All Fried Up In The Big Smoke

Less political. More fictional.

Has Anybody Seen Your Councillor, Ward 36?

Posted on January 10, 2014 by "Brother" of Cityslikr

On those very few occasions we are called upon to think about Councillor Gary Crawford (Ward 36 Scarborough Southwest), something like this immediately comes to mind.

No. That’s not quite right. Too much personality. It’s more like this.

Tabula rasa. A blank slate. An empty space.

Three years into this councillor’s first term and I really have no idea what drives him, what compels him to serve at City Hall. He plays drums for a band that performs at Ford Fest BBQs. He painted a portrait of Mayor Ford that was commissioned by the mayor’s mom. These things we do know.

Aside from that, pretty much bupkis. He’s like Councillor Mark Grimes (Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore) minus the bow tie and good ol’ boy charm.

I exaggerate slightly.

Councillor Crawford has stood up and generally spoken in favour of the arts and arts funding. He’s been the point man for the mayor on the self-congratulatory distribution of the increase in per capita arts spending from the court delayed billboard tax the previous administration initiated. He… uh… ummm… Did I mention the councillor plays drums in a band that performs at Ford Fest? He is also a painter, did I point that out already?

After that, well, it’s all…

As a member of perhaps the two highest profile standing committees, Executive and Budget, you’d think we might’ve heard more from Councillor Crawford from time to time. But I swear to god. You can attend those meetings and never know the councillor’s in the room. He is. He sits there a lot. Doing what? I don’t know. Maybe just waiting to vote. Maybe dreaming of being Ringo Starr.

The councillor’s pretty close to mute during city council meetings as well. When he does stand to speak or ask questions of staff, it’s very rarely memorable. The last thing I remember hearing from him was his support for a Scarborough subway. Pretty much par for the course for councillors from Scarborough.

So left to judge Councillor Crawford’s political views almost exclusively by the votes he casts at council (like I said, there’s not much else to go on), he veers pretty much hard right. He’s voted along with Mayor Ford over 80% of the time during the course of the entire term. Even during this terrible, terrible year for the mayor who’s wound up on the wrong side of many issues, Councillor Crawford has been right there with him over 3/4s of the time.

Compare that with fellow Scarborough councillors Michelle Berardinetti (Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest) and Paul Ainslie (Ward 43 Scarborough East), former strong allies, both of whom have created a gaping chasm of distance between themselves and the mayor now.

You can draw a couple conclusions from that.

One, Council Crawford puts loyalty to the mayor above all else. You don’t just turn your back on a guy because he’s going through a rough patch. There’s got to be a carrot and a stick. Vote to take away his powers and you paint a picture of him.

Second, Councillor Gary Crawford is an ideological far right conservative. Not as far right as the mayor or the mayor’s brother but still comfortably in that camp.

The question is, does that reflect the general feeling in his ward? His predecessor in Ward 36, Brian Ashton fell out with then mayor David Miller over the implementation of the Vehicle Registration and Land Transfer taxes and eventually resigned from the Executive Committee because of his opposition. But to think of Brian Ashton as a hardcore conservative, an ideological soul mate of the likes of Rob Ford is something of a stretch.

At this juncture in his tenure as first term councillor, that’s pretty much all Gary Crawford has. Being a strong ally of Mayor Rob Ford. What else is there? I’m all ears if anyone can think of anything else.

That’s a pretty thin and fraying string to hoist up his re-election bid with. Since Crawford barely squeaked into office in 2010, winning an open ward with just over 25% of the popular vote, you’d think he would’ve pieced together a stronger rope to swing on than that. I don’t know. Maybe he busks on street corners in Ward 36, playing the drums and generating name recognition that way. Does those caricature drawings of passers-by in between sets. He certainly hasn’t established himself in any meaningful fashion in his role as councillor at City Hall.

You’d think residents would want their elected representative to contribute a little more to the life of the city than that.

— curiously submitted by Cityslikr

Hey Rain Man!

Posted on September 25, 2013 by "Brother" of Cityslikr

“Once the government gets involved, 9 times out of 10 it’s a disaster.”

This from Mayor Ford at yesterday’s Executive Committee meeting during a debate over recommended increases in development charges. Development charges are fees the city receives for development that increases demand on necessary infrastructure like roads, public transit, sewage and water delivery. Fees this city charges are significantly less than many in the surrounding regions and as anybody who tries to get from point A to point B or who’s had their basement flooded knows, our infrastructure needs have not really kept up to all the new growth.

Councillor Paul Ainslie put forward a motion asking for a staff report on “… mechanisms for development charge discounts along main avenues in our Strong Neighbourhoods, and adjacent neighbourhoods.” A Scarborough councillor, Ainslie pointed out that with development charges the same throughout the city, developers tended to go where they would get the biggest and quickest return on their investment which is almost always downtown. As with most things planning related, the city is constrained by provincial law in its ability to manipulate development charges in order to spur growth in areas needing growth. The councillor was just looking for possible ways to work within such restrictions.

But the mayor was having none of it.

“I’m a huge believer in the market determines the cost.”

“We shouldn’t be dictating what these people pay, let the market dictate.”

