City Council — March 2012
March 5, 2012
181 posts
Hey, remember when they kicked the politicians off the Metrolinx board? And then regional transit planning was totally depoliticized?
By the way, here's the non-silverlight stream for today's #tocouncil meeting: http://bit.ly/xnHIfP
Speaking about retiring planner Gary Wright, Pennachetti refers to the "new, fun-loving zoning bylaw."
Happy Birthday, @shelleycarroll. As a gift, I got you a contentious and prolonged council meeting.
Moeser says he watched the council meetings when he was sick. "And, um, there were good times and bad times."
Moeser asks that the TTC item be considered second after the mayor's key item. Which may result in me running to City Hall in a panic.
I am still holding to the belief that there's a plan going into today's meeting, and that it won't be a nomination free-for-all.
Hope someone holds GM11.3. I could use a good council debate re: bloggers. https://secure.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2012.GM11.3
Procedural chaos reigns as Mammoliti is trying to reorder items. Not looking real coordinated so far.
Well then. See you at City Hall.
RT @reporterdonpeat
#TOCouncil votes 37 to 5 to deal with #TTC governance first #TOpoli
Voting against putting the TTC item first on the agenda: Augimeri, Carroll, Fragedakis, McConnell, Vaughan. 37 others in favour.
And here we go: talking TTC board. First question: who's going to move the motion to dissolve the current board?
Maybe the expert citizens appointed to the TTC should be chosen by the public through a vote. Votes could be held every four years, maybe.
Joe Pennachetti on the fired TTC GM: "I would not disagree with the statement that Mr. Webster was a professional."
Lindsay Luby, via her questions, points out that it's hard to say the TTC needs advice from transit professionals when they just fired one.
Lindsay Luby also brings up that thing where old citizen-dominated TTC board decided to buy an airline. Short-turned flights were the worst.
Here's Karen Stintz's motion: immediately move to structure of seven councillors and four citizens. Rescind existing appointments.
Stintz wants to acknowledge Ford's work on this item. Says mayor was open to compromise. But there was a disconnect.
Idea was to leave current board in place until June, but Stintz was concerned there would be deadlock with current board re: expansion plans
Stintz again cites the precedent with the TCHC last year. Difference there was that council didn't immediately appoint a new board.
Stintz: Overwhelming desire of a majority of citizens is to move forward with a transit plan.
Stintz again thanks the mayor but says we couldn't continue on with status quo. Need a commission that reflects the will of council.
Stintz: "Let's make sure we move forward in a unified way." Scattered applause as she wraps up.
Mihevc says he won't support any motion to go to 100% citizen reps on TTC board. Can't imagine many councillors will.
In the event of a tie on today's appointment votes, both names get written on paper, put into a box and the chair draws the winner.
All that and more on Page 27-119 of the procedural bylaws: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_027.pdf (This is going to be confusing as hell.)
Thompson is making his motion now: nine member board, all citizens. A Hail Mary play, in my estimation.
Paraphrased: "C'mon, councillors suck. We're all dumb as hell and know nothing about transit. So take us off the TTC board."
Thompson: "we recognize that politicians have fumbled transit in this city." Well, maybe some have.
Medieval transit was great. Fancy horses. Comfy wagons. Piggy-back rides.
Thompson: "Well, I think councillor, one can take a perspective with respect to the notion of politics and politicization of any issue."
If Michael Thompson had a parody twitter account, it would constantly exceed the character limit.
(If Adam Vaughan had a parody twitter account, every tweet would be a rhetorical question.)
Hope Thompson got something good for agreeing to be the guy to go to bat for this motion. This is tough to watch.
Mammoliti is up, asking if maybe council needs 30 votes to reconstitute the TTC. Clerk shoots that down. They know they're going to lose.
Mammoliti says lots of tractor trailers use Finch Avenue. So that's why they need a subway and not an LRT. Or something.
Mammoliti says the TTC did the right thing by firing Gary Webster. Hopes they "go further", by which I think he means fire more people.
Mammoliti says the "politicians have taken over here at City Hall." It's not clear who he thinks *should* be running things.
Mammoliti calls for communities along Finch Avenue to "stand up and revolt!" Because of light rail transit.
Mammoliti says the TTC has lost the confidence of this city. Runs out of time while saying something about tailpipes between legs.
Augimeri rises to point out that there is no realistic possibility of Finch Ave ever getting a subway, so Mammoliti is being disingenuous.
John Parker rises to support Stintz's motion. It's reluctant support, but it needs to be done under the circumstances.
