Giorgio Mammoliti - Municipal Politician

We are sensitive at When the Mayor Smiles.

From the grave we hear former U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew calling out those “nattering nabobs of negativism” and we know of whom he speaks.

So today we’ll take the high road and recognize someone who stands out from the norm in the world of local government.

That would be Giorgio Mammoliti. Today is his 50th birthday.

For those of you from a planet other than Toronto you need to know that Councillor Mammoliti represents Ward 7 (York West) in the centre of the universe.

He’s been in politics pretty much consistently since he was 28. Following a time as a union leader Mammoliti began his political career as part of the Ontario NDP government of Bob Rae.

Mammoliti now recognizes that unsuccessful attempts were made to “try to brainwash me in my early career by communists.” He mentions no names but it is clear from recent comments that there remain, even now, many “well-bodied able to work” types who make a career of “asking for money from the taxpayers” who are still operating. He can smell them.

Back in those formative days the member for Yorkview was not intimidated into toeing the “party line” likely leading to his defeat in 1995. Some will argue, wrongly I believe, that his vocal opposition to same sex marriage was a contributing factor in his loss to Liberal Mario Sergio in the 95 provincial election.

Not one to be discouraged though Mammoliti was successful soon after in a by-election run for North York Council. There he replaced the man who knocked him off as MPP (Sergio) by beating the man (Claudio Polsinelli) he had defeated in 1990.

Immediately the rookie Councillor got to work in trying to attract an NHL franchise to North York. The ideas just keep coming; grand ideas; big picture stuff. Here are a few:

** Transforming the Gardiner Expressway into a park featuring a privately operated Light Rail Transit line     running from the CNE to the DVP.

** Building a floating casino in Ontario Place Harbour.

** Bringing in the army to crack down on drug dealers in his ward.

**Making the ward safer through the creation of special zone for legal brothels on the Toronto Islands some distance from his ward.

**Tolling the Lakeshore.

**Giving guns to by-law officers thereby making parking regulations easier to enforce and additionally making taxpayers’ days by rubbing out Toronto’s horrendous graffiti problem as well.

** Filling the lottery void we have in this country by starting a municipal one.

**Hanging a 40 metre wide vinyl Canadian flag from a 125 metre flagpole at the corner of Highway #400 and Finch Avenue West. Oh Canada!

It is comforting to know that such long term thinkers still function in the local realm that is so often dominated by short sighted, pothole obsessed ward politicians.

Scamming Cities #1

Edmonton Oiler owner Daryl Katz is working on shaking down the good residents in the City of Champions out there in Wildrose country in order to get support (i.e., dollars) for a new arena for his hockey team.
 
Last summer I wrote that Katz was playing footsie with City of Hamilton, dangling the possibility of moving the Oilers to the oft rejected/NHL deprived Ambitious City.

That didn’t work to extract more money out of either the City of Edmonton or the Province of Alberta.

So, still $100 million light to replace the aging (?) thirty nine year old Northlands Coliseum, Katz has a new idea.

Why not build the arena on the nearby Enoch Cree Reserve?

It is only 3 km west of Edmonton and contains a 4 ½ star 260 room Marriott hotel where Randy Travis, Joan Rivers, Conan O’Brien and Brent Butt have performed. There is also  a casino with over 1,000 slot machines, a 18 hole golf course and 2 NHL size ice surfaces,  part of a “favoured practice facility for the Oilers.”   

New Chief Ron Morin, who heads the community of 2075, is interested according to the Edmonton Sun and “prepared to look at all kinds of options.”

Meanwhile a worried Edmonton Councillor Don Iveson told the Sun that the Enoch location is a “tax haven since economic activity on the reserve “may not be subject to provincial taxation.”  

The Oilers' season doesn’t begin until October 8^thso this is giving Edmonton hockey fans something to talk about in the summer doldrum period.

I’m thinking that it is a good bet that the pro-free enterprise/anti-tax Conservative government of outgoing Premier Ed Stelmach will come up with the necessary $100 million.  The Municipal Sustainability Funds seems a likely source.  The fact that the fund’s purpose - assisting municipalities in capacity building – doesn’t seem to justify support for a private special interest group like Katz’s hockey team - likely won’t be an issue at the end of the day.

Oh, did I mention that the city has already committed $225 million?

A website (http://www.fieldofschemes.com/) does a great job of documenting how North American pro sport franchises are working on similar shakedowns just about every day of the year.

 

 

Homelessness and Soccer/Football - A Book Review

HOME AND AWAY

In Search of Dreams at THE HOMELESS WORLD CUP OF SOCCER

by Dave Bidini

Greystone Books, 2010

174 pages

Dave Bidini, a musician (the Rheostatics) and author of a number of popular books on hockey takes on the issue of homelessness as it presents itself at the Homeless World Cup of Soccer in his latest book.

Bidini is invited to cover the 2009 event in Australia and, even though he hasn’t heard of it, accepts.

