Toronto City Councillor
Ward 25 Don Valley West

 As a service to residents of Ward 25, I provide a brief summary of the highlights of the City Council meeting of January 29 and 30^th.

Agenda for Prosperity – a framework

Council endorsed an “Agenda for Prosperity - A Prospectus for a Great City” as the framework for major strategic policies impacting economic competitiveness and growth.  Built around four “Pillars” - Business Climate, Internationalization, Productivity/Growth and Economic Opportunity/Inclusion, the Agenda is currently lacking in specifics but will be a long-lived document, intended to guide our long term strategy for prosperity. City Council also directed staff to prepare an implementation plan and budget for priority actions, as well as recommend targets for success measures.   I will report as this is further defined.

Lobbyist Registry

Council adopted recommendations that, with one exception, there be no fees associated with the new Lobbyist Registry.  It is deemed to be in the public interest to maximize transparency.  Consequently, lobbyists who register in, and the public who search, the Lobbyist Registry will not be charged.  For lobbyists who choose, however, not to register electronically, a $150 fee is charged to cover the cost of processing a paper registration.  The effective date of the lobbyist registry is February 11, 2008.  Community associations and persons dealing, for example, with their residential homes are not lobbyists.  But those who wish to lobby Councillors or City staff on certain other matters must first be registered, as of the above date.

Street Food Pilot for Toronto

Council approved a Toronto Street Food Pilot for the summer of 2008 to introduce the sale of safe, healthy, nutritious and ethnically-diverse foods at selected locations.  Staff will seek expressions of interest from potential cart manufacturers and to explore the use of partnership opportunities to provide funding for the 15-cart pilot, to be known as “Toronto a la Cart”.  Also, having listened to previous feedback from citizens, Council directed that the pilot not be at any cost to the City.

Decreasing the risk of rabies transmission

Council approved a motion asking staff to report back on strategies to decrease or eliminate the risk of rabies transmission when dogs and cats are sold to the public, including the requirement that all dogs and cats to be licensed and fully immunized against rabies at the point of sale.  Council also approved a request to ask the provincial government to regulate the sale of dogs and cats to ensure that anyone who may come into contact with these animals is protected against the risk of rabies transmission.

Streamlining the City’s bicycle lane approval process

City Council adopted a new implementation process for bicycle lanes.  The City’s Bike Plan, approved in 2001, specifies bicycle lanes on major and minor streets throughout the City.  To streamline the implementation process, all bicycle lane matters will first be considered by the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, and then Council.  In Ward 25, the next streets from the Bike Plan to be considered by the Committee are likely to be Lawrence Avenue (from Yonge to Bayview) and Mt. Pleasant Road (south of Lawrence).

Committee and other non-Council Items:

1. Guidelines for Identifying and Processing Planning Matters of City-wide Interest.  The Planning and Growth Management (P&GM) Committee considered a very contentious report from planning staff entitled “ PG13.4 Guidelines for Identifying and Processing Planning Matters of City-wide Interest” and twice declined to pass it on the grounds that it diminished local community planning.  Instead, on a 4 to 1 vote, it has now recommended to Council a revised report introduced by Councillor Adam Vaughan.  Staff’s proposals would have delegated many powers to planning staff and would have resulted in many more planning applications being processed centrally through the P&GM Committee.  But Councillor Vaughan’s revisions are intended to ensure that all planning applications are processed locally, at Community Council, except those which Council determines are of city-wide interest.  If approved by Council at its March 3rd meeting, the revisions will be a significant victory for community planning over central planning.  Committee members Councillors Karen Stintz, John Filion and Frank DiGiorgio supported Councillor Vaughan’s motion.  (Councillor Peter Milczyn voted against.  Chair Norm Kelly was also opposed but was absent for the vote.)  For more information, the Committee Decisions on PG13.4 will soon be available at http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2008/agendas/pg.htm.  Lastly, since this may well become contentious at Council, you may wish to make your views known to Mayor Miller at mayor_miller@toronto.ca and myself at councillor_jenkins@toronto.ca.

