or, I Read the City Council Agenda So You Don’t Have To
Now, I make no claim as to what the big-ticket items will be; but here’s my roundup of items of interest coming to City Council tomorrow.
- Edit: Via Adam Radwanski, U of T wants to Astroturf the back campus for the Pan Am Games, and Adam Vaughan has spearheaded a motion to designate the back campus as a heritage site to stop it going ahead. The Globe and Mail article says this is expected to be the mayor’s key item and I completely missed this the first several read-throughs, which tells you 1. how few shits I give about my alma mater, and 2. the disjoint between things I think are important and things the Mayor thinks are important.
- The Ombudsman has released a mighty report [PDF] about Toronto Community Housing evicting seniors and other vulnerable tenants. Her findings include phrases like “a callous
disregard and a total absence of compassion” and “unfair, wrong and contrary to law. It violates principles of natural justice”. - Electoral reform is finally within reach! The City may opt to let permanent residents vote and implement ranked ballots.
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Since some of Toronto’s wards have like twice the population of others, it might be a good idea to look into redrawing ward boundaries. Expect to see a push to cut Council in half because DAD GUM VARMINT POLITICIANS. (The more realistic option is that the most populous wards are split and we end up with about fifty councillors…but any actual changes are a long way down the road and definitely not on the table today.)
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This is certain councillors’ last chance to defund Pride. Probable outcome: nothing changes, because 1. QUAIA doesn’t violate the City’s anti-discrimination policy and 2. City cash doesn’t go to the Pride parade anyway. Unlikely outcome: City Council defunds Pride. Comedy outcome: City Council inadvertently passes a motion requiring them to scrutinize every film, photo, band, or parade float in every cultural event getting City funding to ensure they don’t
criticize Israelviolate the anti-discrimination policy. -
Cllr Doug Ford tried to give the Build Toronto CEO job to his guy, Port Lands CEO Mike Kraljevic, and literally everyone else on the board quit, so now they need to replace them.
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Cllr Fragedakis wants to know exactly how much the City spent looking into getting a casino. It’s dead, ma’am. Let it go.
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Our shitty street furniture is going to get shittier. Edit: As Cllr Davis points out, having bus stations wrapped in ads is a safety concern particularly for women. And, given that women disproportionately use public transit for their commute [PDF], this deserves considerable discussion. Unlikely outcome: we have a thoughtful, respectful debate on how to balance equity and rider safety with contractual obligations. Probable outcome: Council accidentally bans bus shelters. Comedy outcome: Margaret Wente or Christie Blatchford pens a sneering column about how a gendered analysis of transit is Political Correctness Gone Mad™.
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Grants, grants, grants! Everyone loves community grants! Look under your chair! It’s a grant!
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“The Economic Development Committee recommends that City Council offer congratulations to the Toronto Argonauts on winning the 100th Grey Cup.” Really.
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p>Lastly, a few tasty li’l Member Motions:
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p>Edit: GraphicMatt says, “Fords will try to get 30 votes to re-open [the Woodbine Casino issue] and add to agenda, apparently. Will be fun.”
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter.