Silly Little Country

Mayoralty Vote

I just cast my vote for Rob Ford; this was a no-brainier.
No other candidates than he and Rocco Rossi were willing to take on campaign positions opposed to endless sucking the public teat by unions, cultural groups (usually charmers like the Canadian Arab Federation), struggling artists, endless junkets by councillors and their supporting armies to conferences and the like all over the world, most of which were simply to preen (Copenhagen Conference, anyone), and all the other excesses of David Miller's time as mayor, after he lied his way into office two elections ago.
My major concern is that we will simultaneously elect a Council as stupid as the last one, and that will make Council very entertaining.
Rondi puts more succinctly in her last sentence in this post.
The bullshit Richard Florida post she points at is utterly outlandish.  By Richard Florida's definitions I am in the Super-Creative Class, and I also live in the City of Toronto, though not in the Annex, which I get the feeling he thinks should define the views of the whole City of Toronto.  After all he says the political divide is in the shape of a T and it is clear the heart of the good part of the T in his silly map is the Annex.  I think Florida, like most of those upset by Ford, is just a basic snob, and not all that bright a one.  His theories sound like total nonsense to me.  In fact when he first came to U of T I simply thought of him as a huckster.
By the way, I tend to be somewhat in favor of some things Florida seems to like, like bike paths, that Ford opposes. 
Let me simplify one of his profound observations with a simple pair of strikeouts: "Higher-paying, higher-skill, creative class jobs – in fields spanning science and technology; business and management; arts, culture, and entertainment; health care and education – are concentrated along subway routes."  His version will be beloved of his fans.  Mine is the observation that proximity to a subway station will drive the price of lodging up significantly and drive out people with jobs that pay less.  What a slick way to puff up your self-important audience!
Bottom line for me; when some guy tells me he will keep property taxe raises below the rate of inflation, and instead raises taxes by WAY more than that, allows unions to hold the city hostage with garbage strikes and transit strikes, I get a bit jaundiced about him and all his cronies on Council, and start thinking that maybe the one guy who voted against it all and railed against the excesses like Miller's self-important and useless Copenhagen Conference appearance deserves a vote.  I ain't exurban.   I ain't angry.  I just hopes for a change.  So I guess I'm a hillbilly.  I know I don't have an iPhone or Blackberry.
Now I will go steal the title of that Rondi post.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 3:04 PM