Torontoist » “ward 18″

Off Key Comedy Aims to Fuse Stand-Up and Song

Chris Dart — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:15:44 +0000

A musical-comedy showcase tries to shake the genre's lame reputation.

Even with the success of acts like Lonely Island and Flight of the Conchords, people still tend to view musical comedy with some suspicion, and not without reason. Those high-profile success stories aside, at the club level, musical comedy is too often the province of people who aren’t quite good enough to make it as musicians, but not quite funny enough to make it as comedians.

Two local comics, Robert Keller and Rush Zilla, are out to change that perception with their show, Off Key Comedy, which features a wide variety of acts whose only commonality is that they combine music and comedy in one form or another. The third edition of the monthly show will take place on May 23, at Comedy Bar.

Of a Monstrous Child is Caught in a Complex Romance with Lady Gaga

Carly Maga — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:00:29 +0000

Alistair Newton's new play dives into the history of performance art to explain our cultural fascination with the House of Gaga.

Despite the fact that the last show in Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s 2012/2013 season is titled Of a Monstrous Child: A Gaga Musical, Lady Gaga herself takes a secondary role. There are no homages to raw-meat dresses and gold-plated wheelchairs here. Instead, writer and director Alistair Newton uses the House of Gaga as a pathway into the history of the notable performance-art stars that came before her in the pantheon of queer iconography, and how she is and isn’t a construct of all of them put together.

Twin Showcases at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Herald Student Filmmakers

Kevin Scott — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:30:46 +0000

TIFF presents a night of films by directors who are still in high school or university.

It’s entirely possible that an early work by the next Atom Egoyan or David Cronenberg will screen on Wednesday night at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. With the 2013 Student Film Showcase featuring the best from post-secondary schools around the country and the Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase kicking off the evening with Toronto-area high-school students’ films, the night will be a coming-out party for a new crop of talent. Judging by the polished creativity of some of the entries, it’s safe to say that young people are more prepared than ever to start telling stories on film from an early age.

Councillor Ana Bailão Pleads Guilty to Drunk Driving

Steve Kupferman — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:54:14 +0000

At a press conference this afternoon, Councillor Ana Bailão (Ward 18, Davenport) said that she has pleaded guilty to drunk driving charges brought against her in October, when she was pulled over by police while driving home from a night out at the Thompson Hotel. She had been drinking in the company of some City Hall types. Among them, Bailão told reporters today, were lobbyists involved in casino negotiations with the City. Initially, she said she’d plead not guilty.

The Star reports that Bailão’s admission, today, was a tearful one, and that her driver’s license has been suspended for a year. She has also been fined $1,000.

Her blood alcohol level was reportedly 0.13, whereas the legal limit is 0.08.

With the New Dufferin Underpass, Dufferin to Jog No More

Stephen Michalowicz — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:30:00 +0000

It’s been causing Torontonians headaches since 1884. Its removal was first tabled in 1966 [PDF]. And now after more than a century, its reign, defined by traffic snarls and bus delays, has come to an end. Yes, on Thursday, at 3 p.m. sharp, we can all finally say goodbye to the Dufferin Jog—the street’s detour along Peel and Gladstone avenues—and hello to the Dufferin Underpass.

Construction of the Queen subway, November 17, 1897. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 376, File 2, Item 9.

Like Toronto’s underdeveloped waterfront or the impractical roads that litter the Junction, the Jog is the product of the good ol’ days when Toronto’s railroad tycoons lorded over the city and built railway lines wherever they pleased. At the time, the practice greatly benefited industry and railway company coffers, but now, in the twenty-first century, the results are proving expensive to fix.
In total, the Jog elimination project, which has been ongoing since December 2008, will cost an estimated forty million dollars. Originally, the city expected to have the underpass complete by December 2009, but according to councillor Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park), a “minor” surveying error and an improperly identified fiber optic cable pushed the completion date back to July 2010, and then eventually to November.
Delays aside, the councillor is more than happy with the final results. “For a project of this scope, and this magnitude, to come in as quickly as it has…is actually quite an achievement,” Perks told Torontoist. “It’s a remarkable piece of engineering work. I’m quite proud of City staff.”

Unfortunately, not everything will be ready for the opening. According to Jim Schaffner, the City’s senior project engineer, the gates and fences that will surround the tracks still need to be installed, additional landscaping work will necessitate daytime curb lane closures over the next two weeks, and the tracks that run above the underpass still need to be restored to their “original alignment.” Schaffner estimates that the rail re-alignment, which he says will not disrupt street traffic, will be complete by mid-December. The mosaic artwork that will adorn the walls inside the tunnel also won’t be ready until spring.
And then there’s Metrolinx. In 2009, the regional transportation authority asked the city to expand the underpass to accommodate an additional rail line to meet its future needs along the Georgetown South corridor. In response, Schaffner drafted a proposal to include the extra line, but the City balked at the additional costs, the extra two months of construction time, and the last-minute nature of the request, even though it will likely be costlier and more disruptive to build down the road.
“It’s difficult to do these things on the fly,” says Schaffner. “We just couldn’t accommodate the expansion of the project.”

