The Cheat Sheet: November 2017 City Council

Since the last regular Council meeting, Council narrowly voted to appoint a Tory supporter to replace late councillor Pam McConnell; Waterfront Toronto announced its partnership with Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs; and City Manager Peter Wallace frankly discussed Toronto’s possible futures in an annual address.

On this meeting’s agenda: the Bloor bike lanes; a Parks and Rec master plan; Metrolinx fare integration; the George Street Revitalization; and more.

The Big Ticket

• Most probably, the Bloor bike lanes. After exhaustive and frankly not really necessary study of the impact on cyclists, business, and car traffic, Council is likely to vote in favour of making the pilot project permanent. Many on Council will see this (positively or negatively) as the thin edge of the wedge. Expect a push to extend the lanes through Yorkville and across to cycling corridors like Sherbourne, as well as renewed bids for bike lanes on on other major streets.

Transportation

• The City is desperately trying to spend its portion of federal transit funding before time runs out.

• A new pilot project would install on-street electric vehicle charging stations in a few downtown wards. (Read John McGrath’s take.)

• It’s time to take the next step in the long-promised Metrolinx and TTC fare integration. There are many different ways to integrate regional and local transit systems, each with their own benefits and drawbacks; see this UrbanToronto series for a detailed explanation. Metrolinx is pushing for a fare-by-distance model. Lots of people have strong feelings about this, but I cannot possibly sum all of them up in this space.

• The Auditor General nixes suspicions about an allegedly misleading TTC briefing note. Cllr Josh Matlow continues to push for a value-for-money analysis in an overly optimistic belief that facts or fiscal responsibility have any role in municipal transit planning.

• Cllrs Mark Grimes and Justin Di Ciano want a Park Lawn GO station. Come on, what have we learned about adding GO stations willy-nilly?

• Cllrs Mary-Margaret McMahon and Frank Di Giorgio want Council to voice its support for the Protecting Vulnerable Road Users Act, which would increase penalties for drivers who kill or injure cyclists or pedestrians.

Grants and Subsidies

• The 2017 Community Investment Fund grant allocations are out. This is the first year of a new streamlined process that merged five grant programs into three and shortened response times.

• The Economic Development Committee is in favour of creating a proper grant program for smaller museums like MOCA and the Gardiner Museum.

• What about a grant program for business owners to add ramps?

• The Tenant Defence Fund, which provides legal aid grants to tenants so they can fight rent hikes, may get a modest boost.

• Interesting little stat: 80% of homeowners whose basements have flooded over the past 4 years haven’t applied for the subsidy program.

Parks and Rec

• Over the past ten years, the parks and recreation program waitlist has more than doubled. The average community centre is 40 years old; arenas, 50. A refresh is long overdue. The proposed Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan sets new goals over the next 20 years, including adding 17 new community centres and revitalizing 11 existing ones. (Read the full report or a summary of recommendations.)

  Some of these projects are already underway, but there isn’t enough funding for all of them: the plan will require $38 million a year in investment and about $750 million over the next 20 years to eliminate the repair backlog and build new facilities.

  P. S. What the fuck is pickleball?

• Remember when the City was going to close down Olympic swimmer Penny Oleksiak’s neighbourhood pool and the Mayor was like “We’re totally not going to close it” and then voted to close it? Anyway, the working group has found a way to keep it open.

• The City is taking over the beach lifeguard and crossing guard programs from Toronto Police Services as part of the Transformational Task Force’s recommendations.

Shelter

• Over the next three years, Toronto is getting $90 million in provincial funding for supportive housing.

• The City is using hotels to house the recent influx of refugees because the shelter system was already over capacity. (Related.) Previously:

I just want everyone to reflect on the fact that in the biggest city in Canada, the shelter system is so full it can't handle 27 more people

— Neville 🕷 Park (@neville_park) December 12, 2016

• The development application to replace the Seaton House shelter comes before Council, another milestone in the (still unfunded) George Street Revitalization project.

Neighbourhoods

• Council is set to approve the winning design for Etobicoke’s new civic centre.

• An update on the Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy.

• The City is revamping its Below-Market Rent policy into a new Community Space Tenancy policy to accommodate groups beyond traditional “non-profits”, like grassroots groups and social enterprises.

• …I had no idea 666 Spadina Ave., a big kind of ratty slab apartment building crammed with student renters, was a heritage property.

• Cllr Cesar Palacio tries to deal with a couple of “problem properties”, which aren’t even on Yelp so who knows. Related: Council continues to struggle with how to crack down on restaurants that basically turn into nightclubs. Related to related: see the other parts of the Auditor General’s review of business licensing, dealing with licensing in general and massage parlours.

Well-Intentioned But Totally Non-Binding Appeals to Other Orders of Government

• Cllrs Joe Cressy and Paula Fletcher want Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources to designate the Toronto Islands a Bird Sanctuary.

• I only wish a power plant accident was the only nuclear emergency we actually had to consider.

• The Board of Health is alarmed by a provincial panel’s report that, among other things, would split Toronto Public Health into three different agencies, each with its own CEO and Medical Officer of Health.

• The City has feelings about proposed provincial Planning Act reforms.

Miscellaneous

• Tree Removal Permit of the Month: a Norway spruce in North York, near the airport. “The property owner claimed the tree roots create a trip hazard to children.”

• Section 37 Benefit of the Month: some $20,000 for capital improvements at Church-Isabella Residents Co-op, from this development next door.

• A new Muslim youth internship program will create thirteen new placements in councillors’ offices starting next year.

• Cllrs Anthony Perruzza and Neethan Shan want Rogers Channel 10 and its live Council broadcasts back. Council and committee meetings are currently streamed on YouTube.

• Holiday shopping? Next you’ll want to run streetcars on Sunday!

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Watch the meeting live on Rogers Channel 10 YouTube or follow along on Twitter! And feel free to send along suggestions/corrections/additions.