An Instance Where Brick And Mortar Are A Priority...

...and it is inevitable that we compare the results of this project with the Homeless Hilton.

Fiorito: Parkdale rises from the ashes

by Joe Fiorito

Is Anyone Surprised?

Goodbye Gravy Train leaves early: Levy

By SUE-ANN LEVY, Toronto Sun

Whatever happened to leaving with one’s head held high and not burning bridges on the way out the door?

It's not the spending, it's the accountability


Chris Selley: I’m not outraged by the cost of Ms. Bussin’s website or Mr. Rae’s permit. It isn’t the cost of Mr. Giambrone’s French lessons that rankles; it’s that he had the temerity to expense it

How About This...

Reforming council: Cut it in half or elect it at large?

* Term Limits
* Contract out management of city departments
* Reduce Councilors and limit their duties to picking up the garbage, keeping the city clean, etc.
* Elected Board Of Control with recall proviso

You Couldn't Build A Better Case For Term Limits...

...we need to take back the city from the unions and petty bureaucrats!

The underdogs: Levy


Here are four of the many hopefuls trying to do the near-impossible, beat an incumbent

By SUE-ANN LEVY, Toronto Sun

Last Updated: October 13, 2010 10:08pm

 She’s the candidate who decided to take up seven-year incumbent councillor Paula Fletcher’s invitation to “c’mon down baby” and run against her.

Celebrity TV reporter Liz West may not have been in council the March night Fletcher lost her cool and lashed out at Torontonian John Smith over the city’s operating budget.

Nevertheless, the married mother of two and first-time candidate decided to throw her hat into the race in mid-August after a couple of residents — desiring change at City Hall and knowing her passion for the community — approached her to consider it.

West, John Campbell in Ward 4, Robert Walker in Ward 31 and Shimmy Posen in Ward 21 are four brave souls who decided to take their chances against long-standing incumbents in the Oct. 25 election race.

Whether the four win or lose, they are some of the many unsung heroes who should be commended for doing their part for democracy despite nearly impossible odds.

West said she knew full well it would be tough to go up against an incumbent who can not only take advantage of name recognition and a $50,000 office budget — but in Fletcher’s case has the full muscle of the labour unions behind her.

Fletcher, the former head of the Manitoba Communist Party, is married to John Cartwright, the president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council.

“Good or bad, I don’t consider how difficult things are going to be ... I just set my sights on what I want and put my head down and go for it,” said West.

She calls herself fiscally responsible and supports getting rid of the personal vehicle tax. West also feels it is important to “respect” her constituents and engage in two-way dialogue — not to dictate decisions that impact on them.

Asked whether she was surprised with a recent poll from the Rob Ford camp that showed her at 32% of voter support, just eight points behind Fletcher at 40%, she said, “No.”
“There is a real desire for change in the ward,” she said.

Twenty-six-year-old recently married Shimmy Posen agrees name recognition is the “biggest battle” in his bid to win against 18-year council veteran Joe Mihevc, who recently endorsed George Smitherman (no doubt in a bid to secure the chairmanship of his coveted TTC).

Posen, an entrepreneur and first-time candidate like West, also knows Mihevc has the “clear support” of the unions, which help him out on a constant basis.

He said he jumped into the race because he wants to make sure any transit line on Eglinton — whether LRV or subway — is not a repeat of the St. Clair boondoggle, a project his opponent championed.

He said he feels it is clearly a “change election” — that City Hall is broken and he’s trying to help get it back on track.

“Joe is part of what’s broken ... he needs to retire because we need to bring fresh ideas to City Hall,” he said.
Posen, who placed within six percentage points of Mihevc in recent polling from the Rob Ford camp, said it’s voter apathy not his opponent that he’s really fighting in the countdown to election day.
Sales agent John Campbell says he’s battling a 25-year “institution” in Ward 4 ­— Gloria Lindsay Luby, a political chameleon who cozied up to Mayor David Miller in order to get herself a key position in his inner circle.

