MarkState

Mark Photo Registration 2010.bmp

Mark State is a constructive thinker and —like yourself— a person with a certain amount of intelligence who is concerned about the state of affairs in the world in general.

He is also blessed with a certain amount of ability to recognize discrepancies and difficulties that emerge between humanity and the structures human society has established to serve it; and is skilled in developing ways to repair them.

If your organization would like to invite Mark as a speaker, you may Email your request to [email protected].

Mark State's Bio

Born: November 14th, 1942 in South Porcupine, a small gold mining town in Northern Ontario

Raised In: Hamilton.

Toronto Resident: 46- Year Toronto Residency Since 1964. Currently Resides (since 1981) in Toronto's South Parkdale.

Family: Divorced (1979). Grandfather. Currently in a 25-year relationship with retired systems programmer Heather Jamieson.

Education:

• George R, Allan Elementary, Dalewood Jr. High, and Westdale Secondary Schools, Hamilton.
• Canada Business College, Hamilton: Clerk-Typist.
• Emerson College, Boston Mass: Broadcasting Major
• Seneca C.A.A.T, North York: Library Technician; CADD Operator
• Toronto Teachers’ College: Elementary Teacher [Vocal Music Specialist, Media Specialist & Teacher Librarian]
• York University Faculty Of Environmental Studies: Graduate Degree Candidate [Education Planning, Administration, And Curriculum Development]
• York University Faculty Of Business Administration: Cross Appointment In Graduate Studies
• University Of Toronto OISE: Cross Appointment In Education Planning Studies
• University Of Toronto Faculty Of Media And Society: Cross Appointment In Graduate Studies
• Ontario Construction Safety Association: Site Supervisor's Diploma
• George Brown C.A.A.T., Toronto: Engineering Management Systems
• Erickson Institute, Toronto: Master Track Neuro-Linguistic Programming [2]
• Ryerson University, Toronto: Architectural Rendering
• Great lakes School Of Marine Technology, Port Colbourne & Owen Sound: Marine Engineer
• Toronto Adult Learning Center, Toronto: AutoCADD
• Frank Horvath, Toronto: Piano
• Dixon Hall Regent Park Learning Center: Developing Business Plans
• Toronto Department Of Health: Food Handler
• Doug Abbott, Toronto: Jazz Piano
• Randolph Kamaranth, Cedarbrae Collegiate, Toronto: Steel Pan (6 Bass, 4 Bass)

Employment History: Casual Worker, Posty, Telephone Tracer, Mammy’s Wonder Bread Door-To-Door Delivery Man, Muffler Plant Machine Operator, Trucker, Scuba Instructor, Broadcaster, Cabby, Library Technician, Teacher, Teacher Librarian, Teaching Master, Architectural Designer, General Contractor, Construction Site Supervisor, Advertising Creative Director, NLP Practitioner, Private Investigator, Security Officer, Marine Engineer, Naval Architect, Corporate Vice President (Engineering & Industrial Relations), Professional Handyman.

Former Union Memberships: CUPW, IBT ('Teamsters'), CAW, NABET, Ontario Elementary School Teachers Federation, USWA ('Steelworkers') CMOU.

Commercial Representation: Canadian A.I.A. (Automobile Industries Association) Trade Mission to Mexico 2001.

Strengths:

• · Creativity
• · Intelligence
• · A very personal understanding of both Self-employed and Job-oriented working life starting from the worker receiving minimum wage, to the small businessman, to the executive responsibilities of a major player in the pollution abatement industry
• · Integrity

Hobbies:

• - Outdoors-man
• - Inventor.
• - Musician (Piano, 6-Bass)

Volunteer-ism (Past & Present):

• · Scouts Canada
• · Toronto Distress Centers
• · First-ever volunteer hospital visiting clown at the TGH.
• · Out Of The Cold Winter Overnight Hostels
• · Hadassah Bazaar
• · Masonic and Shriner community service
• · 6-Bass Player for Scarborough Naparema and Oakville CCAH Steel Pan Bands

POLITICAL CAMPAIGN FOR TORONTO MAYOR IN 2010

WHY VOTE FOR STATE?

