Toronto City Councillor
Ward 25 Don Valley West

This is not intended to serve as an official record of the meeting.

 CITY'S LONG-TERM FISCAL PLAN

Council approved a Long-Term Fiscal Plan designed to guide the City in achieving sustainability through new revenue sources provided by the federal and provincial governments. The plan, also designed to help the City maintain its strong credit rating, offers strategies for funding assets and liabilities, managing expenditures and enhancing revenues. The fiscal principles and policies will be incorporated into the City's annual budget guidelines.

Council unanimously adopted my amendment into the plan to request the Provincial Government to amend the Development Charges Act, to permit the complete range of municipal services and future service levels to be included in the calculation of development charges. At present, development charges fund a small percentage of infrastructure required to support new development. Council also directed staff to send copies of the Long-Term Fiscal Plan to senior federal and provincial government officials, including the Prime Minister and the Premier of Ontario.

 2015 WORLD EXPO

Council approved a plan to help the City determine whether Toronto should make a bid to host the 2015 World's Fair, also known as World Expo. The pre-bid work is expected to outline key findings, present recommendations and provide a business plan. The next steps include public consultation and further investigation of three potential sites. Subsequently, Council will review a master plan and determine whether to proceed with a formal bid. Several Councillors expressed concern that such events inevitably lose great quantities of money, with inadequate payback in associated commercial benefits.

 SENIOR STAFF APPOINTMENTS

Council appointed three people to the new positions of Deputy City Manager and Deputy City Manager/Chief Financial Officer in a restructured City administration. Fareed Amin and Sue Corke, the two Deputy City Managers, leave positions as Deputy Ministers in the Ontario government in order to join the City. Joseph Pennachetti, the Deputy City Manager/Chief Financial Officer, was already with the City of Toronto in the former position of Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. The restructuring, which took effect April 15, is designed to give the City administration greater public accountability and more flexibility in responding to the changing needs of the city. Shirley Hoy, formerly the Chief Administrative Officer, stays on as head of the administration but with the new title of City Manager.

JOLLY MILLER LANDS ACCOUNTING AGREED

In 1997, the former City of North York purchased the former "Jolly Miller Lands" on Yonge Street south of York Mills Road for an amount not to exceed $2.5 million. The principal objectives were to retain the Jolly Miller building as a heritage building and prevent future development of the balance of the lands. North York provided that the building would be leased for twenty years to an operator of an upscale restaurant and that some of the lands be utilized as a parking lot, in order to recover the City's acquisition costs. North York also adopted the recommendation that the long-term objective for the parking-lot lands is "open space complementing the surrounding valley system", with an expectation that the recovery of costs would be complete within twenty years.

Consequently, the accounting of the revenues is critical to achieving the ultimate objective of open space. While some were advocating an incomplete accounting of revenues, Council adopted an accounting methodology which properly considers all revenues and costs, and which should result in complete cost recovery within the expected time period. Congratulations, on this just outcome, are owing to David Payne and the York Mills Valley Association, for their strong and persistent advocacy.

 NEW INTER-CITY BUS TERMINAL

Council decided to establish a committee to work with City Planning staff for public consultation on the feasibility of relocating Toronto's main bus terminal. The committee will consider issues such as whether a relocated terminal should be publicly owned or possibly involve a public-private partnership. Council prefers that the location be in the vicinity of Union Station.

 DISPUTE RESOLUTION FOR BY-LAW ENFORCEMENT

Council endorsed a Comprehensive By-law Compliance Program that will introduce a process to resolve disputes in the City's enforcement of by-laws, particularly those involving property standards. The new process is expected to streamline the resolution of such disputes. The result will be more efficient and effective management of bylaw compliance issues.

 CROSS-BORDER TRANSPORT OF WASTE

At the invitation of Environment Canada, Council agreed to Toronto's participation in a pilot project on the cross-border shipment of municipal solid waste. Environment Canada and the United States Environmental Protection Agency initiated the project, which focuses on the notification process around the import and export of municipal solid waste. Toronto is a significant exporter of solid waste for disposal in the United States. 

 POETRY IN THE STREET PROJECT

The City of Toronto will introduce a Poetry in the Street program as a tribute to Toronto's poets and the broader literary community. Council approved plans for a program that involves inscribing poems written by accomplished Toronto poets into sidewalks at various locations across the city. Toronto poet laureate Pier Giorgio di Cicco and his advisory committee have expressed support for the project.

 NEW NAME FOR TRADE CENTRE

Council approved a recommendation that the City enter into a legal agreement resulting in the renaming of the National Trade Centre at Exhibition Place to the Direct Energy Centre -- Exhibition and Convention Facility.

 NON-COUNCIL ITEMS

1. Subcommittee on "Improving the Planning Process"
   I am participating on a subcommittee of Councillors to consider the current process for development applications and recommend improvements. Meetings of the Subcommittee are public. At the last meeting, it was resolved to hold four public consultation meetings before mid-June (one would be in North York) to review draft proposals and to accept public input. One part of the current proposals would permit community involvement in evaluating development proposals much earlier and on a formalized continuing basis. Individual invitations to this public consultation will go to established ratepayer associations, development industry organizations and other associate/interested parties. If you wish to be informed of the schedule when confirmed, please contact my office at 416-395-6408 or councillor_jenkins@toronto.ca.
2. Ward 25 Environment Day
   Saturday, May 28, 2005 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Toronto Parking Authority lot adjacent to the Miller Tavern on Yonge Street south of York Mills Road. Environment Day is your annual opportunity to act locally for the environment by properly disposing of harmful materials, recycling items such as plastic bags, rubber tires and old computers and by purchasing equipment that can help reduce household consumption. You can also pick-up free compost; donate used books, clothing and sports equipment to Goodwill; and, obtain advice and information on a wide variety of environmental topics.
3. Your Feedback
   I welcome your comments, questions and suggestions on this newsletter. My volume of e-mail has increased significantly. As a result, I've asked my staff to respond on my behalf, whenever possible. For policy matters and other items that require my personal attention, I will endeavour to respond as quickly as possible. If you wish to speak to me directly please call 416-395-6408 to arrange a (telephone or face-to-face) appointment.
    

Cliff Jenkins

Councillor, Ward 25