Toronto Council meets today! What better way to spend a hot July day. It’s municipal government in action. Or perhaps municipal government inaction. Either way, I’m live tweeting it and you can’t stop me. The meeting will stream live here shortly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW8LDIilslA
I previewed this meeting — and its giant agenda — in this week’s issue of @cityhallwatcher. I focused on the budgetary parts. But don’t worry — there will also be a debate about leaf blowers. And cats. The animal, not the musical. https://toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/chw184
Because this is the last regular meeting before the election, Mayor John Tory has named two election-y items as his key matters, so they’ll go first. One is about new park opportunities, while the other authorizes the city to sign long-term leases for affordable housing sites.
The meeting has started. Because this is the last regular meeting of the term, Mayor John Tory starts by thanking staff for running these meetings for the last 4 years, and doing some very quick work to pivot to virtual meetings during the pandemic. Props to @TorontoCouncil.
Talking about the pandemic response, Tory gives a shout-out to Joe Cressy, who left City Hall a couple of months back. He also thanks Speaker Frances Nunziata for keeping meetings “on track” and “constructive.” Notes most (not all) of meetings were wrapped in two days, not three
Tory also thanks councillors Minnan-Wong, Bailao and Filion who have all announced they won’t seek re-election. DMW gets cited for his work on the collective bargaining committee, Bailao for managing the affordable housing file, and Filion for 40 years of public service.
Councillor James Pasternak welcomes Supernaturalz, a Toronto breakdance group, to City Hall. He praises their “innovative dance moves.” But they do not dance. They just sit there.
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong gives a goodbye speech. He says he’s made a lot of friendships at City Hall. He thinks people would be surprised by some of his friends, citing a great relationship with Howard Moscoe.
DMW says council should be an “arena of ideas” with “respect for all ideas.” He notes that Council has a lot of challenges in front of it, pointing out next year’s budget challenge looks to be immense.
Minnan-Wong calls himself a “suburban councillor.” He worries about decisions council might make about rooming houses. “What I hope this council takes into consideration is not just tenants, but homeowners. For some reason, it seems it’s a bad thing to be a homeowner these days.”
“My message to you: don’t forget about [homeowners]. They’re real people,” concludes Deputy Mayor Minnan-Wong, standing up for Toronto’s real underdogs: people lucky enough to own real estate in one of the most expensive places in the world.
And now a goodbye speech from Councillor Ana Bailão. She notes she came to Canada at 15 years old, and never thought she’d be a city councillor. But she “sensed the opportunity this city had.” Over her 12 years in office, she’s tried to create that sense of opportunity for others
Bailao: “In housing, we’re not going to pay our way out of this crisis, and we’re not going to build our way out of this crisis. We need BOTH.”
Councillor Filion begins his farewell speech by noting this feels like deja vu. He announced his retirement before, in 2018, but then jumped back into the race after Ford’s council cut. (Later: someone shot at his house!) “I really am leaving for real,” he assures colleagues.
Filion notes there was a lot more discord in Tory’s first term. He’s glad there’s been a more collegial tone this term, because it would have been real hard to get through the pandemic if councillors were always fighting.
Councillor James Pasternak notes that the most recent North York Community Council meeting — the final one of the term — was impacted by the Rogers outage. He pays tribute to IT staff and the clerks for figuring out how to complete the meeting even with the connectivity issues.
Pasternak says the Rogers outage threatened the North York Community Council’s ability to pass some items that, if not adopted, could have cost the city “tens of millions of dollars” in Section 37 benefits and other amenities.
Mayor John Tory formally declares a conflict of interest on four items, all related to his Rogers connections. Three budget reports, and Councillor Josh Matlow’s motion specifically about the Rogers outage asking the city to look at alternatives to maintain connectivity.
Council votes 23-2 to install a pedestrian crossover at the intersection of Huntingwood Drive and Kittery Boulevard in Scarborough. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.SC33.67
Council votes 23-2 to install traffic lights at Bloor West & Perth Avenue. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.TE34.232
A twist! Councillor Filion wants to bring forward the item from the most recent Planning & Housing Committee re: multiplexes to Council. It was a delegated matter. Filion says he supports multiplexes, but calls the draft plan amendment “terribly worded.” http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.PH35.3
Specifically, Filion doesn’t like that the draft official plan amendment allowing multiplexes removes references to new projects needing to conform to the “prevailing building types” in that neighbourhoods. He wants staff to change that part ahead of planned consultations.
Perks speaks against Filion’s move to bring the multiplex item to council. He says the draft amendment isn’t official yet (it’s a draft!) so it’s totally fine to go forward with this language for the planned consultations.
Perks says Filion’s move would delay the approval of multiplexes, because it would force an extra round of consultations. One round to discuss whether the “prevailing building type” language should be in the draft amendment, and one round to discuss the finalized draft amendment.
Councillor Carroll moves to call the question, which means they’d skip the rest of this debate about whether to add the multiplex item to the agenda and just vote on whether to add it. That CARRIES 19-6.
Filion’s motion to add the multiplex item to this meeting’s agenda FAILS 6-19. So no multiplex debate at this meeting. Consultation process will continue as scheduled. Final zoning amendment will come to Council next year.
Because there’s a hell of a lot on this agenda, Nunziata suggests shortening council’s daily lunch break to one hour, and extending today’s meeting until 8 p.m. Council votes in favour of these changes.
Council has adopted the order paper, which is a fancy way of saying all agenda items not held for debate have now been passed. There are… 176 items left to deal with. Oh no.
The mayor’s designated first item is about priority downtown parks. It endorses a work plan for parks at Bathurst Quay, on the rail corridor and on University Ave. But all remain unfunded. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.4
Tory says the Bathurst Quay park project could be accelerated, especially if it was connected to World Cup festivies. Showing games on the side of the silos would be pretty cool.
Since I’m seeing some tweets asking about it, Councillor Mike Layton says here that his yes vote on bringing the multiplex item to the council agenda was a mistake. https://x.com/m_layton/status/1549429248435179521
Tory wraps up his speech on parks. And that’s it for the morning session of Toronto City Council. Full list of accomplishments: - Farewell speeches - Set the agenda - Decided not to debate multiplexes - Mayor gave a speech about parks. Back at 1:30 p.m. for more.
Status check: 15 members of council in the chamber, ten councillors participating remotely. Key question: how long can @cllrainslie sit outside, given this heat?
Council is back. But before we get to the agenda, it’s time for another tribute to a retiring person. The mayor thanks retiring City Manager Chris Murray for his “commitment, dedication and hard work.”
Tory credits Murray for going out and experiencing some jobs done by city workers. Tory says he did the same when he was an exec at Rogers. “The only thing I didn’t do was climb poles to do repairs, because I probably would have screwed up the repair and fallen off the pole.”
“The next four years are a heck of a challenge,” says departing City Manager Chris Murray. He’s the second person today to make a point of telling City Hall that they’re kind of screwed while heading out the door.
Murray reminds us that he is not retiring, but won’t say exactly what he’ll be up to next. “I’m not ready for the beach,” he says. He gets a standing ovation from councillors and staff in attendance and gives some chocolates to Speaker Frances Nunziata.
With Murray leaving, the mayor has selected someone to serve as interim city manager. But the name is confidential until after they are approved by council. Council votes 21-1 to APPROVE the mystery person.
Mayor John Tory adds an item to the agenda. Apparently the Aga Khan is set to visit, and the mayor would like to name a street after him.
After some housekeeping, council finally returns to its first debate of this meeting: downtown parks. Quick math. At this rate of approximately 4 hours per remaining item, this meeting will end in approximately 692 hours, or 28 days. They should probably speed things up.
On the downtown parks item, Scarborough councillor Cynthia Lai wants to remind colleagues that areas outside of downtown also exist. She’d like to see some destination parks in the Scarborough area too.