Mathematically, it's virtually impossible for the mayor to win a vote without support from Stintz and/or Parker.
Parker says Stintz's motion hits the reset button so we can get on with the work that needs to be done.
Parker again alludes to Stintz's attempts at compromise with the mayor. Says they found that compromise just wouldn't work.
Councillor Frank Di Giorgio shifted from a "say very little" strategy in 2011 to a "say lots of stuff" strategy in 2012. Reviews are mixed.
Right now, Di Giorgio is making some analogy that compares our transit system to life insurance. Worries about LRT running at capacity.
Di Giorgio says tearing out LRTs to build subways would mean astronomical costs. But if LRT gets to capacity, you build a parallel route.
Doug Holyday is now moving that council just adopt the original recommendation for a 5-4 board structure.
Holyday: "Like the weight loss guy says: if you could solve the problem yourself, you'd have already done it."
Someone's been listening to a lot of Dr. Bernstein ads on Newstalk 1010.
So, now three plans on the table: Stintz (7 councillors/4 citizens); Holyday (5 citizens/four councillors) & Thompson (all citizens)
.@gordperks says if you want professional expertise on the transit file, you hire a transit professional as your General Manager.
.@roccorossiTO's best line from the campaign: "We already have a transit museum and we ride it everyday."
Yeah, c'mon media, don't be lazy.
MT @jm_mcgrath
Thompson says it's media's job to make sure Mayor doesn't stuff TTC board with cronies.
Back in council chambers: Mark Grimes is here. Which means no more unanimous votes on speaking extensions.
Lindsay Luby up first to speak after the break. She prefers the commission to be made up of a majority of councillors. Cites accountability.
Lindsay Luby says she received complaints about transit cuts in her ward. Points out that Webster's severance could pay for a lot of buses.
Lindsay Luby points out that council is getting divisive. Hadn't noticed.
Lindsay Luby: "It's unbelievable that councillors are saying that other councillors are schizophrenic."
Some councillors are jumping all over themselves to cut the proposed pay for citizen appointees. This is a bad idea for a lot of reasons.
But, hell, it plays well politically. Let's go further and charge people for the right to be a citizen appointee. Revenue tool.
Raymond Cho rises not to bury transit but to praise Stintz. "She has real respect for taxpayers."
Did Raymond Cho just call Stintz a "young, pretty, beautiful female?" Man. Politics.
#TOCouncil according to Cho: "If the mayor does the right thing, respect him. If the mayor does the wrong thing, don't respect that."
Cho concludes with "maybe I'm talking too much" and then some other stuff. Well-done.
Matlow wants commissioners who recognize that we need to make evidence-based decisions - Council and TTC need to work together.
Norm Kelly says he always intended to only serve on the TTC until mid-term. So he won't be putting his name in for reappointment. Huge loss.
Kelly rightly says the whole debate around firing Webster was framed as a "personal vendetta." Then gives an incoherent defence of the move.
Kelly says he voted to fire Gary Webster because he made a commitment to change. He searches for words that won't get him in legal trouble.
Shelley Carroll has a motion centred around increased accountability for TTC board. Will allow non-TTC councillors into closed meetings.
Carroll: "By some wacky miracle, Councillor Thompson's motion might win."
It really would take a wacky miracle for Ford to pull this off. Wacky biblical stuff would need to happen.
Councillors want Mark Grimes to vote in favour of a Shelley Carroll speaking extension as it's her birthday. And he does! The greatest gift.
.@postshaggy reminds me that Thompson did pay to have his office blessed. So he may be able to pull off a miracle. Even a wacky one.
Fletcher needs an extension. "Is it your birthday?" asks Grimes. "It's my birthday," says Fletcher. "Mine passed last month," says Nunziata.
In what has to be a council first, James Pasternak pronounces "bylaw" as "Bailão."
Peter Milczyn confirms that he won't be supporting the Thompson motion. Nice bit of independence.
Milczyn neglects to say whether he'll be supporting the Stintz motion - just says he supports a mixed board of citizens & councillors.
Vaughan says if we wanted a transit professional on the TTC board, we'd appoint Gary Webster. Crowd likes that one.
Vaughan: "It's not the civil servants' job to fulfill anyone's mandate." He's really tying today's decision to the Webster firing.
Some councillors seem to be adding motions just for the hell of it. Control could be better.
Perruzza: "The war on the car is dead? What did that mean? It means you BURN TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!"
