Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story (41 page)

pg.  117
“unanimous support”:
Interview with Case Ootes, September 15, 2013.

pg.  118
Rob Ford used his first press conference as mayor:
The financial figures included in this section are from Tess Kalinowski and David Rider, “‘War on the Car Is Over’: Ford Scraps Transit City,”
Toronto Star
, December 2, 2010.

pg.  118
“In my mind, we would kill Transit City”:
Interview with Councillor Karen Stintz, August 2013.

pg.  119
“This man can’t even convince five people”:
Robyn Doolittle, “Rob Ford Is Mr. Popular at City Hall,”
Toronto Star
, August 26, 2010.

pg.  119
“This is the beginning of a new era … find new managers”:
David Rider et al., “Ford’s Budget: TTC, User Fees Increased,”
Toronto Star
, January 10, 2011.

pg.  120
“The mayor doesn’t want a fare increase”:
Raising transit fares by ten cents would have meant twenty-four million dollars in revenue. Because the call to Karen Stintz came the night before the budget launch, TTC staff didn’t have time to find enough savings, so Stintz was forced to defend the increase while the mayor was saying he wasn’t happy about it and planned to find a way to avoid it. Stintz said, “If there is a way to avoid this increase, we will find it.” The next day, Stintz announced there would be no increase. City managers promised to find sixteen million dollars to help make the numbers work.

pg.  121
“It’s actually no one’s business”
: Kenyon Wallace and Jayme Poisson, “Mayor Rob Ford Refuses to Discuss David Price’s Future,”
Toronto Star
, September 19, 2013. Video at
www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/09/19/mayor_rob_ford_refuses_to
_discuss_david_prices_future.html
.

pg.  122
“My brother is not the mouthpiece”:
Paul Moloney, “Ford Vetoes a Veto,”
Toronto Star
, February 18, 2011.

pg.  123
his schedule said “DECO ALL DAY”:
Daniel Dale, “What Does Rob Ford Do All Day?”
Toronto Star
, March 24, 2011.

pg.  123
“It’s fair to say I didn’t know where he was”:
Interview with Adrienne Batra, October 2013.

pg.  123
“There was a lack of civility”:
Robyn Doolittle, “Top Toronto City Managers Report Culture of Fear, Bullying,”
Toronto Star
, September 28, 2012.

pg.  124
“Clearly, there is a lot of influence”:
Robyn Doolittle, “Top Toronto City Managers Report Culture of Fear, Bullying,”
Toronto Star
, September 28, 2012.

pg.  124
“political motivations”:
Robyn Doolittle, “Toronto City Council: Ombudsman Fiona Crean Under Attack for Scathing Report,”
Toronto Star
, October 4, 2012.

pg.  124
“The evidence certainly points”:
Paul Moloney, “Toronto Ombudsman Denied the Extra Full-Time Help She Asked For,”
Toronto Star
, December 13, 2012.

pg.  125
“Managers were coming to us proactively”:
Interview with Adrienne Batra, October 2013.

pg.  126
“The Library Services could be reduced”:
KPMG, “City of Toronto Core Services Review, Executive Committee Governance,” 2011. See
www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2011/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-39626.pdf
.

pg.  126
“I’ve got more libraries in my area”:
David Rider, “Fight Library Cuts, Maybe Get Margaret Atwood at Your Book Club,”
Toronto Star
, July 24, 2011.

pg.  126
“Twin Fordmayor seems to think those who eat Timbits”:
Margaret Atwood status on Twitter,
https://twitter.com/MargaretAtwood/status/94483498701828097
.

pg.  126
“I value the Toronto Public Library”:
“My Thoughts on the Toronto Public Library,” message on Karen Stintz’s website, July 27, 2011,
www.karenstintz.com/?p=1410
.

pg.  127
“That’s Rob Ford!”:
Interview with Jason Hebert, summer 2012 and October 28, 2013.

pg.  127
“This was the first time”:
Interview with former Ford staff member, August 2013.

pg.  129
“ill-conceived” and “reckless”:
An open letter to Toronto councillors, signed by more than one hundred academics and experts, including Eric J. Miller, Paul Bedford, Richard Florida and Richard Sommer, September 15, 2011.

pg.  129
“vote in the interests of protecting city services”:
Robyn Doolittle, “Massive Poll Shows Toronto Is United Against Ford’s Proposed Cuts,”
Toronto Star
, September 16, 2011.

pg.  130
“You can take it. It can be your win”:
Interview with Councillor Josh Colle, July 2013.

pg.  131
“Ford! It’s me, Marg Delahunty!”:
“Marg Princess Warrior with Rob Ford,”
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
, CBC, April 17, 2012.

pg.  132
“You … bitches!”:
“Rob Ford Denies Calling 911 Dispatcher Names,” CBC, October 27, 2011.

pg.  134
Canada ranked fifty-sixth:
Centre for Law and Democracy, “International RTI Ratings Results,” September 13, 2013.

pg.  135
“Canada is utterly behind”:
Interview with Toby Mendel, executive director of the Centre for Law and Democracy, October 7, 2013.

