[nfitz]

I desperately hope that one of these days some humiliated spouse will whack the guy with a frying pan. I'd give good money to see that.

What about whacking the guy with a golf club. Did Margaret Wente learn nothing from Tiger Woods?

 

[Glen]

You forgot that unlike other municipalities, Toronto actually provides services. Why does Peel have a 21 year waiting list for community housing, compared to 6 years in Toronto?

I accounted for that. Again, Toronto spends more and charges less. It would be one thing to more taxes than your peers because of a unique burden. But to complain about the burden while paying less is just whining. Residents have not felt the burden. Related to the welfare and housing issue, perhaps if the city stopped killing opportunity (jobs) with its high non residential tax rates it would have less of a burden.

 

[kEiThZ]

Something was bound to happen sooner or later. There were signs. Remember Giambrone's threatening email to Palacio?

 

[Eug]

What about whacking the guy with a golf club. Did Margaret Wente learn nothing from Tiger Woods?

Yeah, but she didn't actually get to see that. It was just implied, with some evidence later of the aftermath.

Seriously though, I would have loved to see the GF call a reporter the day after his resignation to declare that he's leaving the lying bastard. That would have made the whole ordeal complete.

I have to hand it to Mr. G though. These are those most interesting 13 days of a Toronto mayoral race that I can remember. So even if he can no longer be a joke candidate, he did that job in spades in the two weeks he was there.

P.S. It seems Ashley Madison is getting some pretty good free advertising out of this. I had totally forgotten about them until it was mentioned in this thread after the big Mr. G brouhaha, and now the press is talking about them again too.

 

[adma]

Seriously though, I would have loved to see the GF call a reporter the day after his resignation to declare that he's leaving the lying bastard. That would have made the whole ordeal complete.

Well, not quite; he could have done an R. Budd Dwyer number on himself...

 

[Eug]

Well, not quite; he could have done an R. Budd Dwyer number on himself...

Ouch. For harsh posts, I'll have to say you win with that one.

 

[js97]

I'm still trying to understand how the word 'progressive' became synomomous with poor fiscal planning and incompetence in project managing? If anything, Giambrone would be the least progressive candidate following Miller's footsteps.

And are people not tired of hearing city hall deferring blame to Provincial and Federal govs for our fiscal issues? It would be the equivelent of me saying 'my parents are not supporting me, hence, my position in this financial rut that I can't get out of it unless drastic measures are taken. So I might as well continue until the bank comes collecting' How about local governments start taking responsibility for their spending and put some accountability on people for delivering projects on time?



And as for the dufferin street job, I do have to say it was well done by Giambrone. Now the question is if it will actually get done in the next 5 years? This project has been going on for how long? At least 3 years?

 

[Eug]

To be fair, a lot of the city's issues are directly because of downloading from the province to the city.

That said, that's no excuse for City Council's history of just whining and complaining about it, and then going on merrily spending as much money as possible with little attempt to reign things in. So yeah, I'm sick of hearing about the whining too.

 

[kEiThZ]

The city's fiscal position, although dire, is not all that different from many other municipal governments in Ontario, and it's fixable. It's just that fixing it without federal or provincial assistance will involve lots of very difficult choices. And there's no politician who seems willing to step up to the plate and make those choices. For example, homeowners would have to face a massive property tax hike (10% each year for the next 2-3 at least) while accepting less services. And unfortunately, there's no politicians yet who will run on truth as a platform. The best you can hope for is to elect a guy or gal is up to the task and seems willing and able to grab the bull by the horns from day one. This means war with the unions. This means forcing through huge tax increases. This means making tough choices on which services to cut or which to increase fees for. The next 4 years are going to be rough.

 

[Coltaine79]

TorontoLife has Smitherman on the cover with the title "Mayor!?" and a favourable article which almost sounds like a crowning of the candidate. I wonder if they're planning on having the other candidates profiled on the cover or if this is an endorsement of Smitherman by the magazine.

Smitherman is the "darling" of the media, no doubt about that...

It remains to be seen what his actual policies are.

 

[Roy G Biv]

Giambrone is a Church/Wellesley regular, so the "bi" rumours make sense.

