JAMES: New blood needed

17 comments

1. I was hoping the City Idol competition might end up unseating some of the worse councillors but instead they seem to be (mostly? all?) contesting seats vacated by their incumbents (Trinity-Spadina for example)

2. I don’t think new blood is needed unless it can be shown that the current leadership is failing at its job.

   More than anything else, I’d like the incumbents to actually feel threatened by the presence of the other candidates. This would encourage them to actually get something done so they could campaign on their record rather than name recognition.

3. James pointed out that incumbents get to spend more than $50,000 of taxpayers’ money on their campaign until late September, which pretty much shatters any argument that there is a level playing field.

   I don’t think there is any doubt that new blood is an important part of keeping council democratic. Sure, continuity is crucial as well, but fresh ideas ensure citizens’ voices are heard and old problems find proper solutions.

   Part of the responsibility of electing new voices belongs to voters themselves, certainly, but new candidates need to be given a fighting chance to be heard. James touched on the media’s role, but really this is the single biggest factor in keeping our elected bodies democratic. (Thanks to the Spacing crew for contributing positively to this.)

4. I think new blood on Council is needed, because the old blood currently on Council–even the progressive old blood–doesn’t seem terribly interested in exploring new ideas, new directions or thinking about what meaningful inclusivity is all about.

   However even new blood seems to be old blood. Adam Vaughan is a case in point. He’s never been on Council, but he’s a conventionally-minded progressive who has just come from another prominent position that involves shaping how people talk and think about their city. It’s the same ideas and the same way of thinking that are dominating all facets of the city’s public life.

   Putting pressure on a Councillor can only push them in certain directions. It can’t change the way they think or how they understand the world, which is where I think the stale problem lies. It’s not new blood that’s needed, it’s new brains.

   There are a lot of people in the city doing really great things and pursuing important goals, but they don’t seem to be the same people who aspire to be city councillors. I wish that would change.

5. ^What do you mean by “conventionally-minded” and “same way of thinking that are dominating all facets of the city’s public life”?

   Examples?

6. Shawn, I will answer your question.

   I’m just trying to think of a way to do it without feeding Vaughan and Kennedy words they can use to sound like something they clearly aren’t…

7. Melissa: You gotta listen to Vaughan talk. He knows a lot more about city hall than most of our councillors. He’s a smart cookie. I wasn’t sure at first, but I talked to him at length outside St. George station recently where he was canvassing. I was blown away — he had answers and details about issues that does not come out of a typical canvassing candidate.

8. I like Vaughan – especially his talk about bringing more family sized condos into downtown rather than letting developers build thousands of 1 beds. Hopefully it’s will prove to be a (baby) step towards Vancouver style development rather than developers buying off councillors with money for community facilities the city should be building anyway.

   I don’t like the entitlement culture that surrounds Kennedy – it has the same stink as the Paul Ainslie candidacy to succeed Soknacki. If people don’t want more white male socons on council the answer is not to block people like Vaughan but to unseat the boors like Ford.

9. I did listen to him. And yes, he knows a lot of stuff, and he has the media savvy to express it very well. I never said he wasn’t smart, or didn’t know a lot. I think most of the current batch of councillors are smart and know a lot as well. However they all seemed to have been pulled from the same batch of conventional white, middle-upper class thinkers, schooled in the same limited range of ways of thinking about what social equity means, what good governance is, what an inclusive system of governance would look like, and what and participatory democracy is all about.

   I am still working on a piece to better explain what I’m talking about. Apologies for the delay.

10. “However they all seemed to have been pulled from the same batch of conventional white, middle-upper class thinkers, schooled in the same limited range of ways of thinking…”

    I do not like how the above commenter uses the ethnicity of councillors and candidates as part of an excuse to criticize how they do their jobs. It is not their “fault” theiy are white. If you want change at City Hall the voters have to do it, not the candidates. I don’t care what colour skin they are as long as they are good people.

    I can see by Melissa’s post that she cares about diversity and wants a range of different people on council, but the kind of gerneralization (above quote) is weak-minded. Look at council: yes, they may be dominated by whites, but they come from differnet backgrounds: Italians, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Jews, Brits, Dutch, Chinese, Black, Hungarian…. I would beg to differ that they all come from “the same limited range of ways of thinking about what social equity means.”

    Yes we need more colour and diversity on council but that is determined by voters. Do not hold one’s upbringing against anyone, not matter if they are white and “upper-middle class” (which I wonder how Melissa’s knows each councillors economic background and upbringing).

11. Mark–
    So Vancouver-style development is the ideal?! I went exploring Vancouver’s condo boom a few weeks ago, and what I saw seemed worse, not better, than Toronto: an unbelievably high concentration and density of upscale, super high-priced high-rise condos in the downtown core (none of which appeared to be built using environmentally sustainable building methods, but then it is difficult to assess that kind of thing just by looking at the exterior of a building), no people on the street, a lot of cars on the road, and no amenities (grocery stores, schools) within walking distance of the condos.

