Here’s a bit of underreported news, courtesy of the folks over at Spacing: while Metrolinx usually conducts benefit case analyses on major projects, there’s been no such scrutiny of the Eglinton LRT, which is, um, a pretty major project (as in $8.2 billion major). John Lorinc writes that this means no comparison between the originally planned LRT and Ford’s wonky alternative has been completed; no study of what happens if ridership climbs faster than expected is underway; and no test of the mayor’s claim that a right-of-way on St. Clair Avenue saddled the area with crippling gridlock was conducted. Also, it turns out taxpayers from outside the 416 are actually the ones paying most of the fees to bury the LRT and keep the mayor happy—which is just the kind of disrespect for taxpayer dollars that we would expect to make Ford furious. But, hey, the mayor is building subways because, well, that’s what he says he was elected to do. Read the entire story [Spacing] »
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Rob Ford didn’t have the authority to cancel Transit City (lawyers say so)
(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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Editor’s Letter (February 2012): why Ontario schools should talk about homosexuality in the classroom
When I was in the sixth grade, a health instructor employed by the board of education was parachuted into my classroom to talk about puberty. She arrived with two life-size felt cut-outs of naked, child-like bodies—one male, one female—which she hung on the blackboard. After a brief preamble, she asked the class to name the changes bodies experience during puberty. Kids tentatively put up their hands, offering ideas: “Girls grow breasts,” and “You get pubic hair,” and “Boys grow moustaches.” After every correct answer, the health instructor dug into her bag and, without even a sprinkle of humour, extracted small felt swatches of pretend armpit hair and cushiony stuffed pretend breasts. As she Velcroed them onto the nude figures, we watched the nameless doll figures grow up before our eyes.
By that point, a few kids in the class were already going through puberty, so most of this wasn’t news. But it was helpful to have the subject released from behind a cloak of confusion and shame. The rest of my preteen sexual education was provided by Sue Johanson, who was a sex educator in North York classrooms before she became a media personality. On her Sunday night call-in show, she took all questions seriously, no matter how goofy, offering frank answers. She believed that everyone had the right to enjoy sex, safely and sensibly, and I can’t imagine a better way to learn about it.
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Rob Ford tells Facebook why his transit plan is the one Toronto transit users want
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Presented with a transit plan from TTC chair Karen Stintz that would save $1.5 billion on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, contribute to the Sheppard subway extension and bring some form of rapid transit to underserved Finch Avenue, Rob Ford stubbornly dug his heels in and reiterated his commitment to burying the Eglinton line underground. In a note on his Facebook page, Ford insists his own transit plan is “doable,” and moreover, that it’s the plan that city transit users want (apparently, users want “RAPID” transit and they want it in ALL CAPS). He also says that for “100 years, Toronto’s transit system has been based on a backbone of subways” (not true), and that the Pembina Institute supports his plan (it doesn’t). Of course, although Stintz’s proposal appears to be gaining the support of all the right players, we’re not surprised Ford is refusing to budge. If the budget debate has taught us anything it’s that the mayor will turn down a face-saving compromise, even when that compromise is likely the only thing standing between a political defeat and public embarrassment. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
In the face of mounting dissent around his transit plan, Rob Ford and his inner circle are dusting off their trusty set of talking points. Doug Ford is quoted in the Toronto Sun saying that he refuses to treat Scarborough residents like “second-class citizens” (because first-class citizens waste billions of dollars on unnecessary subways?), while Rob says Scarborough residents voted him into office with, you guessed it, a mandate to build subways. The mayor also pointed to the province’s support of his current plan—but the Dalton McGuinty government appears to be having second thoughts, given transportation minister Bob Chiarelli’s statement yesterday that the city “doesn’t have its act together.” Heck, even Giorgio Mammoliti is having doubts. Read the entire story [National Post] »
Rob Ford is building subways because that’s what Rob Ford does
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 balks at EMS demands, going out of his way to look stubborn
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] »
Karen Stintz’s new transit proposal: buses for Finch, a single subway stop for the mayor
Karen Stintz riding the rocket (Image: Mike Beltzner)
Having attracted heaps of attention for saying what everyone is already thinking, Karen Stintz has moved onto phase two of her plan to improve public transit: proposing actual ideas. Under the TTC chair’s new proposal, the Eglinton LRT would run partially above ground, and the money saved would go toward bus transit on Finch and an additional Sheppard subway stop. Under Rob Ford’s rapidly eroding plan, Eglinton, along with billions of dollars, would be completely buried, the private sector would finance a lengthy Sheppard extension and Finch would get, well, nothing.
