H
Hydrogen
Guest
The city has $18 billion in real estate assets. As noted, such a sale could net a long-term savings, and when the land is rezoned and/or developed, it can generate taxes for the city.
Ah yes, government at its best.
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From the Star: Raise taxes, sell land: City report
- Thread starter 299 bloor call control.
- Start date
The city has $18 billion in real estate assets. As noted, such a sale could net a long-term savings, and when the land is rezoned and/or developed, it can generate taxes for the city.
Ah yes, government at its best.
CityPlaceN1
Senior Member
There would be no need for the land transfer tax if they sold enough land to pay off the debt. Question is how easy is it to sell the land? Its not like they have empty fields that aren't being used.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Keep in mind the original intent of these ABC's is to have them at arms-length, thus "insulated" from petty politics, the argument goes.
AoD
H
Hydrogen
Guest
Nothing wrong with the attempt at an arms-length approach; it's the number of such agencies etc. that impresses.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Star:
Premier wants strong mayor
Feb 26, 2008 04:30 AM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
Toronto's councillors should seriously consider giving the mayor more powers so he can get the city on track and keep it there, Premier Dalton McGuinty says.
A more powerful mayor was one of the key recommendations in last week's report by an outside panel that looked at ways to put the city on a better financial footing.
"It's a really important opportunity for council to give the mayor of the day the authority he needs to exercise leadership on behalf of Toronto.
"I think that's lacking at this point in time," McGuinty told reporters yesterday after speaking to a conference of municipal officials.
David Miller already has more power than any previous Toronto mayor because of changes to provincial law that offer new freedom to levy taxes and fees, appoint chairs of city committees and set up an executive committee to direct the budget.
The more power the mayor and close allies have, the less that's left for other elected councillors – and not everyone likes that.
"I understand there are some concerns on the part of some councillors ... (but Miller's) got to find a way to get the authority to drive some macro issues, to deliver on a macro agenda, and he lacks that authority right now," McGuinty said.
The panel members, including Blake Hutcheson, president of a commercial real estate brokerage, and Larry Tanenbaum, chair of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, concluded that to operate well, Toronto needs to concentrate on a few specific priorities, not the diverse desires of 44 councillors pulling in different directions.
McGuinty wasn't as thrilled about some of the panel's other recommendations, including the idea of road tolls on the Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner Expressway and 400-series highways in the Toronto area. The panel said that recommendation could raise $700 million a year for improved transit.
"We're not particularly keen on toll roads. We've said that in the past," McGuinty said.
Hours after the panel released its recommendations last week, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said the province has been clear that it would not support tolls on existing 400-series highways.
McGuinty did say he would consider another recommendation to upload the DVP and Gardiner to the province, thus saving the city $20 million a year in maintenance costs.
"We will certainly look at this notion," he said.
AoD
Premier wants strong mayor
Feb 26, 2008 04:30 AM
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
Toronto's councillors should seriously consider giving the mayor more powers so he can get the city on track and keep it there, Premier Dalton McGuinty says.
A more powerful mayor was one of the key recommendations in last week's report by an outside panel that looked at ways to put the city on a better financial footing.
"It's a really important opportunity for council to give the mayor of the day the authority he needs to exercise leadership on behalf of Toronto.
"I think that's lacking at this point in time," McGuinty told reporters yesterday after speaking to a conference of municipal officials.
David Miller already has more power than any previous Toronto mayor because of changes to provincial law that offer new freedom to levy taxes and fees, appoint chairs of city committees and set up an executive committee to direct the budget.
The more power the mayor and close allies have, the less that's left for other elected councillors – and not everyone likes that.
"I understand there are some concerns on the part of some councillors ... (but Miller's) got to find a way to get the authority to drive some macro issues, to deliver on a macro agenda, and he lacks that authority right now," McGuinty said.
The panel members, including Blake Hutcheson, president of a commercial real estate brokerage, and Larry Tanenbaum, chair of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, concluded that to operate well, Toronto needs to concentrate on a few specific priorities, not the diverse desires of 44 councillors pulling in different directions.
