Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto

[gabe]

I've pretty much lost faith in Toronto and Ontario's recycling program. Unless someone proves me wrong, I assume that most of what goes into recycling is sent to landfill.

What we should be doing is putting all garbage and recycling into one bin, and then the city or province sorts and separates it. The cost for this service would be paid by any company that produces or imports product packaging or single use food and beverage containers. This is done in several cities in North America. For example, Edmonton accepts mixed household waste, and then recovers organics, recycling, and landfill material using automated separation. Same with Indianapolis, Indiana and San Jose, California.

Also helps that Alberta's deposit return system is the largest in Canada. Ontario is one of the only places in Canada and the modern world that doesn't have a deposit system on all beverage containers..

According to the latest Global Deposit Book, a European-based resource that tracks global bottle return initiatives, Alberta is not only the best province for returns in Canada but also the second best in North America, coming just barely behind Oregon, USA.

Albertans return 85% of their refundable recyclables, with Saskatchewan coming in behind us at 84%, and the average across Canada is 76%.

Global report names Albertans as the best recyclers in Canada

According to the latest Global Deposit Book, a European-based resource that tracks global bottle return initia...

cjwe.ca

 

[gabe]

Not just Toronto having this problem. I follow a lot of Ontario cites on reddit, and noticed most cities are dealing with recycling carts not being picked up. Thanks to Dougie's privatization

‘It’s not a great start’: Toronto residents left waiting for blue bin pickup under province’s new privatized system

Neighbourhoods across Toronto were still waiting for recycling to be picked up this weekend after being told it would be collected on Friday.

www.thestar.com

 

[Towered]

I'm actually late in reporting that.....

Terry Ricketts has actually been installed as the new General Manager Parks and Recreation. She took over in November.

She arrives by way of Niagara Region where she ran Public Works.

She is a P. Eng by trade.

Because everyone needs to recognize her and keep in touch w/her........this is she:

View attachment 706954

So much for me bringing my vision and vibrancy to Parks

 

[Mihairokov]

Not just Toronto having this problem. I follow a lot of Ontario cites on reddit, and noticed most cities are dealing with recycling carts not being picked up. Thanks to Dougie's privatization

As with anything, this City will only be as good as the province allows it to be. The Province of Ontario at this point is more of a hindrance than a help in regards to furthering urbanization.

 

[Richard White]

Not just Toronto having this problem. I follow a lot of Ontario cites on reddit, and noticed most cities are dealing with recycling carts not being picked up. Thanks to Dougie's privatization

‘It’s not a great start’: Toronto residents left waiting for blue bin pickup under province’s new privatized system

Neighbourhoods across Toronto were still waiting for recycling to be picked up this weekend after being told it would be collected on Friday.

www.thestar.com

If I recall, they are not picking up the bagged excess either which makes this situation a whole lot worse.

I manage a Condo with City of Toronto pickup. When our rep discussed the changes with us, his simple answer was "nobody told us anything". They expected it to be an unmitigated disaster given the lack of communication.

 

[PL1]

If I recall, they are not picking up the bagged excess either which makes this situation a whole lot worse.

Seriously?!? I frequently have bagged excess. And due to the narrow passage between houses, I have two smaller bins which won't hold large amounts of cardboard

 

[Richard White]

Seriously?!? I frequently have bagged excess. And due to the narrow passage between houses, I have two smaller bins which won't hold large amounts of cardboard

I remember someone saying that they left the bagged excess behind last week. GFL claimed it was accidental due to one person operation.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Seriously?!? I frequently have bagged excess. And due to the narrow passage between houses, I have two smaller bins which won't hold large amounts of cardboard

I'll report back tomorrow. I have a pile of Christmas packaging in blue bags.

 

[Northern Light]

Proposed Property Tax increase for 2026 - 2.2%

Toronto property taxes are going up. Here’s how much

The city was facing an estimated $1 billion operating shortfall heading into 2026, as well as lower revenues.

www.thestar.com

1.5% for the City Building Fund, 0.7% for the general property tax.

There some choices being made to achieve this that are questionable. I approve of the idea of keeping the increase as low as feasible. But there are some choices on deferred capital projects that may come back to bite.

That's on top of some reserve fund draws that will not be repeatable next year.

 

[Admiral Beez]

If I recall, they are not picking up the bagged excess either which makes this situation a whole lot worse.

Excess blue bags picked up.

 

[DSCToronto]

The City budget proposes finally "doing something' about our antiquated streetlights. SEE: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2026/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-261540.pdf

Staff are recommending a revised investment of $577 million over 10 years for street lighting, replacing the current plan of $252 million over the same period to support enhanced infrastructure, service standards, and full LED conversion.