pg.  136
at the mercy of whatever court clerk happens to be on duty:
Thankfully, change could be coming. In September 2013, after relentless hounding from
Star
reporter Jesse McLean, the ministry in charge of the provincial court system said it would review its policies on access to criminal court records. Attorney General John Gerretsen acknowledged that “in some courthouses, people are more likely to provide that information than in other courthouses.” Gerretsen sent an edict to courthouse staff ordering them to be “consistently helpful.” It is progress, but without legislative change Ontario’s courts still seem to be operating on the honour system. Martin Regg Cohn, “John Gerretsen Lays Down Law on Sharing Public Information About Court Cases: Cohn,”
Toronto Star
, October 3, 2013.

pg.  136
“That offends me, because people hide behind privacy”:
Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian, September 12, 2013.

pg.  136
the way it works in “best practices” countries:
Interview with Toby Mendel, executive director of the Centre for Law and Democracy, October 7, 2013.

pg.  137
“That doesn’t quite make sense to me”:
Interview with Camille Jobin-Davis, assistant director of New York State’s Committee on Open Government, October 11, 2013.

pg.  138
“Anyone, if it’s you or I”:
Robyn Doolittle, “Rob Ford 911 Calls Raise Questions,
Toronto Star
, December 30, 2011.

pg.  140
“My first call was to a cellphone and the familiar voice”:
Joe Warmington, “Ford Says Story Wrong on 911 Call,”
Toronto Sun
, December 30, 2011.

CHAPTER 7:
THE BIER MARKT

pg.  142
“I think I just saw the mayor do blow”:
Interview with Leo Navarro, March 2012, August 2013.

pg.  144
“According to a server”:
Jonathan Goldsbie, “The Rob Ford Agenda: March 12–18, 2012,”
The Grid
, March 20, 2012.

pg.  146
I agreed to keep his identity confidential:
Leo Navarro no longer works at the Bier Markt and has allowed me to use his name.

pg.  147
Brooks Barnett:
I briefly spoke to Barnett on his cell phone in March 2012 and was told to go through media relations.

pg.  148
“I’m trying to do my thing”:
Dean Blundell Show
, 102.1 The Edge, March 29, 2012.

pg.  149
crouching like a football player:
This is according to two former staff members.

pg.  150
“Paki” … saw the mayor pop an OxyContin pill:
From Project Brazen 2’s “Information to Obtain Search Warrant” court documents.

pg.  150
start phoning constituents back … “Fuck this”:
Interview with two former Ford staff members, August 2013 and November 2013.

pg.  150
At 2:30
A
.
M
., Ford stumbled down to the City Hall security desk:
City Hall security incident report.

pg.  150
“
going to eat her box” … “I banged your pussy”:
From Project Brazen 2’s “Information to Obtain Search Warrant” court documents.

pg.  151
Provost jumped out of the cab:
Interviews with three former staff members and Project Brazen 2’s “Information to Obtain Search Warrant” court documents.

pg.  151
“We knew he drank”:
Interview with former Ford staffer, August 2013.

pg.  152
“That’s the story you should be looking into”:
Interview with former Ford staffer, April 2012.

pg.  153
Ford’s workload had been cut in half:
Robyn Doolittle, “Mayor Rob Ford Has Deeply Cut His Workload, Documents Show,”
Toronto
Star
, May 26, 2012.

pg.  153
I spoke with a dozen prominent, non-partisan civic leaders:
These were individuals involved in large-scale city-building initiatives who work in the business community, academia, media, civic service, and activism.

pg.  156
“Hey, buddy,” he hollered:
Daniel Dale, “Daniel Dale on What Happened Near the Mayor’s Home,”
Toronto Star
, May 2, 2012.

pg.  157
“My neighbour knocked on my door”:
Rob Ford interview on the
Jerry Agar Show
, Newstalk 1010, May 3, 2012.

pg.  158
“I want to start with the issue of private security”:
Anne-Marie Mediwake interviewing Rob Ford, “
Star
Reporter Denies Peering into Rob Ford’s Yard,” CBC News Toronto, May 3, 2012. See
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/star-reporter-denies-peering-into-rob-ford-s-yard-1.1197459
.

pg.  158
Global TV anchor Kris Reyes tweeted:
Tweet from Kris Reyes, @krisreyes, May 3, 2012. See
http://liveblogs.globaltoronto.com/Event/Toronto_Morning_Show?Page=417
.

pg.  158
In December 2013, a year and a half after the fence incident:
Rob Ford appeared as a guest of one-time media baron Conrad Black on his new current affairs show,
The Zoomer
. In their thirty-five-minute discussion, Black asked Ford to describe some of the most “offensive events” he’s experienced at the hands of the media. The mayor replied, “The worst one was Daniel Dale in my backyard taking pictures. I have little kids. When a guy’s taking pictures of little kids, I don’t want to say the word, but you start thinking, you know, what’s this guy all about?” The insinuation to any reasonable person was clear. Ford was suggesting Dale was a pedophile. The next day, Ford boasted that he stood “by every word” of his interview with Black. After Ford repeated many of the erroneous claims to a Washington sports radio show Thursday morning—December 12, 2013—Dale served the mayor, ZoomerMedia, and its network, Vision TV, which broadcast the segment, with a libel notice. Ford issued a full retraction and apology.