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Next Mayor of Toronto?

Initially I supported Thompson solely because she has a concrete plan to increase funding for public transportation. Regardless of her other credentials, I was going to vote for her as a sort of protest.

But she's growing on me - her bike plan is very impressive, and she has a number of other business-friendly initiatives which I fully support: make it easier to build condos in parts of the city that are appropriate, don't force film crews to pay police exorbitant fees for security etc. As a political neophyte she's bound to put her foot in her mouth from time to time, but apart from that she's starting to seem like the all-around best choice to me.
 
^ I too took notice of Thomson because of her honesty on how to fund transit. However, proposing tolls as a newcomer sounds like poltical suicide and I think that if it comes down to Thomson vs Ford, it'll become a referendum on Tolls: YES or NO? I would vote "yes", but many Torontonians can't see beyond how this would affect them directly, rather than on what tolls would enable the city to build.

This is why I'm still hesitant to get behind her 100%. The more I've gotten to know her, the more I realize she's the candidate that can bring reform in to city hall spending. She's the one who can gather consensus and get the essential things done. I believe that if elected, she would become a great mayor.

In the meantime, I'm keeping Pantalone in my back pocket because I think John Laschinger will very likely manage to make the election about a positive Toronto, ambitious plans for the future VS the negative aspects of city council and how Ford will slash and burn everything in his way. I think people will respond more to the positive message and Pantalone, as the defacto incumbent can win.

Now... I'm hungry for some polls. Shouldn't we be seeing them about twice a week by now?
 
I love this:

David Miller arrives $20 short of his mayoral nomination fee

Toronto Mayor David Miller waltzed into the council chamber, as candidate nominations closed Friday afternoon, with $180 -- $20 short of the fee to register for mayor.

After the joking jesture, Miller outlined to reporters what he sees as the key issues:

“How are we going to help people? How are we going to help the most vulnerable? How are we going to keep investing in neighbourhoods that need it the most? How are we actually going to build transit instead of talking about it for another generation? That’s what I’m hearing from people, and lots of blame to go around from the candidates on that.”

Asked if her fears the future, Miller said:

“I’ve got confidence in Torontonians. Torontonians never let me down, not once, and I don’t believe they’ll let themselves down. I think they will find a way in this election to vote for a mayor and to vote for a council who know how to build this city. Know how to do it properly, fairly and cost effectively, but know where to spend their money for impact and build Toronto. And I expect people to do exactly that. And I’ve got confidence in them.”

(...)

As he strode out, a citizen said "Are you running, David?"

He replied: “From the media."


Source
Click to expand...
 
MetroMan said:
^ I too took notice of Thomson because of her honesty on how to fund transit. However, proposing tolls as a newcomer sounds like poltical suicide and I think that if it comes down to Thomson vs Ford, it'll become a referendum on Tolls: YES or NO? I would vote "yes", but many Torontonians can't see beyond how this would affect them directly, rather than on what tolls would enable the city to build.
Click to expand...
Revenue from tolls would simply add to government revenue, leading to increased overall spending and reduced restraint. Even if toll revenue was legislated to go specifically to TTC projects, much of it would still get siphoned off by other means. That said, it's not political suicide for Thomson to be proposing tolls, since she has no chance of winning the election. That's why Smitherman and Ford have not mentioned polls, because they know they stand a chance of winning.
 
Just when you thought this election couldn't get any wierder.

Rossi has just proposed completing the Spadina expressway to the Gardiner. In a tunnel.

I kid you not:

Rossi pledges to tunnel Allen under downtown if elected

"The mayoral candidate doesn't know how much the tunnel would cost or where the money would come from".

Let's see, that's about 8.5 km of expressway, in a tunnel. The only similar project that comes to mind is the Boston big dig. This was 2 tunnels totallying about 8.2 km starting in 1991 which was mostly completed in 2004, and cost about $15-billion dollars back then, in years of spending. If you add 20 years of inflation ... well subway construction costs in Toronto have about doubled in 20 years ... this project is about $30-billion ± 5 billion.

Or about the same as 80 to 100 km of subway. Or 400 km of LRT.

This is completely insane.

Is someone pulling our leg, I can't imagine anyone really proposing such a scheme ...
 
Pantalone's advisors must be jumping up and down with joy.

This is the anti-bridge-to-airport issue that they can get their teeth into.
 
Has Rossi noticed all the building that has occurred around the Gardiner/Spadina since the Spadina highway was killed? Sure it's easy to draw a line on a map, but with the development, the immense use of Spadina south of Front and the rail lands, it would be pretty difficult to bring that tunnel out from underground and have it link to the Gardiner. With enough money you can do anything, but good luck drawing up plans that work on this one.
 
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Looking at google maps, it would have to come down either Bathurst or Ossington. And have on/off ramps at St Clair, Bloor, College/Dundas, and Queen/King.

Good luck with that. 15 years and $25-40 bn sounds about right.
 
Northern Magus said:
Looking at google maps, it would have to come down either Bathurst or Ossington. And have on/off ramps at St Clair, Bloor, College/Dundas, and Queen/King.
Click to expand...
I think Spadina is the only road downtown that's wide enough to tunnel under. With the soils along the ancient glacial lakeshore between Bloor and King ,you are not going to want to tunnel under any existing buildings, unless you are very, very deep. It's very hard to image how you'd connect it ... unless you also start tunnelling the Gardiner
 
Rocco Rossi lost my vote. Where are all those cars coming in going to park? Going to tear down some buildings or kick out residences who didn't vote for Rossi for parking lots. Does he want to create a New Detroit or New Hamilton with the same kind of downtown, empty with parking lots and buildings? My do-not-vote-for list now contains: Rob Ford and Rocco Rossi.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Omg, Rossi is delirious!

Alright, this is a dream wish of mine as well, but I know to keep it in my dreams. The constant traffic jams on the DVP, 427, Black Creek clearly demonstrate the need for another N-S highway, but this kind of project would be in the realm of a major federal project, not municipal, or even provincial.

Wow.... Maybe Rossi will attract some of the car nuts from Ford and split his vote. I dunno, maybe that's his suicide strategy, to take one for the team. I'll believe anything in this election.
 
Rossi is not stupid, he is a very educated man and I'd imagine his advisors told him to float the idea to strategically cut into ford's car demographic - you know the types that will avoid transit at all costs, even when faced with the the prospect of a 2 hour commute on the 401 and DVP. If even 2% of them change their vote to Rossi because they see it as a better form of cessation to the "war on cars" than what Ford is proposing, it would be good for all candidates running. But it does seem like a desperate attempt to distinguish himself as the candidate with a "vision" and I'm sure he knows this type of project will never take place.
 
I was actually hearing rumours from the Rossi camp regarding an expressway/roadway for the past couple of days and heard it had to do with Black Creek Drive or tunneling the Gardiner. I see they fed me b.s.
 
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Certainly a bold proposal. Rossi is desperate, and it's getting late in the game, but if this doesn't give him a boost, he's finished. I think it's a dumb idea, but you never know what might resonate with voters.

If the Ford people were smart, they'd denounce this plan on the basis of coast alone.
 
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