Bike City [ 1:35 - 1:55 ] :
” In Toronto we’ve actually, now about to lose cycling infrastructure. Despite the spin that comes from our municipal level of government, we are actually going to be losing bike lanes and increasing the expenditure in this area. ” — HiMY SYeD

From Ford For Toronto by Matt Elliott (@GraphicMatt)
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. and extending through to the next morning, the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee — led by Mayor Rob Ford — heard more than one hundred and fifty deputations from a diverse group of citizens. In a sincere bid to ensure that the passion, insight and creativity displayed over the course of that epic meeting is not forgotten, Ford For Toronto will be posting a deputation video every weekday for the month of August.

Deputant: HiMY SYeD (website, twitter)
Occupation: Independent Photojournalist; …

By Edward Keenan

The GRID TO

Former mayoral candidate Himy Syed recently joked on Twitter that Doug Ford needs more security protection than Rob since, if anything were to happen to Doug, Rob would become mayor.

See Toronto Now – Tourism Toronto Insider
Toronto Magazine 2011
Page 56 – Discovery Walks
Page 58 – Heritage

Discovery
Walks
Step by Step is the best way to see the city.
put your best foot forward and explore
→ Waterfront → Electric Avenues → Heritage → Museums & Galleries → Entertainment

Perhaps the best way to experience a city is by foot. As
the blocks unfold, discover every inch of Toronto — the
hot spots, the hidden gems and the jewels. And, if you’re
still eager for more, try our challenge: find your way
from Union Station to Dundas …

Joe Pantalone 51.6%  | George Smitherman 22.6%  | Himy Syed 12.9%
Toronto Mayor Round 6

By John Ford, Vote By Choice
OTTAWA – People participating in a Ranked Choice Voting experiment have cast ballots parallel to the 2010 Ontario municipal elections.
While in the experiment the Ottawa Mayoral contest was won on the first ballot, the Toronto Mayor was elected after six ballots needed to break the fifty percent plus one threshold.
Joe Pantalone was able to achieve 51.6% with distributed votes from dropped candidates Rob Ford, Sarah Thomson, and Abdullah-Baquie Ghazi.
George Smitherman reached 22.6% …

By Hollie Pollard, CommonCentsMom
Dear Mr Syed,
First and foremost I wanted thank you for the race you have run as candidate for this great city of Toronto.
Himy, months ago when I came back I was part of the masses who thought politicians could not be trusted. I had been involved in politics when I was younger and had come to hate the backrooms of politics. I had come to hate the process. I felt that we the average citizen really did not make a difference. I had …

By CitySlikr in All Fired Up In The Big Smoke
My Endorsement For Mayor: HiMY SYeD.
He calls himself The Peoples’ Mayor. It is not empty campaign rhetoric. As Mr. SYeD correctly points out, this race has been all about things. Tax cuts, subways and gravy trains. Where are the people?
Semantics, you say? A little, perhaps. But our front running candidates have all been talking about what they are going to do for people, to people. HiMY SYeD talks about what he’ll do with people. Civic engagement sits at …

From Take The Tooker
50 politically motivated cyclists took to Bloor today (Oct. 23) to say “We Bike We Vote”.
En route they were greeted by Mayoral hopeful Himy Syed who redirected cyclists to the car drop-off loop across from Trinity Bellwoods Park, jumped on a table, and passionately articulated his desire for a bicycle-friendly city.
The mass then took their message for bike lanes on Bloor to the offices of Councillor Vaughan, and Mayoral hopefuls Joe Pantalone and George Slitherman.

Vote on Monday, Oct. 25th for bike friendly Council candidates! …

By John Michael McGrath, Toronto Life
One of the much talked-about aspects of Calgary’s recent election has been how Naheed Nenshi successfully transformed social media, Twitter especially, into a campaign tool. Compare that innovation with how Toronto’s candidates have been using social media, and our mayoral hopefuls do not come out looking great. Yes, all of the major candidates—and most of the minor ones—have been using Twitter and Facebook. But no, it hasn’t mattered a lot. If Web smarts had been a major force in this campaign, we’d all be asking ourselves if prolific …

First Broadcast on Radio-Canada’s Infoman with Jean-René Dufort
October 21, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Interview with Jean-René Dufort of the CBC Radio-Canada weekly show Infoman.

CP24′s “Your Vote – Toronto’s Race for Mayor”
Final Televised CP24 Mayoral Debate
Aired Tuesday October 19, 2010, 8 p.m.