Campbell, who was known for his fiscal conservatism when he served as chairman of the Toronto school board in 2008 and 2009, says it’s a “tall order” to go up against a 25-year incumbent who has a ready team of people to post her signs and a hefty office budget to issue newsletters extolling her virtues as a councillor.

“I don’t think that she has shown leadership at City Hall ... you don’t show leadership if you’re willing to just say something because you think the majority wants to hear it,” he said.

First-timer Robert Walker, a technological project manager for a law office, has been working like heck since May — following hip replacement surgery — to try to get rid of seven-year councillor Janet Davis, the best friend of the CUPE unions and tenant activist groups.

I’ve been particularly impressed with his dedication and his use of social media to spread his message against Davis’ repeated flurry of taxpayer-funded newsletters and newspaper ads.

He knew it was a tremendous uphill battle but felt he needed to do it to fight the “attitude of arrogance” at City Hall.

“I hate the idea that I’m sending a lot of money to City Hall and when I phone up I get treated like an idiot,” said the 48-year-old divorced father of two.

“I thought, ‘put up or shut up,’ so I put up.”
He added he’s having a ball.

“If I don’t get elected I’m definitely going to run again,” he said.

Another Example of Incompotence At Toronto Silly Hall...

...is the beauracracy waiting for someone to get injured or killed before they inform the public that they have implemented another hate the car taxpayer funding iniative?

Bike boxes arrive in Toronto; What the heck are bike boxes?


Tue Oct 12 2010

They’re meant to make intersections safer, but the new bike boxes on St. George and Harbord Sts. are being mostly overlooked cyclists and drivers.

Hopefully Voters Won't Develope Short Term Memory Loss...

Bussin on hot seat at debate over pub deal


By CHRIS DOUCETTE, Toronto Sun

Last Updated: September 23, 2010 8:57pm

 Incumbent Councillor Sandra Bussin wasn’t able to Tuggs at any heartstrings at a candidates debate in the Beach Thursday night and she immediately found herself on the hot seat over the city’s controversial Boardwalk Cafe deal.

The sparks were flying inside St. John’s Norway Church — 470 Woodbine Ave., just north of Kingston Rd. — moments after the debate began when the first question put to the seven candidates on hand focused on the beach-front restaurant.

“The way (the city) did it was not right,” said Keith Begley, the first candidate to throw a match under the hot seat Bussin found herself perched on.

He alleged the city has lost money by signing the 20-year lease to Tuggs Inc, — which gives owner George Foulidis the exclusive rights he’s had since 1986 to sell food and beverages at the Boardwalk Cafe, Kew Beach, neighbouring Balmy Beach and D.D Summerville pool — without putting it out for tender.

Concillor Rob Ford, who appears poised to become the city’s next mayor, added fuel to the fire recently when he slammed the deal.

Bussin was quick to defend herself at the debate by pointing out Ford had no problems voting in favour of a similar 15-year sole-source lease in the western beaches.

Bruce Baker, who is also Vying for Bussin’s job, said it was the process that was “flawed.”

And he defended Foulidis saying the business owner wasn’t part of that process and all he did was secure the best deal he could for a family-run company.

A thundering applause filled the church each time a candidate slammed the deal and Bussin, who originally proposed entering into sole source negotiations with Tuggs.

The cheers were especially loud for Mary-Margaret McMahon, an obvious crowd favourite to win Beaches-East York when Torontonians go to the polls Oct. 25.

“The bottom Line, it should have gone out to tender,” McMahon said of the deal.

chris.doucette@sunmedia.ca

why Do We Need A Election...

...make Toronto Silly Hall the new home for Second City.

Second City troupe brings its A-game

The company’s new revue pokes clever fun at G20 riot police, awkward singles, funeral bloopers and more

Hopefully Not...

The next Adam Vaughan?

