Three Items Mayorality Candidates Should Put On Their Need To Comment List...

Wind turbine plan blows in controversy

By JONATHAN JENKINS, Queen’s Park Bureau

Wind turbines off the Scarborough Bluffs could kill birds, foul the water, wreck the waterfront and damage human health, a stream of concerned residents told city council’s executive committee Monday.

...a project approved by Smitherman. 

Bluffs wind farms foes frustrated again

Opponents of a proposed wind farm off the Scarborough Bluffs huffed and puffed at city councillors yesterday but failed to get even a symbolic call for a halt to the politically-charged project. 

City looks at hiking councillors' pay

City officials — it seems with the blessing of the mayor’s handpicked executive committee — have quietly hired a consultant to review whether Toronto councillors and the mayor deserve big raises next term.

...do current mayorality candidates feel it is proper?

City residents keen on privatizing garbage pickup

Tue Apr 20 2010

Residents stung by last summer’s city workers’ strike are very open to the idea of contracting out their garbage...

Comrade Miller Can Make It Happen...

  ...but the fish stinks at the head.

Lame duck lingers at TTC

Mon Mar 15 2010

Toronto's list of candidates running for mayor recently got shorter with Councillor Adam Giambrone finally completing the paperwork necessary to formally remove his name. But Giambrone's work in stepping down is incomplete: he should listen to the the many voices in the community urging him to resign as chair of the Toronto Transit Commission.

They Drove The Sportsman Show And 120K+ Visitors Away

G20 venue puts Toronto, Ottawa at loggerheads

Federal government wants to host global economic summit in downtown convention centre; mayor and council prefer Exhibition Place just outside city core Feb 12, 2010

Does The System Get You From Point A To Point B...

...on a regular basis and at a reasonable cost? If so it is not broken and maybe what needs to be fixed is the beauracracy within the TTC, the unions and the political appointees.

How to fix the TTC? Check out New York: Stintz

By Karen Stintz

The TTC announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon Panel to provide recommendations for improving customer service for the nation’s largest transit system

Ultimatum Time

Strike foes 'miles apart'

By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA

While no one dared utter the words "summer-long strike" yesterday, it was clear both sides entrenched in Toronto's municipal workers' strike are warning Torontonians to prepare for the worst.

• Full Story

Youth Day fest forced to find new digs

By BRIAN GRAY

Youth Day 2009 hasn't been cancelled -- just relocated.

Island workers not amused by strike

By SUE-ANN LEVY, CITY HALL COLUMNIST

Adrianne Flynn says if she doesn't get back to work at her Toronto Island restaurant job this week, she could find herself and her tabby cat KC forced from their apartment at month's end.

Cops bag dumper after dust-up on picket line

By BRYN WEESE

Tempers flared and cop sirens blared at a picket line yesterday.

Swimming update: How dry I am
by Royson James

Cost Control Is Comrade Miller's Responsiility

Time to roll back council pay raise TheStar.com - Opinion - Time to roll back council pay raise

June 23, 2009

In lamenting the municipal employees' strike now disrupting Toronto, Mayor David Miller correctly argues that public sector unions shouldn't expect pay raises and concession-free contracts when private sector workers – and taxpayers – are facing layoffs, plant closings, and rollbacks of their pay and benefits.

"The world has changed," Miller said in a radio interview yesterday. "We're simply not in a position to offer generous settlements at a time of worldwide recession, when our tax revenues are significantly down and our costs are significantly up."

Regrettably, Miller and his hand-picked executive committee undermined that sound argument earlier this year in allowing city councillors to pocket a 2.4 per cent raise, boosting their annual salaries from $96,805 to $99,153. Few would disagree now that this was a mistake. It can, and should, be corrected.

No labour leader is eager to accept concessions. The workers who elect them don't pay union dues in order to move backward. So it is hardly surprising that the leaders of two striking locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing 30,000 inside and outside city workers, are vigorously defending their existing benefits, including 18 sick days a year that can be banked and cashed out at retirement. The union is also insisting on a wage settlement close to the 3 per cent annual hike given to transit workers and police last year.

Those contracts were both imposed through arbitration, however, and they came before the economy's deep downturn become apparent. There are no such excuses for city council's ill-judged 2.4 per cent pay increase, which came earlier this year, after the economy had already begun its precipitous decline. The pay raise represents a failure of Miller's leadership.

To be sure, Miller himself declined to accept the raise, but he didn't seek to impose the same restraint on the rest of council. That oversight is now providing ammunition to the union leaders, who insist their members are being unfairly singled out for austerity measures.

