I was down there tonight. Mammoliti was just slow and awful. The few questions he asked, and the few statements he did make were all sullen, lousy attempts to frame the speakers.
Ford, wasn't too bad at all, though. Mind you, all the things he had to do were primarily punctual and formal, like announcing to people the beginning and end of their speaking time - it didn't involve a lot of public speaking or opining by himself. He was a bit timer-happy, though, sometimes not even giving people time to sit down before he'd started the clock. More than one person speaking asked him directly to pay attention.
The only real low point or gaffe I saw him commit was after the TPL representative had finished speaking, she got continuous, thunderous applause. Ford let it go on, then denied a councillor the right to ask the woman a question saying "The minute is up". This rightfully incensed both the crowd and the councillor who had been rightfully denied procedure, and said so. Ford vocally denied it. There was some bickering and to-ing and fro-ing about it. The crowd kept sounding it out. Then, dragging the moment even lower, Mammoliti threatened to put forth a motion to cancel the entire event. Ford backed him up on it.
The substance of anger in the place suddenly got more silent and serious, as did sense of how much bully power was in these two's hands - not a pleasant interval. It would not have been good to see how it might have gone had things gotten worse, but order was restored and questioning resumed. Happily, the councillor denied questioning passed the question on to another, who asked in his stead, to applause.
The range of people there tonight, and their passion for the city was amazing. I've always had a bit of complex with the Toronto I could never quite forget as cold, insular and astringent. I'll be glad to revise my views. The atmosphere at City Hall was amazing - something like a family reunion. Hearing everyone talk, it brought more and more to view about how intimate, intricate and personal the city is. Quite incredible.
It's funny - everything the KPMG report outlined has given us a kind of topographical map of the city's soul. The report has no context, no heart, no humanity to it. But like an X-ray on a negative, it's showed us in inverse how much we possess here.
The most hopeful thing about the Fords is that nothing they try to do will have any substance compared to the measure of what this city possesses in it's citizenry. That any legacy they leave will not be directly of their doing, and not to their credit. I've been angry and worried about the city since they got in. But I'm way more reassured now that, regardless of what happens, Toronto's a pretty amazing place now, and will be in the future.