Tory has a motion for a report on opportunities to build parks in parkland-deficient areas outside the downtown core. That CARRIES via show of hands, as does the downtown parks item as amended.
Up now: the mayor’s second key matter, on housing. Among other things, it asks for authorization to approve lease agreements with non-profits to operate some new affordable and supportive housing sites. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.PH35.21
The affordable housing item carries via a show of hands. Up now: the Ombudsman’s interim report into the 2021 encampment evictions. Ombudsman Kwame Addo says he can give a presentation on his findings. Does council want it? YES, they say, via a 16-3 vote http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.CC47.2
In this interim report, the Ombudsman found that in 2020 the city established an “encampment office” but never clearly or publicly defined the office’s mandate, and also understaffed the office. The final report will come in the new term of council, next year.
Councillor Gord Perks asks Ombudsman Addo if he found that the city had an up-to-date plan for managing park encampments. Addo says the interdepartmental protocol for encampments hadn’t been updated since 2005. So no.
Perks asks Deputy City Manager Tracey Cook if the encampment protocol has now been updated. Cook says not yet, but they’ve hired someone to do that.
“When you have a lot of people in a small space, there can be some unfortunate circumstances,” says Deputy City Manager Tracey Cook. But her “first primary responsibility and guiding principle” is “public personal safety.”
After Matlow asks for an apology from staff over the 2021 encampment evictions, Mayor John Tory suggests Matlow must be in favour of encampments. The mayor says he, by contrast, opposes encampments. “They are unsafe, they are unhealthy and they are illegal.”
Quick pause as Councillor Perruzza welcomes a class from Seneca studying municipal government relations. “They’re here with their instructor Andrew Pask. And this term they are studying Toronto city hall. So they’re watching all of you! So be on your best behaviour please.”
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong says he has heard anecdotally that there were weapons in encampments — guns or knives. Cook says she can’t speak to specifics, but there have been cases where they’ve found weapons.
Minnan-Wong asks if there was drug use and/or drug trafficking in encampments. Cook says she’s aware of some cases where that was occurring.
MInnan-Wong asks if some people in encampments were not really living there, but instead had a “political agenda.” Cook says she can’t really answer that question, but some people in encampments were there to support others.
“Should we be putting a moratorium on closing down on encampments” until the city’s encampment protocols get updated, Councillor Paul Ainslie asks the ombudsman. Addo says that’s not his office’s decision. His job is to make sure the city is being fair.
Nunziata wonders if the people who refused to leave encampments weren’t actually homeless, but instead members of “political groups that wanted to make a statement.” Cook says there were a “number of individuals of varying circumstances who did not leave as requested.”
Nunziata suggests that the people in encampments to make a “political statement” represented a majority of the people there. “Everyone’s free to draw their own conclusions,” says Cook.
Just to sum up: in the last ten minutes or so, people living in park encampments have been portrayed, by some councillors, as weapon-wielding drug dealers who were not actually homeless but just wanted to make some kind of political statement.
Both Tory and Layton have now referred to Tracey Cook as “Acting City Manager” during this debate so calibrate your bets accordingly.
Bailao asks for numbers on encampments this year versus last year. As of June 1 last year, Cook says there were 370 identified encampments. As of last week, the city knew of 84 active encampments.
“What do you think would be the impact of having a moratorium to not allow you to clear any further encampments?” asks Bailao. “We’d be back into 2020. We would have our public spaces taken over by unhealthy and unclean circumstance,” says Cook.
Cook also says a moratorium on evictions would prevent the city from helping people to move into shelters and/or housing and get the supports they need.
“No argument makes it right to violate people’s human rights the way we did,” says Councillor Gord Perks regarding encampment evictions. He’ll be supporting a coming motion from Councillor Robin Buxton Potts that’ll call for an eviction moratorium.
“We need a better protocol. We need a better process. And that needs to be developed. And until that’s developed, we shouldn’t be doing something that we know is ineffective, violent and inhumane, and doesn’t actually solve the problems we seek to resolve,” says Matlow.
Councillor Mike Layton has a motion calling for the City Manager to make funding and staffing changes necessary to fulfill the ombudsman’s recommendation on encampments.
A twist! Councillor Robin Buxton Potts says city legal staff have ruled her motion for a moratorium on encampment evictions out of order, because councillors aren’t allowed to direct enforcement. She instead moves to further development a support model for encampment residents.
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong takes this opportunity to thank the staff who carried out the evictions last summer, saying it was a tough job and they had to deal with activists who were “trying to turn up the heat.” He says staff “aren’t the bad guys in this.”
Mayor John Tory also thanks staff for doing their job “with the greatest of dedication and passion.” He says these staff have been followed home and “spit on” by eviction opponents.
The Layton and Buxton Potts motions CARRY via show of hands, as does the item as amended. The Ombudsman will continue his investigation into the encampment evictions and issue a final report next year.
Council is now debating development charges. Staff have proposed a 46% increase, phased in by 2024, adding more than $16K to the cost of a one-bed unit. Both developers and housing advocates are wondering if this makes sense given there’s a, you know, housing crisis.
“Who won? Who lost?” asks Councillor Mihevc on these development and growth charge increases. City controller Andrew Flynn says he thinks they’ve struck a balance between bringing in revenue to pay for infrastructure and supporting the economic environment needed for development.
“We have known for some time that growth doesn’t pay for growth,” says Chief Planner Gregg Lintern. He says even these increased development charges and other fees won’t cover all the costs driven by population growth.
It’s official: Tracey Cook has been named interim City Manager. https://www.toronto.ca/news/tracey-cook-appointed-city-of-torontos-interim-city-manager/
On the development charges and growth fees items, Councillor Shelley Carroll moves for some refund adjustments related to the Toronto Green Standard.
Councillor Shelley Carroll points us to page 24 of the report on development charges, indicating that Toronto’s DC rates will still be lower than some other GTA municipalities even after this increase. (Of course, Toronto’s property taxes are also much lower than the GTA average)
Councillor Ana Bailao moves to exempt second, third and fourth units built on single lots from paying development charges, noting the city doesn’t want to discourage multiplexes. Also makes a tweak to the Home Ownership Assistance Program so it’ll work better with increased DCs.
Perks has some concerns with Bailao’s motion to exempt second, third and fourth units from dev charges. Doesn’t want exemption applying to small-scale condo buildings with million-dollar units. Bailao agrees to work on changes to tie exemptions to tenure and/or affordability.
Holyday wonders how Bailao’s multiplex exemptions to DCs would benefit tenants. Bailao says exemptions from DCs will encourage more people to create multiplex units, increasing overall supply.
Councillor John Filion moves to maintain “flexibility” in reallocating Community Benefit Charges, the replacement to Section 37 charges under new provincial legislation.
Councillor Gord Perks says he’s conflicted about this development charge increase Item and is only supporting it because he’s confident Council will get a report long-term revenue report in the new term, which will look at additional progressive revenue sources for the city.
Mayor Tory says he’s arranged for food for staff working late at this meeting. He assures us he’s paid for it — it’s not coming at taxpayer expense. (Though he also acknowledges food for city workers at late night council meetings would likely be a reasonable taxpayer expense.)
There aren’t many legacies left from Rob Ford’s time as mayor, but the lack of food and coffee at committee and council meetings endures.
Councillor James Pasternak says developers may not like paying development charges, but he says they need to understand those charges are paying for community assets like libraries, community centres, parkland, etc. “That’s why people buy into communities.”
It’s notable that we are hearing arguments about development charges working as an investment in building a great city from councillors who routinely rage at the idea of hiking residential property taxes to pay for investments in building a great city.
Councillor Bailao’s motion to exempt multiplexes with four or fewer units from development charges CARRIES 18-5.
All other motions on the development charges and growth fee items CARRY via show of hands. As do the items themselves. 46% increase to development charges has been approved by Toronto Council, and will be phased in through 2024.
