[Northern Light]

Back to Mr. Penalosa's campaign planks.

His latest is 'Mondays with the Mayor'.......

In which he proposes, if elected, to travel to a different ward each Monday evening and hold a town hall and Q&A from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

He also proposes to bring a senior manager/representative from every City division with him, in tow to listen to people's concerns.

***

On a certain level this is performative and populist...........but I actually do see appeal in dragging senior staff out to listen to real people highlighting what needs to be done in their area and what does not.

That could be a vehicle for enhanced accountability. I wouldn't overstate the value; but neither would I dismiss it.

 

[picard102]

My experience with town halls and public consultation meetings, is that reasonable people are a minority that attend. Good optics, but a massive waste of time to hear people complain about parking and EM fields.

 

[Northern Light]

My experience with town halls and public consultation meetings, is that reasonable people are a minority that attend. Good optics, but a massive waste of time to hear people complain about parking and EM fields.

That certainly can be the case; I find they vary widely; if there's something controversial going on be it a development application or a bike lane (controversial to some), then the opponents of that
will often co opt such a meeting and some measure of ranting is to be expected.

But other meetings can be mostly constructive; though sometimes a bit tedious.

 

[afransen]

My experience with town halls and public consultation meetings, is that reasonable people are a minority that attend. Good optics, but a massive waste of time to hear people complain about parking and EM fields.

I'm expecting it to be like Parks and Rec.

 

[Videodrome]

So, how many people bothered to challenge John Tory?

 

[Northern Light]

So, how many people bothered to challenge John Tory?

Candidates for Mayor:

List of Candidates & Third Party Advertisers

The period to file to become a candidate or to become a third party advertiser for the next municipal election began May 2, 2022. The following list contains website links provided by candidates and third party advertisers to the City Clerk. The City Clerk provides these links to the public...

www.toronto.ca

 

[Videodrome]

Less people than I figured would run.

 

[afransen]

So who are the credible contenders?

 

[picard102]

Acton and Gil are the only two I've seen talked about so far. But I wouldn't say either are credible contenders.

 

[adma]

Acton and Gil are the only two I've seen talked about so far. But I wouldn't say either are credible contenders.

Climenhaga would count as semi-credible on the back of her '08 run, as well.

 

[Northern Light]

John Tory is out w/his first campaign promise, and its on housing.

Need to see the backgrounder/guts on this one..........

But #3..............oh, that would be interesting, if your OPA/ZBA/SPA were automatically lapsed if you didn't use them with 'x' period........... @ProjectEnd is bound to have thoughts on that one!

 

[Northern Light]

I'm muddling through reports to fetch the details for the above; from this CBC report:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tory-housing-five-point-plan-2022-election-1.6559449

***

 

[ProjectEnd]

John Tory is out w/his first campaign promise, and its on housing.

Need to see the backgrounder/guts on this one..........

But #3..............oh, that would be interesting, if your OPA/ZBA/SPA were automatically lapsed if you didn't use them with 'x' period........... @ProjectEnd is bound to have thoughts on that one!

I wonder what the intent behind that particular wording, the reasoning behind the proposed policy and the timeline and finality of 'cancellation' would be. Developers don't pursue projects for any number of reasons so having a blanket, X-years, lapsing on all entitlements just seems like lame, gimmicky, grandstanding, electioneering. Something we could surely never accuse John "Smart Track in 7 Years" Tory of doing...

 

[Northern Light]

I wonder what the intent behind that particular wording, the reasoning behind the proposed policy and the timeline and finality of 'cancellation' would be. Developers don't pursue projects for any number of reasons so having a blanket, X-years, lapsing on all entitlements just seems like lame, gimmicky, grandstanding, electioneering. Something we could surely never accuse John "Smart Track in 7 Years" Tory of doing...

I wonder about those same things........

What I might like, in theory, is that this jives with the idea I've had that an OPA/ZBA etc. should not be considered an opened-ended entitlement, but instead, a conditional contract, if you build exactly what you proposed to get to this 'entitlement' you may have your entitlement, if you change your mind, the City can too.

Of course, I have no expectation that this will actually occur at all; let alone evolve in the direction of my desire.............but its a passing amusement just the same.

The one added value I would see here, is the idea that it would effectively crack down on the value-add only, not a real proposal, proposals, if the timeline were tight enough, one would risk losing the investment. This might also limit some third-party assemblies from viability which might in turn knock down prices a smidge (land prices); but again, I'm not thinking that's at all likely.

I lead with the idea that this doesn't actually happen; and in the alternative, that it does, with sufficiently generous timelines and loopholes that it changes not much at all.

 

[JasonParis]

#3 stood out for me too. I think NYC has a similar law to fend-off speculative buying and waiting. Well, at least that's what a friend told me once.