Rob Ford's Toronto

[adma]

Well, don't necessarily dis the right-wing tabloids, either--for all their party-line bluster, you can read concern between the lines.

Hey, this past weekend the Sun's Lorrie Goldstein came clean about Rob Ford not being "intellectually up to the job" of handling the gang-violence issue or, perhaps, even of being Mayor (as opposed to a grassroots community politician)

 

[Marko]

Well, don't necessarily dis the right-wing tabloids, either--for all their party-line bluster, you can read concern between the lines.

Hey, this past weekend the Sun's Lorrie Goldstein came clean about Rob Ford not being "intellectually up to the job" of handling the gang-violence issue or, perhaps, even of being Mayor (as opposed to a grassroots community politician)

All our local papers are worth reading, the Sun included. People dismiss it as a tabloid, but it's mostly a tabloid in format rather than a tabloid in content.

I have a strong dislike for broadsheets in the way the sections come apart, people leave flipped open and folded to the wring place and you get FAR more "story continues on page __" as well, which are generally needless - not to mention when people try to read them on the subway. If you don't buy it yourself, good luck finding a complete paper. The Star, Post or Globe are desk reading only for me, or lately online more than anything else. I prefer the Sun when having my lunch, since the format is easier to have open on the table in front of you - even a small table.

 

[ttk77]

Has no one else switched to electronic (tablet or PC)? It really is far more convenient... at least in my opinion.

It's good to know that even the right wing media is admitting that Ford doesn't have what it takes to lead this city.

 

[PinkLucy]

I have. I don't remember the last time I read a print copy of a newspaper.

 

[PaulTheMaul]

By no means am I suggesting that legalizing street drugs alone would solve the problem. Much of the money/status kids gain by joining gangs though comes from the drug trade, and with that removed it would be much harder for them to operate. Pour the money we're currently spending on drug enforcement into programs that will help end the disenfranchisement and help them become more engaged in the rest of society. We need to encourage and make it easier for these kids to be positively involved with their community while at the same time making it harder for gangs to get their funding.

Yes, but this is so much harder and more complicated than drug enforcement. And you know that politicians don't really like to do complicated and well-planned actions.

 

[adma]

Doug Ford: “The Toronto Star can go to hell and you can quote me on that"

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/25/critics-of-rob-fords-caddy-can-go-to-hell-doug-ford-says

"Who's afraid of the big bad Star? Ha ha ha, not us!"

 

[ShonTron]

To be fair to Ford, Chris Hume's column in the Star yesterday was garbage.

 

[canmark]

Councillor Ford's version of who bought the Caddy differs from the mayor's comments.

Mayor Ford told the Sun last week he ponied up for the luxury vehicle.

"I saved a lot of money for this," he said last Thursday.

I still don't understand why they can't agree on who paid for the car. Is somebody not telling the truth?

I thought Hume's column was somewhat sympathetic, suggesting that the Escalade was not Rob Ford's (down-to-earth) style and that it made for bad optics. He's cutting municipal budgets while driving a car that costs more than the average family makes in a year.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

To be fair to Ford, Chris Hume's column in the Star yesterday was garbage.

^Yes, Hume does sometimes have that problem. I guess it comes with the territory of having a mandate to write provocative and timely columns, but one wishes he would sometimes phone in sick (or critique the architecture of a random phonebooth or backyard shed) rather than engage in specious attacks that undermine his overall credibility.

 

[Torontovibe]

By torontovibe at 2012-07-23

Read today's news and you will find out why they all lied. It's because none of them paid for that car. It turns out the car is leased in the name of their Deco business and I would imagine, claimed as a business expense. If it's the mayor's personal car and he works full time at city hall, how can it be claimed by Deco as a business write off? I'm not an accountant, so maybe someone else out there can explain how this works. It seems pretty unethical to me. Certainly the lies to try to cover it all up are unethical.

 

[W. K. Lis]

By torontovibe at 2012-07-23

Read today's news and you will find out why they all lied. It's because none of them paid for that car. It turns out the car is leased in the name of their Deco business and I would imagine, claimed as a business expense. If it's the mayor's personal car and he works full time at city hall, how can it be claimed by Deco as a business write off? I'm not an accountant, so maybe someone else out there can explain how this works. It seems pretty unethical to me. Certainly the lies to try to cover it all up are unethical.

Replace the name "Deco" with some other business name, for example "ORNGE", and you'll see why it would be wrong.

 

[LordWanker]

Read today's news and you will find out why they all lied. It's because none of them paid for that car. It turns out the car is leased in the name of their Deco business and I would imagine, claimed as a business expense. If it's the mayor's personal car and he works full time at city hall, how can it be claimed by Deco as a business write off? I'm not an accountant, so maybe someone else out there can explain how this works. It seems pretty unethical to me. Certainly the lies to try to cover it all up are unethical.

Sounds like Deco is overdue for an accounting enema by the taxman.......

 

[spider]

There are limits to the amount of money that can be expensed by a business on an auto lease. That number is well south of $85K, Mr Ford or someone else is paying the difference.

Everyone wants to jump on his driving an extravagant car as a personality flaw, where were they when he was driving a several year old, high mileage entry level mini van?

 

[doug]

where were they when he was driving a several year old, high mileage entry level mini van?

...trying to avoid being killed by him, while stepping off of a streetcar?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

spider:

It doesn't matter whether it is well south of 85K or otherwise - the question at hand is whether it is appropriate for a company to be expensing a vehicle through the chief magistrate, and whether it is appropriate for the chief magistrate to allow himself to be involved in such a scheme.

AoD