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Toronto Sun: Doug Ford slams Stintz over Cincinnati streetcar trip
Councillor Doug Ford came out Tuesday slamming TTC chair Karen Stintz for flying to the defence of streetcars in Cincinnati.

Stintz praised streetcars Monday when she spoke to a public hearing of the U.S. city’s budget and finance committee about Toronto’s experience. Cincinatti politicians are grappling with the rising costs of their city’s streetcar project.

Councillor Ford was so mad to hear Stintz was singing the praises of streetcars in the U.S., he was calling up media outlets in Ohio to “give the people of Cincinnati the other side of the story.

“It’s nonsense,” Ford said. “She’s making it sound like everyone in Toronto loves streetcars.”

Ford said streetcars will bring “traffic congestion for God knows how long” to Hogtown.

“That’s how she’s making it sound, that everyone is Gung ho and it is the total opposite,” he said.

“The mayor won with a clear mandate from the people of Toronto to build subways and she’s gone, in my opinion, and sold a bill of goods that is inaccurate in my opinion.”

* * *

In an interview Tuesday, Stintz confirmed no Toronto taxpayers’ money went toward her trip.

"There was absolutely zero, zero taxpayer expense on this trip, none,” she said, adding the City of Cincinnati paid for her flight, hotel, ride from the airport and meal.

“They wanted me to come down and show them where we’ve been successful in building transit and building development in the city and however you might feel about streetcars, they do provide an important form of transit.”

“There is no U.S. city that has a network like we do so when they are looking for best-in-class in North America, they call Toronto.”
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National Post: Remember that graffiti-covered wall covered Rob Ford painted over? Here’s what it looks like now
 
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Electrify said:
It is a shame that all streets downtown have trams running along them, meaning that drivers are stuck behind them no matter what. Perhaps if some streets didn't have streetcars, such as Richmond, drivers could use these streets instead.
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FAR from "all the streets" have streetcars and several, such as Richmond and Adelaide have VERY few each day. (Richmond west of Victoria has about 5 and Adelaide west of Victoria has none.) Traffic would move far faster if there was less on-street parking but, hold on, that would inconvenience car owners.
 
Electrify said:
It is a shame that all streets downtown have trams running along them, meaning that drivers are stuck behind them no matter what. Perhaps if some streets didn't have streetcars, such as Richmond, drivers could use these streets instead.
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It is a shame that Bathurst Street, one of streetcar routes I ocassionally take when not riding to work, has left turns at so many major street - Harbord, College, Dundas, holding up streetcars stuck behind a long queue of left-turning cars no matter what. Perhaps if cars took other streets, maybe streetcars could move faster.
 
Johnny Au said:
Bangkok is a city that works:

Yep, Rob Ford is taking a cue from Thai urban planners, who seem to be the best urban planners in the world (according to him)
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OMG, did he really say that? I've never seen traffic jams like I've seen in Bangkok (unless there's been an accident or construction).

Where did he say this? It's not googling.
 
All joking aside, perhaps someone should give the Fords a map of streets where through traffic has to stop for the streetcars? In the rare instances where I find myself driving downtown, I try to avoid streets where streetcars operate in mixed traffic because of the frustrations that the Fords are eluding to. Fortunately there are more than enough alternatives to meet the needs of drivers.

Put up signage directing through through traffic to Lake Shore, Richmond, Adelaide, Gerrard, etc. and note that Queen, King, Bathurst, etc are for local traffic only.
 
Loose mouths from the Fords could get them in trouble again.

A threat by Mayor Rob Ford to out proponents of new transit taxes weekly on his radio show has generated another complaint to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.
Ford “can talk about potholes and pavement,” says Viresh Fernando, a Toronto lawyer who made the complaint. “But he’s not allowed to use the public airways to go after political opponents. He’s definitely crossed the line.”
Whether that’s the case remains to be seen. It will be up to a three-member panel of the standards council to decide.
“It strikes me that if he’s talking about someone’s voting record, that is public knowledge,” said John MacNab, executive director of the council. “That doesn’t sound like a real attack to me, but I can’t say what a panel would rule.”
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http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...formal_complaint_about_mayors_radio_show.html
 
Electrify said:
I wonder how many PR staffers have told the Fords to quit the radio business? Seems every week it simply gives them a new mess to clean up...

On the other hand, as the old saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
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I'm sure those boneheads are convinced it's shoring up their core support and reaching out to new voters without the filter of the media to prevent their message getting through. -- Oh wait... that IS what it's doing.

Now, the fact that it's chasing away voters because the unfiltered Ford has the appeal of an unfiltered Gitane is not to say that I don't understand the radio show gambit.
 
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nfitz said:
OMG, did he really say that? I've never seen traffic jams like I've seen in Bangkok (unless there's been an accident or construction).

Where did he say this? It's not googling.
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If Rob Ford has his way, eventually Toronto would become like Bangkok. It is just a warning from the future.
 
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