Desmond Cole, the big winner of the evening
Ron Nurwisah was exceptional as well, but did not manage to take the #1 spot.
Well the civic experiment that is City Idol is officially over and Desmond Cole, a charismatic young man has take the title. It was quite the experience to sit there in the front row and watch the expressions on his face change as he came to the realisation that the consensus of the room had imbued him with our voice. It must have been empowering for both of us.
The show as really impressive actually. Unlike the previous one I attended, this one was able to focus on the contestants better and there was more opportunity to see what they'd be like "on their feet" without the aid of prepared speeches. One of the best parts of the evening in fact was the "media scrum" staged to demonstrate a real-life crisis: A homelessness protest at City Hall. Real representatives from real media companies (Now Magazine, Eye Magazine, Toronto Life and CP24 ambushed one candidate at a time with questions and bright lights while the other candidates had to listen to iPods loud enough to drown out the answers. Every candidate shone, even those I was surprised to see advance to this round. Some snippets from my notes:
Desmond Cole was the most charismatic person on the stage. Rivaled only by Ron, he owned the competition in almost every category. Even though it was obvious that he lacked the experience of some of his competitors, it wasn't a stretch to believe that he was capable of getting the job done. He put youth advocacy up as his primary platform and that resonated well with the crowd.
Katarina Collins was one of those I was surprised to see advance, but made me rethink my original position. She was well prepared and stood on a platform of keeping City Hall efficient and organised. However, she also came across as terribly naive and extremist when she suggested that the best way to deal with the homeless crisis was to evict condo owners from their homes. The crowd however, seemed to think this was smart politics so... I don't know what they're thinking.
Monika Dutt was big on immigration and the integration of skilled and unskilled immigrants into the workforce. It sounds all well and good, except for the fact that she made it sound like the City had the power to do things it clearly wasn't capable of doing. She stood up to the questions from the media scrum very well, but outside of that moment of inspiration, I didn't feel impressed by her for much of the evening. In fact, looking back on the whole night now, I'm having trouble remembering anything about her that stuck out.
Ron Nurwisah was a force on stage. He knew the answers to the questions and broke it to you straight without dodging. His principles came out strong: public space, the environment, cycling, zoning, corruption. His speeches were well thought out and well delivered. I have no idea how he lost.
Dennis Stark shook off my first impression of him and managed to paint himself in the "Joe Six Pack" frame. He projected, identified with the audience and came across as someone who really understood his field, that of public housing... even if he didn't seem to believe that fixing this portfolio in this city would require more money. However, when confronted with the very real possibility of a homelessness protest at City Hall, he made jokes about the mayor not being available and that he was "taking control". After that, I had trouble taking him seriously.
Karen Sun was a crowd favourite as she was one of the best at bringing in supporters for the shows. She campaigned on an environmental platform and like my other favourites, she was prepared, articulate and mature... except when she was confronted by the media scrum... she buckled under that pressure. This, coupled with her support for the idea of what she termed "diversity committees" (representatives from racial sub-groups in council) pretty much sank my support for her.
Among the highlights of the evening:
Voting was a multi-tiered ballot. You chose your first 3 favourites, and when those votes didn't manage to elect someone with a decisive 50%+1 majority, we had to do a second round where we selected our top 2 of the remaining 3. Ron, Monika and Dennis were eliminated in the first round.
My voting selection in order: numbers, 4, 1, 6. (Ron, Desmond, Karen) The area code for Toronto (I swear that this is a total conincidence).
At one point during the vote counting, Mez made an effort to entertain us with this announcement:
Here it is folks, the moment you've all been waiting for... There is a silver Lexus blocking the alleyway. License plate number [something].... It will be towed
It was a great night though. Despite my favourite candidate getting kicked in the first round, the whole thing was quite refreshing and encouraging. In his victory speech, Desmond reflected on the past few months and suggested that City Idol was just a beginning, and that one day, he wants to see competitions like this in every ward. It may be idealistic, but it sounds like a good idea to me.
Update: Pictures from that night can be found in my imager here.