THE CALL TO ENGAGEMENT! [ To make a contribution to the Mark State Mayoralty Campaign election fund, click the following link, or cut and paste it to your address line:

http://www.markstatetoronto.com/realpage2.html ]

IF YOU HAVE MET OR HEARD ABOUT MARK STATE, OR SEEN HIM SPEAK AND THINK HE'D MAKE A BETTER MAYOR THAN ANYONE ELSE WHO'S RUNNING, PLEASE JOIN HIS SUPPORTER'S LIST.

CONTACT INFORMATION Volunteer: [email protected] Contact Us: [email protected] Invitations: [email protected] Mailing Address: Ste 3-B, 1570 King Street West, Toronto ON M6K 1J7 Telephone: 416-915-5084

WHY YOU SHOULD BE SUPPORTING MARK STATE AS TORONTO'S NEXT MAYOR

A Vote For Mark STATE Is

• A CITIZEN OF TORONTO'S DECLARATION OF SELF-RESPECT In all his websites and postings, the STATE campaign's straightforward respect for your intelligence is a reason to rely on the genuineness of his candidacy. (YOU WANT SUBSTANCE AND QUALITY IN YOUR NEXT MAYOR.)

• A DEMAND FOR THAT SAME RECOGNITION AND RESPECT FROM THE CITY. STATE's plan to restore Toronto's fiscal responsibility clearly illustrates that he is the Mayoralty choice for these tough economic times. (YOU AGREE WITH THE NEED TO STOP UNNECESSARY SPENDING THAT ONLY RESULTS IN MORE TAXATION; AND INSTEAD PERMIT THE RESTORATION OF CITY SERVICES INTERRUPTED BY CASH DIVERTED TO PAY THE CARRYING CHARGES ON MONEY BORROWED TO SUPPORT THE DEFICIT.)

• HOPE THAT THE CITY CAN SOON BE RESTORED TO AN ECONOMICALLY FUNCTIONAL STATE OF AFFAIRS STATE has outlined a basic strategy for managing the city's economic recovery. (YOU WANT THE CITY TO BE RESTORED TO AN ECONOMICALLY WELL-FUNCTIONING CONDITION WITHOUT ADDITIONAL TAXES BEING PILED ON.)

• UNDERSTANDING THAT STATE IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO IS PRESENTING A SOLID, REASONABLE CAMPAIGN PLATFORM. Not trying to side-track your attention away from the real issue of return to economic stability with gimmicky ideas shows Mark STATE's straightforwardness. (YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED THAT MANY CANDIDATES ARE USING WILD OR IMPRACTICAL GIMMICKS TO ATTRACT YOUR ATTENTION, OR TRYING TO 'WOW' YOU WITH BIG EXPENSIVE IDEAS AT A TIME WHEN BEING FINANCIALLY CONSERVATIVE TO PROTECT THE CITY'S SPENDING RESOURCES IS CALLED-FOR.)

• RESPECTING YOUR CAREFULLY-DIRECTED VOTE AS POWER TO EFFECT CHANGE. Showing respect for that one vote you get for choosing your new Mayor... THAT's a reason to cast your Vote for Mark STATE. (YOUR POWER TO EFFECT SOME DEFINITELY NEEDED CHANGES.)

STATE's ONE ESSENTIAL Platform:

Deficit reduction and eventual deficit elimination without additional taxation pressure

• Conservative spending cuts • Generating additional self-resourced capital • Freeing up budget money now being used to carry the deficit interest charges ($200+ Million per year) to restore lost city services • Making saving money for essential budget items a priority over spending it on non-essentials • Getting rid of the deficit as a city-wide project with everybody getting on the deficit reduction team • Lifting the dignity of the city's downtrodden • Enriching a broader entrepreneurial base in order to add more jobs to the Toronto economy • Creating a city remarkable throughout the world as an exemplar of a beautiful human environment • Zero additional taxes.

STATE’s Promises:

1. Make all initiatives open to the power of the Mayor that will benefit you and the city without driving up the deficit a priority.