    Is that the kind of development you’re talking about, because I thought that was exactly what we were trying to avoid in Toronto…

    And that culture of entitlement surrounds Vaughan as well. Every time he mentions how his parents’ and their generation built the ward, or finds an opportunity to mention his father at all, I hear the culture of entitlement screaming, “Don’t you know who my father is?! Don’t you know who I AM?!”. Same goes for his performance at the candidates’ debate a couple of days ago. Every other candidate stuck to the time allotted to answer each question, every other candidate respected the other candidates and waited for their turn to speak. Vaughan consistently went far over his time, even when the timer made it clear he was over his limit, and interrupted other candidates, even though it wasn’t that style of debate. That kind of behaviour struck me as a shameless display of feelings of superiority and entitlement.

    I would give anything to kick Ford out of his comfy council seat, but just because Vaughan is a helluva lot more progressive than Ford, does not mean that there aren’t candidates out there are a lot more progressive than Vaughan. It’s like comparing Harper and Layton. It’s quite easy to see how their political perspectives differ. Now try that with Layton and May. There are still differences, they’re just not as obvious.

12. Melissa> When i hear the stuff you’re staying, it sounds like ideology to me, and nothing turns me off of politics more than opinions and beliefs based on that. It causes people to prejudge and ignore  what people are actually saying (even if it’s good), and ignore absolutely key details, like the fact that somebody (like Vaughan, since we’re talking about him) is smart and politically savvy enough to maneuver through the maze of civic politics and get things done. You can vote in the Platonic ideal of a progressive political candidate sent from Left Wing Heaven, but if they don’t have the actual political skills needed to figure out how to get their ideas to gather momentum and support in a system like city council, it isn’t worth much.

    You say,

    “However they all seemed to have been pulled from the same batch of conventional white, middle-upper class thinkers, schooled in the same limited range of ways of thinking about what social equity means, what good governance is, what an inclusive system of governance would look like, and what and participatory democracy is all about.”

    I think you really, really need to explain that more, with specific examples, not just somebody’s debating style. That’s specious reasoning, and quite a leap as well, to connect it to the idea of somebody’s personal sense of entitlement. Everybody talks about their background — that’s not entitlement, it’s what people do. If one’s background was political from the get go, not talking about it would be weird.

    I think this smells like bullshit, and mildly offensive bullshit at that. If you weren’t talking about a white male it would sound fairly racist. Was Olivia Chow playing entitlement when she talked about her Chinese background to get the Chinese vote? Is Cheri DiNovo waving lefty entitlement cred in Parkdale when she talks about her past as a street kid?

    It’s a slippery slope, talking about “entitlement” vs. “real people” — most people are not actively involved in the political process, they don’t go to debates, they don’t put up lawn signs, they might just vote — and still, many don’t do that. So Left of Right, people involved in politics in general could be accused of entitlement if you view things through undergrad ideology goggles. To go after Vaughan, or anybody, the way you did is no way to start a discussion about, say, the need for more diversity on council. The ideology blocks not just a solution, but that discussion too, and Toronto is much, much better than this.

13. Jeez.

    I will respond in full to all of these comments, critiques, and yes, accusations. When I posted my original comment I wasn’t anticipating having to write for public consumption an analysis of our exclusionary and inequitable system of governance and the kinds of thinking that perpetuate it, and this really isn’t the kind of thing I can easily whip up off the top of my head. I’m wondering if simply directing you to a couple of articles would be a better way to go…

    But for now, let me just say:

    Amhar– I’m not using ethnicity to accuse councillors of how they do their jobs. I’m commenting on how our current system of governance effectively excludes a considerable portion of our population from participating, and priviledges a choice few. The fact that Council is currently all-white and mainly male and cut from similar pieces of cloth is but a symptom of this.

    Shawn– Your use of the term “ideology” puzzles me. I call what I do “critical thinking,” which is the polar opposite of “ideology” in my mind…perhaps you can explain what you meant by it.

14. Melissa: ” Every time [Vaughan] mentions how his parents’ and their generation built the ward, or finds an opportunity to mention his father at all, I hear the culture of entitlement screaming…”

    I know we all hear different things but I hear someone who cares about the good work his father and cohorts did to make his ward one of the greatest parts of Toronto. And if you listen to what is coming to T-S ward he has every reason to conjure up the great work of Jacobs and the Srtop Spadina crew did, bot to mention the electoral work of others like Nadine Nowlan.

    And I agree with Amhar — it is voters who put peope in office not the candidates themselves. And I think Shawn hit is bang-on — Vaughan, as an example, cares about this city and has a better plan than the other candidates. He sounds like he was rude at the debate your mention which is unfortunate, but nothing that should ever stop anyone from voting for him. I’d rather have someone who want to make his point clear than someone who has been approval condos and stupid development throughout the ward.

