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Council Highlights
Archive
January 2010 |
 The
Council Highlights are provided as a service to
residents of Ward 25. The following is a summary of the
City Council meeting January 26 and 27, 2010.
1. 2010 Salary Freeze for
Mayor and Councillors (MM45.1)
Council
declined to order an immediate salary freeze for the
Mayor and Councillors, instead referring it to the
Executive Committee. The motion, by Councillor Michael
Walker, would provide for councillors to forgo a
cost-of-living salary raise of less than 1% and would
set an example of restraint prior to negotiations with
the police and firefighter unions later in 2010. As I
have previously, I voted in favour of the salary freeze.
2. Rescinding
re-imbursement of Legal Fees – Councillor Heaps (MM45.2)
Council
adopted my motion, amended slightly by Councillor Karen
Stintz, to rescind the $36,000 reimbursement payment to
Councillor Adrian Heaps. In a separate motion, Council
requested staff to prepare a report on the viability of
establishing a candidate protection fund - paid for by
election candidates, not by taxpayers. Council requested
that the report also identify any other ways the City
can help protect the integrity of the election process.
3. Status Update on
Toronto Leasing Inquiry (MM45.4)
Council
requested the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial
Police to provide City Council with a report on his
investigation of the MFP inquiry. Council had referred
the report by Madame Justice Denise Bellamy on the MFP
inquiry to the Ontario Provincial Police in 2005 and has
not received an update since.
4. Yonge-Eglinton Urban
Growth Centre – Urban Design Study (MM45.6)
Council
referred to committee a motion by Councillor Michael
Walker to conduct an Urban Design Study on the Yonge and
Eglinton intersection and one block in each direction.
The provincial government had previously designated
Yonge-Eglinton as an Urban Growth Centre. As such, it
will be the site of much future development. The Study
would recommend appropriate measures to address the lack
of public open space and improve urban design at the
intersection.
5. Etobicoke-Finch West
LRT Approval (EX39.18)
Council approved
the 17 km TTC Etobicoke-Finch West Light Rail Transit (LRT)
line from Finch Station to Humber College including the
alignment, stops, stations, and traffic management.
The design proposed
for most of the route consists of two LRT tracks
operating on a raised median in the middle of the road,
with many similarities to the St. Clair line. There
will be two traffic lanes, a bicycle lane and a
pedestrian clearway on either side of the LRT. At
intersections that have traffic signals, the raised
right-of-way will be low enough to allow traffic to make
left turns. TTC assessed ridership to be 2300 to 2800
persons per hour (pph) at peak – above the practical
limit of 2000 pph for buses in mixed traffic and below
the efficiency threshold of 10,000 pph for subways.
6.
Fees for Re-inspections (LS26.5)
Council
raised Municipal Licensing and Standards fees for
subsequent inspection services. Initial inspections
are not charged to the property owner. This change will
increase fees only to those property owners who do not
comply with property standards notices.
7.
Early Learning Program (CD29.1)
In light
of the Province of Ontario's plans to offer full-day
kindergarten for four-year-olds and five-year-olds,
Council is asking the provincial government to commit to
the full version of the Pascal report on early learning
and reaffirm municipalities’ role in managing the child
care system. Council directed staff to work with
education boards and community partners on issues tied
to implementation of the early learning program – of
which full-day kindergarten is one component. Council
is also asking the provincial government to provide
funding and a transition plan to ensure that local child
care programs remain stable and that no subsidized child
care spaces are lost.
8.
Annual Report of the Ombudsman (CC45.5)
Council
adopted the first annual report of Toronto’s Ombudsman
and directed the City Manager to ensure that every
operating area of the Toronto Public Service that
interacts directly with the public has procedures for
handling complaints – and publishes the procedures this
year. Council also supported the Ombudsman’s
recommendation that the Toronto Public Service take
steps to communicate its customer service standards. In
my view, this is long overdue – and represents the first
dividend of the City’s new Ombudsman. By improving
complaint-handling and public service standards, we will
take the first step in making the City a high-performing
service organization.