2. Establish a course of doing city business that will • rid the city of its deficit • enable it to increase its income as a financial power base • serve citizens as they justly deserve to be served without unjustly raising taxes.

3. Use the power of the Mayor's office to remedy obvious city problems (e.g. crime, loss of school buildings, public housing, seniors’ issues, inadequate transit, traffic flow, decentralization, tax relief, etc., as well as others you can read or hear about throughout his various websites).

WHAT ARE SOME OF STATE’S DEFICIT-REDUCING INITIATIVES?

There are expensive things the city now does that can be reduced in cost, but we will all have to pull together as a team to accomplish.

MARK STATE points out some of the following:

1. Planning.

> I want to influence city council to stop new spending we can't afford. Where essential new initiatives must be proposed, I would like them to meet two criteria: • can they be fashioned in such as way as to serve citizens of the city magnificently far into the future? If they will, then.. • how do we make the funds available for them without increasing the deficit? Are there trade-offs that will not rob Torontonians of the benefits due to them as taxpayers? In other words with the agreement of council, new spending will be considered not from the point of view of growth, development, and expansion but rather from the narrower focus of direct benefit derived from it for the city. Moreover, city council will be encouraged to re-assume its status as servant of the people rather than assuming as it currently does, that the people are the taxation servants of the city.

> I also want the city to begin creating wealth for itself. Too long have we been battling with senior governments who are just as fiscally challenged as we for additional funding to cover projects we can not currently afford. Rather than handing new development over to others, the city needs to consider whether and how it can retain ownership of its building renewal projects so that it can become a landlord of a greater number of dwellings than it currently does. This will mean a reduction in the amount of money collected by the new development tax, but will be more than made up for in the value of the land being retained by the city, rents collected monthly, and city services installed gratis in the developments.

> A means of making more money assisting entrepreneurs by partnering with them needs to be examined, as does the establishment of the city's own financial institution under existing securities and exchange commission guidelines. The establishment of a city financial institution credit card with strongly discounted buying power within the city limits, and the establishment of group-secured micro loans can be a part of that initiative. The city needs more parking spaces in the areas serviced by its business districts and it needs more entertainment venues...all of these can be additional sources of ownership income.

>Until now, all advisory groups established by city hall have been created to find ways to spend money or to maintain the status-quo. A re-examination of current city funding of potentially unrewarding expenditure also needs to be undertaken by a group of knowledgeable citizenry on behalf of Toronto, and the city's official plan needs to be adjusted to reflect their recommendations.

2. Overtime.

> People employed by the city will have to try to accumulate less overtime. This would include things like restricting the writing of Activity Reports to Pay Period Time. I think we can save a great deal of money if such reports were to be completed during normal working hours only; and if they are not, then rather than paying overtime for them, an appropriate amount of time would be allotted each day for employees who must write reports in the normal course of their work. Employees who constantly seem to be using more time than deemed necessary to write reports during normal business shifts would be subject to review, as they would be in any non-governmental service sector or private business. Cutting back on work reports and the elimination of most overtime will also result in the cutting-back of extra make-work projects I have heard some employees embark upon just for the overtime.

3. More efficient use of Electronic Inter-connectivity.

> All city departments and public utilities companies will be interconnected with an intranet ‘project-announcement’ system to be checked on a mandatory schedule to ensure that each department is aware of what the other departments are doing in case any activity impinges on more than one, and to save any unnecessary duplication of labour. My fourth cash-saving platform: "Road Construction" is an example of how this idea operates as a huge money-saving benefit to the city.

4. Road Construction.

> Currently, the gas company may dig up the street in a narrow line and fill it back in order to repair an existing pipeline or install new feed lines. Instead of checking the line for leaks before it is filled back, the gas line is buried first, then checked and re-dug up in case any leaks are detected. Within the next several years, the water line will be dug up and filled back. Instead of checking it for pressure capacity before reburying the new piping, the water department workers will bury the lines and then test them for integrity, digging them back up when and if they prove weak anywhere. Sometimes the sewage lines are old and need to be replaced or one sewage line exists for both rainwater runoff and sewage instead of the required two. In those instances, the sewage piping will be dug up, replaced, and the excavation filled back, sometimes along with new water lines and sometimes not. Within the next 15 or 20 years, the hydro people will be moving many overhead lines underground, and have to dig up the road to install new conduit for them. Sidewalks will have to be repaired over time, necessitating the breaking of the street surface to install curbs and gutters.