2. Complete Applications.  Planning and Growth Management Committee, also voting 4 to 1 on a motion by Councillor Karen Stintz, referred an item on “Complete Applications” back to planning staff with strong direction to resolve continuing deficiencies in an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) that was proposed by planning staff.   Staff’s proposed OPA would require development applications to be “complete” prior to community consultation.  In order for an application to be complete, several studies (for example storm water management, traffic, shadowing, etc) must be submitted, often at considerable expense.  It has been widely noted that once having invested large amounts of money in studies, applicants are seldom willing to contemplate the revisions to their applications.  The result is that any subsequent community consultation is unlikely to produce meaningful change in the application. Councillor Stintz’s motion, which was supported by Councillors Adam Vaughan, John Filion and Frank DiGiorgio and opposed by Councillor Peter Milczyn and the absent Norm Kelly, is intended to ensure that a process with meaningful community consultation is implemented prior to an application becoming complete.  If the current deficiencies are indeed remedied, this would be a further improvement in community planning. 

3. Snow Removal Plan.   Gary Welsh, General Manager, Transportation Services has now advised that the removal of  snow in specific areas is required to ensure public safety for pedestrians and the disabled, provide accessibility for emergency and waste collection vehicles, and the proper and safe movement of traffic in areas where narrow roads mean any further snowfall will make roads more difficult to travel.  (Within Ward 25, this will largely comprise the former City of Toronto area.) 

Given the forecast for more snow and continued cold temperatures, the removal of snow in some areas is now commencing.  Snow removal involves the physical removal of snow from the side of the street after plowing has taken place.  On residential streets that allow parking on one side of the street, the snow will be removed from the opposite side of the street.  Residents are asked to move their vehicles to make the street easier for crews to access.  Snow will be removed from the side of the street where parking is permitted if the cars are removed. However, moving cars from these streets is not mandatory and vehicles will not be towed. 

On residential streets that allow parking on both sides of the street, residents will be asked to move their cars from the street to allow access to snow removal crews.  Less than 5% of the streets where snow will be removed have parking on both sides of the street.  On these streets, snow will be removed from both sides of the street.  Residents will be given 48 hours notice to move their vehicles.  Vehicles that remain on the street when crews arrive will be given a "friendly tow" (tow to a new location without a ticket or tow charge to the vehicle owner).   Arrangements have been made with the Toronto Parking Authority to permit free parking from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. in the City's "Green P" lots in areas where residents are required to move their vehicles.  Starting next week, flyers will be delivered to affected homes to alert residents that they live on a street where snow removal will take place.    

The City’s website will contain a regularly updated list of streets scheduled for snow removal (www.toronto.ca/snow).  The City anticipates this additional snow removal effort will be completed in 10-14 days, weather permitting.  Almost 2,000 people and 600 dump trucks will make up 83 crews (up from the usual 20) and will be working 24/7.  Should there be a significant snowfall during this additional effort, crews will be redeployed to plow and clear roads and sidewalks and, therefore, snow removal operations announced today will be delayed.  The City's approach to road safety in the winter is focused on plowing and salting roads to allow for safe passage of vehicles and pedestrians. Large-scale snow removal is only used in extreme situations where public safety or the large scale movement of goods and services is compromised.  The anticipated cost of this additional snow removal operation is approximately up to $20 million, which will come from the 2008 winter maintenance budget.   

Also, through an agreement reached with Toronto Parking Enforcement, people with street permit parking will be able to move to a different zone temporarily on the days where snow removal is being done on their street.  Toronto Parking Enforcement will use discretion in the issuance of tickets during the times where snow removal operations are taking place.  The public will also be reminded that when shoveling their sidewalks to keep snow off the streets to help snow removal efforts.  The public is also asked to clear snow from around fire hydrants.

If you wish to comment on any issue, please call or write to me:  416-395-6408 or councillor_jenkins@toronto.ca.  Please feel free to forward these Council Highlights to others who may be interested in these municipal issues. 

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Recent issues of Council Highlights have generated so much incoming email that I have not been able to respond individually to all correspondents.  I will certainly read every email but may unfortunately have to respond with a “form letter”. 

For regular constituency matters, please feel free to call or email my staff.  May Doyle:  416-395-0374 or madoyle@toronto.ca, Neil Carter:  416-395-6408 or ncarter@toronto.ca, Carmela Morresi: 416-395-6408 or cmorres@toronto.ca.