MAYORAL RACE
• Porter: Mayoral debates just clouded the issue [The Star]
• Tories back Smitherman [The Star]
• Rossi supports Island Airport link [The Star]
• Text of Richard Peddie’s speech [The Star]
• Restaurant says they’re being exploited by Ford [The Star]
• Toronto mayoral debate: Post-amalgamation blues [Globe & Mail]
• Prominent Tories sign open letter for Smitherman [Globe & Mail]
• Progressive Pantalone loses his way in a sea of Ford sound-alikes [Globe & Mail]
• Thomson promises to dock pay of councillors who miss meetings [Globe & Mail]
• Toronto sports CEO calls on mayoral candidates to step up their game [Globe & Mail]
• Trailing in polls, Rossi courts the car vote [National Post]
• Rocco Rossi promises ‘rapid bridge replacement technology’ [National Post]
• Election Notebook: City can’t afford seniors’ homes, says Ford [The Sun]
• Challenge not criticism, Peddie says [The Sun]
• Being George Smitherman [Now Magazine]
• When Rob Ford becomes mayor… [Eye Weekly]
CITY COUNCIL
• Toronto ‘too little’ and ‘too big’ [The Star]
• Council votes not to reopen Boardwalk Pub deal [The Star]
• Under the boardwalk controversy [The Star]
CITY BUILDING
• Hume: Is Hamilton ready for Frank Gehry? [The Star]
• City looks to develop former Canada Malting site [Globe & Mail]
• Peter Kuitenbrouwer: The fight that saved the lakeshore silos [National Post]
OTHER NEWS
• Toronto, Montreal among most expensive cities [The Star]
• Mayor didn’t push land sale, ex-investor says [The Star]
• Police release photographs of more G20 suspects [Globe & Mail]
• Businesses owned by minorities want more city contracts [The Sun]
4 comments
Re: When Rob Ford Becomes Mayor.
Edward Keenan did a good job in explaining why many people support Rob Ford. The only part where he, IMO, dropped the ball was in his glossing over of Toronto’s fiscal health. He paraphrases the common refrain: “During an epic worldwide recession, the banks headquartered in Toronto stayed strong and our housing market held its value. The city is densifying and growing vertically every year (just look at the skyline). We’re an innovation hub that’s helping lead the world in pharmaceutical, medical and mobile technology development. We have arts institutions that are stronger than at any point in our history, a growing body of compelling architecture and a slowly growing transit system. Toronto’s property taxes are the lowest in the GTA, yet the operating budget is balanced (if precariously), while services have actually expanded in recent years. We have a population as ethnically diverse as any city in the world and yet we suffer little racial discord. Our crime rate is, by Canadian and international standards, exceedingly low.
”
While there is some truth to all that, if we look at Toronto outside of the GTA, a much different picture emerges.
The real waste at city hall is not the plant waters and councillor budgets. It is expensive multi level ice rinks, or project budget overruns. It is spending money to clean soil to sell to developers to build condos. Of which the development fees will not cover the hard expenses and the operating expenses will not be covered by tax revenue. There are lots of examples of waste in Toronto.
The current budget, as with those past, have been balanced in part by raiding reserves, changing accounting methods like deferring TTC benefits 43.3 million a year* (we should see if this also happened at other ABC’s or the city itself). Back loading expenses make the current year statements look good, but add to future years shortfalls. All in all, things are not a rosy as we are being lead to believe.
Don Drummond (whom one could describe as socially progressive), from TD, has taken an impartial look at the city’s finances. I would trust him over the political spun version from city hall or Edward’s…..
http://www.td.com/communicate/speeches/09jan10.jsp
*http://stevemunro.ca/?p=4291
Sorry Glen but thast not what Don Drummond from the TD says, in fact he doesn’t really mention waste at all.
“Simply put, Toronto’s municipal government spends money faster than it collects it.”
His theory goes on about user fees, labour costs, road tolls, and even getting more money from senior levels of government as ways of filling or educing the gap. Pretty straight up stuff really and about making choices, not about cutting waste.
Starting around the time Mel became mayor taxes have not kept up with spending. Its that simple.The word waste, in the context that you use it, never appears in his document.
As long as I have been able to vote I have been hearing about waste yet nobody seems to able to find this magic room filled with cash. I dont think they will because it doesnt exist. The cost of things goes up.
Sorry for the confusion. I did mean to say (nor did I really) that Don Drummond thought that Toronto was wasteful. Only that Toronto did indeed have some very real fiscal difficulties ahead, and that the current status was only via unsustainable means.
SCOTTD,
One man’s investment is another man’s waste. St. Clair ROW, The new ice arena, etc. The city itself found 100 million this year. Calling them efficiencies simply means that there were inefficiencies, ie. waste.