Mitchell Gold for Mayor?

For those of you outside of Ontario, we are to elect our municipal officials on Monday, November 13. In the spirit of "democracy", I thought I would send a questionnaire to the inidividuals running for Mayor, as well as those applying for Councillor of the ward in which I live.

I was particularly struck by the remarks of Mitchell Gold (learn more at homeplanet.org, one of the thirty-five people running for Mayor, particularly by the ideas he posed. Whether you agree with them or not, they deserve as much attention as the force-fed rhetoric of our incumbent, David Miller, and his immediate competition, Jane Pitfield and Stephen LeDrew.

For those of you in Ontario who are voting on the 13th, make yourself aware of any town hall meetings in your ward and try your best to attend them. Let the candidates know how you feel, rather than letting them do it for you.

The following transcript has not been altered in any way.

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Voter apathy*
- Why do you feel voter apathy is so immense when
electing our municipal representatives?

I think voter apathy is programed by the media - not just by the way they cover the election, but also by the meaningless questions that they tend to focus on. Of course the voters must take some responsibility as well. My preference would be that those who vote get some minor benefit for voting - this could be handled a number of different ways. The funding process for candidates does little to encourage improvement of the system. I could go on in this area but you get the idea. It is really out of our hands.



Crime, violence and drug use*
- What needs to be done to curb crime, violent and
otherwise?
- What needs to be done to deal with increasing drug
addiction?

While these two ideas tend to be inter related my feeling is that crime is a result - not a cause . Drugs are a cause - not a result.

Crime is the result of poverty, and a system that tends to be unfair - sometimes almost mean. a country as wealthy as ours should have a better method of distribution of income - our "welfare" process is debilitating from what I see in the centers where I help people. I have seen well meaning people fall onto hard times and the system is not geared to assisting - many of these people turn to small levels of crime. The larger crime issues is where the great concern is - that is where guns and gangs are involved. City governments are really not equipped to handle the problems. I could go on in greater detail but to a large measure it goes to the values we teach in the schools as well. We have been involved with teaching :"common core curriculum" programs around the world, and we have found when you teach values like respect, honouring the grandfathers and grandmothers there is less crime and less reliance on drugs.

As for drugs - firstly I wan to go on record as saying Marijuana ought not be an illegal drug - it has been proved to have therapeutic values.
I have difficulty with other drugs and any and all chemicals that kids are into . This is a matter of education. I do not fully understand the using of methadone to get people off heroin. I am 64 years old and lived in the Yorkville area since the 60s' and I was never exposed to heroin and other hard drugs. I knew cocaine was around- but I never saw the value in the experience. Too many bad stories. This issue too is one of education and has more of a provincial and federal responsibility. Not that we should not teach what happens when ones ingests chemicals into the body - I think we ought to - I think our training with regards to all stuff we ingest ought to be taken more seriously - including fluoride and chlorine.





Garbage and waste disposal*
- As it stands now, is our disposal/recycling system
adequate? If not, what needs to be done?

Two things need be done - sooner than later. 1) make all apartment building part of the waste system - that would cut 30 % of the waste immediately - all we would need would be to stop the apartment users for m using their existing system for mixed garbage. Separate by having a large bin at every apartment building - and build new apartments with two garbage chutes - not just one. This should be being done right now - but the building codes need to be changes and the city needs to organize itself to handle the increase in separated garbage. Liquor bottles should be handled just like we have done for beer bottles for the past 50 years. - refundable.



TTC operation
- Is St. Clair West right-of-way feasible? Why or why
not? Can it ever be?

I am of mixed feelings on these right of ways - I do not understand the high cost of building them, and I do not understand them to be quicker. I have followed the Spadina LRT and most say it is not faster than before - of course Spadina was one of the widest streets in the City. As for being feasible - sure. it will work. Is it the best thing to do? I think subways are the way to go into the future. The LRT's are a mild compromise because of what we are told is the costs and how it is funded. If we try and analyze a broken economic model for transportation then whatever you endorse will have its pros and cons. I think we need a different wholesale strategy - based upon a next to free system for Seniors (like Calgary) and a next to free system for University and College students - encouraging off hour use for the benefits.


- Are you pleased with the quality of our transit
system? If not, what do you feel needs to be done,
both on the management and infrastructure sides?

Not really satisfied. Last week I took the Aviva up to Newmarket. I was impressed with the system that got me there. The drivers were pleasant - the system was an honour system for payment - the driver stopped to wait for a passenger coming to the stop - the system has a n advertising board at each stop that tells you when the next bus is coming. the TTC has none of this. Today I was astounded to learn that the TTC guys selling Pizza Pizza at the Union Station for the United Way were on their regular paid shift. This included drivers and maintenance guys. They were quick to point out that they put in more than their regular shift - and I only assume they do not put in for overtime - but who knows? I think this kind of community effort is misdirected. When I do charity work I do not get paid for it - even when I do not have an income - you do it because it need be done. But this is a philosophical difference and the Unions are too powerful to challenge on these issues - and they do not know how to discuss it even. This goes even further. There are communities ion the world that use their transit system as a Business development tool. In Brazil for example they offered free transport to all new businesses. they went out an bout state of the art Mercedes Benz Buses. The city became an economic engine in the Province there. This is one example of a success story. We struggle along with 22% of our funding coming from governments - every where else in the world it is 50 - 75%. - and our drivers have time to sell pizzas - go figure.

I do not know if my take on these issues is organized enough for you - as I am just giving a flow of my thoughts.



