Imagine you're in the back of an ambulance in Toronto. You're desperately trying to keep a person alive until you can get him or her to a hospital.
The lights are flashing, the siren is screaming, but you're not going anywhere because the streets are clogged with traffic.
And then the patient dies, ten minutes from salvation. How would you feel, or what would you say?
How about damn you Rob Ford ? You BASTARD.
For this is also his criminal legacy....
The worst gridlock you can imagine, every day and everywhere.
Because the first thing Ford declared as soon as he became mayor was: "The war on the car is OVER."
The next thing he did was repeal a $60 car registration tax which cost the city $64 million.
And then he declared war on the bicycle, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to tear up bike lanes claiming they were "like swimming with sharks, sooner or later you're going to be bitten..."
Leaving riders more exposed than ever.
And leaving ambulances to fight gridlock, and take them to hospital suffering from broken bones or serious head injuries.
Or just dead...
In a city full of so-called ghost bikes to mark the places they were killed.
Then Ford sabotaged a transit plan years in the making, insisted on building a subway instead of an LRT line to the suburb of Scarborough.
And even though the subway wouldn't go as far as the LRT, would take much much longer to build, and will cost the city about a billion dollars more, was able to ram it through City Council last month.
With the help of his good buddy Stephen Harper...
Even though it makes no sense, and was only done for crass political reasons.
So Harper could try to win the support of the so-called Ford Nation.
You know, this cult of drooling morons.
A mysterious pro-Rob Ford billboard apparently set up by members of "Ford Nation" is being investigated by the City of Toronto for the unauthorized use of the municipality's logo.
Who can't even spell "responsibility." And for whom no Great War on Crime, or black people, is enough. No anti-gay bigotry too offensive. The ones who like the Harperite cult are always screeching for drug addicts to be punished or JAILED.
Just not their man Robbie...
Who is too dumb or too stoned to remember his own words:
“You have to get these people into rehabilitation and if they don’t want to go, well, then you just enforce the law. If it’s illegal, you arrest them. That’s the bottom line and if they have to dry out in jail? Great.”
Rob Ford, October 2005
And is still refusing to resign and seek help. Claiming he's The People's Mayor.
Even as the people choke in their own fumes...
Gridlock costs the city's economy billions. Cyclists keep on dying.The ambulances can't move.
And even without his criminal connections, or his drug abuse, or his brutish behaviour, Rob Ford is the worst mayor this city has ever known.
And the good news? I think most Torontonians have finally had enough, and that in the next election a lot of people who have never voted in a municipal election will make sure they do.
He wasn't able to send my old and beloved friend Jake to the glue factory...
By closing down the little farm where he has lived almost all his life, for no good reason. Because we STOPPED him.
And I'll soon be happily working my little butt off for Olivia Chow, when she declares her candidacy, and sets out to defeat the Fordzilla as she surely will.
Yup. The lights are flashing, the sirens are screaming, we will get to that place of salvation.
The nightmayor is almost over eh?
And as I said the other night, these Con apes are going DOWN...
Click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.
Bravo. Carcentric development KILLS. Pedestrians, cyclists, other people in cars, many four-legged friends... and also people (and other life forms) with respiratory problems. Motor vehicle pollution has recently been PROVEN carcinogenic, and more dangerous to public health than second-hand smoke.
ReplyDeleteGridlock also includes the promotion of long-haul trucking rather than rail, and tearing up and abandoning railway lines that were a key to Confederation itself. (And also selling off degraded railway lines to fly-by-night outfits like the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway).
The worship of cars prevents establishing dedicated lines for modern trams, which can whisk people to their destinations in a few minutes. Instead, red rockets stuck in traffic behind some fucking stalled car... not to mention ambulances and fire equipment.
hi lagatta....yup it's all so shortsighted. Once upon a time Toronto was ahead of other cities in urban planning, but now thanks to Ford we're going backwards. The man will worry about graffiti, or a broken fountain, but he has absolutely no grasp of what it takes to prepare a city this size for the future, and needless to say no vision or imagination. If Ford had his way there would be no streetcars either, just cars, and of course he sets an appalling example by driving around in that monstrous SUV. Even the corrupt mayors of Montreal have done a better job of creating bike paths all over the place. But hopefully we've hot rock bottom and his replacement can start repairing the damage....
DeleteEven though I live in Markham, can I vote for Olivia Chow if she runs for To. Mayor? Huh, pulease! Can I, huh?
ReplyDeleteBoy, do I ever hope she runs. She's about the only candidate that could seriously kick the fords' asses in an election.
hi anon...Olivia is my MP, and so far the polls are showing that she could beat Ford. There is always a danger that too many progressive candidates might split the vote, but I think most Torontonians will rally behind her as the best candidate to beat Ford, and she could win big. At least that's my hope because the Ford Freak Show is really getting on my nerves. The Harperites are bad enough, who needs another Con klown?
