Could somebody sit the mayor down, tell him he’s got the gig, that he is the mayor now? Stop with the campaigning already. Relax. 
I get the optics of this week’s whistle stops around town. John Tory is the mayor of Toronto. He’s hit the ground running, having done more in first his 10 days in office than the previous mayor did in 4 years. Yaddie, yaddie.
Mayor John Tory means business by getting down to business.
I just wish that instead of making announcements, the mayor might actually be making some decisive actions.
There’s nothing wrong with his 6 point anti-gridlock plan. Increased rush hour parking enforcement. More traffic signal co-ordination. Tougher oversight of road closures and access for construction sites.
Nothing particularly new or innovative. We were just made aware that there was ‘a new traffic sheriff in town’. Notice has been served, illegal parkers.
All-door boarding on the overcrowded King streetcar. Making official what already is being done in many cases already. Checking off a recommendation made by the last TTC board.
Really? You called the press out to make that announcement? A quick step outside your office into the hallway might’ve sufficed for that.
The city’s Bikeshare program saved by corporate sponsorship! Well, not exactly, no. The expansion was already budgeted for and in the works. What exactly is TD bringing to the table? Nobody is really at liberty to say but, rest assured, it’s the kind of partnership Mayor Tory is really excited about. “Who in their right mind, subject to reasonable terms, would say no to these kinds of things?” Not Mayor Tory, that’s who not.
Three days, three campaign style events, Much pomp, little substance. Remember. When you go to vote last October, vote John Tory for mayor.
The King streetcar media event screamed the loudest of a missed opportunity. As Edward Keenan pointed out in great detail on Tuesday, there was so much more the mayor could’ve announced in providing assistance to the wary King Street commuters. No street parking or deliveries during rush hours. No left turns during rush hours. No cars at all from Roncesvalles to Parliament Street!
We here at All Fired Up in the Big Smoke talked about King Street almost two years ago now (h/t J.P. Boutros for that heads-up.) Fixing congestion along that strip has been contemplated off and on since about 1991. Twenty-five fucking years of do-nothingism, and Mayor Tory decides to give a hearty thumbs-up to all-door loading of the streetcar?!
If he can’t take bold measures now, in this the honeymoon phase of his mayoralty, what the hell should we expect when the kids’ gloves come off? Remember the emphasis of his campaign just two short months ago? Bold! SmartTrack, bold! Bold! Bold! Has it sunk in yet? Bold!
I detected an arched eyebrow on the face of my companion I was berating with this angle of discussion two nights ago. (I, for one, could never get that just one eyebrow arched look of patronizing knowingness down. I dislike the ability in others.)
“You weren’t really expecting actual boldness from this administration, were you?” the eyebrow implied.
Yeah, I guess I was. Colour me easily convinced. But I guess in this town, you campaign bold and govern faint-heartedly. Unless, of course, you’re Rob Ford and you take having a mandate to mean running roughshod with everything you promised and a lot of other things you didn’t. Mayor Tory wants to dial back on all that extremism in everything but caution. Baby steps not bull steps.
Governance isn’t something to be tackled. It’s to be finessed. One tiny, almost imperceptible measure at a time.
— underwhelmingly submitted by Cityslikr