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This is the capital of Canada. This is not Minneapolis; this is not Houston.
—Councillor Frank Di Giorgio, speaking out against LRTs at yesterday’s council meeting, appears to have gotten a little confused. He’s right—Toronto isn’t Minneapolis or Houston. Unfortunately, though, it isn’t the capital of Canada—even if it often acts like it is.
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After a lengthy special council meeting to debate the city’s overarching transit plan, where Rob Ford and his allies repeatedly and passionately championed the mayor’s “I’m building subways” proposal, Ford declared that the whole meeting was irrelevant. Of course, what the mayor really meant was that he found the final vote—to support a return to a light rail–based, decidedly above-ground transit plan—irrelevant.
Early reports from city hall suggest Rob Ford and the rest of council are in for a transit-themed slugfest at today’s special council meeting. Karen Stintz, who started the whole brouhaha when she said what everyone already knew about Ford’s grand vision to bury the Eglinton Crosstown, has already made her recommendations. In short, she wants council to reaffirm its support for LRT lines on Finch and Eglinton, convert the Scarborough RT to an LRT line with an extension to the Malvern Town Centre (as funds become available) and establish an expert advisory panel regarding transit on Sheppard Avenue. Meanwhile, Giorgio Mammoliti—and only Giorgio Mammoliti—wants a subway on Finch. Watch the proceedings live here »
(Images: Karen Stintz, Mike Beltzner; Giorgio Mammoliti, Christopher Drost)
(Image: Matt Elliott)
In their hasty attempts to defend Rob Ford’s transit plan despite mounting opposition, the mayor and his supporters have (rather dogmatically) relied on a trusty set of talking points to do their heavy lifting for them. In a bid to show just how tired Ford and Co.’s anti–Transit City arguments really are—that light rail will be a repeat of the St. Clair streetcar screw-up, that Ford was elected with a mandate to build subways and that Scarborough is getting shafted—city hall blogger Matt Elliott created “Transit City Opposition Bingo” (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like). Tune in to tomorrow’s special council meeting—or just grab the nearest copy of the Toronto Sun—and see how long it takes to win! Read the entire story [Ford for Toronto] »
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Following months of public bickering, negotiating through the media and much sabre rattling, the discussions between CUPE Local 416 and the city, which everybody expected to result in a work stoppage, are over. The details of the agreement have yet to be released, but both Doug Holyday and Rob Ford are heralding the deal as a victory for the taxpayer. And given union president Mark Ferguson’s defeatist language in the wake of the all-night bargaining session, it seems that in the end the city did come out on top.
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(Image: Christopher Drost)
Just in case the mayor is feeling a little too confident after city hall’s victory over CUPE 416 in the recent labour negotiations, a group of over 100 planning experts, academics and other civic leaders issued a letter denouncing the current state of transit planning in the city. The letter challenges Rob Ford’s steadfast commitment to burying the Eglinton LRT and calls for it to be built partially above ground, as well as for a form of “higher-order” transit on Finch West and Sheppard East and the conversion of the Scarborough RT line to light rail.
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Like blonde hair, an obsession with football and a love for public weight loss campaigns, it appears the ability to piss off Janet Leiper, the city’s integrity commissioner, runs in the Ford family. A pair of reports has emerged from the commissioner’s office reprimanding both Mayor Rob and Councillor Doug for their sundry misbehaviour. First, there’s the mayor, who, as a councillor, accepted donations to his personal charity from lobbyists. And although council ordered Ford to repay the donors, all he has provided is letters from three of those lobbyists who don’t want to be reimbursed. Leiper says Ford’s stubbornness could constitute a violation of the Lobbyist Code of Conduct. Meanwhile, a complaint filed by activist Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler is keeping Doug Ford busy. After a run-in at city hall, Freudenthaler filed a complaint alleging the councillor threatened him. The councillor called the complaint—and the integrity commissioner’s call for an apology—“a bunch of horseshit” and said the activist is “a little prick.” During the exchange, Doug reportedly told Chaleff-Freudenthaler that “what goes around comes around,” a comment he has now gone to fantastically awkward lengths to explain. Doug’s comments have received more and flashier coverage than Rob’s alleged missteps, but the stories suggest a mutual failure from the brothers to recognize that their actions can have consequences. Or, to put it another way, that what goes around comes around. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
Despite the February 5 deadline for an agreement in the labour negotiations between the city and CUPE Local 416, Doug Holyday promises city hall won’t lock out workers when the clock strikes midnight. That’s reassuring news for anyone who enjoys garbage collection and pickup hockey; however, the promise comes with a caveat. The Globe and Mail reports: “Holyday did not rule out a possible lockout beyond February 5, but suggested the city would only take the measure if provoked.” So what we really have here is a small commitment from the city—no weekend lockout—nicely packaged in some clever PR. By suggesting they’ll only lock out workers if provoked, the city has issued a preemptive explanation for a labour stoppage to citizens: CUPE forced our hand. We have to hand it to Holyday and Co. on this one. They’re doing a shrewd job of maintaining the upper hand. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
Mayor Rob Ford (Image: City of Toronto)
With Rob Ford’s transit plans poised to grind to a rather embarrassing halt after a local law firm, solicited by Councillor Joe Mihevc, argued that the mayor legally lacked the power to unilaterally kill Transit City, the city hall press corps is pontificating about what, exactly, the powers of the mayor’s office are. (Of course, it probably would’ve been better to explore the limit of those powers before Ford went ahead and cancelled the multi-billion-dollar transit plan.) While Ford maintains he acted within his rights, based on a perceived mandate from voters to build subways, most reports are suggesting otherwise.