Perruzza is fired up: "Suddenly we're building subways under the Don Valley and through EMPTY FIELDS where NO ONE LIVES!"
In case you missed it: in her newsletter, @JayeRobinson says her North York residents "overwhelmingly" support LRT plan http://bit.ly/A9vt85
We've reached the part of the meeting where Pam McConnell makes extended Alice in Wonderland analogies, complete with character voices.
McConnell brings up Queen's Quay and how developers there want LRTs. Important point.
Oh good. Nunziata has a motion. It is to transfer responsibility of the TTC to Metrolinx. For real.
Nunziata claims Metrolinx are the "funders" of the TTC. I wish.
Nunziata seems to believe that the province would be happy to assume control of an organization requiring a $400m annual subsidy.
Mammoliti calls Nunziata's speech one of her best ever. Says downtowners are laughing but he thinks transferring TTC to province is great.
Mammoliti: "Why would anyone disagree with your motion?" Nunziata: "I don't know. It's a very good motion."
Chin Lee stands up and asks Nunziata if she talked to Metrolinx before making this motion. Nunziata says no. Says city can force Metrolinx.
Nunziata: "This isn't politics. It's just common sense." And the puppy was a dog. And the industry - that was a revolution.
Cho to Nunziata: "Are you serious with your motion, or is this some kind of joke?"
Cho goads Nunziata into saying that she'd support uploading virtually every city service to the provincial government.
Vaughan asks if we might be better to upload the TTC to the BC government. Because they fund transit better.
Nunziata, without irony: "This is fun. This is like the comedy hour."
Nunziata says cost of the TTC will be lower if the province assumes control. She refuses to explain why.
Nunziata: "I know the province wouldn't have supported the St. Clair project." Mihevc: "They actually paid for a third of it."
David Shiner says he can't recall a time when council was more divided. I think they were actually more divided last year.
After Nunziata's virtuoso performance, she's in a close huddle with Thompson and Rob Ford. The mayor is shrugging a lot.
C'mon, @johnparker26, stop asking for recorded votes for speaking extensions. What's the worst that can happen?
Shiner's motion is similar to the Stintz's motion except that it calls for a board of 5 councillors, 4 citizens, and 2 fed/prov appointees.
It's not clear what a "citizen member nominated by the federal/provincial government" means exactly, or if there's any appetite for that.
Denzil Minnan-Wong: "People want to take the politics out of transit and move forward." Yes, exactly.
Minnan-Wong's last ditch effort to save things: seven councillors is too many and means good people won't want to be on the board.
Minnan-Wong refers to Webster "leaving" the TTC. That's one way to put it.
It seems close to assured now that Minnan-Wong will be the last speaker before voting begins.
Minnan-Wong, knowing he's getting kicked off the board in minutes, reads a lists of things he dislikes about TTC governance and management.
Okay, big mess of votes. Motion 1 is Stintz. Motion 3 is Thompson. They're 5th and 6th, respectively.
First up: motion by Lee to add per diem pay for citizen board members. Passes 28-16.
Next up: KWT's motion on equity passes 39-5. Think Bailão mis-voted.
Davis' motion to use professional recruitment service to get civilian board members passes 38-6.
Kind of useless Perruzza motion asking that civilian appointees have "understanding of TTC operations" passes 32-12.
Motion #1 up now: the big Karen Stintz motion. Passes 29-15.
The board is dissolved. New councillors will be appointed. A bunch of motions are now redundant.
The votes on Karen Stintz's motion to dissolve the TTC board. http://twitpic.com/8si3oe
A 29-15 result is hugely significant. One more vote on side and the opposition has a full 2/3rds majority on council.
Carroll's motion to allow councillors to sit as visitors during private TTC meetings passes with only four opposed: Ainslie, Holyday, Fords.
Significant votes that went with Stintz: Robinson, Pasternak, Milczyn & Gary Crawford (!).
Rules are being circulated for balloting process which will select new board members.
First up: nominations. Councillors can nominate themselves or others. Seconding is not necessary.
Weird. Mammoliti nominates Carroll and Cho.
Parker nominates Stintz. Stintz nominates Parker. Best buds forever.
Cho rises to say he was going to nominate himself, but he's already nominated. So he sits down.
Layton nominates Augimeri. Colle nominates De Baeremaeker. Crawford nominates Palacio & Pasternak.
De Baeremaeker nominates Josh Colle.
Bailão nominates Mary-Margaret McMahon. Strategy is all over the place.