“This will turn into a complete mess.”

Have conservatives always been this dumb? Are those of us of a certain vintage deluded when we talk about the halcyon days of the red Tory – Joe Clarke, Hugh Segal, Bill Davis, David Crombie – when conservatism was entirely reasonable?

Development charges, by their very nature, are the government getting involved. It takes money from the private sector in order to help offset the costs of growth which, in turn, makes the development more attractive, therefore increases the value of the development. Higher value, higher tax base. A win-win for all involved.

In voting in favour of the staff’s report to phase in development charge increases over the next couple years, Mayor Ford voted in favour of government involvement. But somehow, in an effort to figure out ways to encourage growth in areas of the city in need of it, that was just too much meddling for the mayor’s taste. It would surely precipitate a complete disaster.

The irony (and I believe I’m using the word correctly) is that this anti-government outburst from the mayor came a day after he declared victory in securing federal funding and sealing the deal for a Scarborough subway. An infrastructure project exclusively funded by the government which, in the mayor’s very own words, would stimulate growth and development in Scarborough.

But when Councillor Ainslie and another Scarborough councillor, Gary Crawford, request a report to propose ways to help stimulate growth and development along Kingston Road in their neck of the Scarborough woods? No way. People shouldn’t be dictating. Let the market decide!

It’s like this iteration of conservatism has taken all the easy, self-serving, short term aspects from the ideology while jettisoning its more complicated features. They’re like the third clone in Michael Keaton’s Multiplicity, the ones who eat toothpaste. Pale shadows of their forbearers who can’t or conveniently don’t remember the fuller version of their political philosophy.

There’s no pattern or logic. It’s just partisan addled sloganeering outbursts at words or ideas that don’t sit well with them. Like single-celled organisms reacting to the light. Single-minded entities reacting to things they don’t understand. No thought. Just visceral, opportunistic grandstanding.

Modern conservatism is nothing more than an empty brand masking its one true operating principle: blind, anti-government reactionism. Openly adopting such a stance, however, doesn’t play well with the voting public. So you try and smooth out the rough electoral edges by maintaining a soothing name that reeks of tradition.

A tradition that I now call into question if Mayor Ford and his ilk represent its legacy.

— sins-of-the-fatherly submitted by Cityslikr

Get Off My Lawn! (Unless You’re Here To Cut It)

Posted on July 26, 2013 by "Brother" of Cityslikr

Hey old people of Scarborough’s Ward 36. Hey old people throughout Toronto’s inner suburbs. Hell, hey all you people of Scarborough and the inner suburbs of Toronto.

I am willing to pay for the city to continue cutting the grass on those public strips of land you’re now being forced to maintain under threat of a fine. It’ll only cost me a fraction of a cent, I imagine, in terms of a property tax increase. I’m fine with that.

The only thing I ask in return?

A full and frank discussion about the relationship between taxation and public services. You can’t have the latter without the former, and try as we have been for the past 3 years or so to believe otherwise, to imagine that our public sector was so bloated with excess that all we had to do was squeeze a little bit, nip and tuck, tighten our belt and we wouldn’t notice a thing? It’s now costing Mrs. Miranda Masih an additional $20 a pop to have both her and the city’s grass cut.

Why risk a $200 fine when, for pennies a year, we could have the city keep doing what it’s been doing? That’s how taxation works. We pool our resources to provide residents with services they want and need in a more cost-effective way. It’s called economies of scale and is all the rage in the private sector.

This isn’t about some magical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We’re not talking a bottomless well of nice-to-haves, as Mayor Ford called them. As a city, we need to regularly sit down and hash out what’s important to us, what’s important for the future welfare of this place and for those who will be decide to call it home.

But to pretend we can have it all and not pay for it or take it from somebody else, well, that’s just not working out particularly well for anyone right now. As residents of Ward 36 in Scarborough are discovering to their extra grass cutting displeasure.

They really should call their councillor, Gary Crawford, and ask him about his nearly unwavering support of the mayor’s keeping taxes low and no service cuts guaranteed mandate. The math behind all that and how it’s led to a cut in a service the city used to provide. That equation was always untenable and one side of it had to eventually give way.

While they have Councillor Crawford’s ear, Ward 36 residents might also want to ask how his support for a largely unfunded subway extension of the Bloor-Danforth line is going to further put stress on services the city provides to them. A subway is more expensive to build and run, so both capital and operating budgets will face increased pressure and, in turn, property taxes will inevitably go up. First, they asked you to cut more grass. Next you’ll be expected to shovel your sidewalks and windrows.

Everyone for themselves, in other words. DIY. Pay to play if you think our tax burden is too much to bear, if you’re sick and tired of being nickel and dimed to death.

To my mind, it’s a recipe for a pretty nasty and unappealing city. A collective approach will get much more done and cost us each individually much less. Unfortunately, too many of us have only discovered that the hard way.

Update

According to the Toronto Star’s David Rider, it seems playing the old and cranky card trumps common sense. The creaky, squeaky wheel does get oiled. Turns out, taxes can be kept low and services untouched. My bad.

— head-shakingly submitted by Cityslikr