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Rob Ford's Toronto

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I think Rob Ford is fundamentally too lazy to do too much creative destruction of Toronto. If he gets any significant push back on one of his more unpalatable schemes (erecting a security fence around Toronto, dynamiting public art, hosting marathons in Denzil Minnan-Wong's back yard, etc...) he'll hand the microphone over to his brother, pound back another 6 pack and drive off to his football coaching gig.
 
Irishmonk said:
I think Rob Ford is fundamentally too lazy to do too much creative destruction of Toronto. If he gets any significant push back on one of his more unpalatable schemes (erecting a security fence around Toronto, dynamiting public art, hosting marathons in Denzil Minnan-Wong's back yard, etc...) he'll hand the microphone over to his brother, pound back another 6 pack and drive off to his football coaching gig.
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Politics is an art more than it is science, and Rob Ford found his message and stuck to it during the campaign. I found it mildly amusing the next day after his election he was all over the news refusing to state he'll pull up streetcars. The only thing he repeatedly said was that he now wants to talk to the Premier about pushing Transit City money into converting the upcoming Sheppard LRT and Scarborough RT into subways, and cancel much of Transit City. Although I hope he doesn't cancel Eglinton LRT underground. I supported Smitherman 100% in every way, but at least Ford is not in tune with this streetcars everywhere mentality as Miller was. Streetcars don't need to be on Finch and Sheppard. We need subway expansion more importantly than finishing out the mostly ill-advised Transit City plan.
 
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archanfel said:
So in your opinion, if you supported somebody you can't "diss" him? That's a very strange logic. Just because you thought Smitherman was perfect and couldn't be criticized, doesn't mean people supported Ford thought Ford was perfect.[/QUOT

When did you hear me say Smitherman was perfect? I stated from the beginning, that I thought all the candidates were bad choices but if I had to pick one, I'd choose Smitherman because even with all his flaws, he was still the best of a bad bunch. I was never out there promoting Smitherman like he was our one great hope, the way UD was talking about Ford. It's kind of like he was saying vote for Ford, he'll be a great leader, then once Ford gets elected he yells SUCKERS! He lives to just instigate shit, much like Ford himself. I'm just saying if you claimed you wanted Ford, be happy, you got what you wanted.

Ford the best mayor? He's already backtracking, his first post election interview was a disaster. Yep, that's a great way for a great mayor to start. Ford has a lot of backroom Cons to help him not make too many mistakes but in spite of that, I'm sure he'll find ways to screw up. We'll see Urbandreamer.

Can people who voted for Ford criticize him? OF course, after you give the guy some time to prove he's incompetent, not just after you voted him in. Give Ford a break, you will have pleanty of opprotunities to ridicule him in the near future, I'm sure.
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It's not that I think Ford will destroy Toronto and bring all development to a stop. I really think he's too stupid to do that and Toronto has too much momentum to bring things to a stop but I can definitely see him putting a stop to some of the good progress. I have a little hope city council will temper his potential disasters. The disaster will be Ford's role as mayor and him making us look really bad. Vaughan is going to have to take over running this city for the next 4 years and just let Ford keep mumbling something about a gravy boat, train or whatever. (to himself)
 
Brandon716 said:
The only thing he repeatedly said was that he now wants to talk to the Premier about pushing Transit City money into converting the upcoming Sheppard LRT and Scarborough RT into subways, and cancel much of Transit City. Although I hope he doesn't cancel Eglinton LRT underground.
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The bulk of the Transit City funding is being spend on the underground section of Eglinton. I doubt very much he'll cancel it, given the number of Conservative councillors who are speaking up about not stopping the project. If Stintz and Nunziata are pushing to keep it, then I think they'll be hard-pressed to get a vote to kill it.
 
^ Exactly. While I haven't been following Stinz, a friend of mine lives in her ward and says that when she canvassed her door, Stinz insured her that she would fight to keep the Eglinton line, though she's not completely married to the LRT idea. How much more would it be for a subway along the underground portion of Eglinton with buses continuing to run the rest of the way à la Sheppard?
 
You forget that these councillors are conservative in ideology but they're not necessarily faithful to the party. I didn't do a thorough check, but a quick look shows that the Eglinton Crosstown passes through 9 to 12 wards. I very much doubt that these councillors will be able to explain to their constituents that they're cancelling rapid transit through their ward to give Scarborough 2 subways.

I think that the mutual best thing that can happen to Rob Ford and transit in Toronto would be for Dalton McGuinty to take transit planning and capital expenses off Toronto's hands. Transit maps shouldn't be drawn with political trends in mind. A non-political panel appointed to Metrolinx should be the judge of where transit goes and then provincial funds should be tied to the City's acceptance of such plans, without any major modifications.
 
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MetroMan said:
How much more would it be for a subway along the underground portion of Eglinton with buses continuing to run the rest of the way à la Sheppard?
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Probably not much more; more complex signalling, more complex stations. Operating costs will be higher with manned subway stations and 2 operators for a 4-car, 92-metre long subway train, compared to 1 operator for a 3-car, 90-metre long LRT train.
 
The conservative line on Eglinton was (and might be again) that while of course they support transit expansion the first priority must be getting the "fiscal house in order." So transit must wait.
 
nfitz said:
Probably not much more; more complex signalling, more complex stations. Operating costs will be higher with manned subway stations and 2 operators for a 4-car, 92-metre long subway train, compared to 1 operator for a 3-car, 90-metre long LRT train.
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People should note that last part...3 car LRT vs 4 car subay...basically the same thing.

Even if the tunneled portion cost the same, subway is still not the clear winner. The LRT lets us expand past the high-demand center into the medium-high demand east (and eventually west) for very little cost. Subway can't justify this kind of extension, won't be able to for decades, and even if it could, the rest of the network isn't ready for it. This has been explained at least 3 dozen times in various threads here, at least half of those in replies to Filip. But subways give him boners or something, so I guess we should build those.
 
Also, again, this whole subway discussion is irrelevant. Rob Ford is not pro-subway, he's anti-things-that-block-his-car. People told him they prefer subways. Big f'n deal. They also prefer low taxes and CSI: Miami reruns. I could leave 6 voice-mails tonight at 1-800-rob-ford (or whatever stupid number he uses) and he'll assume public support shifted from subways and now only supports hoverboards. Don't worry....I'll use different voices for each call. As long as they don't sound gay (or elitist, or oriental) we should be hovering down Sheppard in no time.
 
Action Jackson said:
Harper, too. :( At least he's just ignorant of Toronto, not actively hostile. And I'm gonna leave it at that, in case he gets any bright ideas.
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Harper is actually one of those "gravy train elitists" though. I mean come on... born to a Toronto WASP family, wealthy Leaside upbringing... never worked a "real job" in his life (conservative standards not mine)... became a professional politician immediately after his short stint as an Economics lecturer... closet Beatles fan (lol)... he definitely represents the Canadian GOP establishment (think of Mitt Romney or the Bush/Cheney cabal), while Rob Ford is more like Joe the Plumber or Sarah Palin. The question... who is more dangerous? :)
 
Rob Ford more like Joe the Plumber??? The family is loaded; the guy is a multi-millionaire. Doug Ford owns houses in Florida, Chicago, and Toronto. Rob might be good at looking like he is slumming it ... but surely the Ford brothers are the Gravy Train personified.
 
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