News   Jun 21, 2024
Extending Sheppard Line 4… The Better Way
 1.9K     4 
News   Jun 21, 2024
Tenblock to Transform Tower-in-the-Park into Vibrant Urban Community
 868     0 
News   Jun 21, 2024
Vaughan, QuadReal Shake Hands on Performing and Cultural Arts Centre
 1K     0 

Rob Ford's Toronto

Status
Not open for further replies.
nfitz said:
Ford isn't winning the election ... he's peaked far too early, giving everyone a chance to expose him for the sham he is. Even the media seems to be into the game in the last couple of days ... he won't be elected, save some bizarre 4-way split.

As if that's ever going to happen. Hudak simply wants to do another Harris. I don't think people will fall for that. Ontario wouldn't replace McGuinty with a left-wing Tory (Tory). You think an right-wing extremist like Hudak has a chance?
Click to expand...

You thought Rob Ford had a chance? You thought Mike Harris had a chance?
 
drone said:
this is an honest question. Has ford been good for etobicoke?
Click to expand...

And I quote the Christopher Bird (who is anti-Ford and would only refer to him as Flounder):

"no, really, you can say a lot about Rob Ford, but his record of community service is outstanding"

Here is a quote from Globe and Mail:

When Mary Kairys moved to a new home in Etobicoke in the spring, she called the city's 311 service to order a replacement for property's missing recycling bin. Two months later, still no bin. So she called her local councillor, Rob Ford. Two days later, a brand new blue bin was plunked on her lawn.

“Little things like that make a big difference,†she said.

Here is an article from the Eye Weekly who doesn't really like Rob Ford:

It's hot and raining in mid-July and Rob Ford is standing, soaking wet, red-faced in a wrinkled suit, in a backyard on View Green Crescent. He bears some resemblance to the late comedian Chris Farley and there's something charmingly pathetic in the sight of him getting his spiky blonde hair rained on in the name of helping those who elected him. He's waiting for a staffer from the transportation department to show up so the two of them can meet with a resident who is upset that buses drive on the grass adjacent to the bus loop down the street, tracking mud up the block and making the place look terrible. The resident smiles and calls him "Mr. Rob" and Ford laughs often as he discusses his 16-month-old daughter, refusing the offer of an umbrella.

This, he says, is his favourite part of his job: "I love my constituents. They are second only to my family in my heart." By that standard, there's been a lot of loving in his day so far: 8:30am at a roach-infested apartment on Kipling to mediate a landlord-tenant dispute; 9am and 9:30am at two places on Bergamot to deal with more tenant complaints; 10:30am on Golfwood Heights to help a guy whose backyard is being flooded by a city-owned drainage ditch; 11am down the street on View Green to meet a woman upset that the crossing guard has moved down the street from the end of her block. Later, he'll chat with a man who wants Urdu language books at the local library and meet staff from three different city departments at the home of a man with multiple complaints about the state of his neighbour's property.

Walking around Etobicoke, he's approached every minute or so by people thanking him for the help he's provided or telling him to stay the course on his penny-pinching. If constituents don't approach him, he goes to them, telling them to call him if they need anything.

Rob Ford may be a raving lunatic, but he's a raving lunatic who will come to your home and stand in the rain to ensure you get 15 minutes with the city staffer who can help you. And that, as anyone who's tried to navigate the city hall bureaucracy will know, is no small thing.

http://www.eyeweekly.com/city/article/86510
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I don't think I'll be stopping by these Ford threads anymore, it's too damn depressing. But I'll leave with this link,

http://www.torontocannotafford.com/
Click to expand...

Look at it this way: if I may take this image I posted in another thread: Ford is to mayors what this is to skyscraper architecture.

mecca%20clock%20tower.jpg


And I suppose that those who criticize might open themselves to being tagged as "racist" or "bigoted" or whatever, because it's in the heart of Mecca...
 
And I also wonder, why would a racist bigot care whether somebody wants Urdu language books at the local library?
 
archanfel said:
And I quote the Christopher Bird (who is anti-Ford and would only refer to him as Flounder):

"no, really, you can say a lot about Rob Ford, but his record of community service is outstanding"

Here is a quote from Globe and Mail:

When Mary Kairys moved to a new home in Etobicoke in the spring, she called the city's 311 service to order a replacement for property's missing recycling bin. Two months later, still no bin. So she called her local councillor, Rob Ford. Two days later, a brand new blue bin was plunked on her lawn.

“Little things like that make a big difference,” she said.

Here is an article from the Eye Weekly who doesn't really like Rob Ford:

It's hot and raining in mid-July and Rob Ford is standing, soaking wet, red-faced in a wrinkled suit, in a backyard on View Green Crescent. He bears some resemblance to the late comedian Chris Farley and there's something charmingly pathetic in the sight of him getting his spiky blonde hair rained on in the name of helping those who elected him. He's waiting for a staffer from the transportation department to show up so the two of them can meet with a resident who is upset that buses drive on the grass adjacent to the bus loop down the street, tracking mud up the block and making the place look terrible. The resident smiles and calls him "Mr. Rob" and Ford laughs often as he discusses his 16-month-old daughter, refusing the offer of an umbrella.

This, he says, is his favourite part of his job: "I love my constituents. They are second only to my family in my heart." By that standard, there's been a lot of loving in his day so far: 8:30am at a roach-infested apartment on Kipling to mediate a landlord-tenant dispute; 9am and 9:30am at two places on Bergamot to deal with more tenant complaints; 10:30am on Golfwood Heights to help a guy whose backyard is being flooded by a city-owned drainage ditch; 11am down the street on View Green to meet a woman upset that the crossing guard has moved down the street from the end of her block. Later, he'll chat with a man who wants Urdu language books at the local library and meet staff from three different city departments at the home of a man with multiple complaints about the state of his neighbour's property.