All this activity amounts to more money in the pockets of construction companies, but it costs the taxpayer unnecessary dollars through unnecessarily repetitive labour. It costs businesses their livelihoods as streets are closed to allow for the digging. Public transit has to be disrupted several times over several years instead of just once in a predictable time period.

A useful new policy would be: "One break, one dig, one job, one refill.” This means that when a road is broken or removed for repair, every single department of the city and companies using below-grade conduits of any kind will be required via a new policy of public works to participate and to renew their underground and resurfacing facilities at that time alone; because if anyone —short of attending to an emergency— has to re-dig into a completed street within 30 years, they will be required to compensate the city financially for impeding normal traffic through the area, businesses for business lost through the re-digging, and the TTC for re-routing service through the neighbourhood rather than changing the entire route as is currently done.

So, when there is a new sewer line being installed, the gas, water, and hydro as well as sewage people had better be on the job installing new conduit. No matter that overhead wiring above street level may not scheduled by hydro to go below grade for some time: the conduits will be ready and waiting when that time arrives. As a side note, two large conduits below any street level would be capable of carrying all below-grade services, and repairs could be made in them without the need to dig up the roads through crews working in the large conduits below grade. This would include gas, sewage and water pipe-lines running through one conduit, and power, communications, and road-heating services in the other.

> And both below-grade replacement and street resurfacing need to be guaranteed. Re-cementing the underlay and repaving of streets and sidewalks at the same time should be done by bonded paving companies correctly the first time, and guaranteed for thirty years against cracking or crumbling surfaces. All construction companies hired by the city will guarantee their work in the form of a performance bond appearing on their tendering documents. As well, tendering documents will contain a contribution clause for voluntary service to the Metro Conservation Authority or city parks department, which I'll discuss later. In order to avoid having to pay for re-digging, the gas, hydro, water, and sewer contractors will have to make certain that all residential connections are included in the work and no new connections below the road surface before 30 years have passed will necessitate new digging before the end of the mandatory period.

> Let's think into the future of snow removal. While repaving is going on, an ethylene glycol-style heating array should be installed and paved-in below the road and sidewalk surfaces. Its operating humidistat/thermostat combination would start the temperature conversion fluids warming and flowing instantly when snow or hail falls, using battery-powered circulating pumps recharged by small, silent helical wind generators located in warmed housings on the light posts. The resulting snow and ice-free surfaces would obviate the need for shoveling the public sidewalk to make it safe for walking and for clearing city streets with snow removal equipment. Over time, the reduced need for snow melting lake-and-river-polluting salt and chemicals and sewage-system blocking sand, and the end of snow-clearing machinery consisting of a battalion of noisy, polluting gas powered vehicles and street-destroying ploughs, will pay for the materials and labour required to install the heating systems. The 30 year surface guarantee will protect the heating conduit from being damaged by cracking or the necessity of repaving.

> After 40 years, the city may begin awarding a points system of tendering meritoriousness to companies whose work meets or exceeds the guarantee period. This will ensure that experienced companies who produce quality workmanship will be given a competitive edge in the tendering process over those whose work in the past has proved —by visibly crumbling— to be shoddy.

> Until all public and private utilities services are co-ordinated this way, a committee of the various services will have to be set up to prioritize where the jobs will be commenced and in what order. Eventually, all concerned services will be able to work in a concerted effort without conflicting over where priorities are located. This may take some time.

5. Tax Relief.

> Any business adversely affected by the street construction activity will be permitted to apply for property-tax relief by showing reduced income due to that activity prepared by a chartered accountant or notarized under the Ontario Evidence Act. In cases where a business loss is shown, a reduction in property tax will be given to the business as a relief proportional to the amount of business lost compared to the amount of business during the same period in the year prior to the audited claim. The claim should be made within six months after the date of re-opening the road closure to normal traffic flow.

