Toronto The One | 308.6m | 85s | Tridel | Foster + Partners

Christopher Brown said:
There's the rub. The City is booming and yet we can't afford to do better for those that have nothing?
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The actual rub is that you're baselessly criticizing one of the few councillors who actually advocates for having serious, actionable plans to build a city that works for people who will never be able to afford to live in this building.
 
It's always interesting seeing how much hatred and vitriol KWT manages to whip up in people compared to any other councillor in this city. I don't think I ever see the same kind of obsessive, vicious attacks on Justin Di Ciano or Mark Grimes, despite the very sketchy real estate deals and poor advocacy for HBS transit that both have been accused of and which have a far greater effect on more people than KWT going to another event the day of a private development's groundbreaking. Even the other, left-wing downtown councillors like Gord Perks, Mike Layton and Joe Cressy never seem to arouse the same kind of anger as KWT, even though they take similar, "anti-development" stances from time-to-time. Or Josh Colle up in midtown - people roll their eyes when he comes out against a project but I've never seen accused of having an axe to grind.

Interesting too that those six other councillors are white guys and KWT is an Asian woman. Hmmm...
 
wolfewood said:
It's always interesting seeing how much hatred and vitriol KWT manages to whip up in people compared to any other councillor in this city. I don't think I ever see the same kind of obsessive, vicious attacks on Justin Di Ciano or Mark Grimes, despite the very sketchy real estate deals and poor advocacy for HBS transit that both have been accused of and which have a far greater effect on more people than KWT going to another event the day of a private development's groundbreaking. Even the other, left-wing downtown councillors like Gord Perks, Mike Layton and Joe Cressy never seem to arouse the same kind of anger as KWT, even though they take similar, "anti-development" stances from time-to-time. Or Josh Colle up in midtown - people roll their eyes when he comes out against a project but I've never seen accused of having an axe to grind.

Interesting too that those six other councillors are white guys and KWT is an Asian woman. Hmmm...
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I think that you’re seeing what you want to see. I’ve read plenty of rage against Di Ciano (Mark Grimes is just kind of invisible) and I personally harshly criticize Cressy (my councillor) despite aligning almost perfectly ideologically with him. He’s just a terrible city councillor who doesn’t answer his constituents and ignores their input. Layton and Perks give us no reason to criticize them. They’re aligned with the leftist tilt of this forum and are fantastic city councillors.

Are you leaving out Minnan Wong, the most reviled city councillor who also happens to be Asian? Or Nunziata who is often heavily criticized on this forum and who also happens to be a woman? Not everything has to be a racist or misogynist argument. You’re seeing what already fits your pretedermined perception.

Now, back to The One. How deep is the hole @Benito?
 
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wolfewood said:
Interesting too that those six other councillors are white guys and KWT is an Asian woman. Hmmm...
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It is completely inappropriate to accuse people of racism or sexism without sufficient evidence. It is also inappropriate to use such baseless accusations to bully people into agreeing with you.

The reason KWT gets so much flack is likely because she is the Councillor in a very busy part of the city where a lot is happening, and she is therefore more visible. I suspect that anyone in this ward would get more flack than most other Councillors.
 
Hey, if the shoe fits... The examples I gave were the ones that mimicked KWT's position as a councillor in a development-heavy ward (all 6) or as a member of the council left (Perks, Layton and Cressy). KWT has been the source of multiple brawls in this thread, as well as in other threads. Cressy barely registers except in relation to the ORCA-Rail Deck controversy. Some forumers are certainly obsessive in their distaste for those councillors but I find it's 1-2 usually who have an axe to grind with their local councillor. Nothing on the same level as KWT. Certainly most users seem to be smart enough not to use outright misogynistic and racist comments about her but she takes way more vitriol than any other councillor on this forum, without a doubt.
 
In fairness, nobody in the city has received as much development as KWT's ward.

She is sitting on $60,000,000 Section 37 money.

Giorgio Mammoliti's Ward has $6,000 Section 37 money.

Anyway, why stop at Asian and Woman? KWT is also gay, and these comments are obviously seeping with homophobia. :oops:
 
I am not entirely sure that KWT gets more vitriol on these forums than other Councillors (some of the worst Councillors do not have much development happening in their wards, so the vitriol tends to be saved for the terrible Councillors thread, which not everyone reads). Among the downtown Councillors, maybe KWT gets more flack. She is not necessarily as smooth and packaged as a Cressy or a Layton (I personally think that's a plus for KWT), so perhaps she more easily gets under some people's skin? I don't know.

I can't say that I have seen any implicit racism or homophobia towards KWT on these forums, or in this thread in particular, so I can't speak to that. It does seem, however, that criticism of her sometimes tends to imply she is overly emotional in coming to her positions - all the talk of her holding grudges, unreasonably refusing to let go, etc. - in contrast to her simply being incorrect (e.g. basing her positions on bad policy, cherry-picking facts, etc.). This does tend to be a manner in which woman politicians are sometimes criticized in a way that male politicians are usually not. As I have been reading this thread on The One over time, this issue has struck me more than once. I am not suggesting that anyone here was being intentionally sexist, but merely that we should be cognizant of such issues.

Personally, I'd like to think that KWT's position on the One going forward/post-rezoning, whether it was not attending the ribbon-cutting, or future issues (e.g. dealing with construction impacts on nearby residents, street occupation permit extensions, etc.) could be chalked up to more than petulance over the Stollery's demolition years ago.
 
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For the record I think her orientation, gender and ethnicity is a valuable, fresh and much needed POV.
Any minor bias I may occasionally harbour is related to a previous life of coffee shop management and has absolutely nothing to do with gender orientation or ethnicity.
 
Skeezix said:
I can't say that I have seen any implicit racism or homophobia towards KWT on these forums, so I can't speak to that. It does seem, however, that criticism of her sometimes tends to imply she is overly emotional in coming to her positions - all the talk of her holding grudges, unreasonably refusing to let go, etc. - in contrast to her simply being incorrect (e.g. basing her positions on bad policy, cherry-picking facts, etc.). This does tend to be a manner in which woman politicians are sometimes criticized in a way that male politicians are usually not. As I have been reading this thread on The One over time, this issue has struck me more than once. I am not suggesting that anyone here was being intentionally sexist, but merely that we should be cognizant of such issues.
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Yup, KWT is rarely taken seriously on UT as a politician with coherent policy positions that are worthy of critique. It's an interesting contrast with her male downtown colleagues. I can't say I always agree with her, but she is a fine councillor and a professional and deserves to be treated as such.
 
smably said:
Yup, KWT is rarely taken seriously on UT as a politician with coherent policy positions that are worthy of critique. It's an interesting contrast with her male downtown colleagues. I can't say I always agree with her, but she is a fine councillor and a professional and deserves to be treated as such.
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Never understood the hate for her either. While I don't always agree with her, I would happily vote for her, and she is a valuable member on council. I've had several conversations with her over the years, and she comes off as very intelligent and competent. That cannot be said for many Councillors I have met and see in the media. It is almost unfortunate that the new ward boundaries mean that she likely will not be my ward Councillor after the next election, as she will likely run in the new Ward 25, and I am in the new Ward 22.
 
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This morning.
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