Perks agrees. “When the environmental assessment was done, one of the things we do as a matter of course is circulate the proposal to all the relevant agencies,” he told us. “In this case, it was GO Transit. We asked them: ‘Do you have any problems or additional needs associated with this project?’ We got back a letter, which we still have on file, saying ‘no.’ It was only well after the environmental assessment was approved, and the contract had been tendered, that GO/Metrolinx came back and asked for an additional track…If we ran every project, and allowed anybody to come in after they had signed off to make changes, we would have an endless nightmare completing projects around the city.”
Surprisingly, Metrolinx doesn’t dispute the City’s decision.
“Metrolinx did approach the City to accommodate the additional bridge work required to support this fourth track, in order to take advantage of the current closure of Dufferin Street,” explains Ian McConachie, a media relations specialist at Metrolinx. “Unfortunately, this would have extended the construction completion date for the City. It has, therefore, been decided not to pursue this additional track provision at this time. The extra widening will be completed at a future date, when train service warrants.”
But of course, not everyone agrees with the decision to hold the Jog’s next stage off.
“I think it would have been easier to add a few more weeks of construction and open it once and for all than open it now and have to bring the construction crews in again and spend more money,” incoming councillor Ana Bailão (Ward 18, Davenport) told Torontoist. “The contractor said it would be a lot cheaper to do it right away…we need to be conscious of how we’re spending taxpayers’ money.”
While the controversy might cast a shadow over the project, it likely won’t detract from what is a pretty good day for Parkdale residents, transit riders, motorists, and the city as a whole. Now, if the City can just get around to fixing some of Dufferin’s potholes, perhaps the street will finally be able to rise up off the CAA’s yearly list of the province’s worst streets.
Photos by Michael Chrisman/Torontoist, unless otherwise noted.

How Toronto Voted For Mayor

David Topping — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 18:15:00 +0000

UPDATED

Which wards voted for which mayoral candidate. Map by Marc Lostracco/Torontoist.

The City of Toronto has released their full, official election results. Despite Rob Ford’s election night assertion that Toronto is united, not divided, the voting statistics suggest a different, and stark, picture: downtown wards overwhelmingly backed George Smitherman, and suburban wards overwhelmingly backed Rob Ford. [UPDATE, OCTOBER 28, 2:00 PM: A map showing how strong each ward's winning candidate's support was is below. 2:15 PM ...as is a version of the map above that's optimized for colourblind readers.]
Here’s the way the vote for mayor went in each of the city’s forty-four wards:

Ward 1, Etobicoke North
Rob Ford: 9,435 (69.1%)
George Smitherman: 2,131 (15.6%)
Joe Pantalone: 742 (5.4%)
Total votes: 13,652
Ward 2, Etobicoke North
Rob Ford: 14,325 (79.6%)
George Smitherman: 2,098 (11.7%)
Joe Pantalone: 864 (4.8%)
Total votes: 17,996
Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre
Rob Ford: 12,913 (65.2%)
George Smitherman: 4,704 (23.7%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,563 (7.9%)
Total votes: 19,812
Ward 4, Etobicoke Centre
Rob Ford: 14,573 (68.1%)
George Smitherman: 4,728 (22.1%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,457 (6.8%)
Total votes: 21,415
Ward 5, Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Rob Ford: 13,789 (56.4%)
George Smitherman: 7,673 (31.4%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,170 (8.9%)
Total votes: 24,452
Ward 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Rob Ford: 11,915 (57.3%)
George Smitherman: 5,894 (28.4%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,110 (10.2%)
Total votes: 20,785
Ward 7, York West
Rob Ford: 7,041 (57.7%)
George Smitherman: 2,233 (18.3%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,640 (13.4%)
Total votes: 12,206
Ward 8, York West
Rob Ford: 5,303 (47.6%)
George Smitherman: 2,509 (22.5%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,439 (12.9%)
Total votes: 11,149
Ward 9, York Centre
Rob Ford: 7,045 (57.1%)
George Smitherman: 2,155 (17.5%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,948 (15.8%)
Total votes: 1,2343
Ward 10, York Centre
Rob Ford: 9,772 (57.7%)
George Smitherman: 4,458 (26.3%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,494 (8.8%)
Total votes: 16,944
Ward 11, York South-Weston
Rob Ford: 9,619 (59.7%)
George Smitherman: 3,511 (21.8%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,920 (11.9%)
Total votes: 16,112
Ward 12, York South-Weston
Rob Ford: 7,536 (55.7%)
George Smitherman: 2,747 (20.3%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,979 (14.6%)
Total votes: 13,538
Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park
Rob Ford: 7,679 (34.7%)
George Smitherman: 10,232 (46.2%)
Joe Pantalone: 3,599 (16.3%)
Total votes: 22,127
Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park
Rob Ford: 4,788 (27.6%)
George Smitherman: 7,949 (45.9%)
Joe Pantalone: 3,882 (22.4%)
Total votes: 17,336
Ward 15, Eglinton-Lawrence
Rob Ford: 8,928 (52.8%)
George Smitherman: 4,282 (25.3%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,388 (14.1%)
Total votes: 16,897
Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence
Rob Ford: 8,074 (40.8%)
George Smitherman: 9,505 (50.0%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,772 (8.9%)
Total votes: 19,810
Ward 17, Davenport
Rob Ford: 6,006 (41.7%)
George Smitherman: 4,407 (30.6%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,975 (20.7%)
Total votes: 14,399
Ward 18, Davenport
Rob Ford: 3,973 (27.5%)
George Smitherman: 5,697 (39.5%)
Joe Pantalone: 3,756 (26.0%)
Total votes: 14,422
Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina
Rob Ford: 4,630 (22.2%)
George Smitherman: 9,732 (46.6%)
Joe Pantalone: 5,801 (27.8%)
Total votes: 20,882
Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina
Rob Ford: 5,476 (23.2%)
George Smitherman: 13,151 (55.7%)
Joe Pantalone: 4,129 (17.5%)
Total votes: 23,614
Ward 21, St. Paul’s
Rob Ford: 5,818 (32.2%)
George Smitherman: 8,979 (49.7%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,602 (14.4%)
Total votes: 18,056
Ward 22, St. Paul’s
Rob Ford: 7,903 (32.3%)
George Smitherman: 13,411 (54.8%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,443 (10.0%)
Total votes: 24,454
Ward 23, Willowdale
Rob Ford: 10,959 (49.2%)
George Smitherman: 8,055 (36.2%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,181 (9.8%)
Total votes: 22,264
