Rob Ford’s election platform vision

Mayoral hopeful shares his ideas for running Toronto
Ford’s thoughts on transit, taxes, controversies, consensus-building
Kris Scheuer
(Written Aug. 24/10 for Town Crier.)

Mayoral candidate Rob Ford at an Aug. 24 Town Crier editorial board meeting. Photo by Francis Crescia/Town Crier.

Faced with a packed room full of Town Crier and cultural media reporters, mayoral candidate Rob Ford was peppered with questions about whether he’d welcome newcomers to Toronto.
“The official plan says we need another million people in the GTA or Toronto. We can’t even take care of the 2.5-2.7 million people we have in the city now,” he told the Town Crier editorial board this afternoon.
He said wait times in hospitals are too long, there are 70,000 people on the city’s affordable housing list and the homeless population is increasing.
“We don’t have the right to say you can’t move to Toronto,” he said. “Of course not. But in a perfect world, what I’d like to do is get us from the red into the black, have a surplus, reduce our debt, have our finances under control then I’d say great let’s welcome more people.”

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Fixing illegal parking in North Toronto

Many illegal front yard parking pads in old York
Councillor Moscoe tackles issue head on with pilot project
Kris Scheuer
(Written Aug. 20 for Town Crier.)

A North Toronto councillor are cracking down on homeowners with illegal front yard parking pads, even if it means losing votes in the upcoming municipal election.
Within just a few blocks of each other in ward 15, there are at least least 100 illegal front yard parking pads mixed in with 95 legal spots in Ward 15.
Local councillor Howard Moscoe has been hearing complaints for years about illegal parking pads.
“A lot of people in my ward resent the fact they have to pay for a legal pad and are paying an annual fee around $100,” Moscoe said. “And their neighbours, who have illegal pads, don’t pay.

Election vision for Toronto

(Column Written for Town Crier Aug. 19)

What kind of city do you want?
At debates, this is a favourite question for mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson.
John Tory, who earlier this month announced he’s not running for mayor, told me many important issues facing this city aren’t being debated in this election. I agree.
Sure some candidates are talking about cutting taxes, the streetcars vs. subways, or how to plan and design prettier buildings, etc.
These are important issues to many of us. But Toronto is a complex, multi-faceted city with many interconnected issues that can either make us or break us.