Council votes 18-3 to authorize the City Manager to finalize negotiations with Metrolinx for an Eglinton Crosstown operating agreement. Perks argued the term sheet was too restrictive and limits the city’s ability to set service levels on the line.
Up now: a new commemorative framework for public spaces. Basically a new policy for how Toronto names stuff, following the reckoning over stuff named after guys like Dundas and Ryerson. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.6
Holyday moves a series of changes to the recommended new policy for street naming, sticking to the previous rules that require a 75% support rate from property owners on a street for any renaming, and a provision that applicants pay for cost of renaming. https://x.com/TorontoCouncil/status/1549526294219657218
Carroll urges her colleagues to oppose all of Holyday’s motions. “All of these motions are fine if you’re comfortable that you have benefitted from white supremacy from the minute you were born and for every minute of your life, and if you should so choose to name a street.”
Holyday’s motion to maintain the requirement that at least 75% of property owners on a street support a proposed street renaming FAILS 5-18.
Holyday’s motion to require that any street renaming applications must first be given the green light by community council or council before staff conduct an evaluation FAILS 5-18.
Holyday’s motion that applicants for a street renaming pay for the cost of renaming the street FAILS 1-22. Holyday is again the lonely vote.
Holyday’s motion that staff reports on street renamings include a full cost accounting related to the renaming FAILS 8-15.
And Toronto’s new commemorative naming policy CARRIES 20-3. Report on shortlist of potential new names for Dundas Street, Dundas Square, etc, coming next year.
Meanwhile… https://x.com/robertbenzie/status/1549530315533783041
Initial hot take is that strong mayor powers are unlikely to change much at Toronto city hall. Tory has rarely been stymied by council and, when he has, he’s been reluctant to push suburban allies on controversial issues like rooming houses. Would he use a veto if he had one?
Council votes 20-1 to create an advisory committee on housing in the new term. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.7
On an item about waterfront revitalization, Councillor Joe Mihevc moves to make sure economic development on the waterfront is “inclusive” and to reaffirm the waterfront east LRT as a priority project. Both motions, and the item, CARRY via show of hands. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.10
Councillor Gord Perks has a point of order, bringing up the Toronto Star scoop that Premier Doug Ford is looking at implementing a strong mayor system in Toronto. Perks wonders if there’s an opportunity for Council to discuss it at this meeting. Nunziata says she’ll look into it.
Council calls it a night. They’ve whittled down this monster of an agenda pretty well! There are 153 items left, and 84 of them are member motions that should mostly be dealt with quick. Still to come: cats and leaf blowers. Back at it tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.
Council is back for day two. The agenda has grown overnight. There are now 170 items left. First item will be Toronto Hydro’s financial statements. Later, they’ll debate leaf blowers and cats. Streaming live here. I’ll keep tweeting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swn1m6ME0JU
The day begins with a tribute to Marilyn Toft, who is retiring as Council Secretariat Support Manager. Mayor says she’s signed off on more than 30,750 city bylaws and 1,500 metro bylaws over her 33 year career at city hall. She’s the “backbone of council operations,” says Tory.
Councillor Josh Matlow previews a motion coming to this meeting that’ll request Doug Ford NOT foist a “strong mayor” system on Toronto. https://x.com/JoshMatlow/status/1549754994261458944
A one-year trial? Can we also get an extended warranty? https://x.com/CityCynthia/status/1549758977319346178
Council is onto the first item: the 2021 financial statement for Toronto Hydro. Councillor Gord Perks asks about executive compensation. Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines made nearly $1.4 million last year, including a $661K bonus. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.31
On the Hydro item, Perks moves to direct Toronto Hydro to hold off on any senior manager raises or new senior manager hires until after the city finishes a review of executive compensation.
Councillor Mark Grimes says he doesn’t feel comfortable with Perks’ motion, because councillors don’t have a chance to ask staff about it. Grimes wants to hold the item so he can draft a referral motion. And so they’ll come back to Toronto Hydro later in this meeting.
Councillors are now going into private session to discuss some billboard applications. Disappointed I will not be able to report on what will no doubt be an intense debate about signs.
Some more details on the strong mayor stuff. The only major issue over the last four years where this could have made a difference is on rooming houses, but no guarantee Tory would have used his veto against councillors who are generally on his side. https://x.com/ColinDMello/status/1549780069530337280
Council is back in public session. Still talking about signs. The issue, as I understand it, is that the billboard companies would like to install digital signs in various places that are much, much bigger than what’s currently permitted. Like four times bigger.
Making a couple of these sign proposals a bit more complicated is the fact that provincial agency Metrolinx is pushing for them, arguing these new digital billboards along highways will “deliver valuable messaging and communication” and “generate critical Non-Fare revenue.”
Councillor Josh Matlow’s motion to have a debate on Doug Ford’s strong mayor plan gets ADDED to the agenda, on an 18-3 vote.
After dealing with a few minor items, Council breaks for lunch. The billboard item got pushed back to Thursday morning, which unfortunately means this meeting will probably extend to Thursday morning. Pray for me. Back at 1:30 p.m.
It appears the afternoon will start with another tribute to a retiring person. They are cueing up a video for AG Beverly Romeo-Beehler. Call me a grouch, but maybe there should be a ceremonial final meeting of the term — like the ceremonial first meeting — to do this stuff.
We do indeed start with a tribute to departing Auditor General Beverly Romeo-Beehler. BRB, we could have called her. Her office has made waves throughout her tenure, especially with recent reports on tree pruning and the COVID shelter hotels uncovering waste and overbilling.
Under Romeo-Beehler, the AG’s office also established a YouTube channel, which includes classics like this short clip of someone scraping a bunch of dust off the windshield of a city vehicle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB2tj-yQDa0
The tribute video for the AG ends with a clip of her team waving goodbye. Goodbye, BRB.
Councillor Shelley Carroll rises to prevent a catastrophic debate, moving to reverse her motion at committee that would have made it illegal to let cats roam freely in Toronto. She also moves to have staff work on increasing the rate of licensing. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EC31.5
Carroll’s motion to continue to let Toronto’s felines frolic freely CARRIES 21-1. Layton is the lonely vote.
Carroll’s motion to have staff work at increasing the rate of cat licensing and microchipping and report back on bylaw changes that might help further increase the rate CARRIES 21-2.
Toronto’s updated animal bylaws are ADOPTED 21-2. Please note you are now only allowed to keep a maximum of four rabbits and/or guinea pigs. Adjust your plans accordingly.
Up now: the World Cup! It’s gonna be expensive. Councillor Joe Mihevc moves a long motion asking for a report on a community benefits plan. But Councillor Thompson wants to hold the item some more. We’ll come back to it. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.8
Councillor Josh Matlow’s motion for a report on the costs to city hall related to the Rogers outage and options for connectivity alternatives that could better keep city services online is ADDED to the agenda after a 15-7 vote. Nunziata holds it for debate http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.20
Councillor Nunziata’s motion to support the establishment of a Somali Community Cultural and Recreation Centre CARRIES 22-0. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.29
Councillor Michael Thompson’s motion to contribute up to $200K to the Toronto Global Forum CARRIES 20-1. Perks is the lonely vote. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.30
Councillor John Filion’s motion to allow councillors who aren’t running for re-election to continue to send out newsletters and other community notices during the campaign period FAILS to make the agenda. Vote was 15-8. It didn’t get the needed two-thirds support.
Councillor Brad Bradford’s motion to report on some enhancements to the Vision Zero Road Safety Program is ADDED to the agenda on a 21-2 vote. Councillor Holyday holds it for debate. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.45
Motion from Councillor Michael Thompson (seconded by the mayor) for a report on ways to “advance Toronto's position as a leading destination for meetings, conventions and trade shows” CARRIES 22-0. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.51
Councillor Perruzza’s motion to revoke staff authority to enter into and alter agreements for shelter hotels, and to develop a strategy to transition away from shelter hotels, FAILS to make the agenda, after a 9-13 vote. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.55
Councillor Ana Bailao’s motion to explore the feasibility of a loan program to support organizations looking to purchase and preserve live music venues CARRIES 22-2. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.67
Councillor James Pasternak’s motion to request the provincial government provide details on how and when they’re going to get the Sheppard West subway extension built is ADDED to the agenda on a 17-7 vote. Councillor Perks holds it. North York Relief Line! http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.77
Council votes via show of hands to adopt a motion from Mayor John Tory to ceremonially name part of Wynford Drive as Aga Khan Boulevard. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.92
Councillor Mark Grimes’ motion urging the Roncesvalles BIA to reconsider their move to rename the Roncesvalles Polish Festival CARRIES 22-0. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.95
The member motion run-through is finished. After a few more quick items, there are now just 63 items left on this agenda. I feel it. Hope. There’s hope. We are going to get through this.
Council votes 21-2 to APPROVE entering into a multi-party agreement to host games as part of FIFA World Cup 2026 at an estimated cost (for now!) of about $300 million, to be shared by three levels of gov. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.8
Back on the item about Toronto Hydro compensation, Councillor Perks’ motion for Hydro to hold off on increasing exec pay and hiring new senior execs until after the city completes a review of executive compensation CARRIES 20-1. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.31
Up now: the operating budget variance report. Council is being asked to acknowledge they’re on track for an $857 million year-end deficit. Since the City isn’t allowed to run operating deficits, this is not good news. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.16
Councillor Perks asks staff how many vacancies there are at City Hall. Staff say the current vacancy rate is 12.4%. Seems high!
Perks says the 12.4% vacancy rate points to the city’s inability to attract & retain talent. He says vacancy rates result in poor services, and councillors and the mayor need to have a “direct and meaningful” conversation about Toronto’s financial crisis during this election.
Councillor Michael Thompson rises to agree with Perks, saying Scarborough recently lost a city planner who was offered a private sector job with a $300K salary. The city doesn’t pay anywhere close to that.
My Star column this week is all about Toronto’s financial crisis. The budget gap, and the resulting capital cuts, are big and scary and the mayor should be talking about this more. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/07/19/toronto-needs-money-but-whos-willing-to-pay-for-the-citys-massive-budget-gap.html?rf
Budget Chief Gary Crawford also agrees that 12.4% is a very high staff vacancy rate. But he disagrees that Toronto is in a “crisis.” He says Toronto is “challenged” with its finances but believes the city will get out of this. “How? I’m not quite sure yet.”
Crawford says Council will need to have a “difficult conversation” about services and spending when they return after the election. But he adds that every budget year has been challenging, and council has always figured it out.
Mayor John Tory rises to talk about the work he’s been doing with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford to get more cash. He urges councillors to speak with and write to MPs and MPPs to help “push this ball over the line.”
Councillor Michael Thompson wonders if the mayor can provide some background information and details to help councillors shape their communications to MPs and MPPs re: Toronto’s budget needs. Tory says he doesn’t want councillors to send “form letters” but agrees to provide info.
The CFO wants a bit more time to look at a budget motion, so the budget debate gets paused. Up now: when should council hold the first meeting of the new term? Staff suggest Nov 15. Some councillors seem to prefer November 22. Thrilling discourse. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.23
Councillor James Pasternak moves to schedule the first council meeting of the new term on November 23, instead of the November 16 date recommended by staff. He says new and returning councillors need more time to prep before the first meeting.
Pasternak acknowledges pushing back the date of the first meeting is also partly motivated by councillors who could have travel plans after the election.
Councillor Anthony Perruzza moves to cancel the post-election committee cycle entirely, so the first real council meeting wouldn’t be until January, giving council a long break after the election.
Perruzza says elections are “onerous” and there’s a “tradition” of giving new councillors time to get their offices set up. New people need to get business cards, hire staff, “figure out where the bathrooms are”, etc, he points out.
Councillor Shelley Carroll raises an objection after Perruzza suggests she supports just throwing new councillors into meetings with no prep time. Perruzza says he didn’t mean to offend. Carroll wants an actual apology. Perruzza gets down on his knees and makes a showy apology.
Not exactly council’s most shining moment, this debate.
Tory, who has urged council NOT to support Perruzza, points out the staff-recommended schedule gives newbies 35 days before the first real meeting. Isn’t that enough time? Perruzza says 35 days might seem like a lot, but picking up signs and closing campaign offices takes a while
Councillor Pasternak’s motion to push the first Council meeting of the new term back by a week, to November 23, CARRIES 21-2.
Councillor Perruzza’s motion to outright cancel the first real committee and council cycle after the election, pushing most business back into January, FAILS 4-18.
Up now: council needs to fill Michael Ford’s vacant council seat. Again! The last time went very badly. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/06/24/new-etobicoke-city-councillor-resigns-hours-after-appointment-after-homophobic-posts-surface.html
Staff have pointed out council can vary its typical appointment process, which is a long process involving a sign-up period and a special meeting where potential appointees make their case directly to council. Instead of doing that, council can just appoint someone directly.
Also, after the last appointment debacle, Mayor John Tory has brought a motion that would request the province amend the City of Toronto Act to allow council to keep seats vacant if vacancies occur after March 31 of an election year. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.43
Councillor Stephen Holyday moves to change the mayor’s motion so they’d only be allowed to keep seats vacant if vacancies occur on or after the date of the last regularly-scheduled council meeting.
Mayor John Tory has a couple of motions. One appoints Councillor Mark Grimes to replace Michael Ford on the police board. He also moves to fill the Ward 1 vacancy using the same process they used last time, with a special council meeting on August 15.
The person appointed to replace Michael Ford in Ward 1 on August 15 will serve for about 70 days. I guess that’s still a longer term in office than Charles Tupper and William Henry Harrison.
Holyday’s motion to still require council to appoint someone to fill vacancies until the last regular meeting of a term (assuming the provincial government agrees to change the City of Toronto Act) FAILS 7-17.
Tory’s motion requesting the province change the City of Toronto Act to allow council to keep seats vacant if vacancies occur after March 31 in an election year CARRIES 21-2.
Tory’s motion to try filling Michael Ford’s seat again with the standard appointment process, with a special meeting on August 15, CARRIES 21-2.
Tory’s motion to put Councillor Mark Grimes on the police board, replacing Michael Ford, CARRIES 22-1.
The Q2 bike lane installation plan CARRIES unanimously via a show of hands. It includes lanes on Gerrad East and Overlea Boulevard. Councillor Stephen Holyday added a motion in support of the Etobicoke Greenway project too. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.IE31.12
Council has run out of items they can deal with tonight, so they decide to call it a day. Tomorrow kicks off with a vote on billboards, followed by a debate on some interesting audits of the 911 system. Also still on the agenda: leaf blowers. See you back here at 9:30 a.m.
Council has returned for a third day. Today they will discuss signs and leaf blowers and the fact that the premier would like to add some XP points to John Tory’s PWR stat. Streaming live here. I’m still tweeting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrLEwhdT0Ww
There are 57 items left on the agenda. Some new additions last night, including one from Councillor Bradford. He says the notorious Tuggs Incorporated held an unpermitted tequila-sponsored event at Woodbine Beach. He wants legal staff to look into it. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.108
A motion from Councillor Mike Layton to extend the maximum age limit for vehicles used for Uber/Lyft and taxis by an additional year, to ten years total, CARRIES 23-0. Also asks for a report on these vehicle age provisions. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.GL32.29
The operating budget variance report CARRIES 24-0, which means Council has officially acknowledged they are on course for an $857 million year-end operating budget deficit. The mayor has asked councillors to write to MPs and MPPs requesting money for the city.
