So the plan was to go up to the Etobicoke Civic Centre, take in the Etobicoke-York Community Council meeting which usually lasts a couple hours, head back downtown, drop into the Toronto-East York Community Council meeting which tends to last a little longer, come home, write up a post about them and Bob’s your uncle.
Only to find out that there was an additional evening session of the EYCC dealing with the highly contentious Mimico 20/20 development plan. So what to do? Take the hour, go back downtown for the afternoon and then head back up north, attend that meeting or I could just hang around Etobicoke for six hours, waiting…
But then…
Sue-Ann Levy got all snippy with me about a post I’d written, called me lazy and bitter, and I thought, I’ll show Sue-Ann who’s lazy. I’ll stay up here in Etobicoke all night if I have to, working this Community Council to the bone. That’ll show Sue-Ann.
And then the evening session started, and it went on for a really long time. A really, REALLY LONG TIME. ONE DEPUTANT AFTER ANOTHER. SOME HAPPY WITH THE PLAN, OTHERS NOT AT ALL HAPPY WITH IT BUT EVERYBODY WANTING TO HAVE THEIR 5 MINUTE SAY. SEVEN O’CLOCK BECAME EIGHT O’CLOCK. EIGHT O’CLOCK BECAME NINE O’CLOCK AND THEN TIME LOST ALL MEANING AND I’M THINKING, I HAVE TO WRITE A POST ABOUT THIS BUT THE PUBLIC WORKS AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE MEETING IS TOMORROW AND I STILL HAVE A TRIP BACK IN FROM ETOBICOKE AND THERE’S JUST NOT ENOUGH TIME TO WRITE WHAT I WANT TO WRITE HOW DO THE COUNCILLORS DO THIS ALL THE TIME AND MAYBE SUE-ANN’S RIGHT MAYBE I’M JUST LAZY AND MAYBE LORRIE GOLDSTEIN’S RIGHT AND I’M A BAD WRITER I MEAN LOOK WHAT I’M DOING RIGHT NOW GOING ALL META ON MYSELF…
So you will not get my report on the Etobicoke-York Community Council today. I’m deferring it until later in the week when the dust settles. The other committee meetings will be more manageable. Nothing contentious or of much importance ever happens at things like Public Works and Infrastructure, right?
— all-consumingly submitted by Cityslikr
Ford has just been given the issue that will get him re-elected as mayor. Porter Airlines announcement of the conditional purchase of 30 C100 Jets that they want to fly out of Billy Bishop Airport and will net 1000 new jobs. The airport will need to be lengthened by 168m to accommodate. “This is a fantastic opportunity for the City of Topronto! It means thousands of jobs and expanded services and tourism and….” blah blah blah. The talking points couldn’t possibly be easier for Towhey – Kouvalis to trace onto construction paper with crayons.
Additionally….Adam Vaughan’s bid for mayor just died. He can’t oppose this AND run for Mayor. His constituents will demand that Porter does not get this deal done. Everyone else not in Vaughan’s ward will approve of it just to stick it to the “condo elites”.
Of additional concern….Hudak’s conservatives sweep into power and the tri-fuck-ta is complete. Oh the humanity…
When Deluce brings this to Council it will lose just like the Casino. What is interesting is that Riatt is now a Conservative MP and Ford is gonna sell this?!
P.S. Hudak was shut out of Toronto; the Canadian city with the most foreign born workers…
This deal is unlike Casino development in that it must happen in the heart of progressive Toronto. The casino can and will be built in Ontario….the only question is where?
On this issue; All 3 levels of government are already cooperating to construct a tunnel underneath the western gap. Harper will shut down any public discord by pulling the strings on his magic omnibus budget process and Environmental illusion. Hudak only has to join in the fray and harmonize with Ford and Harper.
The provincial liberals had better get their act together with the NDP to prevent further vote splitting; otherwise, a minority liberal government will become a minority Conservative government sooner than later.
I have a bad feeling on this issue…
The “conditional order” for Porter Jets seems like a favour to Bombardier rather than a real deal….since the “conditions” include a bunch of things that Porter isn’t likely to get.
I fly Porter pretty often, flew them on day 2 of operations and have a passenger number of 44 – and actually flew them to Ottawa this morning….so I am not “Anti” Island Airport.
I am pro-Porter (with the Q400’s and the tunnel), BUT the idea of flying jets from YTZ to Orlando kind of defeats the purpose of Porter.
The #1 reason why Porter is attractive for business-travel is that you are NOT going to be standing in-line behind tourists going to Disney.
If the Jet-routes they suggest make no sense (*commodity-pricing for snow-birds), then the “order” is just a song-and-dance.
Here’s the next big media event, everybody will get all wound-up again and we’ll end up with another lousy Council?
I’d say Porter will get what it wants. Canadians supported the development of the C Series to the tune of $350million. It’s a big employer. Airlines are profitable again. Porter is headed-up with staff held in the highest regard in the world airlines business. This is a well-run business. Its staff doesn’t waste time or money. They aren’t bluffing. Bombardier is way behind on its sales forecasts. It’s all about jobs these days. I’d say, it’s a done-deal.
Given the increased payload of the C Series it wouldn’t surprise me either if the hoity-toity end up shuffling along with the hoi polloi in the line-ups. The anti-expansion people are NIMBYS and no doubt some Mayor wannabes will support them in 2014. Here we go again. Toronto will elect a Council based on a media event and things will be just as dysfunctional as now.
Midtown is already at peak density and there’s a whole lot more to come. Any new kids coming to Midtown will have to go outside the community to get educated. They will have to be bussed-out. The opportunity to walk to school with your kids has been lost. What will that do for congestion?
Important issues will get side-lined again and the circus, inside and out, will continue.
I heard Karen Stintz talking about her friend Robert Deluce and having to say she couldn’t support jets on the island. Surprise, she’s an expert on the issues already!
She’s silent on a whole lot of other stuff though.
Ask her if she supports a casino, or not? Ask her why she eliminated Affordable Housing in my community? Ask her what she thinks of good planning ideas put forward by Ward 16 community leaders? You won’t hear anything worth listening to.
But, 2 or 3 NIMBY residents from leafy Lytton Park or The Upper Avenue, just need to ask and they’re all off to the OMB. Need $50,000 for a day care, no bother, got to keep the voters happy. Got an idea to monetize open space, just call Karen Stintz, she hasn’t met a developer yet she doesn’t like.
Yes, I know, that’s politics and we get what we deserve. I’m just sayin’, when will we ever wise-up?
Its rather interersting that Sue Ann Levy took my original post and idea and spun it as the issue for Olivia Chow. I’m sure she thought of it all by herself….She couldn’t possibly have read it here right?….Bueller?
Patrick nobody cares about “affordable housing” in ward 16 I think it is the second most wealthy riding in Toronto. If you need affordable housing you can’t automatically get to live in a expensive midtown apartment it is unfair to everyone who actually works for their garbage suburban houses.
Not at all unknown_man, (hope I spelled your name correctly?) lots of residents in Ward 16 cared enough to make it a part of the settlement with the developer. They didn’t need it themselves.
The NEON is right beside an Affordable Housing building. The NEON site before it was razed had dozens of rental units. The City has a policy to improve the supply of Affordable Housing.
There’s nothing automatic about getting an Affordable House. The waiting list and backlog is extensive.
What kind of man wishes for needy residents to be in ghettos? That’s just plain offensive! Almost as bad as Vaughan, Perks, Carroll, Davis, McConnell and a few other two-faced clowns on Circus voting to eliminate a good deal for the City and one which hugely benefited a rich developer.