Dreamed up by Mel Young, a Scotsman, and Harald Schmied, an Austrian, while attending a conference dealing with the future of street newspapers in Austria in 2003, it is a different game than the one we know. Played four players a side on 16 metre x 22 metre court, the game lasts 14 minutes (two seven minute halves.) A three-on-two rule intended to promote scoring has evolved so that only two players are allowed in their own defensive end.

The Australian event featured about 600 players from 54 nations and would have been even larger except individuals from some countries were refused entry because of criminal records - just one barrier that organizers have to cope with in organizing the World Cup.

A Canadian team that included 18 year old “runaway” Krystal Bell and 45 year old Billy Pagonis is Bidini’s focus. Billy is a former soccer pro once played for Canada’s national team.

In addition to these two the author weaves in stories of players from around the world and their unique encounters with homelessness. In India, for example, the development of the sport, called slum soccer, is inhibited by regional divides and the caste system. While the Cambodia squad, made up of three players who were born and still lived in the dumps of Phnom Penh, had to cope with interference from government officials who wanted players selected to the team in return for favours from well-to-do citizens.

What’s great about this thoughtful book is the author’s ability to challenge our stereotypes of homelessness. Yes, there are those suffering “the ravages of addiction” and needing anger management courses.

But there are also “21st century homeless figures” like Canadian player Jerry, a seat cushion salesman “(m)entally sound, with no addiction issues, but he’d been thrown to the mat after making the wrong choices in a capitalist society that encourages risk.”

Beating homelessness through Football is the mantra of this year’s tournament which runs from August 21 - 28th in Paris. (http://www.homelessworldcup.org/paris-2011)


originally published at http://www.hamiltonjustice.ca/blog/

More on GHG Emission Reductions

There are ways to reduce GHG emissions. Most of the ideas have been around for a while. We just haven’t acted on them.

Gord Miller looks at some of these in his annual Greenhouse Gas Progress Report (http://www.eco.on.ca/uploads/Reports%20-%20GHG/2011/11GHG.pdf)

High Speed Rail

High Speed Rail (HSR) is one example.

In January 2008 the Ontario and Quebec governments started a one year study on the feasibility of a HSR system linking Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. A year later the feds joined in to expand the survey to include a Windsor to Quebec city route.

In November 2010 the government said the report would be released in “a timely manner.”

We haven’t seen it yet. Does this sound familiar? You might remember a similar survey in 1995. It reported that a significant reduction (24% by 2025) in transport-related CO2 emissions could result.

I don’t want to suggest that this stuff is simple or that the projections are bang on accurate but 16 years have elapsed, can’t we get moving. The ECO “strongly encourages” the government “to expedite release of the study.”

Low-carbon Fuel Standard

From Miller’s report I understand that there are “technologically feasible low carbon fuels” which if more widely used could reduce GHG emissions.” This is, in fact, a policy tool which, if put in place, would require suppliers to reduce average fuel carbon densities to meet benchmarks. Suppliers who reduce below the standard would get credits that they could sell to other suppliers. This is like a cap- and-trade system except it is within a single sector. Independent analysis shows that such a system could result in a 6.4 Megatonne reduction by 2025. Other jurisdictions are already doing this but Ontario seems to have given up on the idea. Why?

Electrification of GO Trains

Earlier this year Metrolinx recommended electrifying portions of the GO Rail network. Significant GHG emission reductions would result from this move off diesel.

Perhaps any or all of these initiatives will be further advanced in the lead up to the provincial election. The Green Party Platform seems to hint at these kinds of strategies.

But I’m trying to remember when environmental issues were front in centre in an election campaign.

Maybe this will change this fall.

More Greenhouse Gas

It has become a bit of a habit for me. Each year around this time I find myself drawn to the Annual Greenhouse Gas Progress Report put out by the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario.
(http://www.eco.on.ca/uploads/Reports%20-%20GHG/2011/11GHG.pdf)

Why do I do this? Am I looking for encouragement or trouble?

This is Commissioner Gord Miller’s third annual report.

The context is that as Ontario is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions it is imperative that progress is measured regularly.

Specifically, emissions (calculated in megatonnes) must be reduced relative to 1990 levels by:
*6% by 2014
*15% by 2020
*80% by 2050

In 1990 the level of GHG emissions was 177 megatonnes (Mt.) per year. By 2009 it had, in fact, dropped by more than the target (i.e., 6.5% to 165 Mt.) Not bad, but because of reduced industrial activity this result is somewhat misleading.

Now with the economy growing the Commissioner worries that there is “no plan, mechanism or tolls in place that would allow the 2020 targets to be met.”

Projecting a modest amount of economic growth (adds 23 Mt.) Factoring in the impact of the coal phase out in 2014 (reduction of 10 Mt.) means there will remain 13Mt “still on the table.”

The transportation sector is responsible for 56.8 Mts. Most of these emissions are produced by personal vehicles. So, it is surprising that apparently effective programs aimed at this sector have been dropped.

For example, the Green Commercial Vehicle Program was begun in 2008. It supported the purchase of low GHG emitting commercial vehicles. Planned for four years it was suspended after two.