McGuinty wasn't as thrilled about some of the panel's other recommendations, including the idea of road tolls on the Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner Expressway and 400-series highways in the Toronto area. The panel said that recommendation could raise $700 million a year for improved transit.
"We're not particularly keen on toll roads. We've said that in the past," McGuinty said.
Hours after the panel released its recommendations last week, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said the province has been clear that it would not support tolls on existing 400-series highways.
McGuinty did say he would consider another recommendation to upload the DVP and Gardiner to the province, thus saving the city $20 million a year in maintenance costs.
"We will certainly look at this notion," he said.
AoD
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
I think uploading the city highways would be a great idea. With MTO having the expertise and maintaining highways throughout the province why have the duplication of the city maintaining just two? This also appeals to me strategicly because I am of the opinion that the city should focus on providing less services better rather than all kinds of services and activities poorly.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Municipal Reform
Resistance is futile
JOHN BARBER
jbarber@globeandmail.com
February 26, 2008
Some future history of the Miller regime will comment on how much of its agenda was dictated by the McGuinty government - not just the usual master-slave business of provincial-municipal relations, but the good stuff for which Mayor Miller will rightly gain credit.
Exhibit A will be Regulation No. 152 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, in which the province reserved for itself the right to impose a sharply hierarchal structure on the city's democratic but ineffective city council. Everything the mayor is now proposing to do on that crucial matter - slowly and cautiously, responding to the invitation of not one but two blue-ribbon panels - was laid out there, clearly and emphatically, two years ago.
An enthusiastic province would have likely dictated the whole strong-mayor package at the outset, had only the mayor shown more enthusiasm for that reform - or more understanding of its necessity. Deferring to the mayor's resistance, it decided instead to plant the needed reforms like a delayed-fuse bomb in the Toronto Act, ready to be set off by remote control should Hizzoner continue to dither.
In his response to the latest blue-ribbon panel, Premier Dalton McGuinty brushed past questions about road tolls in order to praise "a really important opportunity for council to give the mayor of the day the authority ... to exercise leadership on behalf of Toronto."
Mayor Miller doesn't even have a caucus, the premier noted. How does that work? "He's got to find a way to get the authority to drive some macro issues, to deliver on a macro agenda, and he lacks that authority at this point in time."
As it happens, that way is mapped out in detail in Regulation No. 152, which includes all the reforms subsequently recommended by the panels and now adopted by the mayor. In other words, Mayor Miller is getting with the program.
It's not the first time he has tacked adroitly at provincial suggestion. He ignored the revenue-grabbing opportunities embedded in the Toronto Act when it first became law, insisting that fiscal reform meant more money from the province, not Toronto taxpayers. He quietly but decisively recanted the moment city finance officials told him how much he could raise with an itty-bitty land-transfer tax.
It sure wasn't his idea, but he was clever enough to run with it. Today, Mayor Miller is earning a reputation as the man of a million fees - and a balanced budget. Talk of a "new deal" with the province has become distinctly old.
The same process is now unfolding with respect to the strong-mayor package, although the incumbent has better reason to balk in this matter. Power grabs are trickier than money grabs. Despite the visible evidence of impending force, as in Reg. 152, respectable cover is needed.
With two blue-ribbon panels and the province providing all the permission he needs, the mayor intends to grab what's laid before him - just as he did with the new tax opportunities. But it wasn't his idea. It emerged despite his genuine but unfortunate loyalty to the old republic - in this case Metro Toronto, his political cradle, where the bureaucrats ran everything and the sober statespeople lunched well.
The biggest losers in the new regime will be the councillors. Their influence on legislation, especially the budget, will be diminished to the extent the mayor's influence is increased - and they know it. But the momentum for change is such that none dare resist.
The mayor's opponents are already co-opted by the recommendations of the panel they forced the mayor to convene in a moment of mistaken triumph. Even Mayor Miller is powerless to resist.
Way to go, Svengali.
Resistance is futile
JOHN BARBER
jbarber@globeandmail.com
February 26, 2008
Some future history of the Miller regime will comment on how much of its agenda was dictated by the McGuinty government - not just the usual master-slave business of provincial-municipal relations, but the good stuff for which Mayor Miller will rightly gain credit.
