NY university names David Miller a city-building fellow

CTV Toronto - NY university names Miller a city-building fellow - CTV News
From One Toronto:
Rob Ford, a Mayor without Vision
Toronto residents should be proud to have our former mayor, David Miller, recognized as a city builder. From Transit City, to cleaning up the city, to working on poverty reduction to sustainability, Miller had vision. Contrast that to our current mayor Ford who, as he promised during the election, has worked to dismantle almost every part of Miller’s vision for a sustainable city.

CTV Article:

Former Toronto mayor David Miller has been named to a prestigious
post by a New York university that hopes to harness his city-building
expertise.

Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) announced
Tuesday it had named Miller, Toronto's mayor from 2003-2010, as a Future
of Cities Global Fellow.

"Mayor Miller’s unique insight will guide us as we explore the
interplay between intelligent city infrastructure and economic,
environmental and social sustainability," NYU-Poly Provost Dianne Rekow
said in a statement.

The engineering school, which is an affiliate of New York University,
said Miller will deliver lectures, design courses and provide strategic
advice.

NYU-Poly spokesperson Kathleen Hamilton said Miller will also be
working with New York University, which has its own urban studies
programs, to ensure the two institutions' efforts are properly
integrated.

Miller will continue to be based in Toronto, she said.

 Miller said in a statement that the school is uniquely placed "to
help its students – and the world – find solutions to pressing urban
issues that can improve livability, prosperity and opportunity for all."

While serving as Toronto's mayor, Miller led the C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group from 2008 to 2010.

During his term, Toronto made many steps forward to reduce its carbon
emissions, such as green roofs for transit stations and recladding
older highrises to conserve energy.

Toronto received a low-carbon leadership award from the C-40 and other honours, noted the NYU-Poly release.

Since leaving office, Miller has returned to his original career as a
lawyer. He practices with Toronto's Aird & Berlis LLP, where he
specializes in international business and sustainability.  Miller had
been a partner in the firm before entering municipal politics in 1994.

He has worked as a consultant on creating green urban jobs and has been appointed to an advisory role with the World Bank.

Can we have our old mayor back please!?

Ahem, Ford Nation. It didn't have to be this way

City Budget: This isn’t about austerity & four other notes « Ford For Toronto
Here is a great look into the current numbers game at Toronto City Hall.
(read the link for the details)
Excerpt:

It’s been noted again and again, but a
simple combination of a small property tax increase in last year’s
budget and a partial retention of the Vehicle Registration Tax would
have resulted in very straightforward budget processes for both 2011 and
2012. This would have allowed the budget committee to focus on a
long-term strategy for reducing the city’s annual structural shortfall
through a combination of further monetization of city assets, good faith
intergovernmental negotiations and some efficiencies — and, yes,
potentially cuts — to programs and services.

That’s the part that’s so hard-to-stomach
about this whole process. It didn’t have to be this way. But now our
city faces an utterly avoidable scenario shaped by a mayor that
seemingly harbours a naked ambition to gut services.

Ford's consultants: Miller was right

The Grid TO | Ford's consultants: Miller was right
Look wait-and-give-him-a-chance people and Ford followers: even the consultants, who Ford wasted a lot of money on, agree with David Miller, 1/3 of the councillors, and just over half the people in Toronto who voted in the municipal election last year: there is/was no waste!

Rob Ford said he would not raise taxes or cut services but cut wasteful spending in order to find money for Toronto. But, there was/is no wasteful spending. So, he is breaking two of his campaign promises (he said he would find waste - there is none, and he said he would not cut services - yet he is).

Toronto is an ever-growing city - the population keeps increasing at a significant rate. More people, along with usual cost increases, means that the cost of running Toronto will steadily increase. You can't reduce (cut the land transfer tax and the vehicle registration tax already) the income of the city and expect to continue to maintain services. Ford also plans on reducing the staff of Toronto significantly. To do this he plans on offering people severance packages. The problem with this is that a)there goes another waste of money, since b) we will need to hire these people back since you can't significantly reduce staff when you have an ever-increasing workload due to an ever-growing population.

If anyone is wasting money here, it is Rob Ford - over $533 million since December 2010.

