Waffling warmist a dim bulb

The return to the political stage of Toronto's ex-Mayor David Miller cannot go unremarked. Now a sinecurist with the World Wildlife Fund, a job with no known success criteria, you wonder whether he is coming unhinged. Promoting the wacky WWF Earth Hour, where we all are supposed to turn the lights off and blunder about in the dark, he says: "Climate change is overwhelming. It's literally causing problems at a global scale, and sometimes it's hard as an individual to think what you could do to help."
Stop talking nonsense comes to mind. In the photograph accompanying the story in the Toronto metro newspaper I notice Miller is wearing a scarf to keep warm. You couldn't make this stuff up!
His timing is unfortunate. Toronto is yet to recover from one of the harshest winters since records began but that does not stop Miller blathering on about the evils of global warming. He also cannot resist interfering in the politics of his old bailiwick by promoting his transit agenda based on streetcars and light rail. Using the royal "we" he says: "We have the best rapid transit plan - all the engineering has been done - we just need to build." As a 'has been' his plans have no more validity than yours or mine.
Anybody who actually rides on the TTC in the rush hour will know that the streetcars are worse than cattle trucks. I used to think that the TTC was just badly managed. I now know that it is rotten from top to bottom. Perhaps David Miller could do us all a favour and report the TTC to the WWF for cruelty to the poor passengers.
Here is an abridged version of some of David Miller's achievements:
* The hero of the G20 summit (more arrests in a day than any other in Canadian history).
* Provoking a five-week garbage strike, and then losing to his union chums.
* Burnishing his crisis-management skills by remaining absent after the Sunrise propane explosion.
* Paying $35 million not to build the bridge to the island airport.
* Failing to spot a $47m liability for the Pan-Am games.
* Presiding over a disgraceful regime at Municipal Licensing Services to the detriment of small business.
* Turning a blind eye when Adam Giambrone was caught with his hand in the till.
* Spending much of his time on foreign "jollies" while the city stagnated.
I must say I've missed David Miller's pronouncements, as comical in their own way as our very own dear Rob Ford.

Lakeshore loses lodges, gains cranes and condos

The changing face of Hogtown is nowhere more apparent than with the loss of the Lakeshore motel strip. We took these pictures before the motels are all gone.

Pics by Annette and RLT.

A business burns as startup struggles

We went for a cycle ride yesterday, Wednesday, me on the Auto-Mini bicycle with three-speed Sturmey Archer gears. I pumped up the forty-year-old tyres, squirted some oil in the gearbox and off I went. Joining my pal Ron at Sunnyside we decided to get off the Lakeshore at the Exhibition Grounds as the onshore wind was too much. A stopover in Kensington Market to buy cheese and take coffee with muffins was followed by a ride along College Street and up the railpath to Dupont.
We went to check out the fire at Save And Secure Self Storage at 97 Pelham Avenue which started on Monday morning. The building which will have to be demolished is adjacent to the railroad tracks and a CPR train crept past the scene while we were there. Sad to see a business and many folks personal possessions destroyed.

We carried on to Annette Street to check on Creme Fraiche, a new store in "permit purgatory," unable to open until the boroughmongers and sinecurists at City Hall get their act together and issue a permit. The anti-business attitudes live on in Hogtown even though "large imperfect" Mayor Miller is long gone. The regime may change but the crusty bureaucrats carry on. Time to clean house.

Ringo and Rice Pudding

To Maple Leaf Gardens for Annette's birthday treat. This much loved old venue for hockey, rock concerts and many other forms of entertainment is now a Loblaw's groceteria with a Ryerson University sports hall on the side. This was the only venue where the Beatles played on all three tours in 1964, 1965 and 1966.
We repaired to Fran's for lunch, a traditional diner, where Annette indulged in their signature rice pudding.

Happy Expat Christmas

We're getting ready for Christmas here in Little-Blighty-on-the-Great-Lakes. The big feature here is Christmas dinner (if you don't count family high tea on Boxing Day). I'm looking forward to Turkey, Stuffing, Bread Sauce, Roast Potatoes, Sprouts, Parsnips and Gravy (Aah Bisto!). Not forgetting mince pies.
We've been watching old episodes of Last of The Summer Wine on Youtube and Annette just had to have the squeezy tomato sauce bottle as used in Sid's Cafe, 'sourced' on ebay. Naf is the new kind.
Eat, drink and be merry as for 2012 I predict that governments will continue to spend money that they have borrowed; at least one country will leave the Euro but the resulting problems will turn out to be a blessing; the soon-to-be £10 billion plus Olympics will bring three weeks of 'sport' promoting hamburgers, fizzy pop and credit cards. Let us hope we see the back of some more dictators. Meanwhile have a Happy New Year!
Photograph by Annette.

