Spotlight on Midtown's mayor vote
[attach]2935[/attach]Surprisingly well, actually.
You’ve seen those maps that compare the areas Rob Ford won with those [url=http://www.mytowncrier.ca/smitherman-looks-to-neighbourhood-councils.html]George Smitherman[/url] took. You’ve exclaimed over how the old unamalgamated city of Toronto seemed to vote diametrically against the Ford-boosting suburbs.
But our map above, putting Midtown at the centre of the world and breaking down Ford’s vote more finely, tells a slightly different story.
Yes, our new mayor was weakest downtown and relatively weak up the middle of the metropolis. And yes, the ’burbs backed him overwhelmingly.
But nowhere in the city did he get wiped out. His worst showings — in downtown wards — were still 22 percent or higher, while rivals Smitherman and [url=http://www.mytowncrier.ca/pantalone-debates-himself.html]Joe Pantalone[/url] were wiped out in many parts of Toronto.
And in Midtown, we were a lot more divided than you might realize. On balance, we voted for Ford’s opponents but quite a few of us Midtowners opted for the Etobicoke maverick.
His lowest tally here came in the semi-downtown [url=http://www.mytowncrier.ca/tag-ward-27.html]Ward 27[/url], Toronto Centre-Rosedale, where he took a quarter of the ballots. Slightly further north in the centre of the known universe, he won close to a third, edging up to and surpassing majority levels.
So Midtown may not exactly be Ford country, but neither can we pretend to be a bastion of liberal sanity surrounded by the redneck hordes of right-wing reaction.
However few of us may admit having voted for Ford, his message seems to have resonated with many.
