Why do downtown councillors get all the online attention?
A Star analysis found the further away a ward is from downtown, the less likely its councillor’s city profile page gets viewed.

thestar.com
July 127, 2015
By Ethan Lou

It’s downtown versus the rest of Toronto - some councillors just seem to get all the attention.

A Star analysis has found downtown councillors get about 1,000 views on their toronto.ca pages per month, up to twice as many as colleagues from other parts of the city.

And the farther from downtown wards are, the more likely their councillors have low views, a phenomenon some experts say speaks to a divided city with unequal civic engagement.

The statistics were obtained through the city’s Open Data portal and have been rounded to the nearest whole number; they start from the beginning of the councillors’ terms and go up to last month.

Ryerson University political science professor Myer Siemiatycki calls it an “alarm-bell” moment, noting some of the councillors with high page views are also from wards with high electoral turnouts.

He added the 1998 amalgamation, in which Toronto absorbed surrounding municipalities, may have contributed to the phenomenon.

“In the old days, no residents were that far from city hall, from their councillors’ offices, because there were six city halls,” he said.

University of Toronto political science professor Renan Levine said it is unclear whether there is a “divide in motivation or a divide in resources.”

“People in the downtown core may have more access to the Internet,” he said, but added their councillors’ having more page views “may be more indicative” of city politics often revolving about downtown issues.

The Star reached out to the five councillors with the least number of views, though not all were immediately available for comment.

Frank Di Giorgio of Ward 12 (York South-Weston), who has the fourth-lowest views at just above 500, said his numbers reflect an unequal allocation of development funds.

His ward barely gets any, he said, causing low activity levels.

For the councillor at the top of the list, the answer may be as simple as a large transient population. Kristyn Wong-Tam of Ward 27 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) says the number of people in her ward, the second-most populous one, triples during the daytime.

She also offered another explanation: her being the only LGBTQ-identified member and one of the few Chinese voices on council. Wong-Tam said many of those belonging to those two groups reach out to her even though they are not in her ward.

Despite most suburban councillors having low views, two made the top five. One of them is Justin Di Ciano of Ward 5 (Etobicoke-Lakeshore), who is No. 5 with just under 1,000 views. He attributes it to his being on seven city boards and committees and that he is among the few non-incumbents on council.

The other is Rob Ford of Ward 2 (Etobicoke North). The high-profile former mayor, who had a drug scandal in office and was later diagnosed with cancer, is No. 3 on the list with more than 1,000 views a month.

Ford acknowledged his reputation and time in hospital, but said the views he gets are a result of his simply being “old-fashioned” in connecting with residents.

“Good or bad, people know I return calls,” he said.