Ward 24, Willowdale
Rob Ford: 9,670 (52.6%)
George Smitherman: 6,181 (33.6%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,565 (8.5%)
Total votes: 18,391
Ward 25, Don Valley West
Rob Ford: 9,865 (46.4%)
George Smitherman: 9,138 (43.0%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,639 (7.7%)
Total votes: 21,241
Ward 26, Don Valley West
Rob Ford: 8,322 (41.8%)
George Smitherman: 8,272 (41.5%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,647 (8.3%)
Total votes: 19,915
Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale
Rob Ford: 7,068 (25.1%)
George Smitherman: 17,335 (61.5%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,909 (10.3%)
Total votes: 28,176
Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale
Rob Ford: 4,937 (23.7%)
George Smitherman: 12,513 (60.1%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,414 (11.6%)
Total votes: 20,819
Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth
Rob Ford: 6,493 (36.3%)
George Smitherman: 7,658 (42.8%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,863 (16.0%)
Total votes: 17,899
Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth
Rob Ford: 5,106 (25.8%)
George Smitherman: 10,492 (53.0%)
Joe Pantalone: 3,341 (16.9%)
Total votes: 19,797
Ward 31, Beaches-East York
Rob Ford: 7,942 (43.7%)
George Smitherman: 6,459 (35.6%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,889 (15.9%)
Total votes: 18,165
Ward 32, Beaches-East York
Rob Ford: 7,639 (32.4%)
George Smitherman: 11,812 (50.1%)
Joe Pantalone: 3,440 (14.6%)
Total votes: 23,576
Ward 33, Don Valley East
Rob Ford: 7,525 (52.3%)
George Smitherman: 4,465 (31.0%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,435 (10.0%)
Total votes: 14,388
Ward 34, Don Valley East
Rob Ford: 8,581 (51.6%)
George Smitherman: 5,403 (32.5%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,669 (10.0%)
Total votes: 16,626
Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest
Rob Ford: 9,390 (55.8%)
George Smitherman: 4,288 (25.5%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,880 (11.2%)
Total votes: 16,835
Ward 36, Scarborough Southwest
Rob Ford: 9,606 (52.8%)
George Smitherman: 5,682 (31.2%)
Joe Pantalone: 2,096 (11.5%)
Total votes: 18,201
Ward 37, Scarborough Centre
Rob Ford: 10,809 (58.3%)
George Smitherman: 4,892 (26.4%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,695 (9.1%)
Total votes: 18,548
Ward 38, Scarborough Centre
Rob Ford: 10,509 (57.4%)
George Smitherman: 5,107 (27.9%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,427 (7.8%)
Total votes: 18,297
Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt
Rob Ford: 9,519 (63.7%)
George Smitherman: 3,438 (23.0%)
Joe Pantalone: 853 (5.7%)
Total votes: 14,954
Ward 40, Scarborough-Agincourt
Rob Ford: 10,094 (59.1%)
George Smitherman: 4,208 (24.6%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,410 (8.3%)
Total votes: 17,086
Ward 41, Scarborough-Rouge River
Rob Ford: 11,382 (62.0%)
George Smitherman: 4,638 (25.3%)
Joe Pantalone: 949 (5.2%)
Total votes: 18,363
Ward 42, Scarborough-Rouge River
Rob Ford: 10,071 (49.2%)
George Smitherman: 6,798 (33.2%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,259 (6.1%)
Total votes: 20,474
Ward 43, Scarborough East
Rob Ford: 8,818 (55.7%)
George Smitherman: 4,557 (33.2%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,332 (6.1%)
Total votes: 15,818
Ward 44, Scarborough East
Rob Ford: 12,660 (58.1%)
George Smitherman: 6,262 (28.8%)
Joe Pantalone: 1,916 (8.8%)
Total votes: 21,780

UPDATES

OCTOBER 28, 2:00 PM: And by request, here’s a map showing how heavy the support was for the winning mayoral candidate in each ward. The lighter the shade of a ward, the closer the race was between Rob Ford and George Smitherman:

Map by Marc Lostracco/Torontoist.