15. Melissa,

    I think Shawn used the term ‘ideology’ because you seem to fault Vaughan for his background and not his ideas. I agree that it is upsetting that more people don’t run for council and that it’s difficult for a lot of people in the city to run. It sounds like what you’re saying is that Vaughan and Kennedy and others should have more competition, that city hall should make it easier for a wider variety of people to run for council and get their ideas heard and realised. I think a lot of people reading this wire would agree with you. But if that’s the case, instead of pointing out that Vaughan is privalleged, you should be pointing out what those at city hall need to change to get more people participating. If you don’t like Vaughan, tell us the issues that are important to you that you don’t hear him talking about. Tell us about the issues he talks about that you disagree with.

    I’m not sure that Vaughan mentioning his background shows that he has a sense of entitlement. To me, it shows that he has experience, an understanding of different ways of getting things done, and a pretty solid belief that there are certain things that are bad for the city, expressways that cut through the middle of it being one. His media experience shows me that he has the ability to communicate to the public, that he can express his ideas and make clear arguments. Being able to communicate is huge. Like Shawn said, you could elect the smartest councillor on the planet, but if they can’t communicate what they think needs to be done, gather support, and convince others that we need to put these ideas into practice, he or she is useless.

    Vaughan is lucky. He grew up in a family that afforded him many privalleges, like probably most people posting to this discussion have. Does that mean, though, that he should step aside and not put his skills to work? The responsible thing, I think, is to use your privallege, if you have it, to help build a better society. I think this is what Vaughan wants to do.

    You see Vaughan as having a sense of entitlement, something the rest of us who’ve posted here so far don’t see (sorry, others, if I’m jumping to conclusions). Sure, he can be rude during debates, but being rude doesn’t necessarily mean you have a sense of entititlement. A quiet person could also feel entitled. One could jump to the conclusion, for example, that they’re not speaking up because they feel they shouldn’t have to convince anyone of their ideas.

    I think Vaughan is full of new ideas and has the passion to see them through. He cares about making spaces for a wide variety of people in his ward, whether it’s ensuring there’s adequate family housing and park space (two very important things I haven’t heard anyone on the council show concern for) or fighting against the encroachment of big box stores downtown. He knows his stuff and if he doesn’t know it, he goes looking for answers. The problem our current batch of city councillors is that they are complacent with the limits placed on them. Affordable housing? Well, we just don’t have the money. Restricting what developers can and can not do? Well, we’ll lose anyway at the OMB. They’ve accepted that there are things that just aren’t possible to acheive. Being new blood, Vaughan can see different ways of getting things done. People may question whether he’ll be successful or not, but it’d be nice to at least see someone try to accomplish things that others gave up on a long time ago.

16. In Response,

    I welcome this debate on the Wire, and the bringing in of two prominent members of Spacing’s editorial collective; it is exciting to see such passion. I would also agree with Shawn that ideology is not the best form to create coherent and complete political arguments, but it does provide a much needed “moral compass” for an individual wishing to delve into the murky waters of politics.

    I would also like to offer a critique of Vaughan and a support to Melissa’s and Royson James’ claims that he is “old new ideas”. A simple critique of the relatively in-depth policy section of his website is needed. Plans like more consultation between developers and residents in the Annex had been attempted and pushed by the former city councillor Olivia Chow in her adamant opposition to the ROM tower and the 1 Bedford tower and the eventual cancellation of the former and drastic scaling down of the latter. He wants to address the noise and traffic levels in the Entertainment District, an issue Chow had been active on in the last year of her city counsillorship. He praises the beauty of St. George St. through the University of Toronto campus, once again something supported and helped created by Chow. Many of the remainder of his ideas are transposed from other neighbourhoods (pedestrian weekends in Baldwin Village or anti-Big Box on Queen Street both of which have airs of Kensington and Leslieville respectively). He is also a detractor of the proposed Front Street Extension, nothing radical there in a simple attempt to distance himself from the posse of lefty councillors that favoured it and blatantly questionable behavior of NDPer Joe Pantalone in the next-door ward.

    No doubt he does bring interesting and important new ideas to the for-front, such as much needed critique of the family friendliness (or lack of) in many of the condo developments in the ward or a redesign for the streetscapes of Adelaide and Richmond.

    At the end of the day do I think that Vaughan brings truly new ideas to City Council? No, I don’t. Do I believe he is just as much a City Hall “insider” as Helen Kennedy? Yes, I do. Do I think he brings the knowledge, know-how and navigation abilities to Council that Kennedy would? No. Do I know that taking a stance in daring to support the “incumbent” in this race (though technically not, but running on Chow’s record none-the-less) in a space openly critical of the current city council is potentially isolating? Of course I do, but I also believe that Chow’s and Kennedy’s record at City Hall is among the best of 44 and is nothing to be scoffed at.

17. Let’s not turn this comment section into a debate about Vaughan and Kennedy. It’s good to see intelligent exchange of ideas, but let’s keep it on topic.

    The greatest need for change is in the inner ‘burbs. I don’t care what political stripe you come from, I just want smart and selfless councillors. I think we have too many selfish councillors.