Council going through process of appointing someone to vacant Ward 33 seat. Appointee will attend 3 council meetings. Only thing stopping appointed person from leveraging the job to run in Oct is a promise, and some potential appointees won’t even give that. This process sucks.
Petition to adopt new Toronto City Council vacancy policy in which all vacant seats are filled via the automatic appointment of a drinking bird.
Ward 33 appointee candidate Brian Scholz uses his allotted speaking time to argue that the appointment process is broken and by-elections should be mandatory.
Here are the results of the first ballot for Ward 33 appointee. No one got the needed 21 votes, so we’re going to a second ballot.
Second ballot has it 19 Tsao, 18 Nayak, 4 Lister. Still not enough for anyone to win. Third ballot looks like it’ll elect Tsao.
Third ballot does indeed elect Jonathan Tsao. He is now the appointed councillor for Ward 33.
Coun. James Pasternak uses an agenda item about the Eglinton East LRT to ask for a status update on the “North York Relief Line.” It’s the freebie square in the middle of the Council Transit Debate Bingo card.
As part of this Eglinton East LRT item, Coun. Josh Matlow moves to replace the Scarborough Subway with the Scarborough LRT.
Matlow’s motion on the Scarborough Subway is ruled out of order by Chair Frances Nunziata. Matlow challenges that ruling, so council will vote on it.
Council votes 28-9 to UPHOLD the speaker’s ruling that Matlow’s motion to cancel the Scarborough subway is out of order. The Scarborough subway survives another challenge.
Council votes 35-3 to have staff continue planning work on the Eglinton East LRT, including extension to Malvern.
Toronto City Council meets today, after a late start to their regular meeting yesterday. Here’s @neville_park’s preview of the agenda: https://nevillepark.ca/2018/05/22/the-cheat-sheet-may-2018-city-council/
Council in the midst of a truly absurd debate about whether there should be an accountability process to ensure accountability officers are accountable.
Coun. Mammoliti’s motion to develop a formal complaint protocol for when councillors have issues with accountability officers (like the ombudsman and integrity commissioner) FAILS 15-20.
A notable thing here: had every councillor been present, Mammoliti’s motion would have very likely passed. Seven right-leaning councillors absent (plus mayor).
Council votes 30-6 in favour of a @joemihevc & @m_layton motion that’ll advise Metrolinx that Council wants to keep Toronto transit publicly owned, maintained and operated.
Holyday: “I have consulted with a number of members of council and there is absolutely no support for it.” He says he supports the police, but is withdrawing his motion. “I think it’s very important that the police be welcome at all of these cultural events,” he adds.
Council votes 34-0 in favour of Holyday withdrawing his motion to withhold Pride funding. Can’t wait until we do this again next year.
Capper: Deputy Mayor Stephen Holyday votes against the entirety of the city’s grant program for major cultural organizations, which includes the funding for Pride Toronto.
Deputy Mayor Stephen Holyday rises to say he will not support the TOCore plan for downtown Toronto. He is concerned about what the plan will mean for people from outside downtown travelling in via car.
Deputy Mayor Stephen Holyday on the TOcore plan for Downtown Toronto: “The fear I have is that one day you will really only be able to visit this area if you come by transit.”
Deputy Mayor Holyday and Coun. Michael Ford are only votes against adopting the TOCore plan for Downtown Toronto.
A summary of the @car2goToronto story in Toronto. car2go comes to Toronto in 2012. At the start, the model is that you pick up and drop off cars in Green P lots. This works well, but in other cities car2go (and competing services) allow customers to start/stop trips anywhere.
So in June 2014, @m_layton writes to the city's Public Works & Infrastructure Committee and asks staff to report on a new kind of parking permit that would allow car2go to park on city-streets, like they do in other cities. Report request passes. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2014.PW32.25
The report on allowing car2go to park anywhere comes to Public Works in October 2015. It takes 16 months. Transportation staff conclude that allowing free-floating car sharing would "have negative impacts on residential permit parking supply." http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.PW9.10
So that report goes nowhere. A few months later, in March 2016, @car2goToronto announces they will move to a free-floating service model anyway, letting users park anywhere. They rack up just under $2 million in parking tickets. https://globalnews.ca/news/2593691/car2go-wont-wait-for-toronto-to-ok-its-full-car-share-service/
After a year of this, @JayeRobinson, the chair of Public Works, brings another motion to committee, requesting a report on "a comprehensive free-floating car share vehicle policy." It passes. in February 2017, staff begin work on another report. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2017.PW19.5
That report is completed in September 2017. It recommends council approve a 14-month pilot for free-floating car sharing, noting that car sharing like this reduces vehicle ownership and has done just fine in other cities. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2017.PW23.8
The committee approves the pilot, passes it on to Toronto City Council for approval. But council is not having it. After many councillors express concern about parking availability for residents, @shelleycarroll moves to defer (delay) the item to January 2018. That passes.