Another good idea, the Ontario Bus Replacement program, was established in 2002. It resulted in an estimated 1.1Mt emission reduction. It was cancelled in the 2010 provincial budget. Now, when municipalities have to replace buses they will need to use the Gas Tax Fund which has been a source for other needs for the struggling municipal sector.

The government seems to know what to do. They just aren’t doing it.

Metrolinx’s Big Move, a much needed $50 billion Regional Transit Plan, was fully funded in its first phase. The 2010 budget (again) delayed monies for the second phase.

As far as another initiative, When The Mayor Smiles had put great faith in the intensification mandated by the Places to Grow Act. Miller points out, however, that 60% of new planned growth will still go to Greenfield areas and the density targets aren’t good enough to justify provision of an effective transit system in these areas.

I’ll come back to the report tomorrowish with some suggestions.

Hint: Don’t expect me to find inspiration from Ford Nation.

Bats, Wind Turbines and the Provincial Election

An article I read on wind turbines last week says a significant number of bats are falling victim to turbine blades every night.

The article can be found in the online version of the Green Bay Press Gazette. (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/greenbaypressgazette/access/2347468001.html?FMT=ABS&date=May+15%2C+2011)

Research shows about 50 bats are killed annually by each wind turbine. (Another piece of research referenced in the article comes up with a similar number.) The bats don’t actually hit the blades but rather perish because air in low-pressure areas near the tips of the blades ruptures their lungs and causes internal hemorrhaging.

Who cares about bats one might ask?

We all should.

For one reason insect–eating bats save the agricultural industry at least $3 billion a year according to said Tom Kunz, an ecology professor at Boston University and co-author of the study.

I’m not aware of similar research here in Ontario but I can tell you that the issue of where wind turbines should be permitted will figure in the Ontario provincial election campaign later this year. Will someone be standing up for bats?

A group called Wind Concerns Ontario (WCO) is in the midst of a tour of the province. Their mission is to protect the health, safety and quality of life of the people of Ontario from industrial wind turbines. (Their website makes mention of bats too.) WCO claims to comprise 57 grassroots citizens groups across 34 counties/districts in the province.

When the McGuinty Government brought in the Green Energy and Green Economy Act it seemed like a good idea that ultimate control for approvals of wind turbines was taken away from municipalities. At the time the Premier claimed that local governments were using by-laws and regulations to delay or stop proposed renewable energy projects. The municipal level of government may be the most responsive but it is also the most susceptible to NIMBY.

To stop a wind turbine now, rather than appealing to the Ontario Municipal Board, you must go to the Environmental Review Tribunal. Serious harm to human health or serious and irreversible harm to plant, life, animal life or the natural environment are grounds for appeals.

While human health concerns have yet to be attributed to wind turbines the bat research points to the need for politicians and scientists to come together and come out with solutions.

We need windpower.

Respect for Citizens Needed at Council Meetings

Over the last ten years I’ve attended a couple of dozen meetings of Standing Committees of Hamilton City Council.

Usually I’ve been there to watch; occasionally I’ve been presenting. From time to time I‘ve gone home happy as the issue that had prompted my attendance had been resolved appropriately, from my perspective anyway.

But almost always I’ve headed out into the real world following these meetings out of sorts because of the lack of respect that Hamilton Council consistently shows for the public.

This lack of respect takes many forms.

First, meetings frequently start late, usually because of lack of quorum. Once I was there for a 9:30 meeting that was about to be postponed. Seconds short of 10:00 a Mountain Councillor raced into Chambers arriving just under the wire so the meeting could get started. (Not having a quorum within thirty minutes of the scheduled start means no meeting.) Let’s face it those who are there to present or listen have other responsibilities that need their time.

Second, Councillors, some more than others, feel the need to get up and leave the room a lot. To be fair it isn’t easy sitting for the hours that the job requires and some, OK most, of the dialogue is tedious but these pols knew what the job entailed when they put their names forward.

Third, and this is what really turns my crank, is the propensity some councillors have for talking with the media in the middle of meetings. Way back when we were toddlers we all learned that it was rude to talk when others are talking. And someone - staff, a member of the public or another Councillor - is always talking at a Committee meeting. In my experience most municipalities’ procedural by-laws cover such matters and committee chairs have the power to enforce.

In this context I found Andrew Dreschel’s column in today’s Hamilton Spectator interesting. (http://www.thespec.com/opinion/columns/article/537176--bratina-s-office-looks-at-tighter-media-rules)

Dreschel reports that Peggy Chapman from Mayor Bratina’s office wants to start “regulating interactions in the Council Chambers.”

That would include, apparently, not allowing reporters to talk with councillors during proceedings and restricting councillors from talking privately with reporters during meetings.

The columnist seems to think that the Mayor’s initiative may be more about “exercising control than good form.”

But if Dreschel and others took a look around they’d likely find that Hamilton is out of step with other cities who think that at the heart of good form is respect for citizens.