The article in the Grid tells it like it is:

The report by KPMG for Rob Ford could just as easily have been written by the former mayor Ford hates so much

BY: Edward Keenan

As no doubt you’ve heard,
today, the first phase of the Core Services Review carried out by
consultants KPMG at the behest of Mayor Rob Ford and city council was made available [PDF].
You’ll read a lot over the coming days—you may have read a lot
already—about the debates over the cuts it suggests are possible. But at
a glance, the most astonishing thing about it is that it could have
been written by the campaign to re-elect David Miller, or by councillors
like Shelley Carroll, Gord Perks, Adam Vaugahn and Janet Davis.

That is: the conclusions drawn by the consultants hired by Rob Ford
are the same as the talking points of Rob Ford’s opponents: that there
is very little inefficiency in Toronto’s government (KPMG says 96% per
cent of services in Public Works—the area covered by this phase of the
report—are required) and that finding savings for taxpayers will require
cutting services.

Seriously, that’s what it says. Rob Ford, of course, campaigned by
saying repeatedly that he would lower taxes without cutting services. He
said repeatedly that simply making the functioning of government more
efficient and eliminating waste would realize huge savings. He said, “we
don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.” KPMG, after
being paid handsomely by Ford’s city hall, would beg to differ, it
seems.

The report does not recommend any cuts, rather it identifies places
where cuts might be possible without violating provincial law or
abandoning the basic necessities of municipal life. So: we could save
money by spending less on cycling infrastructure. We could save money by
not fluoridating the water. We could save money by reducing the level
of street cleaning or the level of snow removal. All these and more are
contained in the report. We could save money by eliminating the green
bin program. These items do not necessarily look like waste. The
possibilities discussed have nothing to do with efficiency.

The risks of each possibility are noted (for example, KPMG notes the
“High” risk of an epidemic of tooth decay that would flow from the “Low”
savings of stopping fluoridation). Virtually all of the possibilities
will generate a “Low” level of savings, according to the report.

Another interesting thing: the public consultation results
released alongside the report today could have been written by the
committee to re-elect David Miller, too: they rank quality and
consistency of service highly across the board, and rank low taxes as
the lowest possible priority.

One further thing, as reported by journalist Jonathan Goldsbie: Mike
Del Grand, Rob Ford’s budget chief, today said, in discussing the
report, that “We have the lowest taxes in the GTA, with the greatest services provided.”
That was a David Miller talking point too. And what it suggests is that
Toronto has a revenue problem. And that solving it without raising
taxes will mean cutting services. It will be interesting to see if the
further phases of the report carry on the theme of proving the entire
premise of the Ford campaign wrong.

Where's the Gravy Train Now, Rob?

Toronto posts $275 million surplus - thestar.com
Mihevc credited the windfall to Miller’s restraint program.

“One thing it shows is that the fiscal management of the Miller administration has been good,” he said.

“Despite the many comments during the election about how city hall
is being mismanaged, we did have a hiring freeze in place and we
directed department heads to manage in a tight way. This shows that city
hall is operating efficiently and effectively.” - unlike what Rob Ford keeps saying - liar.

David Miller: Proud of what we've accomplished

David Miller ‘proud of what we’ve accomplished’ - The Globe and Mail
Contrary to opinions of Ford, Smitherman, Rossi and most reporting in the mainstream media, David Miller has done a lot of good for Toronto. Read the link for more.

Joe Pantalone is the only mayoral candidate that is planning on building and going forward from this point on what Miller has accomplished. The other candidates want to take us back and tear it all down. Vote for Joe to continue forward.

More links with info on David Miller's legacy:
Toronto Star - Miller's Exit Strategy

OneToronto.ca - Toronto is our home. Don't Trash Talk It.

Toronto Mayoral Race: Continue To Improve or Tear It All Down

Ivor Tossell blog: David Miller's Toronto

Toronto Mayoral Race: Miller endorses Pantalone

This morning Mayor David Miller proudly proclaimed his support for Joe Pantalone as the next mayor of Toronto. Miller told an excited audience in Scarborough that "people want this city to evolve. Joe Pantalone is the only candidate prepared to face our challenges and address our need for public transit and community services. He's the one who's going to help people build a 21st century city for themselves and their families."

Yesterday PricewaterhouseCoopers declared that Toronto is now the most livable major city in the world. Toronto is today known as the greenest city in North America.

The progressive Miller-Pantalone administration has seen remarkable achievements. Major new projects are underway: work has finally begun on the Waterfront and the West Donlands, Regent Park is in the process of being rebuilt, BMO Field has opened and proved a great success, and a subway is finally going to reach York University. Still to come is Transit City, a European style network of light rail lines that will revolutionize transportation in our city.

