Rob Ford's Toronto

[aghost]

Doug is getting paid. He claims he donates his salary to charity.

Random thought: like the rofo football foundation?

I don't think he'd be that stupid, but you never know with these idiots.

 

[mdash]

Doug is getting paid. He claims he donates his salary to charity.

You'd expect the Fords to make at least a bit of a show of making the donations, wouldn't you?

 

[PinkLucy]

Random thought: like the rofo football foundation?

I don't think he'd be that stupid, but you never know with these idiots.

That foundation is legit, so there would be no problem if he did

 

[Cooper]

Interesting exchange between Daniel Stein and Enzo DiMatteo on twitter this a.m. about Brazen II and the prospect of charges. Are the cops/Crowning nailing down their case with the latest warrant applications, or just shaking tree in hopes something — anything — will come loose? DiMatteo is optimistic, Stein, thinks the moment has passed. What's mood around here?

Here's a link (I hope) to the basics of the exchange. There's more, but it kind of deteriorates as it goes along.

https://twitter.com/yitzstein/status/436557340548943872

 

[greenegg]

How much you think a coke addict spends on drugs per day? I believe it's pretty expensive, no? My brother is an ex-addict but he doesn't like to talk about this kind of things now.

Have a friend who used to be addicted to crack. Would spend a few hundred a day on it.

 

[greenegg]

And powder's way more expensive, no?

I'm not sure, to be honest.

 

[casita]

Breaking: Doug Ford just said he'll be making an announcement re: "provincial aspirations" at 11 am.

"...you can't put your butt on two sides of the fence."

How eloquent!

 

[Cooper]

Interesting, but truth is no one in media really has a clue about what police are after to begin with. Cops aren't dropping any hints so it's all just a guessing game.

That's my take, too. We just don't know. I just find it interesting to see opposite opinions opining on the sliver of facts we do have.

 

[retailestate]

You mean - if Rob Ford loses we might be rid of slob and dug for a while?

 

[JasonParis]

Interestingly, the "I hate the war on Ford" Facebook page started banning sane people from their page first thing this morning - if I'm not mistaken it was before the shit hit the fan. Coincidence - maybe.

They ban sane people daily from what I've witnessed.

It's probably all part of Diane Ford's political masterplan. Replace Hudak with Doug at next leadership convention. Replace entire city council with Ford-friendly allies in October. Makes sense to me...

I don't doubt this is Diane's plan. What I doubt is that any of it is realistic now or ever.

As well, I think we truly need to get rid of the city names from all official Toronto documentation. No more Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, York, etc. Wards should be named after local neighbourhoods *only*. We are one city of little neighbourhoods, we should start acting like it.

I see the logic, but don't think it really solves anything except forcing amalgamation even further down people's throats. I actually think it may be better for a very mild de-amalgamation and let some of the former cities have a few more powers again. Sort of a four borough system (much like NYC's five) with York and East York likely joining Toronto.

 

[retailestate]

And I just saw the video from Doug's presser this morning. It did seem like some sort of "crushing" thing happened behind the scenes. Rob had that whinny "its not my fault" thing going on with his voice too...

 

[JWBF]

We need a national transportation plan, and dedicated operating funds from all levels of government. Maybe then we'd get high-speed transit to Montreal. When I went to Paris I was astounded by how seamless transit is there. A trip to Fontainebleau, and we only had to buy tickets from one agency for local transit in Paris, transit to Fontainebleau, and local transit in Fontainebleau. If I were to travel from Toronto to Orangeville (a similar distance), I'd need to buy tickets from three different agencies, none of whom cooperate with each other in any meaningful way. It's insane how little attention we've paid to general mobility of the non-driving populace here.

Yep, that's what the provincial Move plans are all about, bringing local, municipal, and regional together. The problem is transit as a political chip, to be played in hopes of votes, instead of doing the job.

As well, I think we truly need to get rid of the city names from all official Toronto documentation. No more Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, York, etc. Wards should be named after local neighbourhoods *only*. We are one city of little neighbourhoods, we should start acting like it.

Agreed. I blame Canada Post for causing the biggest problem by still promoting the use of former City/borough names when addressing mail; what are postal codes for?

I think the Harris cuts did more than anything else to polarize the former cities against one another. The amalgamation had little to do with it (as all former cities had pretty much the same services and taxes anyhow). The cuts that were packaged along made people feel the amalgamation was a failure and the problem was Harris cutting funding to the TTC, downloading provincial roadways and services to municipalities, etc. The negativity then focused on the area with the most prosperity: "downtown". Whether Mike Harris was a political genius, or a self-serving a-hole, time will tell.

Cons attempting to increase division of residents, and gain more Con seats in Toronto municipal elections. The problem we face no matter what is not having the proper structure at a municipal level, such as local by-laws. This also still promotes the former municipal lines.

Harris was not a political genius, just someone who had a plan to consolidate power for his party, and failed. Downloading to "balance" the books, he codified resistance to his desires.

---

Anyway, the writing was on the wall about a MPP run for Dougie, he, and by extension, Robbie's professional/personal career, has sullied Dougie's reputation as a "businessman" that is stable and responsible. Case in point, Dougie, in one breath, states how close his family is, especially with his Robbie, and then attempts to use "deniable plausibility".

Robbie's an addict, just like Kathy, but only Kathy admits Robbie has a problem. Being an apologist, and contradicted on a constant basis does not promote stability.

Would anyone in their right mind, other than family, offer any of the Fords a job?

 

[Cooper]

Ya, me too. My guess is from watching The Wire judges have pretty high standards for granting warrants. They wouldn't hand them out if it was just a fishing expedition. So cops must've had pretty good reason to need to know Ford's whereabouts to be granted access to his GPS coordinates. I actually think it would be a boondoggle if they used up the amount of resources they have (Cessna, top cops) just to try to prove that he told Sandro to make some threatening phone calls. Must be something more.

I have no doubt there's more. The question is: What? I have a hard time imagining a serious criminal conspiracy coordinated by RoFo. He's just not smart enough to be a shot-caller. He doesn't even do that in his own mayoralty. (About the only place we've seen Rob take charge is behind the bench of a high school football team.) That said, it seems pretty clear Rob is closely connected to people doing bad things on his behalf. I hope we eventually get to see what he role he played in all this.

 

[mdash]

Interesting, but truth is no one in media really has a clue about what police are after to begin with. Cops aren't dropping any hints so it's all just a guessing game.

I'm struck by DiMatteo's suggestion that John Tory's actions could be read as some kind of sign relating to the investigation. If the press is really on the outside, why would DiMatteo assume that a candidate would be that far in? You'd think if politicians knew anything, the press wouldn't be far behind.

 

[Cooper]

And I just saw the video from Doug's presser this morning. It did seem like some sort of "crushing" thing happened behind the scenes. Rob had that whinny "its not my fault" thing going on with his voice too...

I've been wondering about this all day. Doug looked like he'd just been dumped by his first girlfriend and never saw it coming. My guess is the party told him he wasn't welcome and, thanks to his egotistical ways, couldn't believe/understand the rejection. Or, perhaps, he finally clued in that he messed up, big time. Whatever the case, I don't think Doug made his announcement because he wanted to. If his true ambition was to run Rob's campaign, he would have been breathing fire, not looking like someone with a wedgie.