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] »
Quoted: Rob Ford on “Joe” Stalin, and the city councillors that are apparently just like him
Joe Stalin (Image: Wikimedia)
“These people are all two steps left of Joe Stalin… They don’t care about the taxpayers, but I know one person that does and that’s me.”
Like his right-hand man Giorgio Mammoliti, Rob Ford can smell the communists in his midst. Ford made the remarks (“Joe” Stalin? Um, since when are Ford and the deceased Soviet dictator drinking buddies?) during a radio interview with AM 640 Host John Oakley in response to a question about Josh Matlow. In addition, to Matlow—who, really, is basically council’s Switzerland—Ford specifically referred to comrades Adam Vaughan, Gord Perks, Janet Davis and Paula Fletcher. Read the entire story [Torontoist] »
Rob Ford’s executive committee is no longer all-powerful as city council enters a new era
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Either the magical powers of Giorgio Mammoliti’s thumb are waning or the mayor’s team of loyal minions executive committee is quickly realizing it can no longer push Rob Ford’s agenda through council by sheer force of will. The Globe and Mail speculates that a new era of compromise has dawned at city hall after the executive committee temporarily blocked two of the mayor’s initiatives, including a proposal to sell off hundreds of Toronto Community Housing units. Members of the now mighty—once mushy—middle appear to be trying to paint this news as proof of the Ford’s newfound flexibility and a willingness to compromise. Although, for his part, Ford is doing everything he can to prove them wrong. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
When she’s not busy undermining Rob Ford’s grand transit plan, Karen Stintz has been busy feuding with her fellow councillors over $5 million in TTC funding. Councillors who voted last week to save millions of dollars from the budget axe believe the amount earmarked for the TTC should be used to stave off service cuts; Stintz, on the other hand, believes the money should go toward paying for new vehicles and Wheel-Trans service for dialysis patients. So, in order to force Stintz’s hand, Gloria Lindsay-Luby, who supported saving bus routes, sought a legal opinion, and the city solicitor said that, yes, the extra cash should go toward preventing service reductions. Now, apparently looking to compromise (it’s a theme at city hall this week), Stintz says all the money will go toward the Wheel-Trans service. Though, if she loses this battle and wins the other she’s currently fighting, we figure all will be right in the world. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
Negotiations between city hall and CUPE Local 416 are dragging on continuing this week, as the city creeps slowly toward an ever more likely labour stoppage on February 5. Doug Holyday says the fact that talks are even happening is proof that progress is being made—but we’re pretty sure sure both sides are more concerned with looking favourable in the public eye than they are with reaching an agreement. Also, in the event of a work stoppage, garbage pickup would stop everywhere except Etobicoke, where a private contractor provides the service. So perhaps Rob Ford is even thinking a municipal workers’ strike redux would give him a little political ammo on the privatization front. Then again, he’s not really in a position to make any bold political moves these days. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
Savvy backroom politics and creepy tactics were behind council’s big budget victory
(Image: Christopher Drost)
Apparently the fight to save city services might have been won somewhere between the council chamber and the city hall bathroom. In a stroke of captivating behind-the-scenes political reporting, the Globe and Mail lays out the backroom strategizing that resulted in Josh Colle’s omnibus motion, the one that saved $15 million from the budget axe and served as a telling political loss for Rob Ford.
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Karen Stintz breaks rank with Rob Ford over the Eglinton Crosstown plan
We all know Rob Ford loves him some rapid transit—he just doesn’t love it when it’s above ground, affordable or tied in any way to his predecessor. Case in point: the Eglinton Crosstown, which Ford insists should include an LRT line built entirely underground, even if that means burning through cash that could be used for other projects (namely, his beloved Sheppard subway extension). Now, even Ford ally and TTC chair Karen Stintz is adding her voice to the growing group of reasonable people who think that running the LRT above ground, particularly in the city’s less densely populated suburbs, makes more sense than burying it. It’s a bold move from Stintz and a major break with the mayor, who appointed her to her current post. Some have even speculated that it may just get her summarily reshuffled out of the transit chair. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
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