As a sign of good faith and as a symbol of sacrifice in hard times, Toronto city council should now move to roll back its pay hike.

All council and committee meetings have been cancelled for the duration of the strike, but the mayor has the power to gather councillors on 24-hours' notice. He should not hesitate to do so for the specific purpose of rolling back the councillors' pay raise.

If Miller fails to rise to the challenge, a special council meeting could also be triggered by a petition signed by a majority of councillors.

It would be illuminating to see which councillors insist on keeping their raise in the face of a summer strike that has left families with no daycare, children with no swimming pools, and homeowners with no place to put their garbage.

When the pay raise was initially debated months ago, some councillors noted that it only amounts to about $45 a week, and they pointed out that it was picayune compared to the city's $8.7 billion budget.

That's true. But even a modest raise reeks of hypocrisy when others are being asked to accept freezes or cutbacks. There is little doubt the councillors' pay raise has fed the workers' anger and bolstered their determination to strike. Roll it back.

Calling Them Dysfunctional Would Be A Compliment

Comrade Miller Talking to His Supporters

Comrade Millers Flunkies

City Hall seen by a bloke: It's a joke By ROB GRANATSTEIN

After covering Toronto City Hall every day for three years, I can safely say watching city council meetings is something I would not wish on even a New York Yankee fan.

It's confusing, frustrating, democracy at its worst on many days, sloppy, petty, pathetic and a spin-fest.

Delightful for columnists, required for the workings of a city, but just an awful example of how to get things done.

If you go, chances are you'd rethink how you vote in the next election.

Usually the mayor sounds official, prepared and intelligent -- even if you disagree with his point of view. He is the mayor. He has a staff that can get the job done, and does, and he's been doing this for a while and understands how to push the right buttons while at the same time toying with his adversaries.

But I'm always delighted to hear from members of the public who drop by the clamshell for a little example of how our city works.

Reader Wayne Shannon did just that for this week's council meeting. I'm not sure he's recovered yet.

Here's a bit of his interesting take on council after experiencing some of the Jarvis St. debate:

* City council is too large, 22 would be more than sufficient.

* Damn Dalton! He shoulders the blame for giving the mayor dictatorial powers, all be it over an obviously dysfunctional council.

* This was not a discussion on a proposal but a fait accompli. The mayor had already decided this was going to happen.

* The numbers presented disputing the mayor's logic were staggering but it did not matter.

* The normal democratic rules of order do not apply. Their selective application is so obvious it is embarrassing. Even someone who didn't know the players would be able to figure out who is in the mayor's favour and who is not.

"During the discussions, and in the case of certain unnamed councillors, I came to the conclusion it should be a prerequisite for an elected official in this city to have an IQ somewhat above ambient room temperature," Shannon wrote in an e-mail to me.

"It has prompted me to get active for the next municipal election. I am not yet sure what form that will take at this point but I will work for change (for the better) for the next group down there and hope to have a lot of company for the attempt.

"Finally, despite what some of my friends and colleagues think there must be a change at the top next year in this city," Shannon continued. "If there is no other viable candidate to step up to the plate to run against Miller other than Karen Stintz then I will be voting for her. Miller needs to be gone and perhaps Karen may be able to reverse the dismal record of Toronto's previous female mayors.

"I sense that perhaps an 'anyone but Miller' campaign may be growing in momentum."

The next council meeting is July 6 and 7. The mayor's top item goes first on Monday morning. Stop by. Enjoy.

ROB.GRANATSTEIN@SUNMEDIA.CA

Another Example Of Comrade Miller's Fiscal Prowess

Leftist Miller Worked Hard To Make Us A World Class City Like......

We're just like New York City

By ROB GRANATSTEIN

Stop me if you've heard this before: Revenues are plunging, unions are resisting benefit cuts, bailouts are sought, hard decisions have to be made.

They Couldn't Cycle, Walk, Take Public Transit....

.....but that is a mute point. Leafs, like many others, will eventually move to the city above Toronto.

National Post editorial board: Goodbye, Montreal Canadiens. Hello Vaughan Ontarians

Posted: April 25, 2009, 9:00 AM by NP Editor

Absurd Overstating Intelligence At Silly Hall

Taking aim at gun bylaws

And from The Star..

For new streetcars
Apr. 26, 2009
It took months longer than expected, but the process of buying new streetcars has arrived at a recommended design that's both on budget and seems to meet all of Toronto's needs.

And The Reality..

Red Rocket, nothing in the pocket

By SUN MEDIA

First, the good news.

On Friday, the TTC announced it has recommended the approval of a $1.3 billion contract to purchase a new generation of 204 streetcars from Montreal-based Bombardier Transportation, the largest contract of its kind in North American history.