There are plenty more maps being shared in the comments below—and Patrick Cain has been racing with us to put together some maps of his own, based on the same data.
OCTOBER 28, 2:15 PM: Also by request, a version of our lead ward map made for those who might be colourblind:

Map by Marc Lostracco/Torontoist.

Additional number-crunching by Michael Chrisman, Emily Shepard, and Harry Choi.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 28 AT 12:22 PM.

Twelve Wards That Could Reshape Council, And Our Picks for the Best Candidate in Each

Torontoist — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:00:00 +0000

City councillors play a dual role in Toronto’s municipal government. On the one hand, they work with their constituents to tend to local, ward-based matters (zoning applications, local services and facilities, construction, and so forth). On the other, they take part in broader dialogues on city-wide initiatives and policies: they vote for or against Transit City, the green bin program, whether to institute a tax on billboards—the things that affect us all and which shape the trajectory of Toronto as a whole.
This year, we might see a significant turnover in council, and thus in the policies it pursues. Some incumbents are facing especially strong challengers, and some others are retiring. We’ve picked a dozen wards to watch—ones in which the races are tight and the leading candidates diverge significantly—which have the greatest potential to alter the balance of power on council next term.

Ward 10: Brian Shifman

Right-wing councillor Mike Feldman is hanging up his political hat, and Ward 10′s open race has three strong contenders vying for his seat. Nancy Oomen has been Feldman’s executive assistant for years and has garnered her boss’s backing, along with endorsements from other conservative councillors (Denzil Minnan-Wong, Case Ootes, Michael Thompson). Oomen’s playing up her City Hall experience, arguing she is best placed to ensure a seamless transition for the ward’s constituents. James Pasternak is the second major candidate; he currently represents the area as a TDSB trustee. He’s running on a platform of change, with opposition to the City’s spending practices, as well as to LRTs in Ward 10. Our choice is Brian Shifman, currently the executive director of a non-profit dedicated to sustainable transportation. He’s a moderate progressive who is sensitive to concerns about spending; backed by such sensible and effective politicians as Shelley Carroll, Elizabeth May, and Kathleen Wynne; and committed to building mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods as Ward 10 plans for increased density in the coming years.

Ward 13: Sarah Doucette

Bill Saundercook was first elected to office in 1985, in the then–City of York; he’s served as an alderman or councillor for almost all the years since then. Saundercook has solid environmental commitments, but is overall one of the more forgettable members of council; his current platform contains nothing particularly objectionable, but focuses more on past accomplishments or ongoing projects rather than charting any clear path for future growth. Both the ward and the city would benefit from a more active and vigourous representative here. Sarah Doucette is Saundercook’s main opposition, and is our choice in Ward 13. Doucette matches Saundercook’s concern for the environment, is a strong supporter of sustainable transportation (both Transit City and bike lanes), and is advocating for better engagement with tenants in rental buildings. She will bring very welcome fresh energy to Parkdale-High Park.

Ward 15: Josh Colle

Outgoing councillor Howard Moscoe is a Toronto institution, with a far better grasp on council procedures, and far more personality, than the vast majority of his colleagues. A staunch progressive, Moscoe has focused for the past few years on the ambitious plans to redevelop Lawrence Heights. At the forefront of the race to replace him are Catholic school board trustee (and former councillor) Rob Davis, and business leader Josh Colle. Colle is our clear pick for Ward 15. A moderate whose platform balances fiscal concern with a commitment to smart investment in the city, Colle would be a strong voice for the pragmatic centre in the next council. Davis is running on a platform of fiscal and law-and-order conservatism, and his approach is far too heavy-handed for a ward that will undergo massive change in the coming decades.

Ward 17: Jonah Schein

Though the metaphor is overworked, current councillor Cesar Palacio is a real instance of deadwood at City Hall. His two terms in office are notably devoid of any major accomplishments, and though he represents a ward with significant pockets of poverty, Palacio has failed to show leadership on social welfare issues. Fighting for change is community activist Jonah Schein; he gets our unreserved endorsement. A community engagement worker who is well-versed in the challenges facing Toronto’s economically depressed residents, Schein would be a strong advocate of tenants’ rights and access to healthy food in Ward 17 and across Toronto. Sustainable transit, and the electrification of the Union-Pearson link are also front and centre in his platform, and Schein shows every indication of being more accessible and responsive to his potential constituents than Palacio has ever been.

Ward 18: Kevin Beaulieu

Ward 18′s two leading contenders are Kevin Beaulieu and Ana Bailão. Both have been executive assistants in City Hall—Beaulieu to outgoing Ward 18 councillor Adam Giambrone, and Bailão to Giambrone’s predecessor Mario Silva—and both have a good grasp on how City Hall works. We’re backing Beaulieu for Ward 18, on the strength of his commitment to constituent services; his support for the arts, environment, and sustainable transit; and his detailed knowledge of local issues. Bailão has a thorough understanding of the Portuguese community in Ward 18 and we do not think she would serve her constituents badly, but she’s opposed initiatives we favour (such as bike lanes on Dupont), and her 2003 campaign for council was marred by a too-close-for-comfort relationship with developers. Beaulieu’s grounded, ego-free approach to politics would be a welcome calming influence at council.

