Monday’s Headlines

9 comments

1. The question from a resident of the Jane-Finch debate echos what I have been saying……
   ”
   “I want to know what you would do for us in this area, especially for our black men who are getting shot down in the street and no one is being held accountable for it. Also, I don’t want to hear nothing about no basketball, no football, no soccer. We have bright, intelligent young people.”

   I agree with the questioner, what these areas need are opportunity, not more niceties. The Mayor’s priority neighbourhood program, does not deliver much in the way of opportunities. What it does provide is something for him to point to as an example of his concern. Forget really helping, as long as there is something that is seen to be done, something with permanence, then it gets support. Optics above all else.

2. You missed a pretty big GTA election story – the Toronto Star’s endorsements for City Councillor (Wards 1-21):

   Ward 1 Etobicoke North: “We offer a tepid endorsement for Suzan Hall.”

   Ward 2 Etobicoke North: Cadigia Ali

   Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre: Doug Holyday

   Ward 4 Etobicoke Centre: John Campbell

   Ward 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore: Peter Milczyn

   Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore: Mark Grimes

   Ward 7 York West: Larry Perlman

   Ward 8 York West: Anthony Perruzza

   Ward 9 York Centre: “A very limp endorsement goes to incumbent Maria Augimeri”

   Ward 10 York Centre: Brian Shifman

   Ward 11 York South-Weston: Fulvio Sansone

   Ward 12 York South-Weston: Rick Gosling

   Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park: Sarah Doucette

   Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park: Gord Perks

   Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence: Josh Colle

   Ward 16 Eglinton-Lawrence: Karen Stintz

   Ward 17 Davenport: Jonah Schein

   Ward 18 Davenport: Ana Bailao

   Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina: Karen Sun

   Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina: Adam Vaughan

   Ward 21 St. Paul’s: Joe Mihevc

3. Re: Officer Bubbles

   Does this douchebag really think he can take on Google? Not only will he lose, but he’ll probably have to pay their lawyer fees – and Google’s lawyers ain’t cheap.
   Oh, and let him try and sue me for calling him a douchebag. Calling someone a name ain’t libel, and there ain’t a judge on the planet who will disagree with that.

4. Thanks John – not sure how that critical one slipped past!

5. Another story missed for Ward 18 from the Globe’s Friday issue.. Here is the link … http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/faster-response-to-residents-a-key-in-ward-18/article1760052/ So much for all the posters on this site who claim only a handful of people were upset with Councillor Giambrone. Story goes on to outline how with respect to the Dundas West parking issue, candidate Kevin Beaulieu (a Giambrone staffer) is now willing “to work with merchants on parking” even though before he refused to hand over key parking data. Yup, Mr. Integrity…or Mr. Quick to Change His Tune.

6. Dundas West is a great little strip that has transformed into a real destination with many lovely new bakeries, cafes and restaurants in the last seven years while Giambrone was councillor. Like many other neighborhoods in the ward, it has become noticeably better during his term in office. I don’t think that is entirely coincidental. Giambrone didn’t always side with the squeaky wheels, but his office did good constituency work and recognized that Ward 18 could be part of a broader vision of city-building .

   A few parking spots (which only ever existed as part of a short-term pilot project) are not the defining characteristic of Dundas West, Davenport, or Giambrone’s term in office, and I think most of the people who live in the ward recognize that.

7. Paul, everything you have written is just your opinion… and there are plenty of people around who disagree with it even if they don’t bother coming on this board to do so.

8. Fair enough. We both have opinions. I live in ward 18, eat in the restaurants here, shop at the stores here, drink at the cafes and bars here, spend a lot of time walking around and enjoying my neighborhood. My opinion is based on what I see every day and I’m not going to be shy about disagreeing with people who only seem to want to tear things and people down.

9. Paul, your opinion is based on what you see… so is mine. But unlike you, I don’t attribute most of the improvement that has taken place over the past few years to the Councillor, but rather the process of gentrification that has been happening across the inner city (and with respect to which parts of Ward 18 were, for various reasons, among the last areas to embark on this path). Gentrification (whether it’s good or not is another story) happens regardless of who the Councillor is. Also, the issue is not whether there are a few parking spaces on Dundas West or whatever, but whether a Councillor is able to deal with people’s concerns in a fair and transparent manner. Councillor Giambrone was able to do that in some parts of Ward 18, but certainly not in all parts of the ward.