Bradford’s motion requesting city hall’s legal eagles look into the unpermitted tequila event at Woodbine Beach CARRIES 23-0.
Councillor Anthony Perruzza’s motion to REJECT this electronic billboard application at 2025 Wilson Avenue FAILS 11-13.
Councillor Perruzza’s motion to REJECT an application for an electronic billboard at 55 Beverly Hills Drive FAILS 12-12. Loses on a tie.
Councillor Shelley Carroll’s motion to REJECT an application for an electronic billboard at 401 & Leslie FAILS 10-14.
Councillor Gord Perks’ motion to REJECT an application for an electronic billboard along Highway 427 FAILS 9-15.
A confidential report from the AG on the City’s ongoing efforts to require overcharges related to the emergency hotel shelter program is adopted via a show of hands, with a request from Councillor John Filion for another report later. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.AU13.8
Council is now debating a report that provides an update on the city’s economy. Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong says the city should be doing its part to fight inflation by keeping taxes and utility bills low. “We can keep our budgets under control.” http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EC31.18
Councillor Shelley Carroll is concerned about the direction of Toronto’s real estate market. “It’s great to see prices go down if you’re in the market for the first time, but if all of your equity is tied up in a house it’s very stressful.”
Councillor Mike Colle says one thing that could help inflation would be to get rid of the “highest and best use” assessment system that often saddles businesses with high commercial property tax bills.
Council dispenses with the economic update with no motions or votes. Up now: should the city give a grant worth up to $15 million to pharma company Sanofi to build a vaccine manufacturing facility? Councillor Perks doesn’t like these corporate subsidies. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EC31.32
Perks points out the city’s IMIT grant program for businesses has given out more than $750 million in subsidies to private industry. He says the city could better spend that money on housing and other services.
Also of note: Cadillac Fairview has applied to the IMIT grant program for three buildings in the East Harbour development. This dev is already being supported by huge spending on on-site transit stations and the Gardiner rebuild. Report on the grant applications coming in Q1 2023
Councillors Thompson, Bradford and Pasternak have all said they disagree with Perks, arguing that this corporate grant program is important because otherwise businesses will locate elsewhere.
Mayor John Tory also defends the IMIT corporate subsidy program, arguing that, sure, the city has spent $750 million in grants to attract businesses, but the investment from businesses in Toronto has been more than that, and it’s worth it.
Council votes 20-2 to AUTHORIZE a grant of $10 million - $15 million to a company locating a vaccine manufacturing facility in Toronto.
Intriguing report up now: despite staff recommending against it, the General Government & Licensing Report voted to create a grant program, limited only to the Rockcliffe neighbourhood, that would offer recurring payments of $7,500 when people experience basement flooding.
Staff argued that the basement flooding isn’t always caused by sewer backups, and also that a grant program like this doesn’t do anything to actually PREVENT flooding. The cost is estimated at about $6 million over the life of the program.
What happens if someone in another neighbourhood who experiences basement flooding applies for this grant program, Councillor Stephen Holyday asks. Staff said they’d get nothing. “Is that fair?” asks Holyday. Staff point out they definitely raised equity issues in their report.
Holyday asks how much this basement flooding grant program would cost if it was extended city-wide. “Tens of millions of dollars,” say staff.
Funding for the Rockcliffe neighbourhood’s $7,500 basement flooding grant program would come from city-wide revenue derived from water bills. “There are equity issues with funding a program from all rate or tax payers to a select group of residents,” the report says.
Nev reminds us that there was an Ombudsman report on the basement flooding issue in 2020, which included a mention that “some people” were pushing for a no-fault grant program. https://x.com/neville_park/status/1550139267090972672
Councillor Gord Perks moves to expand the proposed $7,500 no-fault grant program for basement flooding to any “Special Policy Area” especially vulnerable to flooding.
Perks says if his motion fails, he’ll vote against motion for a Rockcliffe-specific basement flooding grant program. “We treat Torontonians equally and fairly regardless of what part of the city they live in.” (He also points out his ward doesn’t have any special policy areas.)
Councillor Nunziata asks colleagues NOT to support the Perks motion, and keep the grant program to the Rockcliffe area in her ward only. She says describes Rockcliffe as particularly impacted by basement flooding, with several feet of sewage, etc.
Nunziata accuses Perks of trying to take Rockcliffe out of the basement flooding grant program. Perks says that’s NOT what he’s doing. He’s expanding it to all special policy areas. After a few requests, Nunziata acknowledges he is in fact correct.
(Probably time to restore the rule that the speaker is not allowed to speak on items while in the speaker’s chair.)
Here’s a map of the Special Policy Areas that would be eligible for $7,500 no-fault basement flooding grants under the Perks motion.
Mayor John Tory moves for a report in 2023 on the progress of the Rockcliffe no-fault basement flooding program, with a report on potentially expanding the program city-wide. Basically turns the program in Nunziata’s ward into a pilot project.
Or, perhaps, the report on the Rockcliffe basement flooding program would come in 2024? Mayor’s on-screen motion is now showing a different date. 🤷♂️
Councillor Perks’ motion to expand the Rockcliffe basement flooding grant program to any Special Policy Area especially vulnerable to flooding FAILS 2-21.
Tory’s motion for a report in 2024 on the Rockcliffe basement flooding program with recommendations about maybe taking the program city-wide CARRIES 18-5. (Result didn’t show on screen for whatever reason.)
Council APPROVES the $7,500 no-fault basement flooding grant program exclusively (for now) for the Rockcliffe area in Nunziata’s ward. Vote is 16-7.
Up now: closing an 800 metre gap in the Humber River Trail. Staff have proposed an elevated boardwalk and a couple of pedestrian-cycle bridges. But the Weston Golf and Country Club is concerned about the plan. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.IE31.11
A reason cited for Weston Golf Club’s concern about the proposed trail alignment: “Personal security concerns also exist for vulnerable public users of the path who may find themselves trapped in an enclosed area with individuals or groups they would ordinarily be able to avoid.”
Letter from the Weston Golf Club suggests alternative design concepts are “much safer alternatives.” Here are the concepts they prefer, both of which would require trail users to link up to the road. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/ie/comm/communicationfile-154319.pdf (PDF)
Councillor Stephen Holyday, noting people from the golf club are “furious” about this, moves to continue consultations on the trail connection, with a report back in Q2 2023.
Here are a couple of renders of the proposed trail connection. The second one shows the covered (to protect from flying golf balls) elevated boardwalk adjacent to the golf course.
Holyday defends the golf club, and says the covered boardwalk means you’d be “stuck like a bird cage. Once you enter, there’s no way out.”
Councillor Gord Perks gets action, asking why Nunziata is speaking on issues like this one from the speaker’s chair. She appears to indicate she’ll stop? We’ll see!
Holyday’s motion to refer the Humber River Trail item back to staff for more consultation with the golf club FAILS 3-17.
Councillor Jennifer McKelvie moves for staff to continue discussions with the golf club and other local stakeholders as detailed design for the trail connection is developed.
McKelvie’s amendment carries via show of hands. And Council ENDORSES the 1A design concept for the Humber River Trail connection that goes along the edge of the golf course. Vote is 18-1. Holyday is the lonely vote.
With that, council has broken for lunch until 1:30 p.m. There are 39 items left on this agenda. After lunch, they’ll dive into some AG reports on 911 and the cops.
Council’s back. Perruzza says his two kids are in the gallery today, and wants to welcome them. “They complain that council meetings go on for a long time and they never get to see me.” “Councillor Perruzza, did you explain WHY they go on for a long time?” wonders Nunziata.
Council has moved to 2 Auditor reports about 911 and police response. AG found that Toronto Police met their standard for answering 911 calls within 15 seconds on just 10 days last year. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.AU13.5
Councillor Gord Perks moves to specifically review the timeliness of emergency response to overdose calls.
Perks’ motion CARRIES via a show of hands. As do the AG reports. Not a lot of discussion on these.