Your Vote – Part 3
4 minute 10 second mark:
GEORGE SMITHERMAN: My first question is to Councillor Pantalone. Three weeks ago you said you would vote for me if you were not on the ballot. Since that time, a report card from ArtsVote gave me an A+, a higher mark than you receive. The Toronto Environmental Alliance gave us both A+. So I was a bit surprised to hear you encourage people …

Report by Michael Pihach, InTorontoMagTv
Mayoral debate at The 519
Two of Toronto’s top three mayoral candidates took questions from the public at the 519 Church St. Community Centre on October 18.
Issues discussed included funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, support for local business, safe injection sites and bed bugs.
IN Toronto was there.
Candidate Rob Ford was not.

By Andrea Houston, Xtra
Rob Ford may not have been at the mayoral debate at The 519 Church Street Community Centre Monday night, but that didn’t stop the two other candidates or audience members from calling him a coward for not showing up.
Even before the debate got rolling, moderator Mathieu Chantelois called Ford’s absence “disappointing.”
“He’s scared!” someone yelled from the middle of the audience, a standing-room-only crowd numbering around 300, which was largely divided between those wearing green Joe Pantalone shirts or purple George Smitherman …

BY Chris Bilton October 06, 2010 11:10 EYE WEEKLY
“Fringe” candidate may be the F-word of the mayoral race. In a municipal election where anyone with $200 can get their name on the ballot, and where voters will have twoscore names to choose from, it’s inevitable that some of the mayoral candidates are going to be operating under the radar. There’s probably a good reason that we don’t hear much about some of the candidates, but there are more than a few occasions where good ideas, …

Interview in Dandyhorse Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 2 // Fall 2010

SWEET (BIKE) DREAMS
Himy Syed, mayoral candidate

What role does the bicycle play in your life?
Bike, foot, transit, taxi. In that order, is how I prioritize how I choose to move about this city. The bicycle for me is what shoes are to most people. It’s my feet. When duties demand I be in and around the downtown core, being on a bike is much faster and more convenient than depending on the ever-increasing iffyness of our subway or streetcars. A quick …

From Dandyhorse Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 2 // Fall 2010
Rob Ford
“Working for the People”
Age 41, High school football coach, City Councillor for Ward 2 North Etobicoke, helps run the family business Deco Labels and Tags.
robfordformayor.ca
OLD QUOTE: “I can’t support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it’s their own fault at the end of the day.” — 2007
NEW QUOTE: “I will guarantee to trim the fat…at City Hall.”
BIKE LANES: No
DIRTY LITTLE SECRET: A 2007 city council video (now a …

By Mike Adler, InsideToronto
There was one question everyone came to ask – the one about money.
And yes, the leading candidates to be Toronto’s mayor – save one – seemed to promise the arts community will get a lot more.
That one candidate, for those familiar with the city’s mayoral race, was no surprise.
“I would love to be able to promise it, but we’re $3 billion in debt,” Rob Ford told 400 artists, art patrons and arts workers at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
The Etobicoke councillor voted this year to support a …

Cycling advocates aim to grow awareness amongst candidates of cyclists’ concerns with current conditions.
By Yvonne Bambrick, Toronto Cyclists Union
Toronto, September 27, 2010 – In an effort to share the daily experience of thousands of cycle commuters, the Toronto Cyclists Union led 8 of the Mayoral Candidates on a 30 minute rush-hour commute by bicycle this morning. Candidates were invited to share their experience & plans with the media at a 9:15am press conference following the ride.
Yvonne Bambrick, the Toronto Cyclists Union’s Director of Communications led today’s 20 person ride …

By Steve Kupferman, Torontoist
Today was Toronto’s tenth annual iteration of World Car Free Day. This year, for the first time, the event was held in Queen’s Park North, where roads were blockaded to car traffic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Few people turned out for the event, making it less a celebration of pedestrians and cyclists than a massive, desolate mid-day auto traffic obstruction.

Dan McDermott, director of Sierra Club Canada’s Ontario chapter, which orchestrated the event in partnership with the City, told …

From All Fired Up In The Big Smoke
This one’s mine.
My colleagues here at All Fired Up in the Big Smoke are too compromised. Too caught up in the race. Too waist deep into the mindset of strategic voting and settling for A.B.F.
I am an old hippie. It’s not a label I shun. In fact, I embrace it.
As an old hippie, I retain a mighty mistrust of institutions, especially those ones that influence us greatly but seem impervious to our presence. Those we can only ignore as …