• The streetlight system in Toronto, which includes 173,100 luminaires, 56,900 poles and 2,477 km of overheard and underground cables, is owned by Toronto Hydro due o a sale that occurred in late 2005. With the sale, the City of Toronto compensates Toronto Hydro for the operation and maintenance of the system via a 30-year service agreement. In 2025, the City is projected to pay Toronto Hydro a total of$56M - $35 million for electricity and $21 million in service fees for the system’s operation and maintenance
• The streetlighting infrastructure is currently operating with 33% of the assets past useful life (APUL), with underground infrastructure at 86% APUL. To maintain operation, over 11,000 “jumpers”, which are intended to be temporary fixes, are in place to bypass failures, creating reliability and safety risks.
• The streetlight system is predominantly still using high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) technology. This is becoming problematic as manufacturers have switched to LED luminaires and are starting to phase out the production of conventional lamps. This increases maintenance costs and reliability issues and leaves the City of Toronto behind other jurisdictions in North America that have transitioned to LED technology.

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

full LED conversion

Finally, we'll be able to see in full-HD glorious color at night, instead of mostly monochromatic single-wavelength picture we get with HPS lamps. Cant wait for the sepia filter to be removed from Toronto's night life!

image source

 

[Northern Light]

The City budget proposes finally "doing something' about our antiquated streetlights. SEE: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2026/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-261540.pdf

Staff are recommending a revised investment of $577 million over 10 years for street lighting, replacing the current plan of $252 million over the same period to support enhanced infrastructure, service standards, and full LED conversion.

• The streetlight system in Toronto, which includes 173,100 luminaires, 56,900 poles and 2,477 km of overheard and underground cables, is owned by Toronto Hydro due o a sale that occurred in late 2005. With the sale, the City of Toronto compensates Toronto Hydro for the operation and maintenance of the system via a 30-year service agreement. In 2025, the City is projected to pay Toronto Hydro a total of$56M - $35 million for electricity and $21 million in service fees for the system’s operation and maintenance
• The streetlighting infrastructure is currently operating with 33% of the assets past useful life (APUL), with underground infrastructure at 86% APUL. To maintain operation, over 11,000 “jumpers”, which are intended to be temporary fixes, are in place to bypass failures, creating reliability and safety risks.
• The streetlight system is predominantly still using high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) technology. This is becoming problematic as manufacturers have switched to LED luminaires and are starting to phase out the production of conventional lamps. This increases maintenance costs and reliability issues and leaves the City of Toronto behind other jurisdictions in North America that have transitioned to LED technology.

I support the project, with the asterisk that I would like to see the acorn-style fixtures retained in the old City.

Its not clear to me if that's the plan here or not.

 

[DSCToronto]

Several years ago I was on a committee with THSL looking at Street Lighting (primarily in St Lawrence). At that time we were told that THSL hoped to move to LEDs and that the 'light source' and the luminaire are separate issues. At that time THSL said they could no longer buy acorns and, understandably, wanted to reduce the very large number of luminaires they had to keep in stock. I think we convinced the people there that the type of luminaire could not be uniform throughout the City but am pretty sure we (and the BIAs there) wanted FAR more types than THSL did! I think there is little argument about moving to LED and hope someone is working on the connected 'luminaire question' as that is likely to be far more contentious. The City Streetscape Manual lists most (i doubt all!) the current (2019) possibiliIties . The Lighting Index lists 50 or 60 varieties.

SEE: https://www.toronto.ca/city-governm...es/streetscape-manual/streetscape-manual-map/

​

 

[Admiral Beez]

This may fit here or in the Doug Ford thread ...

From this week's economist:

MAURA RYAN, a speech therapist in New York City, was dreading the introduction of congestion pricing. To see her patients in Queens and Manhattan she sometimes drives across the East River a couple of times a day. The idea of paying a $9 toll each day infuriated her. Yet since the policy was actually implemented, she has changed her mind. A journey which used to take an hour or more can now be as quick as 15 minutes. “Well, this is very nice,” she admits thinking. Ms Ryan is not alone. Polls show more New Yorkers now support the toll than oppose it. A few months ago, it saw staunch opposition.

Congestion pricing came into effect in Manhattan on January 5th, just two weeks before Donald Trump became president. So far it has been almost miraculous in its effects. Traffic is down by about 10%, leading to substantially faster journeys, especially at the pinch-points of bridges and tunnels. Car-noise complaints are down by 70%. Buses are travelling so much faster that their drivers are having to stop and wait to keep to their schedules. The congestion charge is raising around $50m each month to update the subway and other public-transport systems, and ridership is up sharply. Broadway attendance is rising, not falling, as some feared.

New Yorkers may be surprised by how well it is all working. They shouldn’t be. London’s congestion charge, introduced over 20 years ago, had similar effects there. What they should be astonished by is the fact that it took almost half a century to be implemented. The principle of congestion pricing was first outlined by an economist at New York’s Columbia University, William Vickrey, in the 1960s. A version, reintroducing bridge tolls, almost went into effect in the 1970s before Congress killed it.

The current scheme was muscled through the state legislature by Andrew Cuomo, then the governor, in 2019. It took six years to come into force. Last year, with the cameras ready to roll, it was delayed again by Kathy Hochul, Mr Cuomo’s successor. Only after Donald Trump won re-election did it start. New York is thus decades late to an idea it invented, another example of how hard it can be for cities to do the obvious.■

Here’s a good summary of NYC’s positive experience one year on.

https://www.autoblog.com/news/a-year-on-new-york-citys-congestion-toll-is-a-success