Council decides to vary the agenda to debate the item we’ve all been waiting for. No, not leaf blowers. Mayoral powers. Councillor Josh Matlow and Councillor Gord Perks are asking that Council request the province NOT give Toronto strong mayor powers. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.107
Matlow starts us off with a good question to Tory. If you had strong mayor powers, would you commit to legalizing rooming houses city-wide? But the Speaker says Matlow isn’t allowed to ask Tory questions until after the mayor speaks. Okay, says Matlow. We’ll come back to it.
Matlow asks City Manager Chris Murray if he knew in advance that the province was thinking about strong mayor powers. Murray says no. He and his staff have no information about the specifics of this change.
Bailao asks Matlow if he knows what kind of “strong mayor” system the province is planning to implement. “Because I want to know what we’d be saying ‘no’ to.” Matlow says he doesn’t have details, but he thinks Torontonians should be the ones to decide what local gov looks like.
City Solicitor Wendy Walberg says Toronto’s mayor “has very little authority under the legislation” but Toronto council has delegated many powers to the mayor under city bylaws. “While the system in Ontario is a weak mayor system, Toronto’s mayor has more powers than most.”
Walberg says a key difference between Toronto and American cities — some with strong mayor systems — is that those American cities generally have “home rule” that gives the mayor and council more powers over local issues.
Pasternak asks Walberg if she agrees that the mayor of Toronto would “very rarely” use veto power. “I do think that depends on who the mayor is, and how they choose to perform that role,” Walberg says.
Bradford asks, given the Ford gov is looking at changing the City of Toronto Act to enact strong mayor powers, if now could be a good time for council to request other changes that’d give Toronto more power. “I don’t know if there would be an appetite for that,” says Walberg.
Under questioning from Perks, Walberg says the provincial government is largely responsible for the timetable for reviewing planning applications, the establishment of appeal rights, the speediness of hearings for appeals, and the composition of the body that hears appeals.
In light of those answers to Perks, Councillor Paula Fletcher asks how it is that strong mayor powers could lead to more housing getting built. “I don’t know if we’ve come to that conclusion,” says City Manager Chris Murray.
Matlow asks colleagues to consider how they’d feel about other mayors with differing ideologies having extra powers. “How would we feel about a mayor who was smoking crack and under an active police investigation having these powers?” he asks. Interesting hypothetical.
Councillor McKelvie moves to delete Matlow’s motion requesting the province NOT give strong mayor powers, and instead adopt a request that the province give Toronto more powers “commensurate with Strong Mayor governance models” on issues like traffic safety and revenue tools.
McKelvie is one of Tory’s most loyal councillors, so this is likely a good indication of what he’s thinking. He’d like the province to implement a strong mayor model, and also give Toronto (and its strong mayor) more control over a range of issues.
Councillor Gord Perks would like McKelvie to take the November 15 date out of her motion, and instead simply request the province consult with the city before making any governance changes. McKelvie says she’s open to the change, and agrees to look at new wording.
Matlow is concerned that McKelvie’s motion removes the part of his motion that says council opposes the implementation of a strong mayor system. He asks if she’d consider leaving that part of his motion intact. She says no. She’s not ready to oppose it until she sees details.
“What we should be simply saying is ‘show us the money!’” declares Councillor Colle, saying all this governance stuff is just a diversion. “If you think they’re going to consult with us, you’re dreaming!” Colle says they should be focusing on getting more money for services.
“It’s just simply outrageous to say this will expedite building affordable housing. MONEY will expedite building affordable housing.” She says Toronto knows 18,000 people need supportive housing, but they only have funding for 2,000 units.
Councillor Carroll likes the idea of Toronto’s mayor having the same powers as Michael Bloomberg, Richard M Daley and Eric Garcetti. But all those mayors have “one thing in common.” “If they’re going to be strong mayors, they have to have the funding formula to go with it.”
Carroll says the requests to give Toronto more powers in McKelvie’s motion should be “dealbreakers.” Those powers are what “define a strong mayor system.” Without them, this change won’t be worth much.
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong says he supports giving Toronto a strong mayor system, because it “codifies in many ways what already exists.” He points out Tory and the mayor’s office already control the council agenda. He thinks this change will create more accountability.
Councillor Perruzza moves to add an additional item to McKelvie’s request-for-power motion. He wants Toronto to retain 100% of all property taxes.
Councillor James Pasternak says he’s got no concern about giving Tory strong mayor powers, but isn’t so sure about future mayors having these powers. He says he’ll be pushing for a “sunset clause” in the legislation, so that it’s not a permanent thing.
“I often joke that if Mayor John Tory was in a boat rocking contest, he’d lose,” notes Councillor Mike Layton. He doesn’t think Tory would use veto power. But he worries about future mayors with more destructive plans wielding this kind of power.
Councillor Joe Mihevc says he’ll support the McKelvie motion. He says if the province wants to talk about a “strong mayor” system the city should respond by saying “we want a strong city system.”
Budget Chief Gary Crawford says Toronto’s budget process is a “constant and grinding process.” He says he makes a lot of compromises in the name of answering the question, “will this get through council?” He questions sometimes if those compromises are always good.
“We are moving into a new post-COVID financial reality,” says Crawford. He’s not sure what that looks like, but he’s worried and nervous. He thinks strong mayor powers could give Tory the ability to make “tough decisions.”
There are two ways to interpret Crawford here. Maybe he means strong mayor powers will give Tory more ability to raise taxes or implement new revenue tools. Or maybe it’ll make it easier for him to cut services over the objection of left-leaning councillors.
Mayor Tory, notably, has not given a speech on this item. Councillor Matlow asks if there’s any opportunity to ask Tory questions. Nunziata says because Tory didn’t speak, there isn’t.
Councillor Perruzza’s motion to add letting Toronto keep 100% of property tax revenue to McKelvie’s list of requested city powers FAILS 10-15.
Councillor McKelvie’s motion as it pertains to asking the province to give Toronto the power to use new revenue tools CARRIES 21-4.
Councillor McKelvie’s motion as it pertains to asking the province to give Toronto more power over planning and housing measures CARRIES 23-2.
McKelvie’s motion as it pertains to asking the province to give Toronto more power over traffic safety measures and cannabis & liquor license applications CARRIES 23-2.
And the item as amended CARRIES via show of hands. Council sends message to Premier Ford that they don’t necessarily oppose strong mayor powers, but would like them to come with more city powers on things like revenues & taxes, traffic safety, planning & housing, and weed & booze
Up now: it’s time to bring the noise. Council is set to debate some updates to the noise bylaw, with an emphasis on vehicle noise and gardening equipment like leaf blowers. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EC31.4
Councillor Ana Bailao asks staff about “noise radar” — basically photo radar but for loud cars instead of speeding cars. MLS Executive Director Carleton Grant says the technology isn’t really there yet — equipment is unreliable and requires officers to manually review footage.
Grant also points out the city would need provincial approval to start using noise radar. They don’t currently have the ability to collect license plate information as part of an effort to crack down on noisy vehicles.
On behalf of Councillor Michael Thompson, Councillor Paula Fletcher moves to request the provincial government allow Toronto to conduct a pilot project for noise radar tech.
On the noise item, Councillor Stephen Holyday moves to request the province develop stricter regulations for vehicle mods.
Holyday adds that he won’t support a ban or restrictions or leaf blowers or similar equipment. “I’ve used that type of equipment. It’s necessary for so many reasons.” He doesn’t like the “government overreach.”
This item would add an extra hour in the morning to the hours where power devices like leafblowers aren’t permitted to be used. People who use leaf blowers would need to wait until 8 a.m., instead of the current rule that lets them start at 7 a.m.
Councillor Joe Mihevc says he would have liked to put further restrictions on leaf blowers in this noise bylaw item, but he understands there’s an ongoing effort to deal with leaf blowers as part of an environmental item set to come forward next spring. So he’ll wait.
