TheTigerMaster
Superstar
To be the devils advocate here, PT in Toronto isn't where it needs to be before we can discuss eliminating or greatly reducing cars. People need a viable alternative. Perhaps after $20 Billion in investments, but not now.
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Rob Ford's Toronto
- Thread starter MetroMan
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To be the devils advocate here, PT in Toronto isn't where it needs to be before we can discuss eliminating or greatly reducing cars. People need a viable alternative. Perhaps after $20 Billion in investments, but not now.
Silence&Motion
Senior Member
According to the well respected NMA.TV news corporation, Rob Ford refuses a chauffeur because he doesn't want anyone to know where he buys his crack.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
So that's why he got rid of his personalized vanity plates. I thought it was that too many people were watching out for the Mayor's next improper motoring skills.
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ThinkRicky
Active Member
The modern suburb and the associated unsustainable urban sprawl is mainly the result of city planning motivated by profit instead of public interest, and of course a healthy dose of "well I can't raise my children around all these <ethnic minority>!" in a culture which emphasized that working together for the common good is essentially for the weak and lazy.
Johnny Au
Senior Member
Rob Ford should be renamed Rob Chevrolet.
To be Devil's Advocate, I noticed that the Toronto Star keeps promoting public transit use, yet have many advertisements for cars, including advertisements for wheels.ca (complete with a Toyota logo) in random areas of the Toronto Star, as well as a huge Wheels section every Saturday.
thestar.com has a huge section that contains nothing but redirects to wheels.ca
I learned that the Toronto Star is not progressive, just a centre-left newspaper.
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MetroMan
Senior Member
I can't believe we're still talking about Rob Ford but reality is setting in: After looking like inevitable roadkill, after losing all his senior staff, after having regular citizens on the street calling for him to step down, after having his political allies ditching him... Ford miraculously weathered the crack scandal.
Nobody is talking about it and he's going about his business and in spite of him it looks like Scarborough is going to get a subway after all -- yet he is poised to take the credit. My sources in the media say that everything rests on what information they'll gather from Project Traveller's evidence collection. It could all spike up again but he'll probably just repeat the same strategy. Deny, avoid and go on as if everything is business as usual. If nothing comes from the evidence, then it's over and he's free.
Getting re-elected is another story altogether but we're witnessing an attempted re-approachment from the Conservatives (i.e. Tim Hudak using him to help in the by-election) when just weeks ago they pretended to not even know the Ford's. This man must have a deal with the Devil.
Nobody is talking about it and he's going about his business and in spite of him it looks like Scarborough is going to get a subway after all -- yet he is poised to take the credit. My sources in the media say that everything rests on what information they'll gather from Project Traveller's evidence collection. It could all spike up again but he'll probably just repeat the same strategy. Deny, avoid and go on as if everything is business as usual. If nothing comes from the evidence, then it's over and he's free.
Getting re-elected is another story altogether but we're witnessing an attempted re-approachment from the Conservatives (i.e. Tim Hudak using him to help in the by-election) when just weeks ago they pretended to not even know the Ford's. This man must have a deal with the Devil.
freshcutgrass
Senior Member
Logan's Run !!!
christiesplits
Senior Member
It is pretty miraculous that it's only been two months and it's business as usual. I still think with over a year to go until the election there will be much more to be divulged about his personal life. Let's not forget the potential release of the Rexdale raid evidence a month from now.
Tee
Active Member
I'm hopeful that 'new' information, (which will hurt Ford) which thedeepend alluded to in his post of June 20/13 (copy below) will be broken by the media in the very near future. .
thedeepend
Senior UT Member
Join Date
Mar 2008
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Originally Posted by TheTigerMaster
Do you know how much longer till the story comes out?
I am sure there are other people on the forum who have caught wind of this. Anyone who works in and around news, journalism, media, etc is going to be aware of certain things.
Timeline wise, I will say this: the story is being vetted to within an inch of its life. Given the stakes, there is no margin of error here. So it’s kind of an ‘as long as it takes’ kind of scenario, but I know it is very close to being bullet-proof.
The larger frame of reference is this: the idea that the Star and the Globe are going to stop digging into the Ford story until it completes itself is laughable. Reporters LOVE to dig—especially if they have something to prove. And this story is just way too juicy. It’s the kind of story reporters live for. It’s the reason they wanted to become journalists in the first place.
At the heart of all this is a simple truth, which the Fords have never understood: You don’t taunt serious journalists. You don’t accuse them of making stuff up.
You don’t impugn their integrity. Especially if it’s you that has a lot to hide. Especially if it’s you that’s lying—and you’re doing it repeatedly. All that to say: the Fords are going to rue the day they decided to provoke this fight.
Anybody who knows anything about journalists knows one thing: they are fiercely competitive. And they don’t take kindly to being called liars. By forcing the issue, and trying to weasel out of the jam they’re in by essentially claiming that the Star and the Globe are lying, they are daring the media to prove their case. In doing so, they have guaranteed their own destruction. This will not stop until everything comes out, even if it ends up in the Supreme Court.
Anyway, these guys remind me of those stories of small town hoods who try and make it in the big city, who try to play with the big boys, only to have everything blow up in their face. They’re just suburban goons who thought they could pull off the big score, and they lost everything doing it because they’re not smart enough to play the game.
Last edited by thedeepend; 2013-Jun-20 at 15:12.
