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Gord Perks makes the case for Joe Pantalone
Thu, 2010-10-14 21:37
#1
Gord Perks makes the case for Joe Pantalone
Thu, 2010-10-14 08:32
#2
writer
Lord P, where did you get this from?
Thu, 2010-10-14 09:25
#3
writer
Never mind - found it: http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/voteto/2010/story.cfm?content=177242
Thu, 2010-10-14 10:48
#4
Toronto works because neighbourhood parks, libraries, community centres and beautification projects enrich our lives and bring us together. Neither Smitherman nor Ford understand this simple truth.
Rob Ford's idea of beautification and arts is to paint all the curbs in Toronto - green, yellow and red as one way to end the "war on cars".
Thu, 2010-10-14 12:42
#5
Excellent piece by Gord Perks, who (along with Janet Davis as well as retiring Howard Moscoe) has decided to support Pantalone on principle rather than waiting to see which way the wind is blowing.
The two most telling election promises Smitherman has made are to freeze taxes next year and to shed public service jobs by only hiring two new people for every three who retire.
We all know Ford’s “gravy train” doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. There simply aren’t enough pennies to be pinched to support his sweeping tax cuts.
What gets less attention is the sleight of hand Smitherman uses to “balance” his budget plan. His tax freeze principally rests on blowing surpluses generated by Mayor David Miller and finding $157 million in “smarter procurement.”
Does smarter procurement mean he’s going to move the price of diesel fuel for TTC buses down by thinking hard? Or has he made a shrewd guess about the 2011 price of asphalt for road repairs? I doubt it. Less money coming in will mean fewer services – Smitherman won’t tell us which ones.
On top of that implied cut, he wants to further shrink the public service by not hiring workers for some of the vacancies created by retirements. This is very revealing. He’s already acknowledged that emergency services can’t be touched.
Nor can he touch other staff-driven services: two drivers can’t manage three TTC buses. Over 1,000 jobs will vanish in such municipal services as libraries, community centres, parks, land use planning and bylaw enforcement. Fewer people delivering these services means you and I get less.
Toronto works because neighbourhood parks, libraries, community centres and beautification projects enrich our lives and bring us together. Neither Smitherman nor Ford understand this simple truth.
There is nothing strategic about choosing one brand of wrong-headedness over another. Besides, city building is never accomplished by tactical considerations in an electoral season. It’s accomplished by investing in the city and in each other.
Joe Pantalone is the only person running on that platform. If you want to vote for a smaller, meaner city, I leave it to you to pick your own poison.
Edited to say Janet Davis, the other councillor running for re-election who has come out long ago for Joe.
Thu, 2010-10-14 17:14
#6
I'm beginning to notice the pressure from the "progressive minded" on Pantalone to get out of the race and back Smitherman with all the hystrionic rhetoric about putting the good of the city above ideology etc. Joe is right - Smitherman is dangerous and manipulative.
Thu, 2010-10-14 20:56
#7
Cueball
I don't even think that Joe's vote will even translate into Smithermn votes. A lot would simply stay home. a good number would vote for Ford.
Good for Gord on sticking by principle.
Thu, 2010-10-14 21:16
#8
Gord is a solid guy - a rare, honest politician who is in the game because he actually gives a damn, and isn't (far as I've seen) interested in empire-building, or feathering a nest, or whatever the hell reason a control-freak misanthrope like Smitherman does it.
Gord pisses off people sometimes with his bluntness, and he can be cranky. In the clip below, my husband says you can see the arrogance, but I think this is awesome, and told him (Gord) so when he came to my door last week:
Thu, 2010-10-14 21:30
#9
Cueball
What precisely is arrogant about that? Sound like a guy who is keeping cool in a situation where he is constanly under attack. Clear, insightful, well researched and too the point.
Thu, 2010-10-14 22:35
#10
I think it's the part where he cites that study where they went to cities around the world studying traffic patterns and CO2 emissions, and then he says, "And if THAT'S not good enough for you, you can read 'Stuck in Traffic' by Anthony Downs...."
My husband doesn't personally think Gord is arrogant, but he says he comes off that way sometimes. I sort of see what he means - literate and well-informed people can come across as elitist to a proportion of the electorate that has 'way too much sway - hence the Rob Ford phenomenon.
Wed, 2010-10-20 00:49
#11
[url=http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/422.php]Why the Left should back Pantalone[/url]
the election in Toronto has become a plebiscite on privatization. In this situation the left should back Joe Pantalone, despite his silence on the city workers strike and his support for the police during the G20. The better showing for Pantalone means a bigger base from which to challenge privatization in Toronto.The fight against Ford, Smitherman and their right-wing corporate agenda though won't be won through the ballot box, but through mobilizing and fighting back. In Toronto, several campaigns have been successful in stopping previous attempts at privatization. The Water Watch campaign beat back the privatization of the water system. Toronto Hydro workers have built campaigns that beat attempts to sell off Toronto Hydro. It will be crucial to push the leadership of the municipal unions to link up with communities to fight the attempts that will come under Ford or Smitherman to privatize city services or contract out work to the lowest bidder.
The initiatives of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council and the Good Jobs for All Coalition and the One Toronto initiative point a way forward to uniting workers both in and out of unions, uniting different communities to push for better services and better jobs for all is a step in the right direction.