Ward 19: Mike Layton

We extend an endorsement to Mike Layton with some reluctance. It’s not that he wouldn’t make a very fine councillor—he would—but only that one of his opponents, Karen Sun, is also extremely impressive, and it would be a shame for her and her community-oriented political stylings to be lost from civic life just because she had the misfortune to run against someone with a more recognizable name. But none of this should diminish Layton: he’d be good for City Hall. His work in the environmental policy realm means he’ll be sympathetic to Toronto’s various ecological woes. His considerable knowledge of municipal politics and community concerns mean he’ll almost certainly be a strong advocate for his constituents from day one. Plus, his famous name makes him the surest shot at beating his other strong opponent, former sports broadcaster Sean McCormick, whose platform reads like it was cribbed from Rob Ford’s.

Ward 26: Mohamed Dhanani

Ward 26 incumbent John Parker has been in his position for four years now, and in that time, he’s voted fairly consistently against environmental reform, earned a “D” from ArtsVote for his indifference to municipal support for the arts, and otherwise hasn’t distinguished himself from his forty-three colleagues in any meaningful way. Lately, he’s been buddying up to Rob Ford, and so it can be assumed that, if reelected, Parker would use his influence to further some of the more damaging agendas of a Ford administration. Parker’s opponent Mohamed Dhanani, meanwhile, is more than just a convenient alternative. Dhanani is the best of both worlds where Ward 26 is concerned: he has professional qualifications as well as deep community ties. His stints at Queen’s Park (where he was, for a time, senior advisor to George Smitherman) and PriceWaterhouseCoopers have left him with an understanding of government fiscal policy that isn’t simplistic. And, as a first-generation immigrant, he has roots in Ward 26′s aging tower communities, which he has pledged to revitalize. Dhanani could bring needed change to Ward 26, and would help tip the balance of council away from the slash-and-burn mentality that has pervaded the rhetoric of some candidates during this municipal election.

Ward 27: Kristyn Wong-Tam

Ken Chan and Kristyn Wong-Tam are the two most likely candidates to succeed outgoing councillor Kyle Rae, although Chris Tindal is poised to take his fair share of votes. Wong-Tam, who has earned endorsements from councillor Adam Vaughan and social activist Michelle Lansburg, offers a combination of private sector experience and effective advocacy with local residents and community groups. Chan counters with experience as a police officer in Peel and a wealth of public sector service in Canada and in the United Kingdom. Chan has secured Rae’s blessing as well as that of mayoral hopeful George Smitherman, whom Chan advised at Queen’s Park. However, we see Wong-Tam as the clear choice to advance a bold and informed progressive agenda: she is one of the most consistent voices advocating equity and social justice in the 2010 race. Issues of race, class, and gender equity inform the breadth of her policy positions, and she has some new ideas to improve prospects for Toronto’s diverse residents.

Ward 29: Mary Fragedakis

Jane Pitfield, Mary Fragedakis, and Jennifer Wood are all contenders to replace outgoing councillor Case Ootes. While Pitfield has gone to great lengths to cast herself as a progressive force for voters, she still seems interested in forcing the visibly homeless off city streets against their will, advocating that they be “scooped up and looked after.” Wood focuses heavily on fiscal accountability, but her platform contains little beyond the well-worn cliches of “line-by-line” budget reviews and unspecified “efficiencies.” Despite her slew of NDP endorsements, Fragedakis sounds a lot like her opponents on the major issues facing the ward and city at large. However, she is more nuanced than her opponents on plans for green spaces and improvements to the diversion rate in the ward. Fragedakis has also demonstrated an ability to meet the daily needs of low-income residents through her leadership at the Broadview Community Youth Group. We believe she is the best choice for collaborative, progressive change in Ward 29.

Ward 35: Adrian Heaps

Another incumbent in a tight race for reelection is Adrian Heaps, who is facing off, as he did in 2006, against Michelle Berardinetti. The acrimony which marked the last race (which resulted in legal action) has returned to some extent, and the outcome may also again be quite close—Heaps’ margin of victory last time was just eighty-nine votes. Heaps has not been a stellar councillor, but he has been a solid one. As both a Scarborough representative and a strong cycling advocate, Heaps can do essential work in helping bridge the gap that persists between downtown and suburban voters, more of which is desperately needed on council. Berardinetti has been running on a centre-right platform which simultaneously calls for fiscal restraint and new subways, and her campaign language has been more divisive than her opponent’s. Heaps is the better-balanced and more collaboratively inclined candidate, and for that he gets our support.

Ward 36: Robert Spencer

This Scarborough race is tough to read: outgoing councillor Brian Ashton has held the seat since amalgamation, and represented parts of Scarborough since well before that. Of the ten candidates running to replace him, one in particular has caught our eye: Robert Spencer. With deep experience on the school board and in the environment sector, Spencer offers both local knowledge and a strong progressive outlook. He has made improving public transit to Scarborough a key element of his platform, and unlike many of his opponents, Spencer seems free of knee-jerk reactionary rhetoric when it comes to the prospect of wind turbines in Lake Ontario.