Toronto Tweed Ride

We went on the inaugural Toronto Tweed Ride on Saturday afternoon. The 1970 Kent Auto-Mini folding bicycle held up well in the circumstances and attracted many favourable comments. The bike has iffy brakes at the best of times, the chrome-steel wheel rims being the limiting factor, particularly in the wet. So I rode with considerable circumspection as the rain came down, being aware of the many cyclists around me and the need to avoid a collision. The street car tracks were another hazard. After a tour of the city centre we finished up at Grange Park in time for tea.

Brit backhoe made in the USA

This JCB 3CX backhoe turned up in High Park, Toronto, with a "Made in the USA" sign on the side. JCB operate a manufacturing plant near Savannah, Georgia.
Pic by RLT.

Sprite surprises cyclists

This Austin Healey Sprite showed up on Friday night on Beaconsfield Avenue, by the Drake Hotel, off Queen Street West. The cyclists were gigging at the Drake, lead by the Deadly Nightshades, before touring local shops and design outlets. These girls favour urban cycling and used gladrags, hard for an old geezer to comprehend. I rode the forty-one-year-old Kent Auto-Mini which meant we had something in common - see PunchBuggy Passim. The original Cordatic tyres held up against the odds.
Pic by RLT.

Layton cover-up cuts no ice in Blighty

For the full sleazy story in the Daily Mail go here. Back story here.
Some reaction here in Canada is how could the British press be so beastly - in my experience the Brit presspack can spot a liar at a 1000 yards. Risible denials don't wash in Fleet Street. It is not the offence that gets 'em, it is the cover up, stupid.
Ask yourself why Layton won't be suing the Daily Mail?

Miller's "World Class City" waste

"He took us to the cleaners and other misdemeanors." - after Ian Dury

Former "large imperfect" Mayor Miller has received a lifetime achievement award for waste, due to his record of soaking Toronto taxpayers - see PunchBuggy Passim. It reminds me of some of his other achievements:

* Failure to tell Police Chief Blair to stop running amok at the G20.

* Provoking a five-week garbage strike, and losing.

* Remaining absent after the Sunrise propane explosion.

* Paying $35 million not to build the bridge to the island airport.

* Failing to spot a $47m liability for the Pan-Am games.

* Presiding over a disgraceful regime at Municipal Licensing Services to the detriment of small business.

* Turning a blind eye when Adam Giambrone was caught with his hand in the till.

* Spending much of his time on foreign "jollies" while the city stagnated.

Ex-Mayor Miller:Lifetime Award for Waste

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is celebrating the best of the worst money misuses in government. The ‘Teddies Waste Awards’ were handed out recently and federal director Kevin Gaudet says this year’s lifetime achievement award was given to past Toronto mayor David Miller, and noted all the taxes imposed on Torontonians under his watch. That includes the plastic bag tax, the land transfer tax, billboard tax and garbage tax.
The federal award recognized the $1-billion price-tag for the G8 and G20 summits, including $227,000 in gift bags and promotional items. The top provincial waster, named by the taxpayers, was the PST tax collectors, who were laid off in order to become GST collectors, only to receive a severance package of roughly $45,000 each.

See: Durham Radio News.com

"Large imperfect" Mayor Miller asleep at the wheel

I sent this email to our lame-duck Mayor on Friday, April 16, 2010 8:28 AM, copy to Bill Saundercook, local councillor.

Anti-business Toronto: Café Novo, 1986 Bloor Street W

Dear Mayor Miller,

I attended the first day of trading at the above café this morning. The patio is closed for lack of a permit.

What is the matter with you people? These young folk are using their own money to launch a business in troubled times, paying their taxes, doing their best. What does the city do?

Jerk them about. You should hang your heads in shame. This anti-business approach is wrecking this city – instead of junketing perhaps you can get on with the job you are paid generously to do.

Best regards

Rupert

Unsurprisingly I have received no reply. If it had been an invitation to a freebie in Copenhagen or Berlin no doubt I would have heard back by return. When you are too busy junketing to help your near neighbours we know the end is nigh. Hogtown will be glad to see the back of Miller, and Giambrone too for that matter.

Sinecurists with snout in trough

he problem of Toronto politicians taking freebies on the taxpayer is not new. "Large Imperfect" Mayor Miller has been at it for years - see PunchBuggy Passim.

Adam Giambrone's new office

Adam Giambrone, famous in Toronto for a sex scandal and being economical with the truth over his expenses, has caused much grief as head of the Toronto Transit Commission. The hard working grunts have got their own back by building a new office for him at High Park station. It has been carefully designed so that a couch will not fit in as well as a desk, and is situated far from a taxi rank so that he cannot take the taxpayer for a ride any longer.