Deletethanks Simon: mayors and counsellors need to see/hear this:
ReplyDeleteThe City Talks: "Healthy Cities: Past, Present and Future" Dr. Trevor Ha...: http://youtu.be/jb_unTwx9mg via @youtube
hi Oemissions...thanks for the video, we all need to be creative about the future of our cities. Unfortunately all of that would be wasted on Ford for although he is the mayor of Toronto, he's really the Mayor of the suburbs, and has no idea or doesn't care about making the downtown more liveable. And as a result development is out of control. In the waterfront area where I live every square INCH of land has or is being built upon. Just from my perch on the island the other day I counted thirteen massive cranes. And when all those building are occupied the traffic problem is only going to get worse....
DeleteSimon, do you actually live on the Island, you lucky thing? I was shocked at the overly high condo developments, sort of vertical sprawl, in that such extreme high-rises are also unsustainable. Look at the energy it takes to pump water up into them, and back down again, or the waste produced. It was truly shocking. Many cities have attained a good density based on mid-rise buildings and walk-ups.
DeleteI'd be concerned about those extremely high condo buildings in terms of fires and other disasters as well. People sleep in them, so it is harder to evacuate a building quickly at 3am than an office where people are working and presumably alert (with the exception of Mayors in "drunken stupors" who think they can achieve instant alertness with a hit of cocaine)...
hi lagatta....unfortunately I can only live on the island during the summer months on my uncle's boat. During the winter I hibernate in one of those monstrous Condo towers. And yes the vertical sprawl in the area is absolutely beyond belief. I'm not kidding when I say that every square foot of ground is being built on even if its triangular. On the other hand they're full of really young people so on a Saturday night the smell of vomit makes me feel like I'm back in residence again... ;)
DeleteFord is a great, so called Conservative friend of Harper's. Flaherty is very nearly in tears over Ford. The big oil and gas corporations, don't want vehicles off the road. Just ask Harper. Nor do any of them give a damn who, dies on any congested highway or city streets.
ReplyDeleteOur cities are supposed to look like Communist China's cities. Air black with pollution. Smog is so thick in China, they can't even see on coming traffic. China's farmlands polluted and 40% of their water. Harper is now also handing Canada's farmland over to China as well.
Harper and Ford have, very similar characters. AND, just when we think they couldn't possibly get any lower, they do. Both of them are vile dictators, despised by most of the country.
hi anon...yes Ford and Harper really are the oil and car boys. And in the summer from a boat out in the lake you can hardly see the city for all the smog. But I think we can use Ford to hurt Harper and vice versa. Both are men up to their ears in scandal, both are thugs, and I detect in this country, at last, a real desire to throw them both out. It can't come soon enough...
DeleteI worked for a couple of years in Toronto The company paid for my living expenses, and I used my savings to pay back my student loan. The apartment I rented on St. Clair Avenue West was located beside Glenn Gould's apartment building. I was able to witness the transportation of his Steinway from his apartment to CBC studios.
ReplyDeleteI bought a bicycle from a Canadian Tire store on Yonge Street. I flew this bicycle down St. Clair to Queen Street most weekends. The climb back up Yonge Street to St. Clair was arduous. The song that I remember was 'Walking on the Moon'. Because the moon seemed to be always in view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Nt8dJ6rMZI
hi anon...you seem to have some good memories of TO, and when I leave so will I. My friends in Montreal told me moving here would be the death of me. But I have grown quite fond of the place in the years I have been here, and I wish this city all the best....
DeleteWalking On The Moon:
ReplyDeletehttp://vimeo.com/72118705
The sad sad fact is that if Transit City had not been sabotaged by Ford it would be running today. So instead of a interconected city wide transit system operating in 2014, we might get a three stop subway by 2020.
ReplyDeletehi Steve...I know it's absolutely insane. And the demagogic way he bullied the council into going along with his crazy subway idea was extremely depressing. You only have to see how an LRT/subway combination works in places like Europe to understand that the guy doesn't know what the hell he's doing...
DeleteIt might be great to have Olivia Chow as mayor of Toronto, however, she is a better asset to the country in the House of Commons. Sorry, I live in B.C. and she belongs in the House of Commons. If Ms. Chow were to become mayor of Toronto and she has the same dysfunctional council as there is currently, not much will change.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of traffic is truly staggering. Way worse than Vancouver and area. Bike lanes will help, but unfortunately people in North America like to drive. Until there is a very good transit system people don't get out of their cars. As for ambulances not getting to the hospital in time due to traffic, the ambulance system simply should be using helicopters. They are used in Greater Vancouver quite frequently. They are part of the ambulance system.
People need to get to work, rapid transit would be better. It would also be better if people actually lived closer to their work. That could be accomplished with tax incentives to move closer to work. People might want to educate themselves on how much it actually costs them to travel long distances to work. In some cases in greater Vancouver, it is cheaper to take a job which pays $400 a month less, and be closer to home, than to keep commuting. With the cost of bridge tolls, time spent, cost of gas and cars.
hi e.a.f. .... I understand how you feel, after all she's MY MP. But the need for a decent Mayor in Toronto is so pressing I think she should definitely declare her candidacy. The NDP can survive without her because they've got a lot of good people, but this city can't. Besides how can I run for Parliament if she doesn't vacate her seat? ;)
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