6. Extended Tendering Responsibilities.

> When paving contractors tender for the 30-year guaranteed work, in addition to being bonded for the time guarantee, they will be required to donate personnel or construction equipment to the value of a fixed percentage of the contract to the Metro Region Conservation Authority or city Parks and Recreation department. Those personnel and equipment will be used to clean and rehabilitate all natural city waterways from wellspring through to delta by permanently blocking all sewage line runoffs of any kind into them as those lines are replaced by runoff management piping into a restoration facility prior to runoff being introduced back into the wild, building walls along grazing lands abutting them, providing spillways, dams, digging logs, rip rap and Gabion baskets to reinforce their banks, removing their concrete ditches, replanting, reforesting, and restoring their banks and marshlands to the extent of the upper edges of their floodplains, dredging their deltas, and flushing them out, and providing pleasing human access to them; and repairing Parks department property.

> The city will partner with other concerned municipalities in this effort, because our natural waterways are an important part of the city's future, and will be the source ultimately of our drinking water.

7. Transit City.

> The currently proposed "Transit City" is a misnomer, since it does nothing at all to improve public transit in the city. Anyone who takes the trouble to read a commonly-available transit map will discover that all routes to be "improved" by the installation of new streetcar lines along reserved tracks down the center of certain rush hour routes (glorifyingly referred to as LRT, or light rail transit in ROW's or right-of ways) will immediately notice that the streets where the lines are to be installed are already very adequately served by bus and streetcar routes. The skeptical would discover if taking these routes that the most severe jamming of passengers like sardines in a can occurs in the subways and the streetcars, and that simply adding more buses could alleviate any current bus-route crowding.

> Future ridership and current crowding relief can be also provided by adding just a few more vehicles —in this case, buses as well— along both existing streetcar and bus routes being targeted for the mis-named 'Transit City'. Moreover, since 2006, all diesel buses have begun to be phased out and replaced by hybrid electric buses whose pollution “carbon footprint” is a fraction of the old diesels; and bus motivation research (including Bombardier's) is currently developing totally electric battery-run vehicles, so the idea that the new LRT lines will be far more pollution-free lacks substance. I am in agreement in principle with a subway line being extended to include the Lester B. Pearson international airport as long as it also services well-developed areas of the city en route, provided that a way can be found to build it without adding to the deficit.

> Toronto does need a Transit City, but one that serves the riding public by making sure that they have adequate service within one or two blocks no matter where they live and that they don't have to wait in the heat or the cold or the rain longer than 10 minutes to get a ride at any location in the city. This means adding some buses onto existing lines, and getting rid of streetcars and replacing them with buses that don't get held up if the one in front is stopped and that don't hold up traffic while passengers get on and off and let passengers on and off safely at the curb.

> Of course streetcars hold more passengers than buses, but that's a red herring. One streetcar doesn't hold more passengers than an extended ‘bendy’ bus or a double-decker bus, or two buses that run twice as frequently and are more reliable mechanically and easier to repair with aftermarket parts. Streetcars can't go into the side streets after passengers. Streetcars can't do express service runs. Streetcars can't be downsized to accommodate service routes that have fewer passengers using them.

> Transit City —a real transit city— won't cost billions of dollars to install, dig up streets and cause businesses to lose custom through lack of parking caused by ROW's and street close-downs while they're being built. A real Transit City will end up serving everyone with great service, keep the roads shared by all kinds of traffic, and cost a small fraction of the proposed phony project.

The problem with the phony 'Transit City' is not just that it doesn't serve to improve Toronto transit service in any way. The major problem with it is its cost. For certain, the cost of installing unnecessary streetcar ROWs down our rush hour routes is going to be a minimum of 2 Billion dollars; and quite likely to require $7-to-10 Billion to complete. That's only the cost to our city. The province will kick in at least that much again because it is funding the part of Metrolinx that lies outside the city proper, and the phony Transit City is just a misguided version of its in-town component's makeup, composed without taking a careful look at the alternatives. The province gets its money from the federal taxes you pay, and your federal taxes will go up to pay for the phony Transit City just like your raised municipal property taxes and cost of living.

