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Morning Brew: TTC bus saga rumbles on, stats reveal Ford's attendance, city fluffs veteran's proclamation, the lost Kormann House condo, and a vintage Toronto map
So that clears that up. Rob Ford didn't call for a TTC shelter bus as previously reported: it was the cops. At a press conference yesterday Superintendent Ron Taverner said the vehicle request came from Toronto police who were concerned about a fight brewing between the two football teams. Ford did, however, call TTC CEO Andy Byford's cell to hurry things along.
Byford asks that Ford kindly not call him in future regarding personal matters. Could this become the source of a rift between Byford and Ford?
Rob Ford has a better attendance record than David Miller and many other city councillors, according to The Star. Scarborough East councillor Ron Moeser has missed the most votes as a result of ongoing health issues, Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday has the best record. According to the paper, Ford has missed 494 of the 3,334 votes this term, making him absent 14.8 per cent of the time. Are you surprised by these stats?
Note: The Star has since updated their article to reflect the fact Miller's attendance records were only available between 2009 and 2010, not his entire term.
In embarrassing gaffes, City of Toronto staff have apologized after accidentally recycling last year's Veteran's Week proclamation online. And they probably would have gotten away with it too if only they hadn't tweeted a link on the mayor's official account.
With all the condo buildings under construction in Toronto it's easy to lose track of the various projects that have fallen by the wayside. The Grid takes a look at the abandoned Kormann House project at Queen and Sherbourne, a housing project that seemingly defied the odds by not getting built.
On a similar note, here's a map by journalist Lisa Mayor of all the condos that are getting built [via Reddit.]
If you're an amateur cartographer or just someone with a love for maps, here's a diagram of present day Toronto divided up into its former municipalities with the dates each were officially incorporated. Posted to Reddit by TOmaps, the map seems to be a little misleading: the boundaries are in their 1960s positions.
GUESS THE INTERSECTION:
Hey - think you know where this is? Why don't you tell us in the comments' section, smartypants?
IN BRIEF:
- Ontario secondary teachers will delay job action [CBC]
- Suspect arrested after double stabbing at Bathurst and Glencairn [CBC]
- Corrupt drug squad officers shouldn't go to prison: defense [National Post]
Photo: "Lotto" by asianz from the blogTO Flickr pool.
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Vaughan and Davis still manage to show up for votes more often than Ford. What exactly has Vaughan said about the bus issue? I've heard more from Milczyn (a TTC commissioner) and Byford, and even if Ford himself didn't call for the bus, or only asked what was keeping the bus, neither of them thought it was an acceptable use of a TTC bus, and rightly so.
That said, its interesting that that's what you choose to focus on. Yes, Miller's attendance record was worse, but at the end of the day, because Miller had a clear agenda, he could, if unable to attend a council meeting leave certain matters in the hands of his deputies who could then see them through. You can choose to interpret his absences as arrogance (as you clearly have) but since Miller (unlike Ford) publicly released his agenda every day during his time in office, you can actually see exactly what he was up to on those days he wasn't at council. With Ford? Not so much.
In Ford's case, his agenda is off the rails - he routinely loses votes on issues he puts forth, and even his staunchest allies are struggling to understand what he is prioritizing or how to move his agenda forward. You would think that under those circumstances he would put a greater emphasis on actually showing up to meetings and trying to lead council. Instead, he blows off meetings to coach his football team - something he's done frequently enough that it has to be abundantly clear to all but his most blindly loyal followers that his real priority is coaching the Bosco team, and being Mayor of the city is (maybe) number two.
Case in point - he's now missed parts of multiple meetings because of games and practises (and god knows what else since his agenda is apparently a state secret) but he's never once missed a minute of a game in order to attend a council meeting. How is that leadership?
Besides, Miller had a comfortable number f councillors on his side. Lessening his need to be at middle-of-the-road votes. Ford doesn't have that luxury....he has to be at every battle.