Miller noted that in sharp contrast to the "candidates who want to tear this city down" Joe has spent a career working with people from "every political belief and every neighbourhood" to build consensus and improve our city. Joe is the only candidate that has the vision and skills to build the Toronto we want.

Miller endorses Pantalone in race for mayor, Mihevc endorses Smitherman - 680News
Excerpt:
"I've watched this mayoral race with incredible frustration and distress
because what I've seen is candidates who want to tear this city down,
and that's not what we need in Toronto," Miller told reporters.

He
said Pantalone is the only candidate who stands apart from the others,
who he said are campaigning on the same platform -- negative campaigns
that suggest Toronto is broken and needs to be fixed.

Miller said
Pantalone is the only city-builder among the candidates and the only
one who can lead the city in the right direction.

Toronto Mayoral Race: Continue to improve or tear it all down?

NOW Magazine // News // David Miller’s living legacy
Contrary to what the mainstream media, Rob Ford or his wannabes want you to think, things improved in Toronto with David Miller as mayor.
This article in NOW reviews some of those improvements.

So, come election day ask yourself this: Do you want to undo these improvements and make things worse in Toronto? - then vote for Rob Ford or one of his wannabes (Smitherman, Rossi or Thomson). Or, do you want to keep these improvements and build on them, continuing to make improvements? - then vote for Joe Pantalone.

UPDATE
The Conference Board of Canada released a report reinforcing the fact that Toronto is doing well and rebounding quickly from the Recession:
Following a 2.3 per cent decline in real gross domestic product (GDP) last year, Toronto’s economy will bounce back with growth of 4.7 per cent in 2010. Manufacturing output, which had been declining since 2005, is expected to post double-digit growth in 2010. At the same time, the city’s construction sector has benefited from government stimulus spending and strong housing starts. Retail sales, which posted a rare decline last year, are on track for solid growth this year.
David Miller is quoted in the Toronto Sun, responding to the report:

“This is very positive news for Toronto,” Mayor David Miller said Wednesday.

“Through business-friendly city policies like our official plan, low development charges and cuts to commercial taxes, Toronto is undergoing an unprecedented building boom.”

Banked Sick Days Frozen, Toronto To Save $Millions (MSM Misleads Public In Toronto On Issue of Banked Sick Days)

TheStar.com | GTA | Banked sick days in city offer
The title, todays poll on the Star's site, and the article seems to stress the point that workers will continue to bank sick days. This is very misleading.
In the article, you can see that new workers will not be able to bank sick days and that current workers will have their banking of sick days frozen to what they have already. This means that they will no longer be able to bank any more sick days from here on. The Star reported on the freeze of sick days yesterday as well

Here is the quote from the article:
New employees will not have the option of banking unused sick days. Current employees can cash out their banked days at a discount and move into a new short-term disability plan, or may have their sick bank frozen to draw on for days that may not be covered by the new plan.

And the Globe and Mail completely leaves out this point and claims that they can continue to accrue credits

The MSM has been attacking the unions stance and the mayor David Miller's handling of the issue from day one. They don't like the mayor and they would like to see a more conservative person in the mayor position. So, they are doing all they can to smear the current mayor. But, he has done a good job in handling the strike. The city has been far cleaner than during the last summer garbage workers strike (which went on for a shorter period). And, the city has managed to stop the workers from continuing to bank new sick days - which is what the city wanted all along. This will save Toronto millions of dollars.
The headline, more realistically should have been Banked Sick Days Frozen, Toronto To Save $Millions

UPDATE
Okay, so the details are finally released.

Current employees can either continue to collect and bank sick days (the collecting is not frozen at this point for these people, contrary to what was reported in the Toronto Star over the past 2 days)
Or
They can cash what they have in now and switch to the new short-term plan (which does not include banking sick days)

New employees will be enrolled in the short-term sick leave plan and will not be able to bank sick days.

Here is a link to the agreement.

Still, this phases out the banking of sick days and it seems like a number of current employees will opt for cashing out and joining the short-term plan.

Prior to the strike, the unions did not offer this, nor, would they agree. If the strike had gone to binding arbitration (like, if the workers were legislated back to work by the province - which probably would have happened with a more conservative mayor), the city would not have gained this phasing out of sick day banking, but would have been stuck with it for all employees, current and new.

So, hats off to Miller and his team for accomplishing this phase out for the city.