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Rob Ford was killing it tonight on the The Agenda Mayors Debate. Smitherman can't say anything of substance. Pants has great clothes. Sarah needs a stylist. And Rocco blew his shot. He had some momentum, but not being an experienced city politician like Pants and Ford, he just dropped it.
 
Any mention of business property tax rates during the rate?
 
This from Torontoist.

" We need to see more of the old Furious George!

When Smitherman was a Minister he had heat and passion. He would attack, yell, kick, scream. He called his opponents " terrorists. " He was like a ball of fire! Unstoppable. Uncontrollable. A real wild card! And fearless.

I suspect his aides are telling him to play it safe. Appear calm. Appear cool. But George would do well not to heed the word of his consultants. If anything he should take a strip out of Rob Ford's book.

Look at Ford. He shoots from the hip. He tells it like it is. And the more he plays this card, the higher he goes in the polls. It must freak out his handlers, but its working. Like it worked for New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

As he has no particular vision or policy, Smitherman needs to re-brand himself as the George Smitherman we all knew and loved. Smitherman doesn't need a vision or policy. He's a liberal. And that enough for most people. He can come up with policy and visions after he's elected.

He needs to get back to his roots! Show some emotion. Cry. Scream. Swear! Lay down the law. This is how Smitherman will win this election. He has to be himself!

Once Smitherman explodes on camera, watch him rise in the polls. And watch Ford run for the hills! "
 
Mystic Point said:
Rob Ford was killing it tonight on the The Agenda Mayors Debate. Smitherman can't say anything of substance. Pants has great clothes. Sarah needs a stylist. And Rocco blew his shot. He had some momentum, but not being an experienced city politician like Pants and Ford, he just dropped it.
Click to expand...

Wow. I feel like I watched a different show or something.

Thomson looked out of place and irrelevant. Rossi was almost charismatic, but overall seemed smug while having nothing original to offer. Neither came off as deserving more than the 10-15% they're polling.

Ford stuck to his talking points alright, and kept getting called on his apparent failure of 3rd grade math. He concluded the show by appearing extraordinarily petty and childish, being incapable of saying a single decent thing about his leading opponent. Rossi dressed him down solidly in the final minute and made him look like a complete ass.

Smitheman was bland, mildly defensive, bland...and more bland. I'm not sure why he was even there. If he's not going to actually say anything he should give up his spot to Achampong.

The clear winner in my mind was Joey Pants. It looks like he may have finally found his angle...positivity! Imagine that! He was the only candidate that came across as actually liking the city. While the rest of them were busy bitching about irrelevancies, he was extolling our recent growth, and looking forward to continuing that growth through continued investment. His whole thing about the 'slash and burn' mentality of his opponents was perfect, though a bit too quietly spoken. It would really help if he was a stronger speaker.

Obviously, a lot of people think our city is circling the drain and are willing to support otherwise unsuitable candidates just to prove that point. But if you ask me, Toronto is pretty awesome, and has been getting awesomer, and can continue to get even awesomer still. If Pants can continue pushing that, anyone sharing that opinion should be drifting Pants-ward. Not to mention the fact that he is now the sole left-wing candidate, as Smitherman continues drifting to center in a vain attempt to appease the Ford-ites. I predict the (mostly left-wing) undecideds will start shifting toward Pantalone, and poll-by-poll slowly pulling the anyone-but-Ford votes with them.

I'm seeing a pretty tight Pants v. Ford race over the last month. It should come down to whether or not self-respecting intelligent conservatives can stomach voting for Ford, and whether or not so-called liberals can resist the lure of lower taxes. Interesting indeed.
 
Hey, it's finally here. The Rob Ford Transit Plan:

robfordtransitplan.png


Also includes: Removal of some downtown streetcar lines; 700 million dollars for improvements to roads; off-road bike lanes.

Full document: http://www.robfordformayor.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Transportation-Plan3B1.pdf
 
GraphicMatt said:
Hey, it's finally here. The Rob Ford Transit Plan:

robfordtransitplan.png


Also includes: Removal of some downtown streetcar lines; 700 million dollars for improvements to roads; off-road bike lanes.

Full document: http://www.robfordformayor.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Transportation-Plan3B1.pdf
Click to expand...
Wow, the number of mistakes in their is shocking. Do the people who write this even live in Toronto?

