politics
City Council Preview: September–October 2015
Photo by HiMY SYeD from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
In which we provide your cheat sheet for this month’s city council meeting, and let you know how you can follow along.
Today City Council returns from its summer break, and there’s a lot to cover on the agenda. Read about Toronto’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis; the taxi mess; the Gardiner mess; new shelter standards; and more.
Big-Ticket Items
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Staff deliver a long-awaited report on taxis, limos, and Uber. Since coming to Toronto, Uber has been giving the taxi industry stiff competition. Taxi brokers hate it; many taxi drivers use it on the side; consumers love it; and the courts have left the decision in the City’s hands. The City is wary of some of UberX’s practices, which include: “surge pricing,” sidestepping insurance, flimsy screening procedures, and a lack of shared standards. To address these allegations and concerns, the City wants to create regulations to cover this new class of transportation.
Accessibility for cabs and Uber is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish, which, staff say, deserves its own report. In the meantime, they recommend issuing a bunch of the new taxi licenses, which require making vehicles accessible. This will be the mayor’s key item, which will make it the first item debated after the order paper is established.
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Hoo boy. The Province has launched its mandatory five-year review of key legislation regarding municipal government, including the Municipal Elections Act, the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, and the City of Toronto Act. It’s a good opportunity to consider and reshape the City’s governance structure to ensure it has the tools it needs. Some proposed amendments:
- cutting ties with the much-maligned Ontario Municipal Board;
- allowing the City to make affordable housing requirements for new developments;
- letting the City create more kinds of taxes;
- putting new limits on the vacant commercial property tax rebate
Other possible changes, like term limits, ranked ballots, and new powers to enforce the MCIA, will be a tougher sell. Anyway, remember that this is just the beginning of a long process.
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Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) has spearheaded the development of a resettlement strategy for Syrian refugees. Many municipal governments across the United States and Canada have already pledged to welcome and support refugees.
Photo by Miles from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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State of the Union
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Six month operating budget variance report. Land transfer tax continues to be indispensable, the City continues to save money by not hiring people, water revenue is down, blah blah blah. There’s no doubt much more to be found in the 70-something-page full report [PDF].
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The police union’s collective agreement, which was still being negotiated when the City budget was approved, requires $17M more than estimated. For context, over the course of the contract that’s the equivalent of a 0.2 per cent property tax increase for the city.
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The quarterly Social Development Dashboard is out. A sprinkling of statistics:
- youth unemployment and the proportion of part-time jobs continue to rise;
- the percentage of Toronto households in “core housing need” rose 10 per cent between 2006 and 2011;
- the decline in permanent residents landing in Toronto (they have been going to the suburbs/elsewhere instead) has levelled off over the past two years.
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We also have an Economic Dashboard, which notes trends like the international decline in oil and commodities prices and Canada’s weak dollar (great for the Toronto film industry, bad for Toronto’s mining finance industry). Also, experts still can’t agree on whether there’s a housing bubble or not.
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Photo by Fryderyk Supinski from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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Housing & Shelter
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The Executive Committee thinks City Council should make a nice-but-ultimately-toothless request that federal candidates address housing issues.
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82 affordable rental units are coming to a former industrial site near the foot of Casa Loma. (Yes, they’re cleaning it up first.) The units will be rented at about 77 per cent of market rent. This agreement lasts for 50 years. Maybe by then you’ll be at the top of the waiting list! For the nitty-gritty, see the full report [PDF].
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Two one-bedroom condos in one of the new Alexandra Park developments will be set aside for affordable rental, and five low-income home buyers will get $45K each towards down payments on units in the same building.
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The City is raising the bar for its shelters. New additions include policies for transgender and disabled clients and harm reduction practices. Here’s the whole thing [PDF] (heads up, it’s almost 90 pages).
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The TCHC property at 389 Church Street, in the process of being revamped into something people would actually want to live in, will become a temporary home for the Red Door shelter.
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A former bed-and-breakfast, whose owner blamed local sex workers for tanking business, is getting turned into affordable housing.
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With no funding from provincial or federal governments forthcoming, TCHC is refinancing some of its mortgages to help pay for capital repairs.
Photo by Neil Ta from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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Culture & Sport
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Toronto’s Poet Laureate will soon be joined by a Photo Laureate.