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The revolving door between the mayor’s office and the Toronto Sun keeps on turning. Former Toronto Police communications coordinator and Sun reporter George Christopoulos is Rob Ford’s new wrangler-in-chief—a job that’s particularly important these days—replacing Adrienne Batra, who decamped from the mayor’s office for a spot as the Sun’s comment editor. Sue-Ann Levy, presumably, will continue in her duties as both a Sun columnist and Ford’s unofficial spokesperson. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
(Images: Rob Ford, Christopher Drost)
The budget chief, perhaps pondering making another funny (Image: Christopher Drost)
Last week, silver-tongued Mike Del Grande asked the executive committee to redirect $16.4 million in funding from Regent Park to another project. Naturally, councillors like Pam McConnell, the representative for Regent Park, were pissed. As the Toronto Sun reports, the lefties at city hall argued that the move was tantamount to firing a torpedo into Regent Park. And, according to Del Grande, therein lies the joke. That’s right—the joke. Apparently, the budget chief wanted to get council’s left riled up and “give them a taste of their own game playing.” He told NewsTalk 1010 this morning that “it was kind of humorous to see their heads explode.” Since Del Grande is such a barrel of laughs, we thought he might find this funny too: city staff will now be wasting taxpayer dollars preparing a report based on his fake request. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Apparently, it takes more than a mayoral “because I said so” for the city to kill an extensive public transit plan. Rob Ford may have unilaterally declared former Mayor David Miller’s Transit City dead on his first day in office, but Joe Mihevc recently obtained a legal opinion—which was released this morning (Torontoist has the full text)—that contends the mayor had no legal authority to cancel the project in favour of his own plan.
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While Karen Stintz’s new TTC proposal is gaining support from council’s left, right and centre, Rob Ford’s transit plan is getting support from, well, Rob Ford (also, it can apparently be summed up in just three words: “I’m building subways”). In Stintz’s plan, the Eglinton LRT would be built partially above ground (against the mayor’s wishes), redistributing leftover funds to extend the Sheppard subway and create rapid bus transit on Finch Avenue. In many respects, this looks like as good a compromise as Ford is going to get: it allows him to deliver on his promise of a Sheppard subway extension and serve an underserved area. The Toronto Star’s sources, however, say the mayor doesn’t want to compromise (which, really, isn’t that surprising). Of course, by sticking to his guns, Ford is digging himself into an even deeper hole (transit pun!). Sure, there has been much talk of a new, more conciliatory environment at city hall, but it looks like council might just go in another direction on its own, dragging Ford, kicking and screaming, along for the ride. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
(Images: Rob Ford, Christopher Drost; Yonge-Sheppard subway, gloom)
Doug Holyday may have finally blundered on the PR front (Image: Christopher Drost)
While Doug Holyday has been a key part of the city’s effort to look like the reasonable party in the ongoing labour negotiations (read: public relations battle), he now appears determined to prove himself to be the opposite. Earlier this week, a group of roughly 250 EMS workers rallied outside city hall, demanding to be deemed an essential service. The paramedics are particularly concerned that a work stoppage would make for a smaller workforce and slower response times. (The rally, by the way, comes while an inquest examining the death of a man waiting for an ambulance is underway). But unlike some other executive committee members, Holyday doesn’t think council should grant essential service status in the midst of a labour dispute. Because if CUPE wants to ask for something, says the deputy mayor, “they can do it at the negotiating table.” Read the entire story [CBC] »
CUPE Local 416 recently became pen pals with local hockey organizations, writing a letter warning of threats to their ice time in the event of a labour stoppage. The letter says that pickets outside of arenas will be modest—that is, unless the city tries to use “untrained outside workers” to do union workers’ jobs. Predictably, Doug Holyday fired back that the letter amounted to “fear mongering” and that it would further complicate the already sticky negotiations between the city and its unions. Of course, the real issue here isn’t ice time for hockey groups. Both CUPE and city hall appear to be preparing for a seemingly inevitable work stoppage while also attempting to not look like the instigator. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
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