Municipal terms

There is much hand wringing about the municipal state of affairs in Toronto right now, specifically whether this should the new mayor be appointed by council, or should there be a byelection. It should be a no-brainer at this point, in my opinion, in favour of a byelection, and that's where the momentum needs to be. Although the issue seems to make otherwise sensible and intelligent people temporarily foolish / insane.

I don't feel the need to write a lot about this issue, but I did want to point out something that was underlined in the great exhibit that Dave Meslin put on, "The Fourth Wall." Not long ago, we had 3 year terms municipally, and before that 2, and, up until 1956, elections were held. If we still had 3 year terms, as we did up until 2006, it would make sense to just appoint a caretaker mayor until an election this coming fall, and much of this crisis would have been averted. Part of the reason Ford's removal from office is such a big deal is possibly because our terms are too damn long. Now would be a great time to renew the call for shorter municipal terms. It seems like a no-brainer to me.

Just a touch of filth and danger.

Geez, if only Toronto had a fountain in front of City Hall, like in Edmonton.

Welcome! This blog is a long-planned space to put my thoughts about the news of the day, and the world of politics as I see them - hopefully as a force for good. Sure, politics can be a dirty word, but only if let the politicians write the whole dictionary. I think if everyone's involved, we can work together to make government work for everyone and make the world a little bit better place. I'll try my best to make this blog as positive a place as possible.

But last week, things seemed especially distressing to me, especially in Toronto, the city where I live. I was particularly dismayed by the vote on the Jarvis bike lanes, which may not be a world-changing decision, but just seemed to be particularly sloppy, wasteful policy, removing perfectly good city-building infrastructure and re-installing a myopically car-focused plan. As a cyclist (or should I say citizen that happens to cycle) that uses them regularly, I usually feel like a second class citizen, as cars park within the painted lines that pass for bike lanes, and cars cut me off like I don't matter. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that I'm belittled once again, along with all the other non-fossil-fueled travelers.

This was just one short chapter in the ongoing saga of a mayor and councillors who thumb their nose at accountability, dismissing an ombudsman's report that dares critique the administration's bungling and bullying of board appointments... but wait, there I am getting really negative. Of course, it's easy to do, and I could go on, as this and other issues are enough to make me pretty angry.

In short, a little ranting may be called for from time to time, because, dammit, things like accountability are pretty important, and I don't think that's a particularly one-sided or political position to take.

The main purpose of this page is to propose and share others positive, creative ideas and solutions to some of these and other problems. Hopefully, I'll be able to go a bit beyond the day to day personality-focused, short-term view that so dominates political discourse. The kind of thing that seems to be hallmark of the Rob Ford era in Toronto. But at the same time, positive creative ideas and solutions also seem to be bursting forth with semi-regularity in this city. During the deputations about the budget cuts last year, people came together and spoke passionately about what this city meant to them. Imagine provincial or federal deputations about budgets, and what we might unearth if we actually had more meaningful consultations at other levels of government.

There's been some of the best municipal writing around coming from sources like Torontoist, Edward Keenan, and Matt Elliott, just to name a few. There a handful of dedicated and patient city councillors who have been doing a nearly herculean job in trying times.

My original plan for this blog was to call it "Toronto Mayor 2014," and introduce and discuss potential platform planks I (and others) would like to see from our next mayor - or even the current one if he cares to take them on, not to mention council on its own initiative. Then, this past week I found out there's already a very similar project called #1000mayors. So I'll definitely be joining in on that.

Oh, and a note on the name of this blog - it borrows (or maybe steals, but wait while I give credit where credit is due) from a nice little piece in Torontoist by John Michael McGrath in which Rob Ford extols the virtue of a city that's safe and not filthy. So, I thought I'd embrace that absurdity, in the face of an absurd city, and an absurd world. Because of course, no one wants filth and danger... well, maybe just a little; just enough to make things sexier and more punk

So, to leave you on a positive note, I'll draw your attention to a great series on the Spacing blog by Dylan Reid, looking at funding options of transit in the GTA, about which I'll likely write more later:
http://spacingtoronto.ca/author/dylan/