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Well said RRR. Besides re: Portlands - the stated goal is to get quick cash for the city to fill in the budget hole, not personal gain.

AoD
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Y'all need to put your conspiracy theories back under the bed. You're muddying waters that don't need to be muddied
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For me it's not a sign of conspiracy that they all came to a quickly called meeting. I'm just surprised that they were all available. I thought high powered business people would have better things to do. I wouldn't think that City Hall is a source of their millions, but rather is mostly to them a sideshow and an aggravation. A place where they sometimes need to send a couple lawyers to massage certain projects through the approval process sure, but not the place where new opportunities blossom. But maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the realities of that economy or how much handjobbing goes on down there. Anyway, Ford basically treated them like a bunch of schlubs standing in line at Tim Horton's - another fanclub 100% in support of everything he says and does.
 
typezed said:
For me it's not a sign of conspiracy that they all came to a quickly called meeting. I'm just surprised that they were all available. I thought high powered business people would have better things to do. I wouldn't think that City Hall is a source of their millions, but rather is mostly to them a sideshow and an aggravation. A place where they sometimes need to send a couple lawyers to massage certain projects through the approval process sure, but not the place where new opportunities blossom. But maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the realities of that economy or how much handjobbing goes on down there. Anyway, Ford basically treated them like a bunch of schlubs standing in line at Tim Horton's - another fanclub 100% in support of everything he says and does.
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Any development -- any -- needs city planning approval. Therefore, the mayor is a hugely important figure for developers in any city.
 
Ford's incompetence never fails to amaze me. Hair brained ideas, acting out of impulse and spite, desperately trying to sell his latest scheme that's not working, and not having a clue how to work with people.

He reminds me of Harry Stinson.
 
For me it's not a sign of conspiracy that they all came to a quickly called meeting. I'm just surprised that they were all available. I thought high powered business people would have better things to do.
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We don't know if "they" were the "A" team or mostly 3rd or 4th level delegates attending only to be able to say "they" were there if anything came of the meeting.
 
^^^
From the Toronto Star article:
Councillor Ford proposed new purpose-built freeways through the city.

“On a nickel a kilometre — it’ll bring in $200 million a year,” he said, noting it would cost “a good chunk” to build new highways, but then all revenues could flow to subway construction. He said he would happily pay $3 to whiz downtown from Etobicoke rather than be stuck in Gardiner gridlock.
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Well, take the subway you idiot.
 
Now I know why at the provincial and federal level of government they have all these handlers putting a nuzzle on the politicians. I thought at least Rob Ford that is had a communications assistant. But the stuff that comes out of his mouth and the fact is that he either forgets what he says or thinks people will not remember what he says and that he can contradict himself.
 
Kouvalis is Back, Baby!

Things become stickier- it appears that Stintz's compromise with the mayor concerning the TTC board was destroyed yet again...


From Karen Stintz's twitter:

My attempts at compromise with the Mayor were again undermined by Doug Ford & Nick Kouvalis. The situation became untenable. KS #TOcouncil
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And thus prepares us for the sacking of the TTC Board.

Josh Matlow's twitter:

I'm removing myself from a conversation that is no longer honourable. Toronto city hall is where some of the worst sausages are made.
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This twitter account will be out of use for a while. In the meantime, please feel welcome to contact me at councillor_matlow@toronto.ca
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From the 'sausage' part, this article from Josh Matlow's site that discusses Kouvalis and his role in preventing John Tory from entering the elections is of note:

[...]Following the revelations, longtime Liberal Party spin doctor Warren Kinsella criticizes Kouvalis.
“Don’t talk about how you make sausages,” Kinsella writes on his blog. “People don’t want to hear it. Just serve ’em, and hope they like the taste.”
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It’s dark and windy outside. Josh Matlow, the newly elected councillor for Ward 22, St. Paul’s, is having dinner with his wife at the Duke of Kent pub near Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave.
It’s Nov. 19. A Friday. Three weeks have passed since the municipal election and Matlow has yet to have any interactions with the new mayor. His cellphone rings during supper. It’s Kouvalis on the line. He wants to talk about what committees the new councillor wants to be part of.
Matlow asks if it can wait.
It can’t.
Kouvalis arrives at the pub around 9 p.m. and sits down with Matlow, whose wife has gone home. The pleasantries are short.
Kouvalis tells Matlow he knew Matlow’s father. Matlow is intrigued as Kouvalis starts reminiscing. It’s not long before Matlow realizes Kouvalis doesn’t know his father at all and that Kouvalis thinks he’s talking with Josh Colle, councilor for Ward 15, Eglinton Lawrence.
Matlow corrects him.
Kouvalis then pulls out a notebook and starts interviewing Matlow. He wants to know how Matlow will vote on certain issues. Kouvalis needs to know which way Matlow swings — is he left or is he right? — before they can talk about which committees he should sit on.
Kouvalis orders a Bloody Mary cocktail. Matlow orders a beer.
Then Kouvalis asks: “Will you vote for a flat budget?”
Matlow is taken aback.
“Do you really expect me to vote on the budget over a beer with you?” the rookie councillor asks.
Kouvalis doesn’t say anything. Matlow soon realizes this meeting is pretty much over.
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This follows a note by the Globe that Kouvalis was seen around city hall, and earlier reports from Twitter that he was in the process of becoming a lobbyist here.

It's pretty obvious that Kouvalis is up to his shenanigans again- the cancer we thought was in remission is coming back and it ain't going to be pleasant.
 
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I must say, this is the most exciting municipal politics I've ever seen! Anywhere. The system is working. We have a destructive and incapable Mayor and City Council is keeping him in check. Just as predicted, councillors are taking the Mayor's powers away, bit by bit. He's already lost his moral authority over council. On Monday he will lose control of the TTC. He's on his way to losing control over his own executive. In mere months, we may not have a Mayor at all with council driving policy direction entirely.
 
MetroMan said:
I must say, this is the most exciting municipal politics I've ever seen! Anywhere. The system is working. We have a destructive and incapable Mayor and City Council is keeping him in check. Just as predicted, councillors are taking the Mayor's powers away, bit by bit. He's already lost his moral authority over council. On Monday he will lose control of the TTC. He's on his way to losing control over his own executive. In mere months, we may not have a Mayor at all with council driving policy direction entirely.
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People still need to be cautious- there's still a few cards that Ford can potentially use to influence councillors, and he still has Kouvalis by his side.
 
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Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Any development -- any -- needs city planning approval. Therefore, the mayor is a hugely important figure for developers in any city.
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And the mayor has only 1 vote so he is not that important a figure - especially with the current mayor and they must realize that
 
Kouvalis is one of the more odious figures to glimpsed in the midst of all this rack. The Ford's future might be unsteady, but that creature is climbing with all he's got. Out of nowhere into test-marketing lies to power, in just a few short years. What's he still doing mucking around? I don't think you'd have to be a clairvoyant to guess who might be paying him.
 
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CanadianNational said:
Kouvalis is one of the more odious figures to glimpsed in the midst of all this rack.
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Indeed. But he often seems to be in it for the money.

So where is the money coming from? Is he paid staff? I thought he wanted to lobby ... but if so for who. Didn't his 1-year restriction from lobbying just pass?

Or has he discovered that he is persona non-grata in the federal world, after the Speaker of the House of Commons shamed his work ethics regarding his phoning Liberal supporters in the Mount Royal riding in Montreal. Something for which he and his firm is now under investigation for - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/28/pol-cotler-marketing-firm-watchdog.html

Given Kouvalis's past deception on the municipal front, the bizarre phone calls his firm was caught doing in a Montreal riding, and the similarity to that to the current complaints we are hearing about shenanigans during the last election - I have to wonder what Kouvalis was doing during the last federal election - and who he was giving advise to.

I'm amazed anyone would want to associate with him these days. I'd just think his appearance on the scene, would have anyone sitting on the fence, leaping to whichever side he wasn't standing on! But I guess Rob Ford and Mark Towey's complete lack of political savvy perhaps don't make them realise what a bad choice he is for the face of the administration.
 
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