I agree that comrade miller and his cadre of leftwingnuts, clown council,waterfront condo owners, island squatters, unions, panhandlers, social in-activists, environuts, et al deserve to be recognized.......
Decade of T.O. game changers
No one transformed city like much-maligned Miller
New faces and old ones have emerged in the first decade of this century, but is there one person who transformed Toronto more than anyone else?
Picking the Torontonian of the decade is no easy feat. We've discussed it here in the newsroom and the choice can go in many directions.
Is it Jane Creba? We never heard her voice. Tragically, she never had the chance to make her own story as an adult, but the 15-year-old's death may have changed this city forever.
When an innocent teenager out shopping on Yonge St. on Boxing Day in 2005 never comes homes because of a gun fight on the city's most famous street in the downtown core, perhaps that's the day our city changed forever.
It definitely marked yet another day when Toronto's innocence was lost.
Or, you could look to Audette Shephard. She co-founded UMOVE, United Mothers Opposing Violence Everywhere, in response to the unsolved drive-by shooting of her son Justin, 19, in 2001, on a pedestrian bridge near Rosedale.
Shephard and the other bereaved mothers in the group are determined to make a difference so more mothers don't find themselves in the same situation -- grieving the loss of a child. Pretty impressive.
From a different perspective, there are some businessmen who've had a major impact in Toronto.
How about Bob Deluce? He brought a new airline -- Porter -- to Toronto in a time of economic crisis for the industry, while energizing a depreciating asset on the waterfront -- all while spitting in the face of Mayor David Miller, who fought hard to keep him out.
Now, Torontonians can fly from downtown in Toronto-made planes, without making the trek out to Pearson.
Then there's Larry Tanenbaum. The chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Tanenbaum has overseen the city's most profitable and beloved sports franchises, while bringing the newest and hottest kid on the block, Toronto FC, to town.
MLSE imported the Marlies (although there's few at the rink to notice), helped seal the deal to get BMO Field built, and played a part in getting the Leafs new four-pad practice rink in Etobicoke off the ground -- the first new public arenas in Toronto in 25 years.
DUNKS AND DOCS
MLSE has also been a corporate partner with the city, refreshing a number of outdoor ice rinks. He'd be a slam dunk (MLSE also owns the Raptors) if any of his teams actually won something.
In the health field, Mount Sinai Hospital's Drs. Donald Low and Allison McGeer have to get a big mention.
They are world leaders in the control of infectious diseases and Toronto's had a busy decade in that regard. We battled against SARS, an infection that scared the world away from us. McGeer even fell victim to the syndrome, but recovered. We, like the entire planet, also fought the H1N1 virus and Low and McGeer have been at the front of both those battles.
In politics, Premier Dalton McGuinty merits a mention. Premier since 2003, he's built his own new tax fiefdom, while investing billions in Toronto's infrastructure.
"Premier Dad" has also instituted rules against everything from smoking and talking while in a car, to banning pitbulls. He's presided over massive scandals in the lottery corporation and eHealth, as taxpayer dollars flew out the doors and is imposing a 13% HST on July 1 to join his previous health care "premium" in the "screw the Ontarian" category. Has he impacted on Torontonians? You bet.
Despite all these valid candidates, however, the Torontonian of the decade has to be Mayor David Miller. Toronto has fundamentally changed, forever, since his 2003 election.
We have a raft of new taxes, fees and charges residents have never faced before. Toronto has been pushed to be a more transit-friendly city, thanks to billions of dollars invested and about to be invested in rapid (some may argue not-so-rapid) transit.
Miller's also tried to make Toronto greener through everything from a plastic bag tax to mandatory green roofs.
"Having studied Toronto's history over its 175 years, I can't recall having come across any chief magistrate who has alienated so many citizens, while at the same time dividing his council into opposing and mean-spirited opponents," said Toronto historian and Sun columnist Mike Filey, who would cast his vote for Miller. "Simply put, for most of the first decade of the 21st century, Toronto stopped working. And the STOP sign was in the hands of David Miller."
In fairness, Miller's full legacy won't be known for another decade, after Transit City is well underway. By then, we'll know if he was a flop, a disaster or a visionary.
ROB.GRANATSTEIN@SUNMEDIA.CA
No comments:
Post a Comment