[salsa]

The cops are also going after drivers who don't stop at red lights when turning, blocking intersections, and cars that block pedestrian crossings. So much for your argument.

Yeah sure, only on paper.

“The car is not the one committing the offences, it’s the pedestrians,”
- Police spokesman Clint Stibbe​

Photo: link

 

[JWBF]

At the risk of taking this thread completely off topic........I always thought the problem w/the wireless industry in this country was too much competition.

If they had one set of cell towers, one call centre, no marketing, no customer retention or win-back, and that savings went into lower rates (via regulation), you could get both a healthy
ROI for shareholders and a better price for consumers.

When Bell ran the home phone business that way, a line was much cheaper (in inflation adjusted terms) than it is now.

One, Bell is famous for padding bills. Two, wireless is not regulated and probably would not been regulated even if it was a monopoly. Three, there is no competition, free or open market with incumbents colluding to set prices from market forces they themselves create.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

There is a HUGE difference in polls taken when there is no election (and opponent) and when there is. All this poll tells me is that people think Tory has not done anything amazingly stupid or embarrassing (see Rob Ford) and that things are 'ok'. When there is something/someone to compare him against this will change as the City faces huge challenges and it will be interesting to see how he fares against other candidates - some of whom may want further gravy hunts, others may actually want "City Building". and be truthful about how this will be paid for!

People don't pay attention to municipal politics outside of the election period. I don't expect that most Torontonians would even be in a position to discuss major municipal policy issues at the moment. What's of more interest is how Tory's favourability holds up once his record is exposed. And there's a lot for future candidates to attack him on.

 

[expat]

There's something about a respected, eloquently spoken, non drug addicted WASP that makes him more destructive than Rob Ford could ever dream of being. Ford had crazy ideas, but never had intelligence, strategy or temperament to see them implemented. This hydro sale is where I believe Tory's policies will inflict greater long term damage to our city than Ford's.

I agree, although I think this is still more damning of Ford than Tory. Politics, ultimately, is the art of the possible and is about trying to shape and implement policy. Tory is doing that, and Ford couldn't.

Imagine fo a moment that you were a bona-fide supporter of Ford. You truly believed in his message and thought he would be your champion when he arrived at City Hall. You therefore gave him a mandate, invested yourself in him, paid his salary (as did all of us), and in a very real way gave him the power and authority to be Mayor. And what did he do with that? Virtually nothing. Repealed the car registration fee, yelled at potholes, blustered in council. But he accomplished very little of substance related to the mandate you gave him.

He scored points by being brash, making big pronouncements, voting symbolically against the majority. But if he'd truly cared about his constituents and about their agenda, he would have found ways to comprise, persuade, and otherwise work with the system to get things done.

Tory is doing this, where Ford failed utterly. You may not like Tory's agenda, but you have to respect his effectiveness: he is getting done the things he said he would, which is on some level the most we can hope for from our politicians.

 

[Videodrome]

I forgot that council started today.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I agree, although I think this is still more damning of Ford than Tory. Politics, ultimately, is the art of the possible and is about trying to shape and implement policy. Tory is doing that, and Ford couldn't.

Imagine fo a moment that you were a bona-fide supporter of Ford. You truly believed in his message and thought he would be your champion when he arrived at City Hall. You therefore gave him a mandate, invested yourself in him, paid his salary (as did all of us), and in a very real way gave him the power and authority to be Mayor. And what did he do with that? Virtually nothing. Repealed the car registration fee, yelled at potholes, blustered in council. But he accomplished very little of substance related to the mandate you gave him.

He scored points by being brash, making big pronouncements, voting symbolically against the majority. But if he'd truly cared about his constituents and about their agenda, he would have found ways to comprise, persuade, and otherwise work with the system to get things done.

Tory is doing this, where Ford failed utterly. You may not like Tory's agenda, but you have to respect his effectiveness: he is getting done the things he said he would, which is on some level the most we can hope for from our politicians.

I totally appreciate that he's effective. That's precisely why, in my opinion, he's the worst mayor in the history of amalgamated Toronto. He is effectively implementing an agenda that I view as hostile to the future of our city and entirely fiscally wreckless. I'd rather have a mayor who had an even worse agenda, but was unable to implement it.

For the same reason I may view him has terrible, others may view him as the best mayor ever.

 

[jje1000]

TorontoStar@TorontoStar
1 min ago
Poll finds support for Mayor Tory's budget austerity. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

It is an uneven support though:

But while poll respondents overall favoured austerity, they didn’t think it could be applied evenly across agencies.

Half said the TTC can’t afford the cut, compared to 37 per cent who disagreed. Likewise, those who didn’t think the Toronto Public Library could afford to spend less outnumbered those who did.

But a majority — 54 per cent — think Toronto police service can afford to trim its budget compared to 44 per cent who say it cannot.

When asked for the best way to balance the city’s budget, 63 per cent of respondents favoured cutting costs, compared to 26 per cent who favoured raising taxes.

Basically a more nuanced viewpoint than Tory's clearcutting approach.

 

[Soop]

I forgot that council started today.

Here is the link to watch/listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkPzVyCdD3s

They just went on lunch break, but if you skip back to right before they went on break, you can hear Mikey speak on his opinion of the rail deck park.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

It is an uneven support though:


Basically a more nuanced viewpoint than Tory's clearcutting approach.

Future mayoral candidates take note.

 

[ShonTron]

I totally appreciate that he's effective. That's precisely why, in my opinion, he's the worst mayor in the history of amalgamated Toronto. He is effectively implementing an agenda that I view as hostile to the future of our city and entirely fiscally wreckless. I'd rather have a mayor who had an even worse agenda, but was unable to implement it.

For the same reason I may view him has terrible, others may view him as the best mayor ever.

Tory is Ford 2.0, from some of the same who brought you Ford 1.0. The bugs have been worked out (uncouth behaviour, drug and alcohol abuse), the racism was upgraded from overt to systemic, and Ford 2.0 is mostly Pride-compatible. The core functions remain the same, but with a more user-friendly interface and an increase in productivity.

 

[JWBF]

This is just sad...

 

[salsa]

While mayor Tory prefers to waste police resources to harass pedestrians who cross during the countdown, New York City voted to scrap the countdown law.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toront...onto-change-the-pedestrian-countdown-law.html

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/toronto/councillor-diciano-investigation-1.3803304
Justin Di Ciano's ties to Dunpar Homes under investigation
Complaint alleges Di Ciano may have benefited 'financially and politically' from developer

 

[TheTigerMaster]

The punishment for corruption needs to be merciless. Our anti-corruption laws are a joke.

 

[Palma]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/toronto/councillor-diciano-investigation-1.3803304
Justin Di Ciano's ties to Dunpar Homes under investigation
Complaint alleges Di Ciano may have benefited 'financially and politically' from developer

why is this surprise and not necessarily from Di Ciano but I am talking in general about most councillors. Plus how many times does council not make a decision within required time and then developer goes to OMB - obviously councillors do not want to make these decisions which will be on the record and then face the wrath of residents or the developer that paid them off