 

[js97]

The city's fiscal position, although dire, is not all that different from many other municipal governments in Ontario, and it's fixable. It's just that fixing it without federal or provincial assistance will involve lots of very difficult choices. And there's no politician who seems willing to step up to the plate and make those choices. For example, homeowners would have to face a massive property tax hike (10% each year for the next 2-3 at least) while accepting less services. And unfortunately, there's no politicians yet who will run on truth as a platform. The best you can hope for is to elect a guy or gal is up to the task and seems willing and able to grab the bull by the horns from day one. This means war with the unions. This means forcing through huge tax increases. This means making tough choices on which services to cut or which to increase fees for. The next 4 years are going to be rough.

I dont' think so at all. If we first begin simply by not running a deficit. I.e. The mayor's office increased their buget by 35% in the last five years (something from like 2 million to 3.5). If you look through the city budget, there are MANY frivolous programs that can be trimmed with out having a significant effect on service. We spend something like 300 million dollars annually on homeless programs? That's a little much for at most 3000 of these individuals? (Just guestimating).

There was an article in the star about a 9 million dollar bill for credit cards issued to city employees. It was 2 million in 2002. It's minor stuff like that can add up to close, or shorten the gap.

And all those condos that have been going up in the last 5 years? Do you realise how much revenue in property taxes it has generated for the city? At what, average of 2500 a unit?



And yes, there was some downloading of services, but people forget that the city uploaded some services too - Education being one of them.


Oh, almost forgot.
A mayor that will stand up to unions like that of CHICAGO.


yes, pipe dream

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2010162,mayor-daley-truck-strike-vote-012510.article

 

[TO City of Light]

The city's fiscal position, although dire, is not all that different from many other municipal governments in Ontario, and it's fixable. It's just that fixing it without federal or provincial assistance will involve lots of very difficult choices. And there's no politician who seems willing to step up to the plate and make those choices. For example, homeowners would have to face a massive property tax hike (10% each year for the next 2-3 at least) while accepting less services. And unfortunately, there's no politicians yet who will run on truth as a platform. The best you can hope for is to elect a guy or gal is up to the task and seems willing and able to grab the bull by the horns from day one. This means war with the unions. This means forcing through huge tax increases. This means making tough choices on which services to cut or which to increase fees for. The next 4 years are going to be rough.

This is kind of a scary discussion. Canada suffers from a dysfunctional relationship in the taxing authorities of the three levels of government. It was fine when we were a rural small population country but has long since ceased to be functional. Yeah, let's blame it on Miller, let's blame the unions, blame city homeowners, whatever. But until cities have some tax-raising authorities other than property taxes, we will continue to have impotent municipal governments and elected official to match. Our elected officials are idiots - yes, but until municipal governments actually have a few authorities and powers we will continue to get the parade of mediocrities we now have.

 

[SimonP]

I dont' think so at all. If we first begin simply by not running a deficit. I.e. The mayor's office increased their buget by 35% in the last five years (something from like 2 million to 3.5). If you look through the city budget, there are MANY frivolous programs that can be trimmed with out having a significant effect on service. We spend something like 300 million dollars annually on homeless programs? That's a little much for at most 3000 of these individuals? (Just guestimating).

There was an article in the star about a 9 million dollar bill for credit cards issued to city employees. It was 2 million in 2002. It's minor stuff like that can add up to close, or shorten the gap.

And all those condos that have been going up in the last 5 years? Do you realise how much revenue in property taxes it has generated for the city? At what, average of 2500 a unit?



And yes, there was some downloading of services, but people forget that the city uploaded some services too - Education being one of them.


Oh, almost forgot.
A mayor that will stand up to unions like that of CHICAGO.


yes, pipe dream

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2010162,mayor-daley-truck-strike-vote-012510.article

To address just the most glaring issue with your post, the city spends about $70 million on shelters and services for the homeless. According to the CBC "estimates of the number of homeless in Toronto range from 60,000 to 70,000. But advocates for the homeless say those numbers are low because they are based on shelter use and don't take into account those who live in parks or encampments, such as Tent City."

 

[Darwinkgo]

But until cities have some tax-raising authorities other than property taxes, we will continue to have impotent municipal governments and elected official to match. Our elected officials are idiots - yes, but until municipal governments actually have a few authorities and powers we will continue to get the parade of mediocrities we now have.

The city does have ways to tax besides property taxes, vehicle fees for one, and property transfer for another. Your position accepts raising other taxes as fine. Why is raising property taxes wrong in your mind?