rob ford
So… for the past half a year, we see Mayor Rob Ford… about him smoking crack, lying, swearing, etc.
I support him, not because he smokes crack,…. or that we can see his flaws as a human…
but that he keeps promises… and that he actually cares about Torontonians. He spends time helping tax payers… while “SOME” others just spend time thinking of ways to get more money (for themselves) from taxpayers.
Most should be ashamed of themselves, yes, he has acted very childish… but he gets things done. Shouldn’t certain City Councillors and candidates be ashamed of themselves? A “Crack Mayor” can do a better job than you, A “Liar” keeps promises, while you break them, a mayor who “uses foul” language (ok… this is not for us to judge) is more sincere and has more compassion than you… he actually listens…
Here are some examples:
1. Privatizing “public” libraries
He proposed to privatize libraries, but many were against it, in the end, he dropped that idea…. that is listening to the voices of citizens… and working with and for us…
2. building a better transit system (with subways)
in order to make Toronto into a word class city, he demands a transit system that includes subways (instead of the proposed light rails which would probably stop working during snow/ice storms)
3. Getting rid of Bike Lanes on Jarvis Street
made traffic less congested
4. voting to not increase his own salary & Rejected a 3% salary increase
saving taxpayer taxes… (unlike the rest of Toronto City Councillors who have voted for having an increased salary). I actually never understood why do City Councillors have the right to decide whether they want to have a salary increase to begin with…
5. Helping out during the garbage strike (when David Miller was Mayor)
While City Councillors did not know how to fix the problem, instead of helping citizens, they didn’t do anything. I saw how Rob Ford was helping people throw their garbage and helping out… not only, he also privatized garbage services so that a Garbage strike will less likely exist again.
etc.
Instead of picking on him with the media… why not improve yourselves? try to be better and rightfully win voters’ votes… picking on someone just makes you very low… and it shows what a bunch of wimps you are…. nothing gets accomplished, just a bunch of meaningless arguments. For those who insist that Rob Ford is making Toronto look bad, as city Councillors, shouldn’t you be helping him out instead of fighting him?
Doesn’t Toronto “look bad” with such a terrible transit system and poor infrastructure (e.g. Gardiner Expressway)… as City Councillors, isn’t it your job to improve Toronto? Instead of fighting against Rob Ford, why not work with him to make the city a better place.
poll updates:
Toronto mayoral election poll Feb. 2014
Simple Thoughts 
Ambrose said
Regarding point 2, the contracting engineering firm had stated a long time ago (the last time I attended transit community meetings in Scarborough) that ice wouldn’t pose a problem. (This was one of the questions I asked him specifically and I understood it was a commonly asked question.) And considering that ice has been posing huge problems for our (poorly designed) subway system that’s a very big claim. It’s not useful to say they probably won’t work when the engineer responsible for the project says they will.
LikeLike
Torontonian said
do you really believe that that there is in fact a light rail system that can really withstand the ice and snow storms? I highly doubt. If that were true, why was this technology not used to enhance our existing ones in Vancouver and Toronto? If it were possible, shouldn’t they test these before making such big claims?
LikeLike
Ambrose said
Yes, I do, and that’s why I specifically mentioned the fact that I asked this specific question (because I did not believe it) and I’m sure that’s why a lot other people specifically asked the same question. This is a huge claim, but LRT’s are also used in other arctic countries such as Finland so this certainly is a plausible claim.
And the reason why it has not been deployed in Toronto would be because it is new and can’t (or would be too expensive) to retrofit into our existing system.
Engineers need to be responsible for what they claim, especially when we’re talking about small one-man firms. Without evidence to the contrary I’ll have to believe the LRT will work in our winter.
LikeLike
Ambrose said
By the way, I remembered one thing they specifically mentioned was that the LRT will work *better* than our existing subway system when faced with our winter ice.
LikeLike
Ambrose said
Oh yes, and this is why it is so important to go to these community meetings and not just write from speculation… I don’t remember what the guy said precisely but I remember I asked my questions and was convinced. If you are genuinely unconvinced go to these meetings and grill the guy yourself until you can either refute all their arguments or become convinced yourself.
LikeLike
stephanieng said
Hi Ambrose, do you have any evidence or proof to support these claims? It is true that street cars service was stopped when it got a bit colder with little ice.
besides, taking up “lane” space on the already congested roads, is that really a solution to make commuting (for both drivers and those who take public transport) much easier?
LikeLike
Ambrose said
Hi Steph, unfortunately I don’t, but we will soon know the answer right, because we are getting new cars for our streetcar network. (I assume those are LRT cars, if not we aren’t getting the answer any time soon):
I don’t like taking up lane space either. I suppose that’s how everyone thinks and why everyone (including myself) prefers subways. I just felt if we already signed all the contracts then it’s irresponsible to just cancel them and rack up penalties. That’s little different than starting a subway project and then cancelling it and filling in the hole…
LikeLike
stephanieng said
Hi Ambrose,
1. We will see, if they do not use the new cars on the streets on our existing lines, then clearly, it is probably not as good… or why aren’t we using them?
2. I think the flaw is within the system rather than Rob Ford himself… think of all the different campaigns that are out there, if each candidate (or at least 3) were to eventually become mayor, think of how many contracts will need to be cancelled, how many plans will need to be changed?
LikeLike
Ambrose said
Hi Steph,
the LRT cars use the same gauge of tracks as our existing subway system. That’s why converting SRT to LRT was the correct move. It will actually save us some money because we’ll be sharing the same kind of trains on the SRT and the rest of the (now defunct) LRT network, while the rest of our subway network uses different trains (non-standard gauge).
I don’t remember if our streetcars use the same gauge tracks as the SRT or not. If they do we’ll most likely be getting the LRT cars. If they’re of a different gauge we’ll not be getting the LRT cars because they will physically not fit. This has nothing to do with whether they’re as good or not.
As for the flaw is within the system, I wholeheartedly agree. But I don’t think we have a lot of contracts in danger of being cancelled right now; Rob Ford has already cancelled virtually everything…
LikeLike
Ambrose said
Ugh. The LRT cars use the same gauge of tracks as our existing SRT system (not our subway system). Trying to write when you should be sleeping isn’t that good an idea… 😦
LikeLike