Ward 42: Neethan Shan

Raymond Cho is one of council’s less active and more erratic members. The ward is the largest, and one of the youngest, in Toronto, and would benefit from a new representative who provides more active and engaged leadership. Experienced community activist Neethan Shan possesses the requisite energy and drive, and is committed to raising the profile of Scarborough neighbourhoods to stimulate new activity in the ward. He has a plan for increasing resident engagement in decision-making, and is a strong supporter of public transit. With management experience and a history of working with the Malvern community, Shan has the capacity to provide able and balanced leadership in his ward.

Get more municipal election coverage from Torontoist here.

Meet the Candidate: Ana Bailão (Ward 18, Davenport)

Hamutal Dotan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:30:00 +0000

Over the course of the municipal election campaign, Torontoist is sitting down with as many candidates as we can to discuss their platforms and priorities for Toronto. Our hope is to give a real glimpse of how each candidate thinks and what each candidate cares about—beyond the soundbites to which they’re often reduced.

Photo by Hamutal Dotan/Torontoist.

When we walk into the sunny little café Ana Bailão suggested for our interview, she’s chatting with another regular, a business owner from down the street. A long-time resident of Ward 18, Bailão is running to replace current councillor Adam Giambrone, who recently confirmed that he would not be seeking re-election. Down-to-earth, tempered, and with deep roots in the community, Bailão has been pegged as one of the two leading contenders for the seat (the other is Kevin Beaulieu, with whom we chatted on Tuesday.)
Bailão was born in Portugal and spent much of her childhood there, moving with her family to Toronto at the age of fifteen. After university she wound up at City Hall, working as a special assistant to Giambrone’s predecessor in the ward, Mario Silva. (Silva is now MP for the riding of Davenport.) Bailão made her first bid for Ward 18 in 2003, running against Giambrone and coming in second, with 40% of the vote to Giambrone’s 52%. She’s been in the private sector ever since, working first at BCP Bank Canada and then at GlobeStar Systems, a health IT company.
We talked with Bailão yesterday, over the aforementioned coffee, to learn more about the issues that would be informing her campaign.

Could you talk a bit about your first experience at City Hall and what you learned about what makes for an effective councillor?
I think an effective councillor has to work with the community. The best things that I’ve seen done in communities is when you bring the community together, when you galvanize the community, when you take their suggestions, their work, their energy to put forward projects and ideas… You have to work with other councillors, you have to work with the community, and you have to be a strong voice for your community. That’s what this community is really looking for, is to have someone who listens to them, who works in partnership with them, and advocates for what’s right for Davenport at City Hall with other councillors and the mayor.
How do you think City Hall could function more effectively?
Everyone talks about the budget. I think we need to have people understand the budget process better, and have people understanding how we’re spending our money. We’re given big numbers, and that’s all we’re given… The community needs to understand how that money is being spent on a line-by-line basis.
So would you say there’s more a problem of perception than an issue of rampant waste?
It’s both. It’s like a private company: you get some departments that work really well, some departments that could do a little bit better, and I think that transparency will help with that as well, and it will be even fairer for people who work at the City. There are a lot of good workers at the City of Toronto and sometimes the perception [of waste or mismanagement] is not the correct one, but there are also the ones that could do a little bit better and I think we need to motivate those ones.
What did you learn from working in the business world?
The persistence, the project management, the value of project management. It surprises me, and at the same time as a taxpayer infuriates me, for example, to read in the newspapers that the St. Clair line didn’t have an overall project manager. Obviously you end up going from a project that was supposed to cost $48 million and ends up at over $100 million and timings are not even close to what they were supposed to be. I think that it’s very important, the management of things, the commitment, and the accountability—it’s very important.
Tell us a bit about your campaign. What are the issues that are dear to your heart and what are you going to be talking about when you knock on people’s doors?
The main reason I decided to run is that I’m a resident in this area and I’ve been involved for many years and I hear from a lot of my neighbours and the people at the doors that they want more community consultation, they feel like the community’s been divided over the issues. They want someone that is working with them and listening to them, so that is very important for me.
Making sure that the services are delivered in the most efficient way: we’ve been having tax increases year over year the last seven years, some services even being cut, and people are saying “okay, let’s go back to basics and at least have the services—our daycares, our parks and recreation, our garbage collection, our streets cleaned.”
Also, attracting jobs—in terms of the city, but I also want to do that in our area. I think we lost a lot of jobs to the 905. I think we need to make sure that we attract that to the city of Toronto. In my area we have a subway line, we have the Dundas and Bloor GO train station very close, there’s a lot of development happening—and it’s good development, the community’s involved in the development, [it has] good architecture—but I also want to make sure that we can build some work/live units, for example. Our area has a lot of artists, has a lot of potential, so I want to make sure that those people are still able to live here, and even attract other businesses. Advertising companies, marketing companies, software companies: this is still affordable enough for them, close to downtown, close to public transportation. The more people I have living and working in the neighbourhood the better, because it also addresses some of our safety issues that we still have in the ward, and even traffic issues.
Public transportation and infrastructure in the city of Toronto is something that we have to take a close look at. We have to continue to invest; we have to continue pressuring our partners at the federal and provincial level to invest in our infrastructure and public service. We’re asking people to pay three dollars to use the TTC; we have to make sure that the TTC is operating at the best—that it’s the fastest and the easiest way.
How do you actually go about spurring community engagement?
First of all, when there are certain issues, you have to inform the community—in newsletters and so on—give them proper notice… Also we have a very diverse community; you need to address the different languages issue, you need to make sure that things are done in different languages.
Also, you need to make yourself available to the community. We are in a difficult situation in terms of funding, so maybe using some of the community centres to meet constituents regularly—for example, every week I could be in a different community centre. People would be able to have it scheduled to come and meet with me… Get the groups working together in the area: from the business improvement areas to the residents’ associations to people related to the arts—those are very valuable.
How do you attract jobs to a neighbourhood?
You have to promote the neighbourhood, but you have to work with the private sector as well. There’s a lot of development happening in the area, so let’s make sure that we have some residential units, but let’s make sure that we also have some live-and-work units. Let’s make sure some of those units are affordable enough for our artists. Let’s create hubs for our artists, and let’s make the most of the services we have available. For example, I think one thing the City really needs to look at is the schools as community hubs; it’s something I want to push in this area. The school is closed at five o’clock, it’s a huge building, it’s being maintained, heated and cooled and everything else, so why not use that for programs as well?
All that creates a dynamic community. We have the base already: we have the land, we have developers that are looking into our ward, we have rents that are still affordable, and we have the will to do this.
Who, among the current councillors, do you most identify with—with the way they run their office, the way they engage their community?
I think Joe Mihevc is a good councillor. Adam Vaughan is a good councillor. They think outside of the box and they believe in community engagement. Mihevc also had his challenges as well with some of the projects in his ward, but he listened—it’s about the process as well.
You’re running to replace Adam Giambrone, you ran against him in 2003. How do you think he’s served this ward?
I’m not here to talk about his record, but I feel like the community’s ready for a change. They want somebody that is committed to this community. We have great opportunities coming our way. This is a community in transition, and they want to make sure that somebody’s here that understands the community and is committed to working with the community.
You described yourself in a National Post article recently as “centre-left, maybe centre.” Can you say a bit about what that means to you?
I believe that we need to be accountable and fiscally responsible: people need to know that we’re spending their money in the right ways, and that there’s accountability there. We’re facing tough economic times and it’s very hard for a lot of people in our city to pay their property taxes and we have to be conscious of that. But at the same time I am very socially responsible. I think we need to invest in our social services, invest in our public transportation.
At press time, the candidates registered to run in Ward 18 are: Ana Bailão, Nha Le, Jack Triolo, Hema Vyas, and Ken Wood. Kevin Beaulieu has also announced his intention to run. (We have included links to candidate websites when we could find them.)

