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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Towered said:
Haha, what a laugh - Ford has spent his entire life in a bland area of Etobicoke that has zero heritage architecture within miles. I really don't see where he would have ever developed any sensitivity for such things. If anything, he strikes me as the type who would be all for eliminating old buildings, even for parking lots.
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YA, from Ford's perspective, isn't a building just another weapon in the war on the car?! ;)
 
CN Tower said:
Paris is a horrible city to walk in? That's riduclous.
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I'll back up nfitz on this one, a someone who knows Paris extremely well. 'Horrible' wouldn't be my word, but by European standards it's not especially pedestrian-friendly. Even high-pedestrian-traffic locations in the heart of the city (eg, Pl de la Concorde) can be really, really tough to navigate on foot. Similarly, those huge boulevards and squares were built to look cool and facilitate troop movements--not for ease of access to latter-day flaneurs. London has been much more aggressive in implementing 'War on the Car'-type measures, though under Mayor Delanoe Paris is slowly following suit.

On the whole, though, I think Paris and some other European cities have some lessons for TO's quest to balance cars and everyone else. Take Barcelona: synchronised lights, tons of one-way streets, huge but very discreet underground parking lots all over the core. Traffic positively flies, outside of the smallish medieval downtown, but no one would accuse it of being an auto-dominated city. Berlin is similar. The whole 'European cities turn the screws on cars' thing seems to be mostly a product of London and Amsterdam.

Maybe we can sponsor a very long study trip for His Worship?
 
CN Tower said:
Paris is a horrible city to walk in? That's riduclous.
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Boy, talk about taking something out of context!

From the perspective of noise and graffiti I said. Of course, it's a wonderful and beautiful city to walk in. But I've known people who've wanted to get off the street because the cacophony of scooters was giving them a headache. Though not quite as badly in that regard to some other cities - Bangkok comes to miind.

And I found the graffiti suprisingly everywhere - a contrast to London (or even Toronto). Particularly distasteful was the amount on war memorials - and even the holocaust memorial (and not anti-war or anything ... just plain old tagging).
 
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Towered said:
Haha, what a laugh - Ford has spent his entire life in a bland area of Etobicoke that has zero heritage architecture within miles. I really don't see where he would have ever developed any sensitivity for such things. If anything, he strikes me as the type who would be all for eliminating old buildings, even for parking lots.
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In and of himself, perhaps. However, we're dealing with an "urban incident" which disrupted infrastructure, nearly claimed firemen's lives. Surely, there must be some responsibility to at least *address* the issue--even Mayor Mel the Suburban Philistine would have.

So far (and perhaps, or perhaps not, mercifully), Ford's silence is deafening.
 
adma said:
Surely, there must be some responsibility to at least *address* the issue--even Mayor Mel the Suburban Philistine would have.
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And even more to the point--were Toronto to amalgamate w/Mississauga, Mayor Hazel would.
 
adma said:
In and of himself, perhaps. However, we're dealing with an "urban incident" which disrupted infrastructure, nearly claimed firemen's lives. Surely, there must be some responsibility to at least *address* the issue--even Mayor Mel the Suburban Philistine would have.

So far (and perhaps, or perhaps not, mercifully), Ford's silence is deafening.
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You hit that nail on the head. Where's our Mayor?? This is a major event. Traffic is disrupted on our busiest street. A piece of Toronto history was lost. At least get down there and show yourself. He can go to somebody's house if their heat isn't working but he's MIA when a major fire that affects dozens of businesses, and thousands of Torontonians trying to get through the area... wow.
 
Ford's troubles are just starting. Heard this morning that Chief Blair is looking for a 3% increase in the police budget this year. Ford wants a 5% decrease. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Does anyone else think that Ford is in way over his head when it comes to the duties of a mayor?
 
Absolutely. While he can help a constituent deal with a garbage can problem, bigger issues are not his strength methinks. His silence on the fire at Yonge and Gould is indicative of this (I suspect no one has told him what he's supposed to say yet).
 
PinkLucy said:
Absolutely. While he can help a constituent deal with a garbage can problem, bigger issues are not his strength methinks. His silence on the fire at Yonge and Gould is indicative of this (I suspect no one has told him what he's supposed to say yet).
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Oh give it up people. It's a fire at a commercial building. When was the last time Miller made his face shown at every minor fire?

Did Miller even show his face for the wellesley fire victims? (did a quick google search and found nothing.

People displaced from their homes is a bigger issue than a dilapidated building torched so it can be redeveloped (oops?)
 
Miller responded to the Wellesley St fire quickly and with compassion. As he did during the Sunrise Propane and Queen St W. fires. This fire might not have affected as many citizens, but with 125 firefighters on the scene and numerous small businesses shutdown, it was at least worth a a simple acknowledgement from the mayor. A one minute thank you to the firefighters would have being easy. Especially, considering that he prides himself on talking to people at length about their garbage pick up and road closures. You can bet Ford would have had a lot to say if a fire shut down a section of road in his old riding.
 
What's this about cancelling the 5cent bag 'tax'? What remotely positive will be accomplished by this, it has been very successful in curbing wasteful behaviour and frankly the money doesn't go to governemnt but to worthwhile charities and green initiatives. I don't understand his thinking on this at all.
 
He's heard that some people don't like it, so voila, let's cancel it. Of course, he's also heard that some people like it, but he doesn't respond to that type of feedback as readily.
 
PinkLucy said:
He's heard that some people don't like it, so voila, let's cancel it. Of course, he's also heard that some people like it, but he doesn't respond to that type of feedback as readily.
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The people's voices he is listening to and agreeing with, are all in his head.
 
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