8. Begin eliminating the deficit.

> Neither the city nor the province has the ready cash to spend on new ventures. Does this worry them? No, because both practice a form of economics called "deficit financing". In its simplest terms, deficit financing means borrowing the money to cover the costs of something you want but can't afford, and paying interest to the lender over time. The lender often doesn't care to recover the principle of the loan so long as it's well secured by the borrowing city, province, or nation, and so long as the interest continues to be paid. At any time, the borrower may decide to pay off the loan or keep paying interest instead —which is usually low when the loans get very large— but until it decides to pay off the loan, the interest is a ready flow of good cash to the lender and the longer this flow of cash continues the better as far as the lender is concerned.

>Keeping in mind that the costs for running the city, some 9.2 Billion dollars annually, doesn't really diminish all that much, how does the deficit get paid back? Up until now, where have the city and the province been finding money they didn't previously have so that over and above the cost of running normal business they can also pay back their deficit loans?

Silly question. Of course, it's done by additional taxation. Nowadays, increased property taxes, the car tax, land transfer tax, the property development tax, the billboard tax, the garbage bag tax, increased TTC fare and metropass ridership costs, “harmonized” sales tax & GST, TIA, recently removed eco Tax, and increased Hydro rates are among the recent additional taxation sucking money out of your pocket to pay for bad fiscal decisions. Additional gas taxes, tobacco taxes, tax on admission to places of amusement (sporting events, theatres, fairs, cultural celebrations, galleries, golf and other recreational pay-as-you-go pastimes, and circuses) and alcohol taxes (including beer) are within the city's power to levy, so you can expect those taxes to be instituted in future . And, of course, $200 Million of that already heavy taxation is directed annually towards carrying the deficit, which stands today at about 3 Billion dollars.

> Think about it. When the grandiose and totally unnecessary phony Transit City scheme becomes fully funded, the carrying charges will triple to meet the new size of the tripled deficit, and so will the taxation with which to pay them. That kind of deficit and that kind of increasing taxation will continue to be paid by your children and your grandchildren if you are of voting age today.

> Meanwhile, the city's streets will continue to remain in rough shape with people who have no place to live sleeping on them, and half the community centers and swimming pools will remain closed. Is closing swimming pools a serious matter? Not unless you have lost family members to a drowning who could otherwise have been saved by swimming lessons, and not unless swimming or aqua-fit is your preferred way to recover from injury or stay in shape, and not unless you don't care to learn scuba diving, kayaking, synchronized swimming, boating or lifesaving skills. Recently, the city appointed one of its cleverest and most adroit former Mayors, David Crombie, to head a committee established to find a way to keep swimming pools open. They couldn't do it because there is no money available. Yet the city is committed to spending $200 Million a year to fund a deficit it is bound to increase to build a brand-new streetcar line it doesn't need.

> Rather than embarking on such an expensive course, I think Toronto would be better off creating a genuine Transit City, and not going into a debt that will be as much as our entire city budget today. It's important to note that such a debt would make our operating budget-to-deficit ratio 1:1, or about 100%. There are no words to express the insanity of such a move.

9. Citizen participation.

> One day a year, the Mayor throws a big cleanup party. The rest of the year, people throw their gum on the floors of the TTC stations and the sidewalks all over the city.

How may this be stopped?

Does the city have the power to ban chewing gum sales within city limits? Or to impose severe taxation on gum purchases? After all, a precedent has been set by charging for plastic bags in the supermarkets to prevent pollution. Is this a good idea: consider that perhaps the gum manufacturers would like to avoid the city investigating such a possibility by providing Toronto with liquid nitrogen spray equipment and gum scrapers, and specially designed gum disposal baskets all around town. Then, combined with a harshly enforced by-law against littering, vandals making the gum mess might be stopped.

> Like the groups who adopt highways and keep them clean, various groups in the city might be interested in adopting a subway station and keeping it gum free and beautiful in return for having their name as publicity all over the station, even renaming it temporarily for the adoptive group as some major theaters do for their sponsors. An adoptive group might even wish to re-design and renovate its station, which would be fine with me because a great many of the stations are in disrepair, and even if the city paid for materials to do the renovations, the volunteer group would provide the organization and free labour to do the job —assisted, where necessary, by TTC skilled professionals.