The item comes back to Council in January 2018. New addition: car share vehicles not allowed to park in areas in the city where there are waiting lists for permit parking. Surely that's enough to get this pilot passed? I'll end this tweet on a CLIFFHANGER. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2018.CC36.14
It wasn't enough. After more councillors express concern about parking availability for residents — and once it was clear it wasn't going to pass council — @m_layton moves to refer the item back to committee for more consideration. We're moving in circles.
So in April 2018, the item is back at committee. Staff propose more tweaks to the pilot — extending it to 18 months. Committee again approves it, but asks for a report on the feasibility of not allowing parking in areas at 95% of permit parking capacity. http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2018.PW28.11
So we return to council for another vote on April 27, 2018. Staff have prepared three maps, showing what areas would be off limits (in orange) to car share users for parking at 90%, 95% and 100% permit capacity.
Coun. Fragedakis wants to limit car share users to parking in areas below 90% of capacity for permit parking. Her motion on that fails. But a second motion to restrict car sharing parking in 95% capacity areas passes. Vote is held after 5 p.m. on a Friday. Attendance is poor.
Another change: An additional motion by Coun. Doucette that would allow community councils to exclude certain streets from car share parking on an ad-hoc basis also passes.
But finally, nearly six years after it was first proposed, Toronto has a free-floating car share policy. Heavily modified, it passes council. Celebrate? Less than a month later, @car2goToronto announces they are discontinuing operations in Toronto. The end?
And now: @m_layton moves a motion for today’s council agenda that, if passed, will ask staff to consult with car2go and other car share industry members on improvements to the pilot. https://x.com/dmrider/status/999672310717210624
PS: a reminder of what vehicle owners pay for on-street parking. For one car, if you don’t have on-site parking: 51 cents per day For a second car, no on-site parking: $1.29 per day If you do have on-site parking but want to park on street anyway: $1.80 per day. Plus HST.
All three council votes on car2go were taken on the last day of the respective council meetings, all after 5 p.m. It was like no one even really wanted to talk about it. https://x.com/SwanBoatSteve/status/999694798654189568
2.5 years after staff rejected them — in part out of concern they might “distract or confuse drivers” — Toronto Council approves an on-street road mural program, 33-2.
Deputy Mayor Holyday is arguing against Coun. Layton’s motion on free-floating car sharing. “I don’t support this. I don’t understand why we would just rehash an argument we just had.”
Coun. Mike Layton’s motion to reconsider pilot rules on free-floating car sharing in light of @car2goToronto’s decision to leave the city CARRIES, 34-4.
Coun. Jaye Robinson’s motion to lift the city’s moratorium on Community Safety Zones & add 4 temp positions to implement those Zones CARRIES 34-0.
Coun. Fletcher’s motion to allow community councils to waive requirements for resident petitions/polling before approving traffic calming measures FAILS 22-12. Needed a two-thirds majority, says the clerk? Weird!
Coun. Fletcher’s motion to reduce the polling response rate required to approve traffic calming measures to 25% (currently it’s 50%) CARRIES 30-6.
Coun. Matlow’s motion to request the police provide the necessary resources to enforce the highway traffic act carries 33-2. (Why would anyone vote against this?)
Matlow motion that staff report on an acceleration process to redesign streets and lower speed limits for Vision Zero carries 35-1.
Coun. Perks’ motion to put Mike Layton on the city’s Public Works & Infrastructure committee FAILS 8-27.
Coun. Layton’s motion to put Gord Perks on the city’s Public Works & Infrastructure Committee FAILS 11-24. Perks slightly more popular than Layton.
But oh wait, Coun. Norm Kelly was too lit to vote correctly on that item. He wants a re-vote. On re-vote, Coun. Layton’s motion to put Gord Perks on Public Works FAILS 9-26.
Deputy Mayor Holyday’s motion to put Mary-Margaret McMahon on the city’s Public Works & Infrastructure Committee carries 35-0.
Council votes to re-open the traffic safety item, 27-8. Jaye Robinson, the chair of Public Works, is not happy about this surprise turn of events! Dramatic!
Council will re-vote on Fletcher’s motion to give community councils a choice as to whether they have to poll residents or collect petitions before approving traffic calming measures like speed bumps. Holyday calls this re-vote “deplorable.”
“I think if we head down this path we’re going to have an equally angry group of people,” says Holyday re: making it easier for community council to approve traffic calming.
On a re-vote, Coun. Paula Fletcher’s motion to give community council the option to waive the poll/petition requirement when approving traffic calming CARRIES 23-10.
Motion to excuse the absence of Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong, who is campaigning to become an MPP, carries 32-3.
