Outrage at The Toronto Star over procedural efficiency, Elderly lady landed on Boardwalk.

Royson James, is in my opinion The Toronto Star's best columnist. While showing his lefty slant, he demonstrates regularly his intellectual honesty, insight, and fresh opinion by giving a true(er) account of his subject matter-even when it may not fit perfectly with his views.

His article today was on yet another Ford triumph: the unloading of some 22 houses owned by the TCHC. These buildings cost a fortune to maintain and are an incredibly inefficient use of funds for providing community housing: something James admits to in his article.
'One-man rule is a farce' he thunders in his headline. Words like 'Absurdity' and 'Arogance' were thrown into the leader for good measure--Royson is hopping mad. His account of a sneering, packed audience (in approval?) and the offending head of the Toronto Community Housing Board, Case Ootes develops the tone of outrage in the article—at least at first.

In fact it is difficult to really understand RJ's beef, while beginning his article all hot and heavy his own factual admissions go to undermining his case. In fact by the end of the article, the fire and brimstone has been replaced with a more conciliatory tone. James has outlined Case's Case: that 1) these homes are a huge drain on funds 2) the money raised by the sale of these homes would be far better used elsewhere 3) The former Miller-nominated TCHC had already approved of the sale for these properties.


So what was James getting his panties in a bunch over? It's a respect thing. Not enough attention was paid to placate those housing advocates (of whom many, self servingly avail themselves of public housing) by going through hours of further deliberation on a decision that was made years ago. The whining centers around the holy idol big government advocates pay homage to: Process.

Appointed to temporarily oversee the operation of the TCHC to implement decisions made by previous committees (something James again agrees with), Case Ootes has shown a 'revolting' abuse of power. Man, the mental gymnastics needed to appease your editor.

The follow up article by Robyn Doolittle continues our trip down the rabbit hole with a spin-laden, sob story about Joyce Tait, an elderly resident who will not be evicted from one of the TCHC houses selected for the selling.

I have to hand it to Doolittle, she takes lemons and makes lemonade with the inconvenient truths surrounding this story. Essentially she focuses on a non-event: that a senior will not be evicted from her Lakeside apartment—the implication being the Ford Mayorship was going to kick this little old lady out on the street, but was stymied by a promise made 9 years ago by council to never relocate publicly housed seniors. The Star, self congratulatory as always, slips in how it was after they exposed this possibility that Mrs Tait secured assurances from the TCHC. Of course there was no evidence that had she presented the letter from the city to the appropriate authorities at the appropriate time, that things would have turned out any different.

To keep this article from sinking to the level of NOW magazine, it is mentioned in passing the location of the apartment in question: the Boardwalk of Ashbridges Bay, one of the most exclusive and sought after locations in the city.

Another interesting tidbit: Mrs Tait pays 'Market Rent” which turns out to be 1200 dollars a month + utilities. Not exactly cheap, which begs the question: What is the point of having the city as just a regular land lord? I can understand the (still questionable) argument of providing low rent dwellings, but what is the justification for housing single old ladies in million dollar boardwalk properties? With a $600 million dollar(!!!!!) repair backlog, it isn't to guarantee clean, safe, well maintained buildings for it's citizenry.

So this non story--all 100 words of it-- needs something else to fill it out: Enter Janice Hadfield, a woman renting in an adjacent TCHC flat who is too young (49) to qualify for exemption:

'“Everyone else has got a call saying they can stay. I've heard nothing.” she said tearfully after pleading her case at the meeting. “I think I'm the only one who can't stay.”

That's your case? An infantile 'Everyone else is allowed to stay why can't I?' Is it the inconvenience moving to yet apartment subsidized by the taxpayer? I guess I would be in tears too if I lost such a magnificent view of the lake. No wonder there are 70,000 applicants waiting to get in to this programme.

That nasty, mean spirited, process eschewing Ford Mayorship, trying to kick little old ladies out on the street. I salute you, Robin Doolittle. Your heart bleeds with the best of them.

Enzo DiMateo, Lefty Nutjob... Or is He?

Oh Enzo. Your indulgence in victimization would be funny, if it weren't so cynical. Granted, you write a political column for a weekly whose readership is focused on the movie listings, adult classifieds (not to mention Savage Love) and reviews of brunch spots in the city, but even you must expect people to take notice when you publish a cover story which amounts to an orgy of Ford bashing. After writing an hysterical piece serving no other function than to provoke a reaction, your professed shock once you got one is disingenuous at best.

It's why your rant of an article which oscillates between outrage to bizarre, paranoid,unsupported conspiracy theorizing comes off as forced and obvious.

The 'Freedom of the Press' angle was beyond predictable. Once the left media picked up this story, I could practically wrote your column then and there. As for abuse of the mayor's office, show your evidence. If someone in Ford's office did more than just overreact, print it. While your at it make public all the emails from those calling you 'fag.' How many emails did you get from Ford supporters who trashed you with thoughtful analysis, with reason, with maturity? Without disclosure you have no credibility. By the way, just to clear up the matter, does not being a 'fag' mean that you are not gay? Your use of the word left it a bit ambiguous.

Rosie DiManno: Justifying a paycheck

Skimming through The Toronto Star (and Sickle) is the prime source of my inspiration today. The paper differs from NOW in that I genuinely get my blood pressure up when sludging through each section. The limousine liberal world view is infused in practically every article and garbed with a pompous air of considered respectability.In all honesty, no one takes NOW seriously, and if I am honest with myself, it is really an all too easy target.

On the other hand the star, whose pretense and mediocrity are highlighted in the banal pieces of Rosie Dimmano, their-jack-of-all trades columnist, are an all together different matter. I say this given that she has no discernible 'beat' and pretty much writes whatever is on her peanut gallery mind at the moment. Why she is given such plum assignments is beyond me. Her mild flair for description and the obvious would place her in the bottom rung of columnists south of the border. Yet time and again, we here her run of the mill musings on everything from sporting events to international affairs.

Presently in Lybia, the Star's resident housewife-with-an-english-degree has the opportunity to recount for us firsthand battle for Tripoli. I can't wait for the gritty, in the trenches dispatch full of insight into the inner workings and progress of the resistance... Riiiight.

My opinion is confirmed with a harrowing, half-page account of the brave anti-Gadhafi.... cartoonists (!) drawing caricatures (!!) who are making a real difference in the resistance(!!!). I feel for you Rosie, it can't be easy trying to scrape together a story from the safety of your hotel bar.

Last week's Ford Feature an Embarrassment To NOW

It was hard for me to not write last week about Enzo DiMateo's magnum opus on Rob Ford. I mean he really swung for the fences in that one, listing all the gripes he has ever had with the mayor, be they rumor, vote, personal life or wild conjecture. I immediately felt bad for NOW and lefties in general, with this embarrassing, adolescent screed now receiving national attention and highlighting the ineptitude of it's editorship.

The rather cute diagram of Ford as the subject of the 'Operation' game is really all one needs to read to obtain an accurate sample of the howlers contained in the body of the piece. I could go line by line through the inaccuracies and fuzzy logic, but they are legion, and I have dealt with several examples in my last post, besides I have fresher fish to fry.