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WislaHD said:
That is not fair.

Japan allowed private sector to build rapid transit lines, and then gave those companies the land surrounding the lines that they built. The end result is that those private companies built massive mall-office-residential complexes at every station and throughout the whole stretch of the lines they own and operate. Meaning that people live, work and shop entirely within these complexes that these companies have built, while paying at the farebox to these companies as they travel on their rapid transit lines.

Tokyo is the only model in the world where privatization of transit has worked out, and the results are admirable.

Here in Toronto, we are not even building anything on top of stations along the Eglinton Crosstown. So @Videodrome 's question is legitimate; "Why can't we have nice things like that?"
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Here in Toronto, and Ontario, politicians try to sell off those properties to make a very short term gain (months, rarely in years), instead of thinking long term (decades, very rarely for the next century). The TTC should be redeveloping its property around the Davisville Station, and other stations for an income stream coming in from leases.
 
I love this line, it’s the go to line for Flagg’s Follies and the remnants of The Nation, “I’ve always said City Hall does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem ”, even if there is a point(s) it kills the validity. Anyway, SAL’s twattle is good for a giggle or two.

Forget revenue tools, try reining in spending
Buried in the bowels of a May report to Mayor John Tory’s hand-picked executive committee — discussing the city’s long-term financial direction — is a very telling statement about council’s need to rein in spending.

The report urges councillors and the mayor to reduce costs before “imposing any additional financial burden on Toronto residents and businesses.”

“It is imperative that divisions and agencies, working with council direction, explore efficiencies and cost reductions in order to create resources for other investment priorities,” the report says.

Sadly, as the report also states, the city has realized $300 million in “efficiency-related” savings since 2010 and eliminated 1,374 positions (all during the Rob Ford era), but since the savings were “controversial,” they were “at least partially reversed” in subsequent budgets.
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http://www.torontosun.com/2016/06/05/forget-revenue-tools-try-reining-in-spending
 
Un-freaking believable. Actually, not really.

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Didn't KPMG do their big study not that long ago and didn't find any smoking guns? How much did that cost? And how much is it going to cost to dig this up again? Perhaps the best efficiency would be to stop looking for non-existant efficiences!
 
Juan_Lennon416 said:
Well...use our tax dollars properly and many people in the city will gladly pay more...including myself!
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Unfortunately, it's the "what" to pay more for, that is the problem. There are those who want each and every expressway that that planned in this city to be built. There are those who want no more expressways, but rather see all the transit and bicycle plans built. I'm in the latter group.
 
PinkLucy said:
Didn't KPMG do their big study not that long ago and didn't find any smoking guns? How much did that cost? And how much is it going to cost to dig this up again? Perhaps the best efficiency would be to stop looking for non-existant efficiences!
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The greatest efficiency of all would be to get rid of politicians who keep harping about efficiencies. These pricks who want to needlessly plunge our city into a financial mess were more than happy to waste our money on their pet projects like the Scarborough subway and Gardiner expressway. If they really cared about fiscal responsibility, they just need to look themselves in the mirror to see who's the real problem.
 
salsa said:
The greatest efficiency of all would be to get rid of politicians who keep harping about efficiencies. These pricks who want to needlessly plunge our city into a financial mess were more than happy to waste our money on their pet projects like the Scarborough subway and Gardiner expressway. If they really cared about fiscal responsibility, they just need to look themselves in the mirror to see who's the real problem.
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Actually the real way to save money is the Police budget.

But for Conservative voters the Police are a sacred cow.

Tory keeps playing the 'find more efficiencies' card because that plays well with Conservative voters, who live in a dream world and think that there is always more fat to be cut from government agencies.
 
W. K. Lis said:
The city (including the 905) should have the land transfer taxes for non-Canadian residents. If you're not going to live in it (in other words, buying a condo for investment purposes but still live outside of Canada), you pay the land transfer tax.
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But they do, right? If one buys a house or condo, one pays the LTT upon purchase. You don't get an exemption because you're a non-citizen.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
But they do, right? If one buys a house or condo, one pays the LTT upon purchase. You don't get an exemption because you're a non-citizen.
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Don't know how they handle the "first-time" home buyer exception clause in such a case, which allows new home buyers to avoid the LTT. Wouldn't a "new Canadian" be exempt from paying the LTT. But what about if they don't move in?
 
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