> Toronto spends large amounts of money each year on planting annuals on the boulevards and planters beside the roadways throughout the city, and on city employees and contractors who do the gardening and maintenance. Meanwhile, there are civic garden groups who tend gardens in the city's parks because they live in the neighbourhood, want their environment to be beautiful, and enjoy gardening. All annual plants need to be replaced with perennials in order to save money spent on both new planting and also on removal of the annuals at the end of the growing season. Interested civic groups could adopt gardens throughout the city, design and plant them with expert city help wherever needed, and hold a competition at the end of the year with cash awards granted to the most impressive groups. Cash awards, new perennials, organization and all, the city will make money on this project from the start, and the amount of money it saves will grow every year.

> If the city embarks on a Toronto beautification project, with tax relief given to home owners who beautify their homes with trees and gardens, it will over time become quite a beautiful place to live. I hope that people who live in places that are beautiful tend to be prouder of those places and less likely to destroy their beauty through deliberate vandalism and pollution that currently costs the city an unnecessary expense. People who visit the city will be more encouraged to establish their own homes here. Who wouldn't prefer to live in a city of beauty compared to a city of squalor and unimprovement? Immigration means additional wealth for the city.

In summation of this series, I have given you three promises I can keep if you choose me as your new Mayor; and what you have been reading are nine of my ideas for reducing and eventually eliminating our $3 Billion deficit altogether. Nothing fantastic and NOTHING COSTLY. There are dozens of such possibilties and 2.5 million Torontonians to help devise them. Mine is to be an inclusive Mayoralty...you all get to be a part of the solution!

ACCOMPLISHING THESE AIMS

Accomplishing any of those ideas will take partnership from the new city council, from you all working towards making Toronto into a beautiful city as it becomes a financial powerhouse that can support us and future generations in grand style, and from the city's business associates. Hopefully, those associates might go along with what I think are commonsense moves for the city, but the real truth is that I don't know for certain how much they will understand that, for now, it's all about cutting back spending wherever that spending is unnecessary.

If it wasn't about saving a city drowning in deficit overload, it might not pay to try to make any changes in the existing agreement, for example, with Bombardier and the Ontario Government by asking them to step back from streetcar orders that were contracted-for in 2009. It's a cinch that if some reaching out to the Bombardier corporation to honour whatever part of the contract has already been honoured by them is not made, and they are not persuaded that it is in the best interests of the city to rewrite that contract, we'll have to accept delivery of all 204 of the massive beasts at a cost of $851 Million, or end up being the focus of a lawsuit. All we have to offer these business partners in return is accepting delivery of already-started production vehicles and guaranteeing performance of the remainder of the contract in the production of some other kinds of new vehicles to replace the proposed ungainly LRT before too many of them are made. Our deal would be offered as fairly as possible to cover the expenses already laid out by them and to divert the remainder of outstanding funds to other more sensible and money-saving expenditures within new agreements.

We learned that stopping a deal in mid-performance and not offering compensation ends up costing us dearly when the federal government was successfully sued for $35 Million to cover the costs of the construction companies who did not build the island airport bridge that David Miller promised would cost us nothing to stop. DOES STATE HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN THE ELECTION? YES.

SEPTEMBER TO BUILD MOMENTUM

AND OCTOBER TO MAINTAIN IT <> Recognizing that this is the moment to move, and that the opportunity requires strong expertise in publicity and marketing, the campaign has partnered with marketing guru Nigel Temple, using the following plan of attack:

* An internet marketing strategy for Mark State's 2010 Mayoralty campaign

* A new website, designed with marketing effectiveness in mind

* A search engine strategy - in order to attract voters to the site

* Built-in marketing processes

* An integrated social media campaign

* A PR campaign

Nigel Temple commented:

"Mark State offers a new vision for Toronto, based on original thinking which is grounded in reality. Mark lives and breathes integrity and is a pleasure to work with. When he is elected, he will do great things for Toronto. We are about to launch an integrated online marketing campaign - similar to the one which helped to propel Barack Obama into the White House.

