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Rob Ford's Toronto

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casita said:
I never gave it any thought until we started serving under elected leaders in 1998.

During SARS, Mayor Lastman told CNN's Anderson Cooper he had never heard of the World Health Organization.

Doug Ford does not play well with others. What if Doug has another feud with the Chief of Police? He called the councillors "monkeys". He has a terrible relationship with the media. Not so good with the Premier either. Not sure if Ottawa will return his calls now that Jim Flaherty is gone. How many lawsuits has he threatened?

I'm not sure Doug is any more qualified than Rob was.

During news conferences, I find him to be almost inarticulate. We've all seen the fights and disruption in the council chamber. The extra security required around him and Rob.

JT on the other hand, I can understand what he is communicating. He seems to be able to process a lot of information rapidly and make decisions. He gets along well with practically everyone. Judging by the debates, he seems to handle stress very well.

Emergency Services realized it's a whole new ball game after 9/11, and that must include our choice of mayor.
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You have not commented on Olivia's potential in a crisis. I think she would do fine. I've read her book (OK, it's a very insider viewpoint), and we all saw her deal publicly with Jack's diagnosis and death. She has the ability to compartmentalize, to rise above the emotions and panic. Her public composure during Jack's last days and state funeral was remarkable. I think she would steel herself and step up to any challenge. She is also great at gaining consensus and getting people to work together. She understands that it's not all about her; it's about getting everyone pulling in the same direction and using their talents to best advantage. I'd feel very comfortable in any crisis with Olivia in charge.

Tory, I think could do as well. But there are so many other reasons not to vote for him.

DoFo? He'd be out doing photo ops. F*ck DoFo.
 
animatronic said:
The reality is that no new LRTs are going to get approved until Crosstown has been up and running for a few years and people get the concept.
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It's beyond all sanity to me that we in this city have allowed our transit development plan to have come down to a stupid and ill-informed bogus argument of "LRT vs subways". No other city has allowed the troglodytes to dominate the discussion and to come up with such an inane and mutually exclusive concept. Another piece of shit we can thank the Fords for inflicting along with the pretence that no other cities have ever built light rail, ever.

I could point fingers all over the place, but a significant factor in allowing this nonsense to fester has been that far too many councillors failed to educate themselves on the technology, the cost, and the applicability of light rail and mumbled and stumbled through the council discussions on the topic, starting with the cancellation of Transit City. At the same time, I have pro-Ford friends who want their tax dollars spent wisely but so far haven't grasped that they will be paying for the three-stop Scarborough SRT-replacement through the nose for three decades.

Nothing* in this city gets me more riled than the colossal mess we make of transit planning. (*Apart from the Fords, that is.)

However the fate & timing of new LRTs will depend on who gets elected. If there's an infusion of new blood, it could happen sooner than animatronic suggests.
 
nfitz said:
I can't say I share it either. Having Ford as a mouthpiece of the city enboldens like-minded people to think that the actions of Ford are socially acceptable.
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This is so important. With the Fords in office, it becomes okay by example for everyone to ignore the rules, skate around the law, lie their faces off, give favours to their pals, and troll unsavoury friends into city hall for all kinds of after-hours activities. They are godawful role models and for that alone, they aren't fit for office.
 
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TJ O'Pootertoot said:
Well, part of living in a democracy is accepting that sometimes your leader isn't the guy you voted for; most of the time that guy isn't going to be as obviously horrific as Rob Ford.
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Always bears reminding.

TJ O'Pootertoot said:
SmartTrack is basically Tory's version of the already-in-existence RER plan the province is moving on. Oh, it's "marketed" for a Toronto-only audience, ignoring that the entire purpose of Metrolinx's existence is to make sure projects serve a regional network and not one municipality's narrow needs. So, I think Tory is smart enough to know that his financing plan is untenable and that there is no way it gets built according to his diagram. Toronto will work with GO/Metrolinx to co-ordinate the RER and DRL.
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Astute observation, and most likely accurate. Just seems like the 'political' JT lacks the cojones to say so. Naive to expect otherwise, probably. But still. 'disingenuous'.