Walking around Etobicoke, he's approached every minute or so by people thanking him for the help he's provided or telling him to stay the course on his penny-pinching. If constituents don't approach him, he goes to them, telling them to call him if they need anything.

Rob Ford may be a raving lunatic, but he's a raving lunatic who will come to your home and stand in the rain to ensure you get 15 minutes with the city staffer who can help you. And that, as anyone who's tried to navigate the city hall bureaucracy will know, is no small thing.

http://www.eyeweekly.com/city/article/86510
Click to expand...

thanks..do we think he'd continue this way if elected?
 
drone said:
thanks..do we think he'd continue this way if elected?
Click to expand...



People that are afraid of 'Rob Ford' shoudl go ahead and meet the guy.

He might not go about it the best way, but he is by far the most genuine guy.

Sociali Elitist like Mihevic, Fletcher, Vaughan RARELY go into the dingier parts of their town nor have they ever personally returned MANY calls.

Agree or disagree with his ideologue, he'll genuine listen and service his constituents.

That being said, he'll also make city hall work much harder than their current work load.
 
To save myself having to re-type an entire tirade about why Rob Ford is not fit to be mayor:

Rob Ford is perceived as most trustworthy.

Consider what lunacy that view is.
We're talking about a person who lies as a reflex.

1) Rob Ford caught having a profanity-ridden tirade while intoxicated at a Leafs game. The next day: "No, no wasn't me. No no no no no." Then eye witnesses identify him, and he's forced to concede, "okay, yes."

2) Rob Ford voted to end sidewalk clearing for seniors, and is called out by George Smitherman for it during a debate. The response "No, I supported it." Then Smitherman produced THE VOTE, forcing Rob Ford to embarrassingly admit to it.

3) Rob Ford's DUI conviction is brought up, and again: "No, that wasn't me." That lasts until it's exposed that it was him, then he admits to it.


Whether you believe these are important issues or not, what should strike each and every one of us is that this is a man who lies on impulse. Can you imagine what we have in store over the next few years if he gets his hands on the mayor's chair?
Click to expand...
 
nfitz said:
Ford isn't winning the election ... he's peaked far too early, giving everyone a chance to expose him for the sham he is. Even the media seems to be into the game in the last couple of days ... he won't be elected, save some bizarre 4-way split.

As if that's ever going to happen. Hudak simply wants to do another Harris. I don't think people will fall for that. Ontario wouldn't replace McGuinty with a left-wing Tory (Tory). You think an right-wing extremist like Hudak has a chance?
Click to expand...

Have you been paying attention at all. McGuinty is down 10 in the GTHA and down 25(!) in the Ottawa region.
 
adma said:
So, if some crazed zealot out there seeks to spectacularly take down Rob Ford and cause mass anarchy and mayhem; well, the sociopathic artistic anarchist in me says, bring it on.
Click to expand...

i feel like "municipal politician killed in toronto" may not be the epoch-defining headline that you are imagining it to be.
 
SixPoints said:
Streetcars aren't going anywhere. It's just rhetoric to gather support from anti-transit Torontonians. Once faced with the reality of adding more buses and bus drivers (which means more salary expense) it will clash with his penny pinching mandate.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure that it is aimed at anti-transit folks; more to those fiscally inclined.

The problem with street cars (SC) is they they are capital intensive, meaning they require a huge amount of continuing investment. Not referring servicing of the rolling stock, but the physical plant. The tracks are hugely expensive to maintain, and when replacement or even light repairs is required, the tracks must be exhumed from concrete and asphalt, repaired or replaced, then entombed once more. This is a massive undertaking, closing the affected route and snarling traffic, which affects us all since the buses subbing for the SCs are also stuck in that traffic. The overhead wires require constant maintenance to keep the system running and to keep the public safe (ever have a tensioning rod crash down into the cab you are in?), and can be knocked out by high winds, epic failures by motorists, or the odd ice storm. Plus the TTC has to maintain special repair facilities, equipment, and staff with specific know-how to keep the rolling stock running.

The nostalgia associated with the streetcars is quaint, and as a lover all things riding on flanged wheels, I would lament the loss of the SC's as well (I photograph them as often as I can), but the economics of keeping them simply does not add up. Buses are cheaper. Period. The roads are already maintained through other means, so there is no actual physical plant to maintain specific to them, they provide a level of flexibility that the SCs could never match (major fire on Queen E? No worries, bus can detour around it). You can not understate the advantages of the flexibility the bus offers, to do so is ignoring one the of principal benefits of the bus and a major weakness in the streetcar. There is a common belief that GM killed the SC in an attempt to get bus orders, however alot of agencies could not resist the inherent cost savings and service flexibility with buses. Buses are also built from standard designs while the CLRV are custom ordered to operate on the particular fixed plant Toronto has and this is included the cost of design and testing of the finished product (and subsequent teething problems that tend to arise). It has been a long time since the Presidents Conference Car (PCC) concept died for SC's.

The fixed route system is great for moving high volumes of passengers at a low cost (subway, GO Trains), but for light routes, the bus is the most economical.
 
drone said:
thanks..do we think he'd continue this way if elected?
Click to expand...

I don't know. That's why I may not vote for him. The job of a mayor is very different from the job of a Councillor. He have got to get people working for him rather than doing everything himself. If there's one thing I am sure about Rob Ford, he is not a team player. I would glad to have him as my Councillor, but I am not so sure about him being my mayor.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top