"The campaign will reach a wide audience, generate word of mouth for Mark State's campaign and attract voters and donations."

So, dear supporter:

Are you looking for a Mayor capable of genuine leadership and vision; or will you choose one of the flamboyant-promises candidates with dollar signs in their eyes bigger than the city’s wallet?

Campaign contributions from supportive donors is the method by which all political candidates must raise the funds needed to get into office. If we are going to get STATE elected, we must donate or, sadly, it won’t get done . Do your part!

Go to: http://www.markstatetoronto.com/realpage2.html, the secure campaign “Contribution” page, and help out now.

You will receive a percentage of your campaign donation back from the city after the election.

(If you haven’t got much, just remember that a $25.00 donation after rebate will only cost you $6.25 ! The city will send you a cheque for the balance of $18.75 as a rebate after the election !)

Please Get On Board by donating whatever you can afford:

See below for a graph of donation sizes and their rebates. • • Anyone in Ontario is eligible to make a contribution. The city will rebate a large percentage of your contribution by cheque after the election, so large donations are ‘easier on the budget’ than they first appear. • • Check out the donation rebate graph to see what you get back from your contribution, then please contribute as much as you comfortably can. Every donation is important ! • • If you wish to have a fundraising dinner, business meeting, party, BBQ, breakfast, dance, etc., for your group; and you would like to have Mark State attend and speak briefly to you, please contact [email protected] to arrange it. We will provide a caterer for the occasion.

Donation Rebates Total Contribution Amount of Rebate Total Contribution Amount of Rebate

less than $25 0.00

25.00 18.75 1,100.00 608.33 35.00 26.25 1,150.00 625.00 45.00 33.75 1,200.00 641.67 50.00 37.50 1,250.00 658.33 100.00 75.00 1,300.00 675.00 150.00 112.50 1,350.00 691.67 200.00 150.00 1,400.00 708.33 250.00 187.50 1,450.00 725.00 300.00 225.00 1,500.00 741.67 350.00 250.00 1,550.00 758.33 400.00 275.00 1,600.00 775.00 450.00 300.00 1,650.00 791.67 500.00 325.00 1,700.00 808.33 550.00 350.00 1,750.00 825.00 600.00 375.00 1,800.00 841.67 650.00 400.00 1,850.00 858.33 700.00 425.00 1,950.00 891.67 750.00 450.00 2,000.00 908.33 800.00 475.00 2,050.00 925.00 850.00 500.00 2,100.00 941.67 900.00 525.00 2,150.00 958.33 950.00 550.00 2,200.00 975.00 1,000.00 575.00 2,250.00 991.67 2,275.00 1,000.00 over 2,275.00 1,000.00

SMART DONATING:

If a family of four donated a total of $2500, with each of them contributing $625.00, then at the individual donation rebate for $625 of about $387.50, they would receive a total of +/-$1,550.00 in rebates instead of $1,000.00 rebated on an intact $2500.00 contribution, and the $2500.00 donation would only cost them a total family outlay of +/-$950.00 (or $237.50 each) instead of $1,500.00 (or $375.00 each). The total donation would be the same, but each individual would be saving an additional $137.50 in making a quarter of the total contribution after rebate.

The lesson? The family that contributes together gets bigger rebates together; and can contribute a larger amount as several members of a group than as a single donor while enjoying the better overall rebate for the total amount.

Caveat: Since the maximum allowable donation per person is $2,500.00, each member of the family can, if they wish, later increase the amount of the donation through attending dinners and fundraisers, etc., where again, a portion of the cost per person (the 'donation') is rebated. The donations per person are cumulative, which means that as a person gets closer to donating that $2500 total, the rebates shrink accordingly. That simply means that when attending functions of this kind, they bring along guests who pay the entire entrance cost at a savings of 75%, or $50.00 each on a donation of $250.00 if the dinner is $125.00 per plate, (rebate = $200.00) and so on. The message is to be canny about how the donations are made so as to be able to make as large a donation as possible and plan the rebates to be as large as possible as well.