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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Nice to see that nobody has taken responsibility for the #gravybus.

Toronto Star: TTC, police deny responsibility for decision to divert buses for Mayor Rob Ford’s football team

The TTC and Toronto police are both distancing themselves from the decision to kick passengers off two buses so they could be dispatched to pick up Mayor Rob Ford’s high school football team.

“At no time were TTC frontline personnel aware of why a shelter bus was required,†a TTC news release sent out Sunday evening said.

“Given the urgency of the police request, operations personnel at the TTC made the decision to utilize buses from nearby routes to meet the request as quickly as possible.â€

Officers were called to the field at Father Henry Carr Secondary School at 3:46 p.m. on Thursday after an altercation between the school’s coach and referees. An officer at the field requested a bus for Ford’s players.

But Alok Mukherjee, the chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, said that the TTC could’ve denied the request.

“It is always their discretion, but they haven’t generally ever said no,†Mukherjee said. “It’s up to the TTC as to how they will respond.â€

He added that police didn’t know that TTC passengers would be kicked off two buses to provide shelter for Ford’s football team, the Don Bosco Eagles.
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Meanwhile, Ford appears to place the blame on the other coach.

Ford's press secretary George Christopoulos said the mayor isn't happy about what happened.

"The mayor is deeply concerned the buses were taken off active routes," Christopoulos told the Sun Monday.

But when approached by reporters Monday, Ford refused to speak about the incident.

"I don't run the TTC," Ford said, adding, "The coach at (opposing team's school) Henry Carr started it."
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That's a bullshit statement from the TPSB if you ask me. I doubt very much it is up to the discretion of the TTC to turn down a police request for an emergency bus. Further, it still don't explain exactly what rationale the police used to justify the request in the first place.

I hope someone digs further on this!
 
Ford's latest quote: I’m as clean as the days are long

“If the police decide that there’s a situation that seems to be serious, that’s their call, they decide to make the call. It has nothing to do with me,” Mayor Ford told reporters on Monday at city hall. “I was the one who got my team into the corner and made sure everything was prepared, taken care of.”

The mayor said he was “assisting the police” when he placed a call into TTC CEO Andy Byford to find out why the bus was taking so long.

“It’s terrible that these people got kicked off the bus. That’s not my call. Okay? I don’t know how much clearer I can be,” said Mr. Ford. “You guys are trying to go after me on something… there’s nothing here. I’m as clean as the days are long.”
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I don't understand. Rob Ford is angry that TTC buses being used to ferry his football team, yet he made a follow-up call to the head of the TTC to ask why the bus was taking so long to get there. It is a mystery as to what goes on in that little brain of his.
 
EMP1729 said:
I don't understand. Rob Ford is angry that TTC buses being used to ferry his football team, yet he made a follow-up call to the head of the TTC to ask why the bus was taking so long to get there. It is a mystery as to what goes on in that little brain of his.
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Ford is quoted in Star as, predictably, denying all responsibility and said "Ford added: “I’m as clean as the days are long.”". Clearly he does not realise we are about 6 weeks from the shortest day :->
 
It's disturbing, the ease with which Rob Ford categorically, reflexively, refuses to own up to anything. It strikes me as pathological. Screwups and missteps are never his fault. He can never suck it up or take one for the team - instead, it's the team that invariably lets him down.

For all his girth, he's such a little man.
 
Is Rob Ford a full-time mayor or not? This current story would not be in the newspapers, blogs, or conversations if someone else was the football coach. Would the police make the first call if someone other than Rob was on the scene? Would someone else make the direct call to Andy Byford, the Chief Executive Officer of the TTC, because the first bus was slow?

BTW. Is Rob Ford still working at his family's company? Full-time? Part-time?
 
So the TTC, police and Rob Ford are not to blame? Who is to blame? Apparently, the coach of the other football team is "the root of the problem."

Ford is asked at least 3 times regarding his phone call to Byford and avoids answering every time.

Let's not forget that he was bailing on a council meeting while he was at this football game and calling Byford.

[video=youtube_share;3gIgciqW1ko]http://youtu.be/3gIgciqW1ko[/video]
 
bobbob911 said:
That's a bullshit statement from the TPSB if you ask me. I doubt very much it is up to the discretion of the TTC to turn down a police request for an emergency bus. Further, it still don't explain exactly what rationale the police used to justify the request in the first place.

I hope someone digs further on this!
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I agree. There are a lot of unanswered questions about this but one thing that we know for sure is that a police officer made a very bad judgement call when he/she ordered an "emergency" TTC bus. As Chair of the Police Service Board Alok Mukherjee had no business trying to justify or explain away the conduct of an individual police officer. He is suppose to be our "watchdog" over police - not a lapdog apologist. On top of that, his assertion that the TTC could have turned down the request is an insult to our intelligence. Under no circumstance would the TTC second guess a request from Police for an emergency shelter.
 
but one thing that we know for sure is that a police officer made a very bad judgement call when he/she ordered an "emergency" TTC bus
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Actually that's one thing we don't know for sure - under what circumstances did the police officer supposedly make that judgement call. I found it rather odd that the mayor denies all involvement and yet is concerned enough to make a phone call directly to the head of the TTC inquiring the status of the bus. Why would he and not the police officer in question be in contact with the TTC to see the issue to its' logical end? Besides, are 8 police officers dealing with a football match "normal" by any stretch of the imagination?

AoD
 
Why is it every time Ford gets involved in a situation, there is always mass confusion about what happened, who called who and who did what? He is always the innocent victim, just trying to do the right thing. Nope, it's never Rob's fault. NEVER! (and Ford Nation eats it up)
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Actually that's one thing we don't know for sure - under what circumstances did the police officer supposedly make that judgement call. I found it rather odd that the mayor denies all involvement and yet is concerned enough to make a phone call directly to the head of the TTC inquiring the status of the bus. Why would he and not the police officer in question be in contact with the TTC to see the issue to its' logical end? Besides, are 8 police officers dealing with a football match "normal" by any stretch of the imagination?

AoD
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Agreed - there remains some possibility the situation was one that required an emergency evacuation of the team (what little that has been reported is conflicting). My guess is that it's not the case but that's purely conjecture at this point.

Lets see what the official police investigation turns up next week.
 
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