There will be no “Rob Ford Memorial Stadium” in Toronto.City council rejected the proposal late Wednesday night to rename Centennial Park Stadium after the late Ward 2 Etobicoke North city councillor whose turbulent 2010-2014 term as mayor included revelations he smoked crack cocaine and lied about it for months.Mayor John Tory tabled the proposal, along with recommendations for consultation, saying that he knew it was controversial. Read more:‘Rob Ford Memorial Stadium’ proposal triggers groans, gratitudeHe was a terrible mayor, but naming football stadium after Rob Ford fine by me: KeenanThe proposal came at the request of the Ford family, Tory noted. “In all of my dealings as mayor ... I try to be generous and to put politics to the side,” the mayor, who beat Rob Ford’s brother Doug to become mayor in 2014, told council.Tory said he was “erring on the side of generosity.” He said Ford had his supporters, who saw him as a diligent public servant but, Tory said, he also recognized that Ford as mayor had done things “hurtful” to many people in Toronto.The only councillor to speak against the proposal, Jon Burnside, said he was doing so out of a conviction that council should not name things after politicians, whose job by definition is to help people.Councillor Joe Cressy made a successful motion to split Tory’s proposal into two parts — one specifically for the renaming of the stadium after Rob Ford and another that community members be consulted on ways to honour the memories of Pam McConnell and Ron Moeser, the other former councillors who died this council term.Council voted 11-24 on the Rob Ford proposal, while passing the latter one.Cressy said after the vote: “I got along with Rob and I considered him a colleague and I was devastated to hear that he passed so young, but considering many of the things that took place in his time as mayor I didn’t think it appropriate ...
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