Toronto City Centre Airport expansion
- Has the battle with the Port Authority been a
worthwhile one? Why or why not?

The Airport is a mess. Not because of the Airport itself - but because of the irresponsible management. I have reviewed their financials and taken them to taks for misrepresentation etc - rather than go on a rant - you can check out my letters on our site - www.homeplanet.org under homeplanet alliance business - letters.
The battle is not over yet there are other large issues at play . Let me just say I am against Porter Airlines and I am neutral on the existence of the Airport. As a sleepy old heritage airport -- providing an emergency service - I am OK with that - even if it loses money. Not everything has to make money. Rather I would have you read my vision of the future for Toronto on the Mayor portion of my site. This vision answers some of the questions you have not asked and identifies some values that we need to address if we see Toronto as a World Class City.



Budget shortfall and taxes*
- Do you feel Toronto is receiving adequate funding
from the provincial and federal levels of government?


NO



- Do you feel Toronto deserves funding from said
levels of government?


YES



- Do you feel residents are paying too much in taxes?
Too little?

Some too much - some too little - it varies.



Education*
- Is the TDSB doing its best to satisfy the needs of
students in Toronto?


NO



- Does it have adequate resources?


Yes - but its resources are mismanaged - the Union has a strangle hold on Education and the Union itself has not incorporated into its own processes what we identified in the late 80"s as Global Education - they shut down the courses because the Union could not figure out how to charge for what it ought to have been teaching already .



Housing and homelessness*
- What needs to be done about homelessness in Toronto?


I have a plan to eliminate the word homelessness from our vocabulary.But it takes a plan. I have written on a specific plan.

Imagine that we changed one by-law to enable all buildings in Toronto (according to desire of area) - the right to build one more story on their building. This one more story will be financed through a program that will have the following qualities. Estimated amount available per home = $50K This amount will be lent by a conventional bank - by way of a mortgage on the property, and this mortgage will have a number of conditions attached to it. ( and guaranteed by the Federal /and Provincial Government in a negotiated percentage.)
1) the person living in the space generated will be a person that comes from "the homeless", a university student, or a senior family member or some levels of mental challenges". This person will have to learn some basic skills in the growing of food (sprouts) and other kinds of vegetables that will be under their charge and growing on a "roof garden" environment similar to the current roof garden project of the city. This person will harvest the food and deliver it to the household or landlord below on a regular and timely basis.
The landlord will receive rent from the tenant to pay down the loan over a ten year period with interest being the main component being interest at conventional rates carried by the tenant and the loan will be paid down by the government according to a formula consistent with the governments commitment to provide housing for the underprivileged and its commitment to eliminate "homelessness".

Some penalty clauses will be built in and this idea will obviously have to be fleshed out, but its basic value to the City should be obvious.

What are the obvious benefits of this activity will be:
An economic boom in the construction industry for all phases of the industry. if we did 10,000 homes in a year, we could generate a half billion dollars of new construction.
We would create a plethora of jobs.
We would have the homeless moved off the streets.
The costs of University housing will go down.
We would take stress off our systems.
We would have a healthier community.
We would have these people empowered, knowledgeable in growing foods, and relationships would be built by people sharing their foods.
The Large condominiums that are being built that are stressing our infrastructure will have less reasons to be built.

We would be able to explore in developing technologies around this project that we could market around the world. Education, health results, measuring systems would all be easy to attach to the process.

Who wins with this? We all do. Is their a loser - possibly large developers that are planning to obliterate our Waterfront and destroy the fabric of our City. But they could then focus on the Portlands and create something magnificent there.




- Do all levels of government need to be involved? Federal - for a funding guaranteee, Provincial for the By-lay, and Municipal for the actual building within the City Plan




Why or why not?

Councillor and mayoral pay raises*
- Are city politicians overpaid? Underpaid?


I think they must be underpaid - that is why we have so many incompetent ones. If we paid them more - or had a methodology whereby the constituents reviewed their work and then paid them according to their level of performance in the neighbourhood - I think we might find a healthier balance between skills and talents and outputs. Some Councillors are very proud they never use their discretionary budgets. those guys I would fire right away. then there are guys /gals that misuse their funds - They should be exposed for this. In general all councillors need to go back to school to learn what it means to be in the Public Trust.- and they should all learn the Thanksgiving Address.



- Why do pay raises warrant so little discussion in
the assembly?

because they are embarrassed to express their true thoughts relative to their own value to the system.



Gardiner Expressway
- Should the elevated section of the Gardiner
Expressway stay or go?

this is not my idea, but it appeals to me - build over the Gardiner - cover it and build over it - this would muffle the sound that comes from it, and would prevent the salt from corroding the infrastructure - at first blush it makes sense - and I would want to explore how this would work - and how the "real estate value" could be used for developing more important areas of the core area of the City. I am appalled at the way development South of Front Street is going - did you know the land has not been bought from the First Nations Peoples yet?



- Do you feel this issue to be a priority in Toronto?
Why or why not?


Priority yes - because it is integral to the development of the Portland's - I see the Portland's as the most important development in the City - $17 billion dollars - we need to change the way this is happening or it will never happen effectively - it is already happening in such a piecemeal way that it is an embarrassment to the existing management. I was joking with the President to the TWRC saying that I pity the auditor who is doing a Value for money audit on the TWRC as there is no way they could possibly get value with 3 levels of government in on every transaction . I saw them waste $1 million dollars on a 30 day test for a bike way. When the islanders scrapped together $200 K to fix up a couple of kilometers of road. The island is a jewel being treated as a poor brother and mismanaged to a level that you would not believe.