TJ O'Pootertoot said:
So, I guess what I'm saying is that I think Tory knows a lot more than he is letting on in the campaign....I think Toronto needs stable, sensible governance and I really don't care if it's Chow or Tory (though I've been leaning to the latter after seeing their campaigns). Doug would be a disaster and I wouldn't wish him on the city, out of spite or for any other reason
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Same boat here.
 
dforthandbview said:
Doug attended Carlton University and Humber College before joining the family business where he built their Chicago office into a vibrant and thriving enterprise.
http://www.buildtoronto.ca/node/142
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In Fordspeak, "attended college" could mean that he drove through the campus once. I was wondering if someone can actually confirm - not using Ford-supplied information - that he graduated high school.
 
hper said:
Astute observation, and most likely accurate. Just seems like the 'political' JT lacks the cojones to say so. Naive to expect otherwise, probably. But still. 'disingenuous'.
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I agree. It gives me pause, how not forthright he has been. But I stack that up against 10 years of speaking the truth, ,including the faith-based funding issue on which he got roasted. Only politician in generations to actually speak truth to power on the unfairness of Catholic-only school funding but, putting that aside, campaigns (to paraphrase Kim Campbell) are not where the issues really get hashed out. I'm disappointed in "political JT" but once elected he'll have to work with council and I think has the skills to work within the framework in a way Ford never could have dreamed.

kaboi said:
Sorry everyone. I cannot bring myself to watch the video. Is there some brave and kindly soul willing to report how exactly Doug's wife pronounces "Judaism"?
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I dove in.
"Jew-dism."

sweetlou said:
It's beyond all sanity to me that we in this city have allowed our transit development plan to have come down to a stupid and ill-informed bogus argument of "LRT vs subways". No other city has allowed the troglodytes to dominate the discussion and to come up with such an inane and mutually exclusive concept. Another piece of shit we can thank the Fords for inflicting along with the pretence that no other cities have ever built light rail, ever.

I could point fingers all over the place, but a significant factor in allowing this nonsense to fester has been that far too many councillors failed to educate themselves on the technology, the cost, and the applicability of light rail and mumbled and stumbled through the council discussions on the topic, starting with the cancellation of Transit City.
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You're right, of course.I think part of the blame falls on the Miller regime for failing to articulate it. Sometimes my posts maybe make me sounds like I have too much faith in Metrolinx but they need to empowered to do their job: leading and co-ordinating transit planning for the region. If they think a subway in Scarborough makes sense, let them make a detailed report to council. If they don't, they should strongly say so and, especially since they are the prime funder, that they will not back a mode not supported by objective data.

A properly funded, properly run transit authority is the solution to all (well, most) of these ills.

UniqueHandle said:
In Fordspeak, "attended college" could mean that he drove through the campus once. I was wondering if someone can actually confirm - not using Ford-supplied information - that he graduated high school.
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I gotta say it again, cuz this thread moves fast - they spelled CARLETON wrong on his official bio. WTF?!
 
sweetlou said:
It's beyond all sanity to me that we in this city have allowed our transit development plan to have come down to a stupid and ill-informed bogus argument of "LRT vs subways". No other city has allowed the troglodytes to dominate the discussion and to come up with such an inane and mutually exclusive concept. Another piece of shit we can thank the Fords for inflicting along with the pretence that no other cities have ever built light rail, ever.

I could point fingers all over the place, but a significant factor in allowing this nonsense to fester has been that far too many councillors failed to educate themselves on the technology, the cost, and the applicability of light rail and mumbled and stumbled through the council discussions on the topic, starting with the cancellation of Transit City. At the same time, I have pro-Ford friends who want their tax dollars spent wisely but so far haven't grasped that they will be paying for the three-stop Scarborough SRT-replacement through the nose for three decades.

Nothing* in this city gets me more riled than the colossal mess we make of transit planning. (*Apart from the Fords, that is.)

However the fate & timing of new LRTs will depend on who gets elected. If there's an infusion of new blood, it could happen sooner than animatronic suggests.
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Agreed. Transit needs to be untied.
 
stoobiedood said:
You have not commented on Olivia's potential in a crisis.
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No, I haven't, and I won't.

stoobiedood said:
DoFo? He'd be out doing photo ops. F*ck DoFo.
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I stayed out the pool, but in a three-way race, I think he will be the next mayor. ( Hope I am wrong. )

And with Mayor Doug, you get Councillor Rob, maybe as his Deputy.
 
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kaboi said:
Sorry everyone. I cannot bring myself to watch the video. Is there some brave and kindly soul willing to report how exactly Doug's wife pronounces "Judaism"?
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Jude-ism. As in COI Jude!

I only watched it till then and shut it the hell off.

Was Doug at the town hall tonight? I only saw tweets about it from Ari and Olivia's camps, as well as some photos. I think Daniel Dale's phone must have died while he was there as he expected it to and I don't know if other media people were there.
 
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