Councillor Mark Grimes shows us some aftermarket mods he found for sale on Instagram that make car engines louder. He does not like these things, he says.
Grimes wants to see the police establish vehicle noise testing yards. People could get notices requiring them to attend the yards and do a noise test. If their cars are too noisy, they’d get a ticket.
Councillor Fletcher’s motion requesting the province give the city the power to do a noise radar pilot CARRIES via a show of hands.
Councillor Holyday’s motion for the province to crack down on vehicle mods CARRIES via a show of hands.
The noise bylaw item as it pertains to not letting people use power devices like leaf blowers before 8 a.m. CARRIES 22-2. They didn’t display the vote result, but I can tell you with some confidence that one of the two was Holyday.
Councillor Josh Matlow asks the speaker if her plan is to finish this agenda tonight or come back tomorrow. Nunziata says they’re going to try to wrap it up tonight. Tory moves to extend until 8 a.m., at least. They could go later. That motion carries. 29 items left.
Correction: That should be 8 p.m., of course. Though an all-night meeting remains within the realm of possibility, in the darkest timeline. https://x.com/GraphicMatt/status/1550229503884070912
In a twist, Councillor Pasternak has re-opened the Development Charge increase item, so he can add an amendment exempting hospices run by not-for-profits from DCs. There’s some confusion about this, so they decide to hold it down and come back to it. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX34.1
Up now: A motion from the Infrastructure & Environment Committee moved by Councillor Gord Perks directing staff to use the posted speed limit (often 30 km/h) when evaluating traffic calming instead of the current standard of 40 km/h. Holyday has concerns. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.IE31.18
Transportation GM says her department is prepared to do a comprehensive review of the city’s criteria for determining whether traffic calming infrastructure is necessary, but they don’t have enough staff right now. Planned for 2023.
Councillor Stephen Holyday moves to delete Perks’ motion and instead ask for a review of the Traffic Calming Policy in light of recent moves to reduce speed limits to 30 km/h.
Holyday is concerned that, if Perks’ motion passed, “huge swaths of streets” in his ward would suddenly qualify for traffic calming.
Perks says this isn’t complicated. When council started to lowering speed limits on some streets, they never changed the criteria for traffic calming to match those reduced speeds. He points out that Transportation GM Barbara Gray has said she’s fine with this change.
Holyday’s motion to conduct a review of Traffic Calming, instead of changing the traffic calming warrant system to match posted speed limits, FAILS 6-13. A rare loss for the mayor!
Perks’ motion to adjust the criteria for traffic calming to match posted speed limits (instead of the current 40 km/h standard) CARRIES 18-1.
Council moves on to an item about the proposed GO Train layover facility that’d be located in the Don Valley. Councillor Paula Fletcher moves to request Metrolinx reconsider the location. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.IE31.20
Fletcher points out government is spending $1.2 billion to re-naturalize the Don River. Putting a train storage facility in the Don Valley just re-industrializes it.
After people are spotted bringing several large pizzas from Pizza Pizza into the council chamber, Speaker Frances Nunziata calls a 20-minute recess. Could be a coincidence.
Council’s back. Fletcher’s motion to ask Metrolinx to reconsider the whole putting-a-trainyard-in-the-Don-Valley thing CARIES 18-0.
Up now: a planning report asking Council to authorize small-scale retail in areas of the city zoned as neighbourhoods. Retail uses are currently only allowed to operate on major streets in these areas. Holyday has concerns. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.PH35.1
Some notable letters attached to this report, like one from the Long Branch Neighbourhood Association worrying about what it would be like to live beside a cafe. “Living beside a cafe would be like having a neighbour that had a backyard barbeque every single night.” The horror!
The Swansea Area Ratepayers Association also has concerns about this proposal to allow small retail in neighbourhoods. “Why is the City Development Dept bringing us back to post WW11 shopping?” (I think ‘WW11’ is referring to World War 2, and not the future World War 11.)
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong moves to delete changes to the official plan that would allow small-scale retail in neighbourhoods. “If you have had to deal with a business in your neighbourhood that you can’t control, you know how hard it is.”
“I think they’re trying to sell this romantic idea of Marty McFly going to a restaurant and having a sundae,” Minnan-Wong says of allowing retail uses in neighbourhoods. But he says allowing biz in residential areas just leads to complaints.
“It may work in downtown where you have these little shops and stuff,” says Minnan-Wong, who also decries multiplexes and rooming houses. “We shouldn’t call them stable neighbourhoods. We should rename them ‘unstable neighbourhoods.’” He urges councillors to “put the brakes on.”
Councillor Stephen Holyday also moves to strike down the recommendation allowing small-scale retail in neighbourhoods, and instead request a report on major streets that could accommodate additional retail.
Councillor Stephen Holyday says the problem in the suburbs is they used to have little plazas with retail, but they were all redeveloped into townhouses and subdivisions “because we were so excited about more and more housing! Now it’s happening on a bigger scale!”
Holyday says if the city allows retail in neighbourhoods it’s just going to be “destination retail” that people drive to. It won’t be stores selling milk and eggs.
Councillor Jaye Robinson is also opposed to allowing small-scale retail in neighbourhoods. “We seem to be doing things VERY quickly,” she says, which is not a thing people typically say about Toronto city hall.
Robinson also decries Bailao’s motion from a couple of days back to exempt multiplexes from development charges. She is worried about these changes destabilizing “stable neighbourhoods.” She wants extensive consultation before changes like this are made.
It’s amazing how someone can be a raging libertarian until someone proposes something they don’t like near their house and then they’re like, “the full force of government must work to make this illegal!”
Tory says he does not accept the suggestion that these small-scale retailers will be selling “knitted socks” and suddenly there’ll be “a flood of cars suddenly showing up to buy the knitted socks.” He thinks the status quo needs to change. We can’t have people drive everywhere.
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong’s motion to NOT amend the Official Plan to allow small-scale retail in neighbourhoods FAILS 4-16.
Councillor Stephen Holyday’s motion to NOT allow small-scale retail in neighbourhoods and instead report back on additional places to allow retail on major streets FAILS 6-14.
Item amending the Official Plan to permit small-scale retail in neighbourhoods CARRIES 18-3.
There are now 21 items left. Status check: 21 members of council present for the meeting. Seven virtual. 14 in the chamber. Councillor Paul Ainslie remains outside.
Council is debating an item about employment land conversations. This motion, from Councillor Frances Nunziata, recommending a conversion of employment lands on McCormack Street in her ward to mixed-use zoning has prompted some consternation. https://x.com/TorontoCouncil/status/1550261432419495936
It appears Council will not, in fact, finish this agenda tonight. Councillor Shelley Carroll says they plan to “wrap for the night” after dealing with the employment land conversion (not conversation) item. They’ll come back tomorrow morning.
Councillor Holyday’s motion to look at including “sports facilities” as a permitted use in lands zoned for employment CARRIES 14-5.
Councillor Nunziata’s motion to convert employment lands on McCormack Street in her ward to mixed-use zoning CARRIES 17-3.
Everyone is cool with Pasternak’s addition of not-for-profit hospices to the list of projects exempt from development charges. That CARRIES via a show of hands.
And that will do it for the night. There are 18 items left on the agenda. I believe they will finish relatively quickly tomorrow morning. I believe. I believe I believe I believe. Back at 9:30 a.m.
Dawn of the final day. Council is back for Day 4. There are 18 items left on the agenda. They’ll start with a planning item about development around transit areas. Streaming live here. The tweeting will continue until morale improves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL6Ui5QBpzc
Councillor Mark Grimes’ motion to decrease the “Minimum Floor Space Index” in the Long Branch protected major transit station area from 0.5 to 0.3 CARRIES 17-3. Interesting trio of dissenters! http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.PH35.16
An item about a development at 900 The East Mall has Councillor Stephen Holyday concerned. He’s moved to have the planning department continue to work with the developer on “internal vehicle circulation, surface parking and vehicle turnaround space.” http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EY33.4
Holyday’s motion on the East Mall development CARRIES 21-0. The item as amended CARRIES 19-2, with Holyday and Fletcher voting against it.