Another ex-City TV reporter is running for council

They Are Also Banned By The Taliban

...it would make an interesting pissing contest to see who "bans more!" Them or Us?

Why would the Taliban ban kite-flying? - Yahoo! Answers

Talibanizing Toronto

Thu Aug 19 2010

The Taliban were the first to ban kites in Afghanistan. Now, Toronto is following Mullah Omar’s lead in keeping this city safe from the menace of kite-flying.

Chump Change But It Is OUR Change...

...it might be interesting to see what was expensed by bureaucrats and other city employees.

Who spent what at City Hall

How much did your councillor spend?

Councillors' office tab — $500,000

By DON PEAT, Toronto Sun

Before he says au revoir to City Hall, Councillor Adam Giambrone is once again this year saying merci for one-on-one French lessons. 

Taxpayers eating cost of lunches

By DON PEAT, Toronto Sun

Some but not all of the female city councillors who routinely show up for the “women’s caucus” lunch make taxpayers eat the cost.

Royson Infected With Caribana Fever...

...that is the only reason I can see for his blueprint. The only way most of his solutions would work is if ALL of the current councilors were given their walking papers, some senior bureaucrats were fired  and the jobs for life credo was scrapped with a message to the unions that the Regan air controllers solution would be implemented.

My blueprint is as realistic as Royson's ...

James: How do we make Toronto great? Here's how

...in support of my alternative:

If you can't get rid of big government...

...start small:

Maywood: A city that sacked its entire staff The US city sacked all its staff to stave off bankruptcy – and its citizens think services are now better. Tom Leonard reports.
To the casual eye, nothing about Maywood looks unusual. Police cars patrol the city’s palm-tree lined streets a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles, red-shorted lifeguards watch over the public swimming pool and, inside the striking Art Deco city hall, clerks issue yard sale permits. The police cars, however, are from “out of town” and manned by deputies from the county sheriff’s department, while the lifeguards and clerks are on loan from the neighbouring city of Bell.
Maywood – working-class, respectable and 95 per cent Hispanic – has attempted something unheard of anywhere in local government. It sacked its entire workforce and staved off looming bankruptcy by outsourcing everything. More than 70 workers lost their jobs at the end of June. Others were re-employed contractually, losing key benefits. But the newly jobless may be the only people not smiling now...

H/t: Denise.
Posted by Mark

 

Canada Makes The List BUT...

• not with the Metro Zoo so maybe we need to get behind the efforts to maintain it and if extra $$$ needed lets take it from the maintenace of our downtown zoo...Toronto Silly Hall.

  Top 10: world's worst zoos

  Some places you don't want to bring the kids.
  

YOUR City Is Being Run By...

Ford's wrist slapped

By SUE-ANN LEVY, Toronto Sun

Would-be mayor Rob Ford received an official slap on the wrist for holding a campaign event in Nathan Phillips Square last week.

Municipal employee strike.

Toronto Silly Hall Meeting...

...chaired by Dictator Sandra Bussin:

Council to delay future Pride grants to ensure anti-discrimination policy followed

Change follows furor over flip-flop on participation of anti-Israel group in parade Jul 07, 2010 7

Toronto City Council Votes 36-0 to Commend "Outstanding" G20 ...

7 Jul 2010 ... City council commends “outstanding” police G20 work. By David Rider; July 07, 2010 - Toronto Star ...

Council won't reopen contract for Beach food and drink concession

10 Jun 2010 ... The Boardwalk Pub in Woodbine Beach Park in Toronto. Photo Credit: Aaron Lynett, National Post. Share. A controversial contract to award one ...
www.globaltoronto.com/

Ford asks for councillor to pay back funds spent of farewell party‎ -

29 minutes ago  Toronto council put a quick stop Wednesday to mayoralty candidate Rob Ford's ... councillor Kyle Rae to pay back $12000 he spent on a farewell party. ... insideTORONTO.com

Futile Doesn't Begin To Describe The In-Actions Of The Beauracracy...

