Morning Brew: Ford vs. Dale day two, Councillors not elephants go to California, residents want electric air-rail link, Ford's war on bikes gets international attention

When the bike lane on Sherbourne is opened collisons will be down even further as the cyclists will maturely follow the improve infrasture put in place for them. They won't even notice that a high capacity north/south route will have been returned to normal. Thus both cyclists and drivers win
This really is a plan with vision

sheesh.... maybe if the plan had been to use electric trains from the very start, they wouldn't have wasted so much time? It almost seems like a stalling tactic.

Rob Ford needs better PR staff. This is spinning out of control and all this crap could have easily been avoided. Don't press charges, you'll only make things worse.

What does Mammoliti and Berardinetti know about proper elephant care? (not a Rob Ford joke). Certainly there's more local things they can direct their attention to instead of flying to California.

The shitshow continues.

There are now *three* alleged plots of land in question. I wish I'd saved the graphic the Star initially posted with Dale's story, because it clearly demarcates the area directly between Ford's home and the west end of the community centre, not the fenced-off area behind his and his neighbour's home.

The TRCA map, included in a PDF linked from the original Star article, really isn't particularly clear. I'm doing a side-by-side comparison with a map from Google, and it's not clear if the highlighted "subject property" is aligned with the land to the east of the Ford home or the home itself; it only demarcates roads and TRCA property, and no private property lines are indicated. It no longer appears the "subject property" on the TRCA map could have applied to the area behind the home, but the original map posted by the Star makes me think this is what Dale thought it referred to at the time, before he travelled there and noticed the angle of the Fords' fence made that impossible. The area that the Star claims Dale thought was the subject property in the map linked above makes no sense, except as a "WTF is going on here?" thought when he discovered the layout and fencing of the area behind the homes.

IOW, Dale probably really was there trying to determine which parcel of TRCA land the Fords wanted to buy, Ford got angry when he was warned of someone back there taking photos around the fence, and completely flipped out when it turned out to be a Star reporter he admittedly recognized, blowing the whole thing up into another Bozo Explosion.

Sure, this *could* all have been avoided with a simple phone call from the Star to Ford or one of his staff prior to the visit, but as we all know the Ford administration doesn't talk to the Star for any reason; if they did, Dale could have called about the purchase itself before going to press with the initial article, Ford wouldn't have lost his temper upon seeing a Star reporter taking pictures of the land behind his fence* in a public area, and this whole stupid incident would never have happened.

This grudge match needs to end, for the good of the city. All of this over a stupid application to buy land for a bigger yard (I don't buy the security claims, given the location of the subject TRCA property and the existing fence already on the Fords' land) that would probably have been rejected anyway.

The Star needs to at least attempt to reach out to the mayor's staff (even if only to be summarily rejected; at least they could say they tried, again and again), Ford desperately needs therapy and assistance gaining control of his temper, and we all need to move on to more important issues.

* It's still possible Dale did get up on those blocks to take photos across the area behind the Fords' home from a higher angle. It's even possible he took shots over the fence. However, if the claim of a call from Dale's BB 45 minutes after abandoning it is true, and no incriminating photos have appeared in the Sun, then I'm inclined to think there's nothing to the allegations of spying over the fence. I'm sure there will be more stupidity to come, though...

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Isn't Berardinetti the councillor for that ward? If so, alright, she's got some skin in the game... But what committee is Mammoliti on to warrant this?

There's gotta be something!

also whats with ford always having evidence but always refusing to share it with media? either share the evidence or stfu.

I was against removing the centre lane/ and parking and adding the bike lanes but now that it is already there, it seems stupid to revert it back to what it was. There is a lot of added bike infrastructure along that route now (Bixi Stations).

I say don't bother with the Sherbourne lanes and leave things the way they are.

Still pushing the Toronto Star's version are we? Is the Star now the owner of this blog or just your ideological brother? The guy was stalking and harrassing the mayor, the Star is desperate to do damage control and is using their bullhorn to do it. They are completely wrong on this, like most things. They need to apologize and ensure this harrassment stops.

Wow. YOU are hilarious, sir.

Mammo and Berardinetti want a little romantic get away to California. Hopefully mammo choices never to come back lol

Occupy TO should set up a camp on the vacant land Ford is trying to buy.

diesel trains are absolutely ridiculous in this day and age.

we're going to allow the city to mess this up? and eventually replace them = pay for them twice? how do we stop this?

The property Ford wants is no where near where this stalker was found. Who takes photos with a blackberry? A dead one at that. You believe the little shit because it fits your anti-Ford beliefs. Any impartial person with a functioning brain can see this is a case of the Toronto Star stalking and harrassing the mayor at his home.

So the TORONTO zoo is a Markham attraction? Wow...this is coming from blogTO? How are you even qualified to blog here? Between you and Derek, there isnt an informed opinion on this site. Bunch of monkeys.

In BlogTo's world, the Toronto Star isn't stalking and harrassing the Mayor and the Toronto Zoo is located in Markham. Bunch of geniuses working here I see.

who is to believed, an accredited journalist that not changed his story from the first telling or an habitual liar that has yet to give the same version twice.
Is this is stalking then Google maps has stalked everybody int he city.

Watching the Ford supporters blindly defending their fearless leader is hilarious. He lies and his mindless supporters start trumpeting it like fact. "If someone was creeping around in the my backyard in the dark taking pictures of my family I'd do worse than what Ford did!" Cool, most people would. Thing is you morons, that's not what happened.

You're right. It's far more plausible that the reporter was standing on cinder blocks taking pictures of Ford and his family inside their house. That is probably the story they were working on. It's unreasonable to believe he was there working on the story that actually involves the public space on which he was standing.

We think it's so awesome that the mayor mugged a guy in a public park!!! I put on my TapOut t-shirt to type this.

What would really help the 'electric trains for GO Transit' meme is if people supported nuclear power, and the building of newer nuclear plants. Unfortunately, you know how people are about nuclear power...

It's as much the attitudes as it is the infrastructure. Toronto is actually pretty well-disposed towards cycling but the infrastructure as an overall system is deficient. NYC has some very prominent bike infrastructure, but not really a general network in terms of overall coverage. Some countries in Europe, such as Belgium, have pretty good bike infrastructure but a generally lousy attitude to (urban) cycling.

I don't get the impression that attitudes to bikes and biking are that much better or less car-centric in Australia than here - wasn't there recently an ABC news anchor who suggested on air that when cyclists got doored it was their own fault?