The Cheat Sheet: February 19 City Council

This Wednesday is the first council meeting since the annual epic budget s̶h̶i̶t̶f̶e̶s̶t̶ showdown. On the agenda: hockey beer, campaign Twitter, the taxi review, and more.

GO CANADA GO!

• Cllr Layton wants to temporarily relax the liquor license laws so we can get our drink on first thing in the morning for the gold medal hockey games. Cllrs Augimeri and Shiner have already asked that their wards (York Centre and Willowdale, respectively) be excluded from this booze-soaked libertinism.

• Cllr Ainslie wants the folks at Transportation Services to look into renaming a street after a certain blustering, racist dickbag politician with a substance abuse problem and an adoring fanbase.

• The Rouge Urban National Park, the first of its kind in Canada, is becoming a reality; Council will vote on transferring City land to Parks Canada.

Election Year

• New this election: internet voting for people with disabilities! Someone look into this Scytl Canada, Inc., because if I’ve learned anything from Scandal it’s that this shit is ripe for vote-stealing conspiracies. Also, don’t fuck Republicans.

• The Integrity Commissioner has come up with a brief social media policy for candidates. She also wants Council’s go-ahead to develop a policy for elected officials, which is probably a good idea.

Inside Baseball

• It’s time to pick a city councillor to sit on the newly established Toronto Music Industry Advisory Council. Cllr Crawford has thrown his hat in the ring, but frankly why would you pick anyone other than Cllr Josh Colle? Say what you will about him (god knows I have), he’s got suitably hipsterish taste in music.

• As she announced back in December, Cllr Karen Stintz is stepping down as TTC chair. Who will replace her?

Kids & Youth

• How does subsidized childcare affect kids, parents, and the economy? OISE and the city’s Children Services division would like to find out. Further reading: the recent Globe and Mail series; @10dollardaycare.

• Back in October, Native Child & Family Services Toronto’s executive director declared Toronto’s last native childcare centre in “extreme jeopardy” and called the model “unsustainable”. Possible solutions before Council: making it easier for indigenous families to get childcare subsidies, and working with higher levels of government to reduce NCFST’s debt.

• The Youth Equity Strategy is being rolled out. It’s a plan for the next two years and onward that aims to “create the supportive systems that can help young people resist the frustration and disillusionment that can lead to involvement in violence and crime”. This to-do list includes a youth mental health symposium; reinstating reconciliation services for immigrant youth separated from their parents; a pilot program promoting literacy for young incarcerated parents; a new youth hostel; a restorative justice program “to create alternatives to banning, exclusion and eviction policies and practices from City facilities” and housing; and more.

Transportation

• The long-awaited, much-needed review of Toronto’s taxi industry is finally over. You can read the epic report yourself, or do like I did and go by David Hains’ Torontoist article. Among the recommendations: more accessible cabs; a $25 vomit fee; mandatory defensive driving refresher training; and some modifications to the Ambassador license type.

• E-bikes: t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶t̶ bicycles, or m̶e̶n̶a̶c̶e̶ motorized vehicles? The new policy recommended by the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee bans the heavy, Vespa-like “e-scooters” from cycle tracks and multi-use trails—but not bike lanes.

Totally Non-Binding Motions That Will Probably Go Nowhere but Thanks for the Thought

• Cllr Matlow wants the Province to change the laws to crack down on rent increases.

• Cllr Berardinetti would like door-to-door mail delivery back.

Miscellaneous

• The Ombudsman’s annual report is a quick, stylishly designed review of the Year In Complaints. The more obsessive council-watchers won’t find anything new, but everyone else should give it a read.

• Whoops. Turns out developers’ association BILD flouted the Lobbying By-Law by throwing a fundraiser for the Mayor in 2011. It’s not their first offence either. The penalty? They can’t lobby the Mayor for the rest of the term (edit: clarification per @Adam_CF: not banned, just advised not to), and their lobbyists have to go back to lobbyist school. “Lobby” sure looks funny when you type it over and over. Lobby.

• No. Just no.

• Among the routine objections to liquor licenses: one for a barbershop near Kensington. Alcohol and haircutting? What could go wrong?

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p>As usual, if I’ve missed something important or interesting, let me know. Granting a brief, bleak reprieve from my slow yet inexorable slide into near-catatonic depression, I’ll see you at City Hall this Wednesday!