Up now: the city’s proposed renovictions policy. Staff are recommending council ask the provincial government to implement vacancy control, preventing landlords from raising rents between tenants. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.PH35.18
Minnan-Wong is concerned about the recommendation that the prov bring back rent control & vacancy control. Wouldn’t that lead to a lot less rental getting built? Abi Bond says when vacancy control was eliminated in late 90s, it didn’t lead to a big spike in rental construction.
This is, I think, the first city report I’ve seen that really highlights the financialization of housing as a major problem. Here’s the key section.
On the renoviction item, Deputy Mayor Minnan-Wong moves to strike out the recommendation that the provincial government re-introduce rent controls for units built after 2018. He also wants to delete a request about establishing an after-hours emergency line for tenants.
“How did we get into this mess of not having any rental housing? We got into this mess because of rent control! Because remarkably, the industry wasn’t building any rental housing because they couldn’t get a good enough return on it,” says Minnan-Wong.
Councillor Brad Bradford has a motion calling for a review of the potential impacts of vacancy control on the supply of new rental housing. Report would be due in Q2 2023.
Councillor Stephen Holyday rises to say he’d like to hold separate votes on the recommendations re: bringing back rent control and vacancy control, so he can vote against them. He doesn’t think council should be “meddling in provincial policies.”
Holyday brings up the plight of landlords, saying governments keep putting “more and more controls” on them. “Who wants to be a landlord with all these kinds of things going on?!” he wonders.
Councillor Robin Buxton Potts is telling colleagues about growing up and living in co-op housing, a housing type that has seen its provincial and federal funding largely disappear. A good model for affordable housing. Would be nice to see more co-ops.
Councillor Bradford’s motion for a review and report on how vacancy control would impact Toronto’s supply of new rental housing CARRIES 21-3.
Deputy Mayor Minnan-Wong’s motion to delete the request that the province bring back rent control for all units FAILS 4-20.
The recommendation that council request the provincial government introduce vacancy control legislation CARRIES 21-3.
Oh no. Councillor Stephen Holyday brought props. He has a hat. Oh no. He is waving it around like a magician.
Holyday is speaking on an item about rent-geared-to-income housing. Staff have proposed allocating a portion of this housing (25%) via random draw. Holyday is using his hat to illustrate that “picking names out of a hat” is unfair. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.PH35.20
Councillors Carroll and Fletcher also say they don’t like the idea of a random draw to determine who gets affordable housing. But Carroll notes a lot of people like the lottery system, because the alternative is just waiting until their number comes up on a very long waiting list
Staff originally proposed a 50/50 split. 50% of affordable units would be awarded based on position on the waiting list, and 50% by draw. A motion by Fletcher at the Planning & Housing Committee amended that to 75% waiting list, 25% draw. Now Holyday has moved to go 100% waitlist
Uh oh. The live stream seems to have died. I have no idea what’s happening. Quick, someone use that DALL-E thing to generate an AI-created simulation of this meeting.
Save us, @TorontoCouncil. You’re our only hope. (Your live stream on YouTube has died.)
They have recessed, presumably to deal with this live stream issue. Or to go outside and play hopscotch and four square for 15 minutes. https://x.com/TorontoCouncil/status/1550506357941567491
I’m definitely not worried about a robot uprising. They don’t even know what the council chamber looks like. https://x.com/monicarooney/status/1550507180335448066
I am killing time by attempting to generate council minutes using GPT-3 Artificial Intelligence. If Keanu Reeves was a councillor, he’d be on the Board of Health and would be very concerned about water-damaging pesticides.
The live stream has returned. I can’t tell you what happened when it was out. It’s all [FOOTAGE MISSING]. But I can tell you there are just six items left. One of them, funnily enough, is about the Rogers outage.
Some controversy over an effort by Councillor Pasternak to hire outside consultants to attend an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing re: the Champagne Medical Centre. Pasternak says “Big Oil” opposes the centre, and he wants to make sure the city wins at the OLT http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.42
Pasternak’s motion to hire outside consultants to attend the OLT meeting regarding the Champagne Medical Centre FAILS 4-13. (Vote result was not displayed.)
Up now: Councillor Brad Bradford has a motion about enhancing the city’s Vision Zero road safety plan. Councillor Stephen Holyday has concerns. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.45
Bradford’s motion calls for a report on allowing the city to create more community safety zones, enabling broader uses of photo radar. Holyday argues the city has not yet installed photo radar in front of every school, so they should finish that job before looking at other places
The parts of Bradford’s Vision Zero motion that call for a report on ways to allow photo radar in more places, and a report on updating the warrant criteria for traffic lights and other safety infrastructure, CARRY 17-1. Holyday is the lonely vote.
Up now: the North York Relief Line, aka the Sheppard West subway extension. Councillor Pasternak wants the province to provide details on timing. Perks says he can’t support any of this. The item CARRIES 12-7. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.MM47.77
Up now: the Rogers outage! Mayor Tory can’t be here for this one. Matlow asks city CTO Lawrence Eta to describe the impact of the Rogers outage. Eta highlights long-term care and corporate security as areas where service was impacted. He describes overall impact as “significant.”
Matlow asks if Eta agrees that it’d be helpful to have more competition in the telecom sector. Eta says he agrees there’s a need for more competition to provide resiliency in connectivity.
Councillor Josh Matlow says the Rogers outage put a focus on the “importance of having a public alternative” for connectivity. He says the city shouldn’t be “beholden to a private company.”
Councillor Anthony Perruzza has brought his son onto the council floor. Nunziata pauses proceedings to tell him that is not allowed. The child leaves.
Councillor Stephen Holyday says he supports most of Matlow’s motion, but won’t support looking at “utilizing ConnectTO infrastructure to provide a public alternative to private telecommunications.” He wants a separate vote on that part.
Councillor Paul Ainslie moves to make sure the report on using ConnectTO as a public alternative to private internet providers like Rogers also includes an accounting of costs and staffing levels.
Ainslie’s motion to make sure the report on using ConnectTO as a public alternative to private telecommunication also includes details on costs and staffing levels CARRIES 17-3. (Robinson is also a yes.) (Ainslie voted against his own amendment, which is a bit odd but allowed.)
Many councillors are confused by Ainslie’s move. Councillor Perruzza invokes a sports analogy. “If Councillor Ainslie wants to score on his own net, he’s entitled to do that.”
The part of the Rogers item asking for a report on using ConnectTO as a public alternative to private telecoms like Rogers (plus getting costs, etc) CARRIES 13-7.
The rest of the Rogers item, asking for a report on how much the recent outage cost the city and a list of services that were disrupted, CARRIES 18-2.
The last item on the agenda is about a room accommodation agreement in Councillor John Filion’s ward at 3 Park Home Ave. Filion says there’s been controversy over this one. Needs more time. He moves to defer it to a special council meeting on August 15. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.GL32.19
The room accommodation agreement in Filion’s ward is about a proposal to convert a Novotel Hotel to a shelter for refugees. The Willowdale BIA has written to Council asking for more time for consultation. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/cc/comm/communicationfile-155350.pdf (PDF)
Councillor Layton asks Filion if this delay will mean a delay to refugees moving into the shelter. Filion says maybe by a couple of weeks, or maybe not at all. Okay then.
Filion’s motion to defer the refugee shelter item to a special meeting on August 15 CARRIES 17-2.
And that’ll do it for the final regular meeting of Council’s 2018-2022 term. Four days. 472 items. 319 bills. Way too many tweets. Thank you for following this thread.
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