The sleek, low-riding Flexity Outlook vehicles are bigger, longer, carry more passengers and will be air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible, all improvements on the aging streetcars they will replace.

They will usher Toronto into a new era of light rail transit, with an option to purchase 364 more cars in future, adapted to Toronto's multi-billion-dollar Transit City lines planned for the suburbs.

Finally, at least 25% of the work will be done in Canada, creating and preserving jobs, with the first vehicles to be delivered by 2012 and the existing fleet replaced by 2018.

Now, the bad news.

The TTC has no money to pay for any of this.

The city has set aside $400 million for the purchase, but there's no commitment from either Queen's Park or Ottawa that the remaining funds -- two-thirds of what's needed -- will be provided, although TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone said recently he's "optimistic" the province will come through.

Despite that, taxpayers have a right to ask whether the left hand knows what the right hand is doing when these types of announcements are made.

Both Ottawa and Queen's Park have been talking since the fall about the importance of investing quickly in public infrastructure to create jobs and help get the country out of recession.

Earlier this month, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced $7.2 billion in provincial spending to cover the capital costs of Toronto's new Transit City lines -- including streetcars.

So why, with all this federal and provincial agreement and largesse, can't these transit announcements be better co-ordinated among the three levels of government?

Why are the TTC and the city now going to have to scramble to get this deal -- which has been crawling towards reality with a number of false starts and controversies -- signed, sealed and delivered by June 27?

Rushing through complex, tax-funded deals of this size at the eleventh hour after months of delay isn't sound public policy. It's how mistakes -- big mistakes -- can happen.

Second, while the money for capital projects like building new transit lines comes from a different account than replacing old streetcars, at the end of the day there's only one taxpayer, and whether it's federal, provincial or municipal money, it all comes from the same pocket.

Which is why it would be nice if politicians at all levels of government could get their acts together in advance, so that when an announcement like this is made, it's a done deal, ready to go, with the money in the bank.

Rather than: "Hey folks, get a look at these great, new streetcars we ... uh ... haven't actually bought yet."

arbage Gestapo

Wrong Address. They Want City of TORONTO

Where weird is an understatement!

Miller Working Hard To Become NUMBER 1

The Tax Capital of the World: New York is No. 1...

,,,,Attack, Attack

Miller time? Pass the Pepto

Mayor's state of the city address a spin-fest, but business crowd is too polite to heckle

By SUE-ANN LEVY

For all the happy talk oozing from Mayor David Miller to Toronto's business community late last week, you'd think his regime was on the verge of turning this city into Utopia -- and not the Dystopian environment I've witnessed at Socialist Silly Hall.

You'd think His Blondness actually had a vision for the city during these recessionary times instead of choosing to spend, spend, spend more on pet projects and unionized workers; tax, tax, tax the city's beleaguered homeowners, drivers and garbage bin users and bleeding more reserve funds dry -- leaving the city in a highly unsustainable financial position next year.

You'd think he actually valued Toronto's small and large business leaders in Toronto instead of selectively courting only the academics who speak in the same elitist tongues as him about the "creative class" and the very deep-pocketed developers (he once insisted had close ties with his predecessor Mel Lastman) by giving them a two-year fee freeze.

In fact, as he laughingly told the media after his lengthy speech to a crowd of 300 very polite business people at the annual Board of Trade luncheon, he tried to "speak to the partnership" that exists between the city and the business community and how they'll work together to ensure the city succeeds.

Huh? Partnership, what partnership? It's do as I say or you're on King David's black list. And he does have a long memory -- when it suits him.

From all his braggadocio that day, you'd think Miller actually had a warm and fuzzy relationship with the Board of Trade, conveniently forgetting that at an executive committee meeting two weeks ago he rudely dumped on president and CEO Carol Wilding for daring not to kiss the ground on which he walks for (slowly) decreasing the tax rate for businesses.

COUNCIL RAISES INTACT

You'd think he actually felt sorry for -- as he put it -- the people who have "lost their jobs or had their work hours cut back" conveniently forgetting how he slapped all of them in the face last week by making sure his greedy lapdogs get to keep their 2.4% raises and their $53,100 expense accounts this year.

"As mayor, I believe strongly we have a larger responsibility to do everything possible to see that nobody gets left behind," he told the crowd. "That means no individual, no family and no business that requires the services of their city government will be ignored."

Geez, please hand me the Pepto-Bismol.

Indeed, Miller was in full spin mode that day.