New terminal for Hogtown airport

Pictured is the old terminal at Billy Bishop City Centre Airport in Toronto, taken from a new angle out of the window of the new terminal, which went live today. Like with all changes something is lost and something gained. The new terminal was very busy on our visit and we look forward to the building of the pedestrian tunnel, which should smooth out the flow of passenger arrivals and departures. I suggest they should name the tunnel in honour of departing Mayor Miller, as in Custer's last stand, a fitting monument to his greatest political defeat (not counting the dustbin strike).

Hogtown City Limits XIX

To Toronto City Centre Airport (CYTZ) on the yellow Brompton bicycle. Stop in to see Sam at Druxy's, the coffee shop in the old control tower. The building is covered in mould, both the exterior and interior are badly in need of repair and refurbishment. I’m told that the roof is leaking. This is no way to treat a National Historic Site – neglected would sum it up. I've written to Lloyd Alter, President of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, to see what can be done.
Meanwhile the boroughmongers are playing trains. We continue on to the Roundhouse, near the Rogers Centre, where the city is constructing a fake railway exhibition. Some interesting old railway engines are left outside to deteriorate when they should be kept under cover - the original purpose of the Roundhouse. A toy train will provide rides while the site has been severed from the national railway network, thereby ensuring that no real trains will ever arrive.
Saturday evening to Nando's Restaurant in Leaside for spicy chicken. See Toronto Ethnic Eats.

Porter takes lefties to the slaughter

An inspiring story in the Globe and Mail of how Porter Airlines took on all comers and triumphed. "Large Imperfect" Mayor Miller, former hack Adam Vaughan, and his rentamob, must be grinding their teeth. You can't keep a good man down. Bring on Air Canada Jazz and Continental Airlines.

Lame duck Mayor does disservice to investment

Lame duck Mayor Miller has added a third job to his portfolio as interim chief executive officer of Invest Toronto. He is already Chairman of this organisation. I'm not sure how this allows him to spend more time with his family. In the gobbledegook of management speak: "The mission of Invest Toronto is to promote Toronto as a destination for businesses to invest, grow and prosper."
He is fatally compromised in such a role. What if an entrepreneur wants to meet him on arrival at Toronto City Centre Airport? "Oh, no, I can't possibly go there!" he will cry. What if said entrepreneur wants to invest in Toronto City Centre Airport? "Oh, no, I advise against it!" Surely Invest Toronto deserves better than a quacking lame duck with an impeccable anti-business record. No doubt his appointment and the sudden announcement of his departure from the mayoralty were intimately connected. A sinecure was needed in a hurry.
Mayor Miller's legacy is printed on Page 5 of the Globe and Mail today - a full-page advertisement for Porter Airlines!

Hogtown City Limits XIII

Councillor and former hack, Adam Vaughan (Trinity Spadina), one of the men who brought you the recent Toronto garbage strike, seeks to lecture others on the fine points of management. See this well-argued response from the Toronto Port Authority. You'd think that with his recent track-record that a little humility was called for - the sheer brass neck of some people knows no bounds.
If Vaughan wants something constructive to occupy his time why doesn't he sort out the eyesore of the Canadian Maltings site at Bathurst, city-owned and the first thing that arrivals at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport see. This derelict building is an international advertisement for the incompetence of the sinecurists down at City Hall.

Hogtown City Limits XII

To the Royal York Hotel for the Annual Meeting of the Toronto Port Authority who manage, among other things, Toronto Island Airport, this year celebrating its seventieth anniversary. The suits on the platform were attempting the impossible - that is to satisfy the congenitally dissatisfied. One hour was set aside for questions and answers - it seemed like three.
Prematurely-aged Councillor and former hack, Adam Vaughan (Trinity Spadina) was soon on his feet with an obscure technical point. He lapsed into saying "we" - that is not the Royal "we" but as in me and my claque. Assembled were Toronto's finest rentamob intent on sneering, heckling, barracking, interrupting and generally tormenting the TPA directors. All the tired old tactics of these clapped-out lefties were on display. The debate veered schizophrenically between points of detail about current operations and a more general wish to return to the days of the horse and cart. The lady moderator struggled, without much success, to contain the ersatz indignation from the floor.
The announcement was made that the TPA had reported a profit for year 2008, with promises of more to come. This was greeted as a serious setback as only abject failure would do. The proposed tunnel to the airport, shovels in the ground, was viewed with suspicion. Surely vehicles would travel through it sooner or later, jets would be flying, armageddon was just around the corner.
Further the name of the airport was to be changed to the Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport. We were assured that this was welcomed by the surviving relatives of this famous military aviator - whether the new name will stick or not only time will tell.
Adam Vaughan was later seen spouting to the gentlemen of the press to satisfy his narrow constituency. I pointed out that it ill-became him attacking the TPA, as his stewardship of the city-owned Canadian Maltings site, rotting and derelict, spoke to his management capabilities. See: PunchBuggy passim. Billy Bishop must be turning in his grave.
Enjoy the Toronto Airshow this weekend!