Exhibit A will be Regulation No. 152 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, in which the province reserved for itself the right to impose a sharply hierarchal structure on the city's democratic but ineffective city council. Everything the mayor is now proposing to do on that crucial matter - slowly and cautiously, responding to the invitation of not one but two blue-ribbon panels - was laid out there, clearly and emphatically, two years ago.
An enthusiastic province would have likely dictated the whole strong-mayor package at the outset, had only the mayor shown more enthusiasm for that reform - or more understanding of its necessity. Deferring to the mayor's resistance, it decided instead to plant the needed reforms like a delayed-fuse bomb in the Toronto Act, ready to be set off by remote control should Hizzoner continue to dither.
In his response to the latest blue-ribbon panel, Premier Dalton McGuinty brushed past questions about road tolls in order to praise "a really important opportunity for council to give the mayor of the day the authority ... to exercise leadership on behalf of Toronto."
Mayor Miller doesn't even have a caucus, the premier noted. How does that work? "He's got to find a way to get the authority to drive some macro issues, to deliver on a macro agenda, and he lacks that authority at this point in time."
As it happens, that way is mapped out in detail in Regulation No. 152, which includes all the reforms subsequently recommended by the panels and now adopted by the mayor. In other words, Mayor Miller is getting with the program.
It's not the first time he has tacked adroitly at provincial suggestion. He ignored the revenue-grabbing opportunities embedded in the Toronto Act when it first became law, insisting that fiscal reform meant more money from the province, not Toronto taxpayers. He quietly but decisively recanted the moment city finance officials told him how much he could raise with an itty-bitty land-transfer tax.
It sure wasn't his idea, but he was clever enough to run with it. Today, Mayor Miller is earning a reputation as the man of a million fees - and a balanced budget. Talk of a "new deal" with the province has become distinctly old.
The same process is now unfolding with respect to the strong-mayor package, although the incumbent has better reason to balk in this matter. Power grabs are trickier than money grabs. Despite the visible evidence of impending force, as in Reg. 152, respectable cover is needed.
With two blue-ribbon panels and the province providing all the permission he needs, the mayor intends to grab what's laid before him - just as he did with the new tax opportunities. But it wasn't his idea. It emerged despite his genuine but unfortunate loyalty to the old republic - in this case Metro Toronto, his political cradle, where the bureaucrats ran everything and the sober statespeople lunched well.
The biggest losers in the new regime will be the councillors. Their influence on legislation, especially the budget, will be diminished to the extent the mayor's influence is increased - and they know it. But the momentum for change is such that none dare resist.
The mayor's opponents are already co-opted by the recommendations of the panel they forced the mayor to convene in a moment of mistaken triumph. Even Mayor Miller is powerless to resist.
Way to go, Svengali.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The TTC sold off the Grey Coach intercity/commuter system to GO and Greyhound to "make" money. It delayed the downward spiral at the time, but it soon was spent.
Its like inheriting your parents home and selling it for the cash. It can be spent for a short term gain instead of being invested for the long term.
If the property is showing a return, keep it.
Its like inheriting your parents home and selling it for the cash. It can be spent for a short term gain instead of being invested for the long term.
If the property is showing a return, keep it.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
The problem is that many of these properties aren't generating a return. The land above many subway stations has sat empty for decades, and the city hasn't even collected a dime in property tax. The city also underuses a lot of its properties, or could move its uses to less expensive real estate.
JasonParis
Moderator
I wonder if the MTO would try to change the names of these highways to an expanded QEW (which has an internal 400-series designation) and an expanded 404. Probably not, but worth thinking about whether we could lose the official DVP, FGE names.
adma
Superstar
Well, for history's sake, I'd wish the QEW would reclaim the 427-to-Humber stretch of the Gardiner...
dowlingm
Senior Member
If Toronto Hydro Telecom is sold, Bell and Rogers should be barred from bidding as the downtown core network might be attractive to a new entrant or to someone like Telus with the resources to take on Ted and those beavers. But dare we mess with the Rogers march towards an NFL franchise by hurting his market?