9. 21
Avenue Road (Four Seasons) Development (TE30.4)
Council
approved a modified proposal to redevelop the current
Four Seasons Hotel site at 21 Avenue Road, revising the
height of two proposed residential towers. Planning
staff had recommended that the application not be
approved and they also did not support the modified
proposal by Councillor Kyle Rae – for reasons which
included the protection of the “view shed” of the
Ontario Legislative Assembly (OLA) building from
University Avenue. Staff noted that
the revised heights of
the proposed towers will detract from the visual
dominance of the OLA building – which was intentionally
and carefully placed to be a highly visible and symbolic
place at the head of University Avenue. I voted in
favour of the staff report and against the modified
proposal.
10.
Trillium Ferry Boat 100th Anniversary
(PE27.3)
Council
adopted a motion to recognize the Trillium Ferry Boat’s
100th Anniversary. Council is also seeking
private sector donations and/or sponsorships to cover
the estimated $4,000-5,000 cost for the official
celebration commemorating the Trillium Ferry Boat's
100th Anniversary. Council also directed staff to
work with interested parties
to plan the celebration, including Ward 25 resident Mike
Filey, Toronto's unofficial
historian, the Polson Family and Gordon Champion, the
engineer responsible for the restoration.
11.
2010 Audit Work Plan (AU14.9)
Council issued several
directives to tighten controls on business expenses,
particularly with respect to staff’s use of City
purchase/credit cards (PCards). Among Council’s
directives, which came in response to a report from the
Auditor General, is one directing the Treasurer and
division heads to create a strategy for continuous
improvement of the PCard
program. Council also asked the Treasurer to provide
guidelines on providing food at staff meetings and other
functions.
12.
More leash-free areas for Toronto’s dogs
Council approved the
establishment of 29 more off-leash areas in Toronto
parks in addition to 30 existing off-leash sites in
parks. The new sites are in various stages of
development, many of them still requiring public
consultation. The People, Dogs and Parks Strategy that
Council adopted in 2007 provides detailed guidelines for
establishing off-leash areas in City parks, green spaces
and waterfront areas.
13.
Issue of pedestrian fatalities
Council
discussed the unusually high number of pedestrian
fatalities that occurred on Toronto’s streets in January
– but declined to take precipitous action. Instead, it
adopted a motion to request Transportation Services, in
consultation with Toronto Police Service and the TTC to
report on the number of pedestrian fatalities in the
city since the beginning of 2010. The motion asked the
general manager of Transportation Services to evaluate a
proposal that could lead to the lowering of speed limits
by 10 kilometres an hour on some streets.
14. Service sector’s role in
Toronto area’s economy
Council determined that the
City should continue to work collaboratively with
community partners on creating policies and programs
that will help to shape the local service sector’s
transformation. The goal is to increase the value-added
dimension of services and increase the number of
desirable service-based jobs. Council’s directive
follows the Summit on Transforming Service Jobs that the
City co-hosted last November, emphasizing the important
role that the service sector plays in the Toronto area’s
economy.
Non-Council Items:
1.
Draft Zoning By-law: The Planning & Growth
Management Committee adopted a schedule which would
permit final adoption of a new Zoning By-law by summer.
This followed a public meeting in which ratepayer
organizations, along with representatives of the city’s
manufacturing and development industries delivered
stinging criticisms of the current draft by-law and the
process under way to adopt it. The Committee directed
planning staff to continue to work with the above groups
to address their concerns and to report quickly on
progress in finding workable solutions. Industry
representatives had stated that new provisions could
make companies non-conforming through no action of their
own and could hinder their ability to respond to
changing marketplace conditions – with the potential for
job losses - if Toronto becomes unattractive for
industry. Ratepayer representatives (including several
from Ward 25) pointed out the many changed zoning
provisions that they had uncovered – which threaten
the stability of every residential neighbourhood
in the City. However, Councillors on the Committee
remained confident that planning staff could work with
interested stakeholders to fix these problems.
If you wish to comment on any
issue, please call or write to me: 416-395-6408 or
councillor_jenkins@toronto.ca.
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others who may be interested in these municipal issues.
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