LowPolygon
Senior Member
c'mon, you know better than that! you know how investigative journalism works--ie. how slow it can go. and it is moving slow--but it is steady. there are extremely experienced investigative journalists continuing to dig through the entrails of Rob Ford's life, with the full support of their editors at both the Globe and the Star. book contracts have been signed, informants are talking, binge locations have been identified, drug buddies are coming forward.
is it going to drop next week? no. is some of it going to drop next month, in the context of the release of the Project Traveler evidence? possibly. but maybe not...
is it ALL going to come out? i doubt it. (at least as long as Rob Ford is alive). but without a shadow of a doubt--there is more, plenty more to come. i'm not the slightest bit worried about it. the time will come.
it is maddening to have him and his 'roid rage brother strutting around like its all over, but it's a total fantasy, and they know it. they are well aware that there is more to come--because reporters are constantly calling their associates.
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
Well you did say that the crack video was probably collected in Traveler. I'm hopeful that it will do him in when released in August.
jje1000
Senior Member
Not so a deal with the devil, but luck and the weakness of the opposition. What matters more is that the opposition, especially the Star, has allowed this to happen- the opposition are mainly the ones who bungled this whole thing. Even though they were caught unaware, the first thing the Star should have done once the whole bombshell exploded was to quickly get a hold of the evidence at any cost; toss that 'ideal' of not paying for information out the window. They didn't, and Gawker made the colossal error of highly publicizing the video through their Kickstarter. I believe that the Fords and the people they interact with, simply got a hold of the most accessible video and destroyed it, hence the delayed denial by Ford.
Now without the video, the story has no teeth; half the population could see that Ford's actions and his staff resignation meant that a grain of truth was in there somehow, but the other half refuse to believe without seeing the actual video itself. Even Sue-Ann Levy said Ford Nation would support Ford until they see the video. Fact is, to those Doubting Thomas-es, believing is seeing. No video, it didn't happen.
The good thing is even though Ford has survived, both sides are battered, but not out. Lots of hits, but no knockouts. I call a draw in this instance. Next time something happens, the evidence needs to be acquired and blared out from the rooftops until everyone knows. No 'anonymous sources', no 'reporters putting their reputations on the line', no circumstantial evidence, no opinions. Cold, hard evidence that's so strong that Ford can't deny his way out of this.
What we see with Hudak is plain opportunism, really shows the character of the man. Should be a clear warning sign to those looking to vote for him.
JWBF
Senior Member
Ok, I say it if no one else will... Rob Ford is the best example of "urban sprawl."
I remember famous arguments of what causes congestion and urban sprawl with a driving buddy of mine who was a former pedestrian turned hypocrite. Don't worry, it's actually not off topic, well not that off topic.
Urban sprawl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_sprawl) as is states in Wikipedia, is primarily a problem of improper zoning, and promoting car-dependant areas of growth. Fords "war on cars" and "subways, subways, subways" promote the status quo that is the problem of urban sprawl. Subways can move people great distances, but do not support communities, surface transit does, at least it attempts to with the problem of congestion caused by cars. By isolating communities, Ford can better spread propaganda and pit Torontonian against Torontonian.
So, supporting subways as a sole way of transportation serves only big business and their helpers, the true elité of Toronto.
(or something like that)
I remember famous arguments of what causes congestion and urban sprawl with a driving buddy of mine who was a former pedestrian turned hypocrite. Don't worry, it's actually not off topic, well not that off topic.
Urban sprawl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_sprawl) as is states in Wikipedia, is primarily a problem of improper zoning, and promoting car-dependant areas of growth. Fords "war on cars" and "subways, subways, subways" promote the status quo that is the problem of urban sprawl. Subways can move people great distances, but do not support communities, surface transit does, at least it attempts to with the problem of congestion caused by cars. By isolating communities, Ford can better spread propaganda and pit Torontonian against Torontonian.
So, supporting subways as a sole way of transportation serves only big business and their helpers, the true elité of Toronto.
(or something like that)
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jje1000
Senior Member
I don't think Rob Ford has an overarching scheme, much less an understanding of how urban sprawl works. What matters to him are votes, and if he manages to steal credit for the Scarborough subway line (which he likely will do), he won't mind doing it again in Etobicoke, Sheppard and even on Finch and beyond. It's the selective patronization that'll divide this city and ruin transit, not urban sprawl.
In any case, does anyone know how socialist Miller's government actually was? Because I've seen this phrase parroted around, and I'd like to get a grasp on this issue.
In any case, does anyone know how socialist Miller's government actually was? Because I've seen this phrase parroted around, and I'd like to get a grasp on this issue.
adma
Superstar
Yes...when it comes to the strict, utilitarian "commuting thing", maybe. However, when it comes to anything more "active" and "involved", travel-wise, your kind of "as quickly, safely and as efficiently as possible" is. just. about. the. biggest. killjoy. imaginable.
Like, if I'm to travel, self-propelled, by private vehicle from Toronto to Niagara, I do *not* want it to be a matter of choosing a coordinate or series of coordinates and letting the car do the driving for me--that is so cumbersome as to be offputting. I want the freedom to meander. And if you're the sort who'd rather get to (or accept having to get to) Niagara as QS&E as possible *in all circumstances*...you're a pretty uninspired excuse for a "huge car guy". And take it for someone who's opted for Route 66 and the Dixie Highway and whatever other cobbled-togethers over the dreaded Interstate time and again.
OTOH I can accept the possibility that ultimately, that might be the *only* excuse left for private automobiles; that is, for leisurely long-distance weekend jaunts, while the short-run stuff that once might have been auto-driven is increasingly by foot, bike, transit, etc. IOW rather than forcing awkward "driverless" solutions, let it all resolve itself through the gravity of people being driven away from driving, *period*...
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