City Council Preview: June 2016

Budgeting, drugs, and Jim Karygiannis.

By Neville Park

Photo by Trav Newbigin from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

On this month's City Council agenda: inclusionary zoning, pot crackdowns in midtown, licensing landlords, and our financial future.

The Big Ticket

• In an impressive new report, the City Manager, Deputy City Managers, and CFO warned that Toronto can't keep kicking the can down the road when it comes to #payingforstuff. Mayor John Tory's first response was to suggest kicking the can down the road. Will a different, more serious sort of conversation play out on the Council floor? We can only hope.

Getting Around

• Thanks to Bombardier, the TTC is shelling out some $34 million to keep our old streetcars running.

• Council is on the verge of adopting a vital new 10-year cycling plan. However, Public Works and Infrastructure Committee chair Jaye Robinson (Ward 25, Don Valley West) has suggested a change: nixing bike lane studies on major streets. Expect to see these bike lane myths in the debate.

• The beleaguered Scarborough subway is facing challenges on multiple fronts: dismal ridership projections, residents angry about their homes getting expropriated. But let's not forget that developers are also fighting the City's plan to raise money through development charges. Sadly, the juicy details are confidential, for legal reasons.

Identity Politics

• An intersectionality teachable moment: the Disability, Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee wants the Province to include mental health in its investigation of anti-Black racism in SIU and Toronto police operations. It’s a crucial issue: a staggering number of victims of police violence are Black and disabled or experiencing a mental health crisis.

• Ah, summer. Flowers are blooming, festivals are getting funding, and James Pasternak (Ward 10, York Centre) is seeing pro-Palestinian groups lurking around every corner.

• Executive Committee wants Toronto Police Services to make their hate crime statistics [PDF] available as open data.

Drugs

• Cesar Palacio (Ward 17, Davenport) was cracking down on pot dispensaries before it was cool.

• "Tree pits across the City often become receptacles for garbage, cigarette butts, and drug paraphernalia."

A World-Class City

• Does Hollywood North need more hype? The Economic Development Committee thinks so. Hey, more material for Reel Toronto! (Related: Michelle Holland [Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest] wants her ward to be the next film hub.)

• Michelle Holland's half-endearing, half-annoying fascination with shiny technology continues. This month: self-driving cars and a "smart cities" conference in Australia.

• It seems that the Pan Am/Parapan Games were just the beginning. As Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre–Rosedale) leads the campaign for an Expo 2025 bid, these two items—one from Executive Committee, one from Economic Development and Culture—attempt to create a more structured process for major event bids.

A Livable City

• Mount Dennis's new childcare centre is a step closer to reality. (The existing centre was bought by Metrolinx, which needs the land for the Crosstown LRT.)

• While shiny luxury condos are popping up like mushrooms after a rain, all too many renters continue to deal with squalid apartments and building managers gone AWOL. Could licensing landlords improve life for Toronto tenants? (Read about how it works in other cities here [PDF].)

• Ana Bailão (Ward 18, Davenport) will be leading the process of putting together Toronto's feedback on provincial inclusionary zoning laws. (Related.)

• Frances Nunziata (Ward 11, York–South Weston) is concerned that local residents are being crowded out of free recreation programs.

Jim Karygiannis

• The impressively out-of-control Jim Karygiannis (Ward 39, Scarborough­–Agincourt) has two separate Integrity Commissioner investigations into his behaviour. In one incident, he aggressively confronted an UberX driver as they were picking up a fare. Another involves loudly threatening to get a constituent parking-ticketed in a shisha bar. (Er, clarification. The constituent was not parked in the shisha bar.) If Council manages to wring an apology out of him, we will eat our collective hat.

Miscellaneous

• This former industrial bakery on Ossington is set to house an "office, custom workshop, bake shop, performing arts studio, artist/photographer's studio, art gallery, restaurant, and caterer's shop".

• "City Council direct the City Clerk to advise the Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario that the liquor licence application for 'Los Pollos Hermanos' is not in the public interest having regard to the needs and wishes of the residen—" Oh, my bad. Wrong Fring.

• Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) and Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale–High Park) want the Province to decommission the ageing Pickering nuclear station in favour of renewable energy. Ultra vires? You be the judge.

• Build Toronto might actually do something with that abandoned bus terminal at Yonge and Eg. Perhaps the TTC can finally escape the "Stygian hellhole" of its Davisville office.

Did we miss anything worth paying attention to? Let us know in the comments. And if you want to support more City Council coverage, chip in at Patreon.