He told the crowd he responded to the looming recession last December by announcing a number of "pre-emptive initiatives" to help individuals and families -- freezes on TTC fares and on garbage fees. He also said (insert drumroll here) the city's 4% residential tax hike this year is "lower than most GTA towns and cities."

Excuse me for daring to question Miller, but we can hardly consider the property tax hike in isolation given all the other creative ways he's raided our pockets.

As for the new garbage tax, it just kicked in on Nov. 1, 2008. It would have been beyond nervy for even Miller to announce an increase in the 2009 budget.

Miller also boasted Toronto currently has "more cranes than Chicago, Boston, Houston, L.A. and Calgary combined" thanks to his development fee freeze.

But when asked how he knew our cranes outnumbered the other cities, he claimed it was based on information from the city's economic development department. Typically, he had no figures to back up his contentions.

But here's the real nosestretcher. King David claimed that all of his regime's hard work is "getting noticed" -- with Toronto ranked "near the top" of numerous worldwide studies as a "safe, liveable and culturally diverse big city."

DILAPIDATED SIDEWALKS

World class city, my foot. To be honest, I was embarrassed to walk along Queen St. with my partner's cousins who were visiting from Tel Aviv last week. We couldn't move a metre without noticing cracks in the dilapidated sidewalks, huge potholes and ruts beside the streetcar tracks.

As for the crowd who attended last week's luncheon, notice how I described them as polite during the mayor's speech and equally professional in their questioning afterwards.

I only wish the mayor and his minions could behave as professionally as the audience -- some of whom were no doubt left wincing as I was with all of the mayor's happy talk.

SUE-ANN.LEVY@SUNMEDIA.CA

Let's Start By Leftists Admitting Their Incompotence

The solution to Toronto's urban angst: Share the mediocrity
Posted: April 09, 2009, 3:00 PM by NP Editor
The centre of the Canadian universe has been badly stung by a Board of Trade study suggesting Toronto is turning into a bedroom community surrounded by a more vibrant and successful suburban region.
"The city's a nice place to live but it's being eclipsed by economic powerhouses in the 905," the Toronto Star, the hometown paper, lamented.
"Cities that were once out suburbs are now growing employment areas as more businesses have pulled up stakes in the downtown core for cheaper real estate."
Oh dear. World-class Toronto eclipsed by sprawling, mall-stuffed Mississauga, which has been run for three decades by Mayor-for-life Hazel McCallion, who just turned 88 and plans to seek another term? We can't have that.
Click here to read more...

You Get What Deserve

Two cities, one economy
Apr. 09, 2009
Sharp differences in character and economic direction between Toronto and its...

Hazard A Guess Why?

Toronto a suburb? It's begun
by Vanessa Lu
Apr 8, 2009 (12)
Toronto is at risk of becoming a bedroom community for the booming 905 regions, warns a new report by the Toronto Board of Trade.


Toronto Board of Trade: Welcome to Toronto the mediocre
Posted: April 07, 2009, 5:50 PM by NP Editor Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland
How attractive is Toronto?Just about as attractive as any sleepy suburb -- Vancouver’s Maple Ridge, for example, or Airdrie, outside Calgary, or maybe Montreal’s Laval.According to a study by the Toronto Board of Trade, the city is fast joining the ranks of bedroom communities -- a slumbering, underachieving residential community surrounded by a semi-circle of more vibrant satellite cities. A great place to live, but not much on the job front.Its economic results are “lacklustre”. Its GDP growth placed 18 out of 21 cities measured; disposable income growth came in 12 out of 13; productivity growth rated a ‘D’.“The economic picture that emerges shows the Toronto [census area] as a metropolitan region challenged by mediocrity,” the report says. Overall, the city receives a ‘C’ grade, and would have ranked lower if not for its cultural attractions.
Click here to read more...

Enough Said......

Guess who.......

His Flunkies

$6.7M more for Filmport
By JOE WARMINGTON
Perhaps it'll be James Bond himself who saves Toronto's film industry!

Pay hike denied to city staff
By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA
With almost the same stroke of the pen, Toronto Mayor David Miller's hand-picked executive committee denied a cost-of-living increase to the city's 4,000 non-unionized staff, but reaffirmed one for themselves.

Report card gives T.O. 'mediocre' C
By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA
Toronto's economy is "mediocre" despite a "buzz" attracting competent people to the city, the Toronto Board of Trade says.

Silly Hall Under Microscope

Monitor all budget targets
By BENJAMIN DACHIS AND COLIN BUSBY
While Toronto city councillors haggled over what they promised the city will spend as part of the $8.7-billion operating budget for 2009, what really matters to Toronto taxpayers is what the city actually spends.