Rob Ford's Toronto

[pattycakes]

With the Fords so totally cornered and not willing to admit defeat, get ready to see some of the dirtiest political shenanigans this city has ever seen over the next few weeks. A play to dissolve the executive committee, fire Blair, the sky's the limit... and someone's knuckles are about to get bloodied.

Ford's office is now releasing FOI requests for St. Patrick's Day 2012 that they were holding onto over the summer. Why were they released now?
Stuff is just going to keep coming at the Fords; FOI requests being released, Project Traveller warrant information, Brazen 2 wiretaps, and so on.
Any attempt by Ford to play dirty at City Hall will be the final nail in his coffin with "right" leaning councillors, even Michael Thompson thinks he should step down.

 

[TrickyRicky]

Too early to say, and it might be a statistical fluke but it appears Ford's approval rating is actually climbing not falling post video. I go back to my comment about the victim mentality, A large portion of the population, perhaps even a majority, walk around feeling victimized by society etc. To the extent that Ford is portrayed as a victim or is an embodiment of some people's feelings of victimization or marginalization, his support will not erode.

 

[Timbit]

Wouldn't it be something if the Mr. Blair who is a close associate of Mr. DiBattista is related to Chief Blair - perhaps his brother?

That would be the ticket to an OPP / RCMP investigation. It seems like a conflict of interest to have Blair running the investigation.

Also, anyone know the name of the club that DiBattista owns? I don't recall there being any after hours clubs along that stretch of bloor street. My only guesses are "On The Rocks" which is across from the Swiss Chalet or the old Italian pasta restaurant that recently got turned into a lounge. The former has been open for years but never seemed that busy.

 

[animatronic]

Ford's office is now releasing FOI requests for St. Patrick's Day 2012 that they were holding onto over the summer. Why were they released now?

It's like in business - if you're going to have a bad quarter make sure it's a really bad quarter. Take out all the trash at once so you can get back on message.

 

[animatronic]

That would be the ticket to an OPP / RCMP investigation. It seems like a conflict of interest to have Blair running the investigation.

Also, anyone know the name of the club that DiBattista owns? I don't recall there being any after hours clubs along that stretch of bloor street. My only guesses are "On The Rocks" which is across from the Swiss Chalet or the old Italian pasta restaurant that recently got turned into a lounge. The former has been open for years but never seemed that busy.

There's an "apartment" on top of Big Papa with a huge outdoor section and a covered back fire escape - can see it on Google Maps. Has loud parties in the summer. That's the most likely candidate, with On the Rocks being the other potential one.

 

[chuckbot]

This needs to be a miniseries from all perspectives. Dixon Bloods, police, Blair, Lisi, Ford, the Star, Gawker. I see a 13 episode miniseries. Produced by David Simon in my wildest dreams.

And perhaps starring Woody Harrelson in the title role?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH6EyMpUWC4

 

[LowPolygon]

Too early to say, and it might be a statistical fluke but it appears Ford's approval rating is actually climbing not falling post video. I go back to my comment about the victim mentality, A large portion of the population, perhaps even a majority, walk around feeling victimized by society etc. To the extent that Ford is portrayed as a victim or is an embodiment of some people's feelings of victimization or marginalization, his support will not erode.

No good data is going to come out of the maelstrom of the last few days, and anyone polling at the moment is just wasting money.

What's certain is that the heads of Ford Nation are absolutely spinning with the barrage of bad news and bizarre and crazy details that have emerged, and in their roiling confusion that have simply retreated to their base instinct and first principle: which is to support their man no matter what. This is only because, while we are right in the thick of it, a lot of them don't know what to think.

This will all change, in part because even the die hardest of the die hards are having to digest a very simple fact: that Ford lied to them about the video.

 

[Irishmonk]

This needs to be a miniseries from all perspectives. Dixon Bloods, police, Blair, Lisi, Ford, the Star, Gawker. I see a 13 episode miniseries. Produced by David Simon in my wildest dreams.

As much as I love David Simon I think this story needs to be told from a local's point of view. Trouble is I can't think of any local writer/creator teams that work at that level (or even a notch below, cuz, let's face it, nobody else in the world works at David Simon's level when it comes to urban tapestry type of narrative storytelling.) Maybe some combination of Michael Ondaatje, George F Walker and the folks behind "Slings and Arrows" could pull it off.

 

[W. K. Lis]

At the moment, there is no recall available, so only Rob himself can only remove himself from office.

In the meantime, over at the commonground website there is an idea, see link, to Allow recalls of Municipal politicians. Add you vote to that idea. Either FOR or AGAINST.

 

[newearthling]

As much as I love David Simon I think this story needs to be told from a local's point of view. Trouble is I can't think of any local writer/creator teams that work at that level (or even a notch below, cuz, let's face it, nobody else in the world works at David Simon's level when it comes to urban tapestry type of narrative storytelling.) Maybe some combination of Michael Ondaatje, George F Walker and the folks behind "Slings and Arrows" could pull it off.

What about David Cronenburg?

 

[animatronic]

What a difference a week makes... Looking back to last weekend's Stintz announcement it's pretty clear her team knew that shit was about to go down. Her only hope is if Rob Ford doesn't run, so they clearly expected/hoped he would implode during the campaign. However, she needed to be in the running before Ford exited so it wouldn't look opportunistic. Looks like her plans had to move up to get in front of the story - there's no other reason why last week was the 'best' time to throw her hat into the ring.

 

[guitarchitect]

What a difference a week makes... Looking back to last weekend's Stintz announcement it's pretty clear her team knew that shit was about to go down. Her only hope is if Rob Ford doesn't run, so they clearly expected/hoped he would implode during the campaign. However, she needed to be in the running before Ford exited so it wouldn't look opportunistic. Looks like her plans had to move up to get in front of the story - there's no other reason why last week was the 'best' time to throw her hat into the ring.

oh my god - are you suggesting that a politician was opportunistic?

 

[LowPolygon]

So how long until this gets made into a movie or tv series? The truth wouldn't have to be stretched too much to make a great show

Sadly, the likelihood of this story being botched by a Canadian television production company is very great. I fear we are in for some awful anodyne E1-style "docudrama" that sucks the marrow and guts out of the narrative. The story of the Fords is too intense, bizarre and tragic, and there is zero evidence that a Canadian screenplay or director would ever be able to capture it in all its perverse insane glory.
Leaving aside the obvious--Coen Brothers, Aronofsky etc, if we are truly blessed, an amazing script ends up in the hands of someone like Lars Von Trier or Michael Haneke.

 

[Irishmonk]

What about David Cronenburg?

I think Cronenberg is a fine filmmaker but I just don't think his style lends itself to long format serialized television which requires a lot of texture and richness of detail--esp with regards to dialogue and character development--something I just don't see a lot of in Cronenberg's work. The Ford saga would require a more novelistic approach, a "Dickensian Aspect" if you will. But of course this is entirely subjective. It also may be getting a little off topic. Sorry mods.

 

[MisterF]

At the moment, there is no recall available, so only Rob himself can only remove himself from office.

There's no real recall process because Ford has no real power. If he doesn't resign Council will ignore him how more than ever. A recall isn't really necessary with a weak mayor system. That said, he's still damaging the city by his very presence in the mayor's chair and the sooner he's gone the better.