisors? Cuz if so, he may want to rethink that.

It's brilliantly evil. Got the very radio stations who have been nagging about out-of-control-spending to air the fact that spending is not so out of control.

 

[Eug]

It's brilliantly evil. Got the very radio stations who have been nagging about out-of-control-spending to air the fact that spending is not so out of control.

Not really. He went on air to announce that the property tax increase was only 2.9%. It just came across as ill-advised spin to me.

Basically this was a relatively minor announcement that Miller's group hyped up, but one that doesn't even really sound good.

 

[Eug]

Globe and Mail: Miller's big announcement

Many people are undoubtedly upset with Toronto Mayor David Miller for over-hyping a press conference by teasing an "important announcement" that led many (myself included) to speculate on whether he was re-entering the race for mayor or resigning early.

Instead Miller announced a surprise surplus of $100-million that will allow him to increase property taxes by only 2.9 per cent and he promised a two-year, sustainable budget plan for the city.

The sad reality is being able to hold property taxes to double the rate of inflation and present multi-year fiscal plans is something that qualifies as big, important news in Toronto.

You may or not agree with this journalist (or others), but this is pretty much what I felt when I listened to the speech, and this is the impression I got from the radio journalists commenting on it (albeit in not so many words). I suspect this is the prevailing opinion in the media about the "big announcement".

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I wonder which is more sad - a non-event or blog entries and analysis about a non-event that passes as "news"?

AoD

 

[Eug]

I wonder which is more sad - a non-event or blog entries and analysis about a non-event that passes as "news"?

Probably both sad overall.

But hey, they can blame Miller for hyping it up in the first place, and otherwise wasting their time.

The stations who decided not to air it in the first place are probably grinning now.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

So they're now hyping up the fact that it got hyped up? Man, this must be a slow news day. Thank the Internet for all the "news" that's not fit to print.

AoD

 

[Eug]

So they're now hyping up the fact that it got hyped up? Man, this must be a slow news day. Thank the Internet for all the "news" that's not fit to print.

I know you're trying to deflect the criticism now to the journalists, and perhaps some of that is deserved. However, my point here is that Miller and his PR crew don't seem to understand the media. I don't either, but then again I'm not a politician.

This seems like a fundamental misstep by them on this. The journalists are describing this misstep, some more bluntly than others, and overall I happen agree with them. Hence, I wonder about Pantalone and if he will be inheriting the same PR advisors. If he is, and if after this he sticks with them, I'd really have to wonder why.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Eug,

Considering he is a lame duck mayor, whatever criticisms there is in "managing" the media certainly is less of an issue than the substance of the message, however insigificant it maybe, no? Like getting all "upset" as some commentators suggest certainly sounds more than a bit princessey to me. I think they're looking for drama and got a bit peeved that there was none to be found.

And to further that - maybe journalists should reflect long and hard as to why any of the suggested outcomes of the event (e.g. quitting early, jumping back into the race, etc) is more substantatively worthwhile than an additional $100M in the books.

AoD