Mayoral Race
• Ford tapping into suburban fury, poll finds [ Toronto Star ]
• Spin doctor Kinsella joining Rossi campaign [ Toronto Star ]
• Ford’s vote for sole-source contracting called hypocritical [ Toronto Star ]
• Polls do not a mayor make [ Toronto Star ]
• Hume: Poll reflects a clash of cultures [ Toronto Star ]
• Persichilli: Toronto’s future, not Ford’s past, should be the issue [ Toronto Star ]
• Moscoe for mayor? [ National Post ]
• Furious George wants to tap into Ford’s base [ Toronto Sun ]
• Mayoral hopefuls – except Ford – back gun registry [ Toronto Sun ]
• Ford enlists foes to raise cash [ Toronto Sun ]
City Building
• City seeks new deal with golf courses [ Toronto Star ]
• Women’s College Hospital to stop birthing babies [ Globe & Mail ]
• Putting the ‘fun’ in ‘underfunding’! [ Globe & Mail ]
• Rob Ford can’t take full credit for Woodbine Live [ Globe & Mail ]
• Peter Kuitenbrouwee: City sees green in golf courses [ National Post ]
Other News
• How panhandlers use free credit cards [ Toronto Star ]
• Summer, kids and the parties on the beach [ Toronto Star ]
• First Nations want say in the preservation of important archaeological sites in Ontario [ Toronto Star ]
• One year later, cyclist killed in confrontation remembered [ Toronto Star ]
• Hunt for G20 riot ringleaders goes hi-tech [ Toronto Sun ]
6 comments
Persichilli’s column is filled with unfortunate contradictions that show how out of touch people are with what cities really are like in 2010.
“We want to emulate Broadway and Times Square but we also want people living downtown enjoying their backyards and bike lanes.” Uh, hate to tell you this but whole sections of Broadway have been turned into a backyard and Times Square now has a separated bike lane blowing through it.
“We want our art galleries and commercial districts to be compared with London’s Mayfair, the Via Condotti in Rome or Fifth Avenue in New York, but driving downtown is a most painful experience. The parking system is inefficient and you need a mortgage payment to park your car for a few hours.” Um, no one drives to shop on Fifth Avenue, and if they do they pay up to $50 for two hours. As cities like Rochester and Buffalo can attest to, an easy drive downtown does not equate to a successful commercial district.
“This doesn’t mean that Toronto should not be a livable city. Toronto, like Paris, London and New York, goes beyond the downtown core and has areas where you can find beautiful neighbourhoods where people can have all the grass, bike lanes and speed bumps they want.” Paris, London and New York may not have a ton of grass downtown but they do have immaculate parks and loads of well-designed street trees. And visit any cobblestoned street in some city’s “olde part of towne” for evidence of de facto speed bumps.
I’m not sure what the columnist was trying to say in his article – that we should have a vision to make the inner suburbs livable but leave downtown for cars? – but his thinking was way off. It is perfectly consistent to want to be like London, Paris and New York and at the same time want to add downtown bike lanes, streetscaping and transit instead of roads. These all go together to make for modern successful, livable cities.
@ISKYSCRAPER – I couldn’t agree more. My impression of the article was that not only has Persichilli not adapted to the 21st century, he doesn’t even seem to be aware of the massive changes that are occuring in major cities around the world. The fact that he is still stuck in a 1960s mentality (in terms of urban planning, anyway), is very apparent in his article. The Toronto he seems to want is exactly the opposite of what we need.
iSkyscraper, you have mentioned the bike lanes through Times Square on numerous occasions. I’d like to ask though, can cyclist really use them ? I spent 4 days in Manhattan a few months ago, and TS was always so crowded that the bike lanes were fully occupied by pedestrians. Toronto seems to have a much higher percentage of cyclist. Perhaps bike parking is an issue in Manhattan?
Here’s a link which I think summarizes Rob Ford’s appeal better than I’ve seen so far, It’s by Sun’s Lorrie Goldstein… It’s not just that Ford seems to be saying a lot of the things that some people want to hear… It’s that he has all the right enemies on Council and in the media. Everytime one of these people (Miller, Rae, Fletcher, Augimeri, Moscoe,etc.) open their mouths to take a swipe at Ford, his numbers go up… You’d think they would have wised up by now.
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/lorrie_goldstein/2010/08/27/15167271.html
@Samg
The article makes a good point, but I am curious as to what “conservative suburbs” of Toronto he is referring to? Last time I checked Toronto proper, including its outskirts, have been a Liberal stronghold for the past 15 years. Last time I checked, city councilors don’t formally represent a party. Of course they have their own political views, but with the exception of a few vocal ones many have no idea where they officially stand on the political spectrum.
The article also implies that Torontonians look to The Sun over The Star for political information. Looking at voting trends over the past two decades, I’d say it is safe to say the only thing people look to The Sun for is hockey scores.
Ben, I’m no fan of Lorrie Goldstein (or the Sun). I’d agree with you that the inner suburbs tend to be liberals. However, my sense is also that Municipal Candidates would be probably tend to be described as more conservative than those in the downtown core. I say more “conservative” as in focused on cost containment, effective services and less preoccupied with many “green” initiatives. I don’t think this means they are supportive of the federal or provincial tories.