...which include not only the politicians and civil service but those corporations formed by the government to deal with people that really need help.

Goar: A province where everyone can live in dignity

By Carol Goar

Wed Jun 23 2010

Welfare review advisory panel presents government with thoughtful, but probably futile, plan to turn social assistance into a path out of poverty.

Desire for improvement

Waiting for answers on Al Gosling’s death, Column, June 18

Much more is needed for tenants

Human contact key to reform, Editorial, June 21

Volunteers At Toronto Silly Hall...

...with the blessing of City Unions? Amazing! What next; volunteers riding shotgun on sidewalk litter vacuums?

James: Beauty in diversity: city hall’s backyard garden

June 22, 2010
Royson James

Carlos Ruaz, a volunteer, waters the flowers in the diversity garden behind Toronto's city hall.

TARA WALTON/TORONTO STAR

 

It’s a no-name garden that speaks of beauty and love in the heart of the city. And initiative and ingenuity by city workers.
You’re reading about it because one of its creators and sustainers wanted to share it, on the first day of summer, as area workers sat at the lone picnic table for a homemade lunch in the garden of delight.
“Come see the diversity garden,” Juan Sanchez beckoned, as visitors to the rear entrance of city hall tried to navigate their way into the building, stopped by security guards doing pre-G20 checks.

Read More

The Only Solution For The Toronto Taxpayer...

ensure they have Vaseline and  Preparation H in their medicine cabinet.

Retiring Kyle Rae's off on another junket

By SUE-ANN LEVY, Toronto Sun

Outgoing councillor Kyle Rae will spend more than $20,000 on good-bye fetes and junkets before he leaves office in November.

Robert Kirsic Is Preaching To The Converted...

...problem is there are not enough of us, we're too busy trying to make a living so we're not able to get out and "march" and demonstrate for the latest trough project put forward by Silly Hall.

 

Quote: Having a balanced budget would be a good start, we all benefit from that. Spend our tax money like it’s yours. Cutting back on services the city really shouldn’t be providing but feels it must. Building a subway on important streets like Eglinton instead of a light-rail line. Building a smart and useful bike network instead of putting one in for the sake of putting one in because everyone else in Europe is doing it. Europe is a great place with wonderful ideas and people but sometimes we need made-in-Toronto ideas to fix made-in-Toronto problems. End Of Quote

 

Robert Kirsic: The left has done enough for Toronto

I’ve read with interest the last two articles from Tonika Morgan and Marit Stiles, and while I...

The Solution Is Maddening And Will Fall On Deaf Ears...

Toronto democracy is not as sick as you think

Marcus Gee

Instead of moaning about the state of city politics, voters could do something better: pay attention

Read on...

You Support Safe Sex So It Would Be Natural To Hand Out Condoms...

The Clown Council at Toronto Silly Hall support Bike Month and that explains why Silly Hall is built on one of the largest paid parking garages in the city and they also have paid parking lots at other city facilities.

Let's see them do this on a bike...

It’s Bike Month in Toronto. Now say it in English

By Kelly McParland  May 31, 2010 – 12:26 pm

NP

Adrian Heaps has a little Charlie Sheen action going eh?

It’s Bike Month in Toronto.
That means it’s time for some city councillor to dress up in his bike gear and get his picture taken for the Toronto Star, which of course is totally hot on bike week. That’s why The Star has a giant parking lot attached to its building, and another one across the street, because they all take their bikes to work.
So this year’s photo op goes to Adrian Heaps, who looks a little like Charlie Sheen to me, just going by the Star photo.
Here’s what he has to say about his plans to promote more cycling in the city:
“I’m not going to go out there and pump paint to hit a quota,” he said. “Complete the circle, make it smaller, do it right. I’d rather have a smaller network that was fully integrated.”
Read More »

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