[Admiral Beez]

Two of my favourite policies or programs of the Miller years were the free meter parking for motorcycles, and the big roll-out recycling and garbage bins. The latter are not universally loved in my Cabbagetown neighbourhood, but I've got a driveway and space out back for the bins, and I love just tossing everything in the blue bin without needing to sort it, and being able to roll the bins saves my back.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Miller stepping up and taking the seat on Waterfront Toronto and therefore throwing his weight behind getting things funded and built.

Least favourite? The pissing back and forth with the Harbour commission on the airport. What a waste of time/effort/money.

 

[unimaginative2]

I'd say the incredible reduction of homeless people on our streets is a pretty spectacular success. Buying the Green Lane landfill solved our waste problems for a generation.

 

[CanadianNational]

Waterfront Toronto. We're starting now to see the scale and range of projects made possible by the work it's been doing, and it's truly impressive.

Other happy side effects of his time here: The cleaning up and beautification of the city under him took some big leaps forward. All-round urban optimism and enthusiasm. (e.g. Spacing magazine, uTOpia, etc.) The Regent Park redevelopment. An nclusive and peaceably relaxed atmosphere, lowered crime, and the intelligent settling of the city's garbage site problems

 

[W. K. Lis]

Transit City (the full plan) was and could have been my favourite policy of the Miller government. Too bad that almost every new government seems to reverse previous government policies.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Transit City (the full plan) was and could have been my favourite policy of the Miller government.

Could haves, would haves...

Let's stick to Miller's actual accomplishments, which I would argue do not include putting together plans on transit for future mayors to actually execute. Now, if you like the St. Clair and Eglinton streetcar ROW systems then you could certainly credit Miller with those.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Regent Park redevelopment.

Good call. As a Cabbagetown homeowner and parent I am forever grateful that Miller got that project underway.

 

[TonyV]

Waterfront Toronto. That's all.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Could haves, would haves...

Let's stick to Miller's actual accomplishments, which I would argue do not include putting together plans on transit for future mayors to actually execute. Now, if you like the St. Clair and Eglinton streetcar ROW systems then you could certainly credit Miller with those.

Transit City was fully funded, EAs complete with preliminary construction under way. Two of Miller's Transit City lines will survive, though in slightly modified form. He'll have delivered more kilometres of rapid transit expansion for Toronto than any mayor in decades.

 

[Glen]

My favourite policy is the one where he spent billions of reserve funds on operating expenses. This allowed him to increase budgetary spending in excess of taxation, and have Torontonians believe that he was a good fiscal manager. While it was expensive, the comic value of how many gullible people there are is nearly priceless.

 

[GraphicMatt]

My favourite policy is the one where he spent billions of reserve funds on operating expenses. This allowed him to increase budgetary spending in excess of taxation, and have Torontonians believe that he was a good fiscal manager. While it was expensive, the comic value of how many gullible people there are is nearly priceless.

Are you excited to see that your conservative guy is doing the same thing only with asset sales, while continuing to do nothing more than his predecessor when it comes to lowering commercial tax rates?

 

[Admiral Beez]

My biggest concern about Ford, and I'm a conservative, is his total unwillingness to bring down the police budget, and in fact his (and his brother's) push to bring in a huge pay increase for the TPS. However this thread is about Miller and what we like about his time as mayor, so enough about Ford on this thread.

 

[js97]

Are you excited to see that your conservative guy is doing the same thing only with asset sales, while continuing to do nothing more than his predecessor when it comes to lowering commercial tax rates?

Which brings it back to the idea that the ultra right-wing policies of a (Conservative) Ford Admin is not much different than the ultra 'progressive' Policies of an (NDP)Miller Admin - both do an excellent job at tapping into the selfish ideals of the electorate.

 

[grey]

I think the tower renewal initiative, Regent Park revitalization, and priority neighbourhoods program are among the most important achievements of the Miller government because they address the long-term crisis of growing socioeconomic disparity across the city. Anything to allieviate this problem is more important than all the selfish spending increases and equally selfish spending cuts.

While I'm at it, let's throw the whole city-wide transit coverage plan into the mix, too, because TC actually contributed to these areas of the city, while the Sheppard subway is a joke.

 

[syn]

This allowed him to increase budgetary spending in excess of taxation, and have Torontonians believe that he was a good fiscal manager. While it was expensive, the comic value of how many gullible people there are is nearly priceless.

Sounds a lot like our current mayor.