Why does Rob Ford think the BD line currently ends at Main Street?
Would you really build a subway station at McCowan if you build one at Scarborough Town Centre?
Why would you build a Willowdale station between Bayview and Bessarion?
How could you possibly extend the existing BD subway up north to the existing Lawrence East station; it would add about $300-million to the cost.
We've just purchased enough buses so that few new ones are required by 2015, why would you need to replace them with "clean buses"?
How do streetcars create gridlock and pollution - that has to be about the most absurd claim yet in this election?
How will eliminating express buses improve service? I can't even fathom the logic behind that one.
If you move road construction so it's only done at night, how come it won't cost more $?
It notes that Smart Card implementation is already in TTC budget. This just isn't true. How come a Councillor doesn't know this?

The sheer lunacy of this plan is shocking. Completely cancelling the Eglinton line? No transit to Malvern. No Don Mills line. No additional subway capacity downtown. Removing streetcars from downtown streets?

Then there's the claim that subway is 3-times faster than Transit City vehicles. Let's see, if Transit City vehicles run from 23 km/hr to 31 km/hr then that makes subways run from 69 km/hr to 91 km/hr? Rob Ford has to be the biggest liar in Toronto politics!
 
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Transit plans should never be political nevermind an election issue. The issue should be to properly fund our transit systems and let them decide (with some consultation with planning departments) where and how to deploy transit service.

The experience of the past 20 - 30 years has been that transit projects have become pet projects of politicians looking to score points with their constituents (See Sheppard, Spadina ext) with little regard to the network as a whole.
 
GraphicMatt said:
Hey, it's finally here. The Rob Ford Transit Plan:
Click to expand...

Just shows how out of touch downtowners might be.... if the voters of scarborough think his plan is credible, it would be EXACTLY what they want.

To connect the entire network as subway has always been something that the city needed.. not patchwork of streetcar and subway.

It is confusing that he thinks VIC park to kennedy is new.

NIFTS, perhaps you should venture north of eglinton. They are building a huge condo @ consumers, and it's a corridor to many residential buildings, and north york homes.

at first look, I simply saw the outline, and was convinced this is a MUCH better plan.

And why wouln't you connect downsview to shepperd? All the students from scarborough travelling to york university, Seneca, it's needed.

It's funny they continue to call Rob Ford the Mayor of the people, it seems like he's the only one that's tapped into those that ACTUALLY RIDE the subway, as opposed to a bunch of cyclists south of bloor.



p.S. maybe he should rip up the street cars and make everyone 'cycle' lol.
 
Ignoring the social benefits of transit (his plan calls for much less transit), it makes little fiscal sense. He's adding huge operational costs to the TTC with little additional farebox revenue to make up for it.
 
I just wish transit was something that was constantly being worked on instead of plans being drafted by a mayor and then being scrapped by the next one by the time it comes to build it.
At this point, I just wish anything got built. This city needs anything so badly that I've lost the energy to even debate what that anything should be.

now where is that frowny face.... :(
 
By 2015? Is he nuts? Transit City was announced three years ago, 2007, after initial designs. Only after 3 years of more complete designs and agreements with the federal and provincial governments have they only now started. He just drew some lines on a piece of paper, nothing more. It would take more years of design and more agreements before we can go on with Rob Ford's "plan". He does not want any public transit in Toronto, just someplace to park his single-occupant car, nothing more.
 
I see Smitherman is now promising to a tax freeze. I would prefer an expense freeze and reduction first. If expenses and future liabilities aren't frozen or reduced, you can't freeze the revenue stream.
 
I have to say, there are some positive elements in Rob Ford's plan. I'm sure those in Scarborough loves it, it takes all the Metrolinx funding for Transit City and VIVA and spends the entire thing for 2 subways to Scarborough Centre. I don't know how he plans to get that through council though ...

But perhaps the best aspect, is his proposal to build not one bridge to the Toronto Islands. But two!!!! And not only that, but he'll do it, and build 100 km of 2-m wide paved bike paths for only $50 million.

Perhaps I have misjudged Rob Ford, perhaps he isn't the mathematically-challenged idiot I thought he was.
 
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