Rob Ford - Why the Supervillian?

[W. K. Lis]

I love sitting on streetcars, gliding down the streets of Downtown Toronto and seeing the many sites along College, Dundas, Queen, etc. For me, riding a streetcar in Toronto is far more exciting than a bus.

Rob Ford does not like taking public transit because that may involve walking. Walking is exercise. We can't have that.

Too tiring.

 

[Torontovibe]

RF is embarrassing me--so many people I work with--majority non-white--say RF is "typical" of UK-originated Canadians. Wtf? I try to explain that he's just a loud mouth red neck, (sorta like me lol), and they are always surprised to learn I'm from his "ethnic" group. (It's fun to trap reverse racists in their tracks! )

OTOH, when I tell these folks what RF proposes, they agree with his platform! The reality is the majority of Torontonians are pro-car, anti-streetcar, etc.

I finally saw RF in person and have come to realize he will be stopped one day...by his heart.

Are the people who are anti-streetcar the same ones who constantly complain about Toronto being like a typical American city and not having it's own, unique identity? So now we're going to get rid of one of the things that gives Toronto some character?

Yeah, that makes sense. (to Ford supporters)

 

[adma]

I'm yet to meet anyone real who even comprehends his platform.

Well, he's an experienced politician fellow and he's running for Mayor. Therefore, it's irrelevant whether his platform is comprehensible, as long as *he* knows what he's doing. Right?

 

[EnviroTO]

There is no such thing as reverse racism, there is only racism.

What if the person calls you reggin, pow, ol iawg, or koog. That might be considered reverse racism.

 

[old boy]

Rob Ford does not like taking public transit because that may involve walking. Walking is exercise. We can't have that.

Too tiring.

After a few years in office, - couldl it be the haggard David Miller type for Ford, or just " more " of the same ?

 

[Tewder]

Are the people who are anti-streetcar the same ones who constantly complain about Toronto being like a typical American city and not having it's own, unique identity? So now we're going to get rid of one of the things that gives Toronto some character?

Yeah, that makes sense. (to Ford supporters)

I agree. Isn't there some degree of heritage protection for streetcars? Are they merely disposable? I can't imagine that the average Joe in San Fran would view their cable cars the same way. Good grief it is gutting just how phlegmatic and down right disdainful of any shard of heritage/identity the average shmo in this city can be... and Ford just panders to this.

 

[MetroMan]

Has anybody noticed there seems to be a turning of the tide against Ford? I think that his proposal to do away with the Streetcar has made it personal for many people. It's a Toronto icon, despite how much some drivers love to hate them. I can't imagine our city without them.

Everybody from the Star, to the Sun have been poo pooing his transit plan and I'm noticing a change in determined Ford supporters now becoming more like "well... I don't support eveeerything he wants to do". If that means that those voters change from a guaranteed Ford vote to just not showing up to vote, then Ford may have a problem.

I seriously hope the other candidates start leveraging the love for a Toronto icon and point out that Ford would kill them. It may turn out to be the first crack in his armour.

 

[GraphicMatt]

It does seem to have killed a ton of his momentum, but it doesn't really feel like any other candidate has done much to capitalize on it. I'd be interested in seeing a new poll.

 

[MetroMan]

Here's an example:

This comment has been voted to the top in a Toronto Star article:

Flawed beyond belief
Ford's idea to shun streetcars and boost cars and buses is so wrong-headed it's hard to know where to start. Ford would have us return to the seventies. I suppose he'll next want to rebuild the Gardiner Expressway's eastern extension, rip up the Beach for the Scarborough Expressway and tear up the middle of the city for the Spadina Expressway. With the Transit City plan, Toronto is poised to join the league of the world's most forward-thinking cities. I shall cast my vote accordingly.

... since when did anti-Ford comments get in first place?

Here are the following comments. All anti-Ford:

So much for saving money... Ford will bankrupt T.O.
Wow... So Ford wants to stop all street cars and LRTs... I am not a fan of them.... But the biggest problem is the work has started. So what is he proposing to do?... Stop these projects for more money... and then blame everyone else for wasting that money.... Wake up Toronto.... Your infrastructure will crumble under Ford... He does not know the first thing about budget... Let alone cut spending... He knows how to blame others...

If LRT is 19th century technology then why have over twenty new systems been built in North America since 1978?

Speaking of flawed plans, Ford says he would finish his subways by 2015. How? So far, there have been no EA’s, no designs (other than the lines drawn on the map), and no contracts tendered. The time frame quoted is impossible to complete. It is also severely under budgeted. Ford’s plan will do one thing – it will waste more money that eHealth ever did.

 

[Asterix]

It's a Toronto icon, despite how much some drivers love to hate them. I can't imagine our city without them.

As much as one might agree that yes, the streetcars are a Toronto icon, that is not the argument that should be made to keeping them (and to counter Ford's plan).

Streetcars, whether the ones we have or the ones we will have, are capable of physically moving more people, more efficiently and more comfortably than buses.

The argument should be based on rationality, not sentimentality, especially against someone wrapping themselves in the cloak of cost-cutting.

 

[MetroMan]

I agree that their function is more important. However, Torontonians like their icons and proposing to get rid of one of them is more likely to bring out a fierce opposition than the "boring" argument that streetcars carry more people.

If the CN Tower required $500M in repairs to keep up and Ford was proposing to just tear it down because it's too expensive to maintain, you bet you'd get a very vocal and very emotional crowd coming together to make sure he didn't become Mayor. On a smaller scale, I think that's the kind of monster that Rob Ford just awoken with his transit plan.

 

[lafard]

The layperson doesn't have much interest in his subway plan either. Outside of Scarborough replacing the SRT is simply not an issue. Similarly replacing the SELRT is not a priority for 90% of Toronto. Everyone else looks at that map and wonders why the hell a fiscal conservative such as Ford would build not one but TWO subways to a mall they're barely aware exists, with not only nothing for the other boroughs, but cancelling the lines planned for those boroughs to pay for it.

Take out the railfan transit nerds, and the average Torontonian is left scratching their heads.

Of course, again the "average" Torontonian is also somewhat aware of past cancelled transit projects and is suspicious that if the current projects get cancelled, they're not getting replaced.

Really, the fall of Ford comes to one thing: he just spent $4billion on questionable subway expansions, and a lowball pricing so dubious that even the Sun called him out on it. All of a sudden, the primary Fordite anti-Smitherman rant (ie, eHealth) becomes irrelevant, as Ford's plan is 4 eHealths, with cost overruns possibly being another eHealth or two. The money-grubbers would rather he not expand transit period. That, combined with his obvious destructive attitude represented by scrapping the streetcars, really raises a lot of questions in most people's minds.

The fact that the Star's comment section, which was a Ford-love in even a week ago has turned completely against him, is a huge indicator.

 

[MetroMan]

On the other hand, I'm noticing that some people are saying that it's Streetcars vs Subways and Ford represents subways. Most people would choose subways when ignorant to the fact that we can't afford them. Rob Ford can't do any wrong...

 

[W. K. Lis]

Rob Ford does not want bicycle lanes. He would prefer to not see them at all and put them on bicycle paths where he can't see them.

There is recent news that MTO may include bicycle lanes on Highway 6 when they resurface the road on Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsula. See this link for the article. Is that area of Ontario urban or suburban that the residents would support bicycles?

 

[MetroMan]

Well, the deadline has passed. We either end up with Mayor Ford or we get rid of him entirely from City Hall.

... though his brother is likely to become the next councillor for Etobicoke North, by virtue of name recognition.