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Are all those City arts and culture grants (some $28 million worth in 2014) making an impact? According to this staff report [PDF], yes. Between 2010 and 2013, for every $1 the City gave, arts and cultural organizations were able to leverage over $20 on average from other funders. Over the same time period, the total attendance at City-funded events grew by 3 million. This isn’t just TIFF we’re talking about; local arts service organizations (LASOs), which fund programs outside the downtown core, have also benefited. Expect non-profit organizations to cite this study the next time they have to justify their existence to the Budget Committee.
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It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A coming to 505 Richmond Street West.
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The proposed $100 million LGBTQ-inclusive Moss Park sports and recreation centre sounds great, and the City only has to contribute $11 million. But the project has faced some opposition from James Pasternak (Ward 10, York Centre).
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The Great Outdoors
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New reports from the Medical Officer of Health [PDF] and the David Suzuki Foundation [PDF] round up the evidence that urban green space helps improve people’s physical and mental health and mitigate air pollution and heat waves.
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The wood salvaged from the Maple Leaf Forever tree has now all been used. Uses include a House of Commons flagpole; a baseball bat (from Left Field Brewery); a table in the Canadian embassy in the U.K.; a pair of headphones; and a U of T research project.
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Deferred from last meeting: Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) and Sarah Doucette’s (Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park) plea to save a 250 Year Old Red Oak Tree, Thought to be the Largest and Oldest Red Oak in Toronto.
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Are municipalities liable for what happens to their waste, even after transferring it to a private contractor? The City Solicitor is worried that a court case in Peel could set a dangerous precedent.
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This pilot project sounds more exciting if you pretend that the “green economy” they’re talking about is weed.
Photo by Marcus Kamps from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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Food & Liquor
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The City is looking for a social enterprise to operate a restaurant in Nathan Phillips Square, and also to replace the City Hall cafeteria.
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Mike Layton’s (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) and Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park) attempt to revoke Muzik’s liquor license now comes to City Council. Look for potential objections from Mammoliti and Mark Grimes (Ward 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore), who both sit on Exhibition Place’s Board of Governors.
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As part of the ongoing “what to do with TDSB properties” saga (I guess I’m using “saga” loosely), the City is looking into creating an urban agriculture community hub at Bloor and Dufferin.
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Mary Fragedakis (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth) wants the City to sign on to an international Urban Food Policy Pact.
Completely Terrible Ideas
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Tunnelling the Gardiner. (Want to know why? This is why.)
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The City taking ownership of, and assuming liability for, storm drainage systems on private property.
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Remember the plastic bag thing? When, on the spur of the moment, Council banned and later un-banned plastic bags after an attempt to nix the 5 cents fee? It didn’t go well. The Licensing & Standards Committee wants to do the same thing, but with the taxi licensing system. There are at least three sides here, each with their own lobby: taxi brokers and owners, who benefited from the old system; drivers, who benefit from the new system; and Uber, who benefits from no system. This could get ugly.
Miscellaneous
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Someone should do something interesting with this Section 37 & 45 benefit data.
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Just when you thought it was safe to drink the water—actually, it’s still safe to drink the water.
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The great thing about the aftermath of the MFP scandal is that someone else will probably be picking over the technology contracts.
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Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East) wants to introduce a “condo clinic” (as seen in Chicago) pilot project to educate condo residents on property standards and their rights.
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Toronto the Good! The dispute over the by-law restricting holiday shopping: 19th-century WASP pearl-clutching, or sticking up for the little guy who doesn’t get a day off unless mandated by law? We report, you decide.
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Blast from the past: remember that time Rob Ford bowled over Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) on the council floor? The Integrity Commissioner does!
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Apparently those teeny-tiny ad/map posts downtown aren’t good enough for Michelle Berardinetti (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest).
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Ford, a big proponent of paying for expenses out of one’s own pocket, wants councillors to pay for tickets to community group fundraisers out of their own pocket. Hey, I’m as surprised as you are that a Ford motion didn’t end up in the “Completely Terrible Ideas” section.
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Layton has noticed that “a number” of required car-share spaces have not been getting built, and wants Municipal Licensing & Standards to look into it.
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In response to Toronto Paramedic Services’ report on low morale [PDF], the City’s report [PDF] concludes move along, nothing to see here.
The side of the pillar intended to be informative.
Follow the Agenda
City Hall Council Chambers (100 Queen Street West)
September 30, 9:30 a.m.
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