Berardinetti nominates Robinson. Kelly nominates Crawford. You get a nomination, you get a nomination, we all get nominations.
Grimes nominates Milczyn. Wong-Tam nominates Perks. This is less organized than I was hoping.
Nominees: Carroll, Cho, Stintz, Parker, Augimeri, DeBaeremaeker, Palacio, Pasternak, Colle, McMahon, Robinson, Crawford, Milczyn & Perks.
All nominees get five minutes to speak. Notable that none of the nominees are die hard Ford allies.
And, yes, Mihevc didn't get a nomination. That's called restraint, I think.
Councillors will compete in the Joust, Powerball, Hang Time and then run the Eliminator to determine who will sit on the TTC.
It's hard to see what kind of slate would be best for the mayor. Maybe Crawford, Robinson, Pasternak, Colle, McMahon, Palacio, Milczyn.
So on their ballot, councillors can list up to seven names. A councillor needs to receive a majority of votes to earn a seat.
.@JamesPasternak explains that he's going to be late for a wedding (not his own, I think) because he wants to accept this nomination.
Fletcher says the mayor's preferred board is Carroll, Cho, Pasternak, Palacio, Robinson, Crawford & Milczyn. Interesting slate.
Mary-Margaret McMahon is the first councillor to decline her nomination to the TTC board. Says she's got enough going on as it is.
Councillor McMahon says she's a TTC user and will be pushing for the waterfront line, which prompts a "yay" from McConnell.
.@gordperks is declining his nomination as well. Good call.
Carroll has now declined as well. Good call.
Presumably at this point a majority of councillors have agreed to support a slate of seven candidates. I hope so, anyway.
So, new TTC board will be: Cho, Stintz, Parker, Augimeri, DeBaeremaeker, Colle, Milczyn. I think.
Ballots will become part of the public record after the vote. We'll know who voted for who.
It was a good call for Perks and Carroll to sit out because they may have resulted in vote splits. Better to have fewer candidates.
Mammoliti asks if we can delay the ballot to get a legal opinion. Vaughan: "That's the closest thing to a strategy you've had all day."
Mary-Margaret McMahon has folded her ballot into a paper airplane.
Formal request for @TorontoCouncil: send up some white smoke when you're finished counting.
And we're back. Bells are ringing. All will soon be revealed.
44 ballots cast. 289 votes out of 308 possible. 23 votes required. No spoiled or illegal ballots.
Raymond Cho: 30; Stintz; 26; Parker - 26; Augimeri - 26; Glenn DeB - 26; Palacio - 20; Pasternak - 19; Colle- 37; Robinson -22; Crawford -19
So the board is: Cho, Stintz, Parker, Augimeri, Glenn DeB, Colle, Milczyn.
As expected. New board on the first ballot. Great strategy from Stintz and the opposition.
The clerk is reading everybody's votes out now. We'll get all these when they're published later by @TorontoCouncil.
Of Ford favourites, Palacio and Robinson got closest to making the board. Robinson got 22 votes. Palacio got 20.
Just for posterity: this means that the Mayor of Toronto no longer has influence over decisions made at the TTC.
Feels kind of academic at this point.
RT @joemihevc
One big decision to go - 17 km of Sheppard LRT or 2km or subway on March 21
The opposition was able to organize themselves enough to ensure support for a slate of seven. That's a remarkable achievement.
Nominations now open for Chair of the TTC. We'll see if anybody runs against Stintz. I doubt it.
Mihevc rises to nominate Stintz. Mammoliti rises to nominate Cho. Grimes nominates Milczyn.
Cho declines his nomination. Let's see if Milczyn will stand.
Mayor's staff trying to get behind Milczyn. Ford would absolutely prefer a Milczyn-led TTC board, though it wouldn't make much difference
Milczyn needs a moment to think. Super tense. He may decline his nomination.
Milczyn only declines to speak. He's still in the race.
Stintz also declines to speak. She should win this vote easily.
Stintz and Milczyn just hugged. Everyone is still friends.
Results are in for chair. 43 votes cast. No spoilt ballots. Milczyn - 19. Stintz - 24. Stintz is chair now and again.
Peter Milczyn rises first to give Stintz a standing ovation.
Votes for Milczyn: Del Grande, Nunziata, Kelly, Minnan-Wong, Augimeri, Fords, Mammoliti, Holyday, Crawford, Robinson, Grimes, Milczyn
…Crisanti, Palacio, Di Giorgio, Shiner, Berardinetti.
Augimeri's vote is the weird one - not sure where that came from.