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Morning Brew: Rob Ford's quiet afternoons, Doug Ford keeps mum on mayoral run, TTC signs off on LRTs and Presto, ancient footprints, and Edmonton council is mad
Rob Ford took most afternoons off from his city hall duties during the early part of the football season between Sept. 1 and Oct. 26, according to documents seen by The Star. The piece notes "private" appointments scheduled for 3:30, roughly the same time as the Don Bosco Eagles practice. Is this further proof that Rob Ford's a part time mayor or just evidence he doesn't keep detailed itineraries?
Doug Ford is refusing to rule out a run for mayor if his brother is removed from office after a report appeared in The Star yesterday suggesting the mayor's inner circle could planning a switcheroo. A poll conducted Monday suggests Olivia Chow, were she to run, would still have no problem beating Doug.
The TTC signed two important agreements yesterday; one confirms four new LRT lines for Toronto by 2020, the other sets a 2015 deadline for system-wide Presto card facilities. By the time the decade is out, Torontonians should (barring any unforeseen circumstances) have four new rapid transit lines and the option of paying with contactless card or cash.
Imagine unearthing one of the most astounding archaeological finds in Toronto's history and then just pouring concrete over it. Well, according to Adam Bunch at Spacing, that's exactly what happened in 1908 when workers installing a pipe off Hanlan's Point found 11,000 year old human footprints in the clay. The astonishing story surely has to be the first example of the city's careless management of its historical features.
I guess Edmonton didn't take too kindly to our council suggesting the Alberta city move their elephant south to a warmer climate. Stephen Mandel, the mayor, said it was none of Toronto's business what it does with its zoo animals, and was "noticeably irate."
U of T researchers have scored $2.2 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a fund that provides cash to healthcare and poverty reduction projects, to produce a waterless toilet for use in the developing world. The team is working with sand filters and UV-ray sanitation.
Just a heads up - the Bloor-Danforth line will be closed this weekend (all day Saturday and Sunday) between Keele and Kipling for track replacement work at Jane station. Shuttle busses will replace trains between the stations. Normal service resumes Monday at 6 am.
IN BRIEF:
- Toronto house fire claims father, son [CBC]
- Rob Ford reverses position, votes to recognize anniversary of Nanking massacre [National Post]
- Father and son killed in house fire [The Star]
- Man, 90, badly beaten in east-end Toronto apartment [The Star]
- Man donates $150K to Danzig Street community [CBC]
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Photo: "Seeing Double" by Aband1d_Urbex in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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Why do we have to choose between a left-wing nutjob or a right-wing nutjob? Can't we just please elect a centrist mayor that eschews the loonier policies on both left and right? I say that knowing that council is filled with nutjobs of both persuasion and trying to be the mayor leading them is probably a thankless soul-destroying job.
See Toronto? This is why the rest of Canada hates you.
I think you might want to fix this. The article mentioned is headlined "...11,000 year-old footprints"...and says "...ice age ended, about 12,500 years ago"...and "...about 11,000 years ago" for the footprints.
Besides, I don't think that Chow is a radical as people make her out to be-this sounds like the Sun News Network's propaganda bullshit, and they know what they can do with that.
Oh,snap. :)
You're right about 'corporatist' in any case. Ford's career in politics is basically a way for his family to keep him out of the running of the family business (they tried to get him on a school board for similar reasons) and for all his talk of running the city like a business, he seems unable to do just that and has no real vision for the city beyond pinching pennies here and there and focusing on soft targets (weeds, graffiti, etc.).
Political theory might have a name for that kind of administration, but corporatism is something entirely different.
Wow Council, you already lost our zoo's accreditation by basing policy on Bob Barker, let's not bring that embarrassment to the attention of other major Canadian cities, ok?
If lefty rule was so awful, how did this city become "great"?
And don't invoke the name of Bill Davis. He's a pinko by today's standards.
Our predicament is this: the past decade has seen a dramatic polarization of all politics, centered more around big personality candidates and less about policy. Toronto, being the mix it is, easily gets divided and angry. What we need is a dummy candidate - someone without big plans or big ideas, just wants to keep sanity, and is willing to let council make the big decisions. We need a monkey like the Governor General who will shake dignitary's hands but doesn't really do anything. We need a mayor so politically benign that any mishaps they have are gossip potential instead of policy affecting. Toronto needs, and will only function, with a Mel Lastman.
...says the guy whose boss barely finished a year at Carlteton post high-school (and never graduated) - and whose only job as an adult has been in politics. But at least Robbie's not a hipster, right Mark?