First, the plan does not call for an across the board rate hike. Instead it calls for existing rates to be applied to a portion of increases in property value. Specifically, if you $400 thousand condo becomes a $500 thousandone, you will be taxed on a value of $440 thousand or 40% of increased value. This is equivalent to a 1.9% rate hike. It is not a rate increase. We would hope that even the lightbulbs in the press (and the mayor's office) would be able to digest this.
The plan itself is breathtaking. It would make not only Toronto, but the GTA, a truly transit friendly urban region. This would take an enormous load off of a road system that provides what has been judged as the worst commuting experience in North America. And it would provide vastly better services to poorer neighborhoods where most are utterly dependent on transit. It is perhaps the most positive vision of the city since the glory days of the 50s and 60s.
Which brings us to the second thing not being talked about. This is that Counselor Stintz is doing what Adam Giambroni so failed to: turning the TTC chair into a springboard into the Mayor's office. As Ford looks more and more like a one term embarrassment (what were we thinking?) and to the extent that we remember the Miller regimes foibles, a smart, technocratically competent and somewhat more photogenic (less comical) mayor with extraordinary political skills and a willingness to cooperate rather than alienate is going to look extremely attractive. In short, she provides rock solid support for the argument that partisan politics in municipal administration, of whatever stripe, is counterproductive.
A combination of vision and managerial competence. And she won't show up drunk to hockey games, physically assault opponents or scream obscenities at those who stand in her way.
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