Meet the Candidate: Kevin Beaulieu (Ward 18, Davenport)

Hamutal Dotan — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Photo by Hamutal Dotan/Torontoist.

Kevin Beaulieu, who has for many years been serving as the executive assistant in Adam Giambrone’s office, has decided to now run for that office himself. Following on the heels of Giambrone’s announcement last night that he would not be seeking reelection, Beaulieu has confirmed that he will soon be filing his own nomination papers for the seat. (He will stop working for Giambrone, and go off the City payroll, before registering to run.)
Beaulieu doesn’t fit the stereotype of a glad-handing politician. Soft-spoken, unassuming, and not prone to grand rhetorical flourishes, he isn’t someone you can necessarily imagine on the campaign trail. Those traits may end up, however, serving Beaulieu in good stead, for those are qualities many find lamentably absent from our sometimes fractious Council floor. Beaulieu joined Adam Giambrone’s campaign in 2003, and joined his staff when that campaign proved successful. In the years since he has acquired a reputation for diligence, and several community leaders we spoke to praised his attention to constituency issues.
We sat down for a chat with Beaulieu early this morning, to get a sense of the issues and policies that will be informing his campaign.

Torontoist: For people who don’t know you, can you start by telling us a bit about yourself?
Kevin Beaulieu: I moved to Toronto many many years ago. I moved here because I visited many times as I grew up in southern Ontario, and really loved the city: I loved the pulse of the city, the variety of ways to participate in city life. I became involved through my time at the University of Toronto and through community groups, and gradually, bit by bit, a little more politics [crept in]. About ten years ago I found an interest in city politics in particular. I always had an interest in politics to a degree, but I had moved into a community and really found myself wanting to participate there in some way. I got involved in municipal politics and eventually found myself working at City Hall for the new city councillor, Adam Giambrone.
You are being described as the man to whom the torch is being passed by Adam Giambrone. Is that a fair assessment?
No, I wouldn’t say so. I know that I’ve had a real opportunity working with Adam, to be in the community, to work with people in the community, and as well be at City Hall and get some experience there, so certainly there’s a connection. But, I also know that it’s very important over the campaign period for me to demonstrate that I am my own person, with my own ideas and my own energy. Should I be successful and should the residents of Ward 18 trust me as their councillor that’s what will carry me through.
Did Giambrone ask you to run?
No. We’ve talked about it, of course, but no.
Can you tell us about what some of those ideas are?
Every councillor is a city councillor, and every councillor is a ward councillor. You’re certainly a ward councillor first and that’s where your priority lies, [but] everyone lives in the city and wants the city to succeed as well. What’s good for the neighbourhood is generally what’s good for the city; sometimes it needs a little bit of work to find the right sweet spot there where everyone is for [a proposal], and I think that’s where the skills of the councillor are needed. I think that’s a strength of mine, to work with people to arrive at not just a satisfactory conclusion but a good one.
In the ward specifically, because that will be my first and highest commitment…It’s a hard-working community, it’s filled with people who like their community a lot, who really want to participate in it as well as in their city, but there have been some changes in the past seven to ten years. The arts community which has long been there has grown, and has really become a central of what’s happening in a number of the neighbourhoods that make up the ward…There are a number of things that I am particularly proud to have worked on and I want to make sure that those are seen through to completion and match the community’s vision. There’s a new park to develop and build out, with integrated public art. There is a former Carnegie library, which currently houses offices that will be moved, and I want to make sure that the commitment to [convert it to] an arts hub and a performing arts centre is realized and is fulfilled. As we move up the ward we can talk about the Railpath…I’d like to see that Railpath completed, which I believe is in the works but will take some time to complete.
Amongst the people in the ward, I think there is a real need for strengthening relationships, which I think can be built with some neighbourhood help and with some—I don’t want to say committees, but with some groups in the various communities throughout the ward that will meet regularly with the councillor, advise the councillor…and then probably meet as a whole from time to time to look at the ward as a whole and to develop ideas together. I think that the next councillor, no matter who it is, is going to have the responsibility to listen and to learn and to work with the community and really build relationships.
And from a city-wide perspective, what sorts of broader policy agendas are you interested in championing?
Well, it applies to the city, but something that I didn’t mention in the neighbourhood is that Ward 18 has communities that have actually advocated, during development processes, for affordable housing. That’s a terrific thing: as you know, sometimes these things can be controversial, but this is a community that actually takes [affordable housing] to heart. That is something that’s not a new idea, it’s obviously something the City’s been working towards for a long time—a decent base of affordable housing.
I also think that our parks need a new approach. One of the things about Ward 18 is that people are familiar with Dufferin Grove Park, and the way that it works very well with community involvement. People there are anxious to share that kind of approach to park development, park building, park programming, and I think that I would like take those ideas and apply them somewhat—build a toolkit to allow neighbourhoods to better engage with their parks.
I’ve had some involvement with transit in the city. Good transit is crucial to the success of the city, particularly as it grows. As there are more people travelling on our streets and our roads and our sidewalks every day, it’s going to be very important that they have excellent options for biking, for taking transit, for walking, and we’ve got to get started. We’ve already got some of this approach to transportation, but I’d really like to see that continued and multiplied many times over, because that’s the way the city’s going to succeed.
So would you be in favour of something like a complete streets approach?
Yes, I would say that it makes sense. I don’t think that it has to be a controversial idea. I think that when you consider all of our public spaces and our streets that a new approach is welcome. The whole point is to make sure that people are given an opportunity to use that space. Transportation is central to what our streets are, of course, but they are also public spaces and they can be better used both for transportation as well as street life.
Where do you locate yourself on the ideological spectrum?
Definitely I identify as a progressive. [Beaulieu is an NDP member, though of course there are no official parties operating at the municipal level.—Ed.] I believe that we all benefit from structures that serve people in good times and in bad. I believe that collectively we can build a city that allows people, as individuals or collectively, to succeed and prosper.
What do you make of the current crop of mayoral contenders?
Well, I’m waiting to see how this plays out. Certainly I think there’s room—in fact I think there’s a call—for candidates to look not just at what we can’t or shouldn’t or won’t do but at what we can do. There’s room there for a bit of optimism, a bit of a city-building voice.
Coming later this week: our conversation with another leading candidate in Ward 18, Ana Bailão.

Adam Giambrone Confirms He Won’t Be Seeking Reelection in Ward 18

Hamutal Dotan — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:06:00 +0000

Adam Giambrone at his mayoral campaign launch earlier this year. Photo by David Topping/Torontoist.

Surprising almost no one, Adam Giambrone is going to be withdrawing from municipal politics, at least for the time being, and will not be seeking reelection in the Davenport ward he currently represents. Confirming the move via an interview in the Globe and Mail, Giambrone put an end to the speculation that has been swirling about his future ever since he entered, and then rapidly withdrew from, the mayoral race a couple of months ago. While Giambrone is not sure what he’ll be doing next, there are still close to eight months left in the current term, and he has no plans to leave his office before then.
There are currently five candidates registered to run in Ward 18 as possible successors to Giambrone, the most prominent of whom is Ana Bailão. Bailão first ran for Council in 2003 and was defeated by Giambrone 52%-40%; prior to that she served as an assistant to Mario Silva (who was councillor in Ward 18 before Giambrone). Kevin Beaulieu, Giambrone’s current executive assistant, is also widely rumoured to be considering a bid for the seat. [UPDATE, 11:37 p.m.: Kelly Grant at the Globe just tweeted that Kevin Beaulieu has confirmed he will be running in Ward 18.]