Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto

[DSC]

From Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ol...CF71D8BE6045FF72B35FAFC61B&utm_campaign=frst_

Despite that show of unity, the new mayor signalled she does plan to install supportive councillors in positions of power at city hall. On Wednesday, she nominated two close allies to replace Tory lieutenants on council’s striking committee, the body responsible for recommending councillor appointments to key city positions.
Chow plans for the committee to meet Aug. 10 and for council to consider its recommendations at a special meeting the following week. She told council she has been meeting with members to ask what positions they’re interested in, and hoped they can all work together in a “spirit of collaboration, of openness.”

 

[zang]

From Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ol...CF71D8BE6045FF72B35FAFC61B&utm_campaign=frst_

Despite that show of unity, the new mayor signalled she does plan to install supportive councillors in positions of power at city hall. On Wednesday, she nominated two close allies to replace Tory lieutenants on council’s striking committee, the body responsible for recommending councillor appointments to key city positions.
Chow plans for the committee to meet Aug. 10 and for council to consider its recommendations at a special meeting the following week. She told council she has been meeting with members to ask what positions they’re interested in, and hoped they can all work together in a “spirit of collaboration, of openness.”

I'm glad Chow knows getting along with opposing councillors doesn't mean having to share the reins with them. While in theory it's idealistic and cooperative, on the city level the history seems to show stalling and you-scratch-my-back-demands are the end result.

 

[Northern Light]

The Alcohol in Parks pilot project has passed with a couple of amendments, primarily adding additional parks in Matlow's Ward and one in Fletcher's Ward.

The other amendment from UT's favourite Councillor........cough, was to have parks develop a 'No Alcohol' sign to be deployed at the discretion of the area Councillor.

 

[Northern Light]

The direction to staff to pursue a ban on two-stroke engine equipment in Toronto has been adopted.

Colloquially, the leaf blower ban.

Note, Council has not pass a ban, but a motion directing staff to pursue one.

Agenda Item History 2023.IE5.1

Agenda Item History 2023.IE5.1

secure.toronto.ca

 

[Towered]

The direction to staff to pursue a ban on two-stroke engine equipment in Toronto has been adopted.

Colloquially, the leaf blower ban.

Note, Council has not pass a ban, but a motion directing staff to pursue one.

Agenda Item History 2023.IE5.1

Agenda Item History 2023.IE5.1

secure.toronto.ca

There are plenty of battery powered models available, so I don't see this being a big issue.

 

[Northern Light]

There are plenty of battery powered models available, so I don't see this being a big issue.

I see landscapers using them all the time, (the two-strokes) and aside from them being noisy as hell, and polluting, they aren't terribly effective.

They use them on parking lots and mostly blow dust, gravel and misc. litter around, hitting the cars with it, and dinging the paint, then pushing the resulting matter off the property on to the street.

On lawns, they aren't particularly good as moist leaves tend to cling to everything

I don't get why they don't just attach rake attachment to the riding mower. Much more efficient.

 

[toonderly]

Geographically balanced, but expensive and cumbersome, its a big deal to ask a lesser-known candidate, say a Chloe Brown who ran her campaign on a shoe string, to get to all 25 wards within the window prior to a filing deadline.

I prefer to keep democracy a bit more open than that.

I'm perfectly comfortable with raising the minimum number of signatures to 100. I think that would at least curtail the candidate numbers by 1/2.

If you wanted to require the signatures must come from at least 5 different wards, I wouldn't oppose that either.

I think its a baby/bathwater scenario.

While I'd rather see a small number of candidates on the final ballot (say, under 10), I also really like the low barrier to entry, such that people don't have to fundraise millions, or be backed by a party in order to raise issues and challenge presumed front runners.

Any which way, we need ranked ballots.

Holyday's motion failed (11/11 tie) because some councillors didn't want it referred to the province without a bit about ranked ballots. (Perks wanted to amend this motion and Holyday said get yer own.)

 

[Northern Light]

Holyday's motion failed (11/11 tie) because some councillors didn't want it referred to the province without a bit about ranked ballots. (Perks wanted to amend this motion and Holyday said get yer own.)

Leave it to Holyday to sabotage his own good idea; leave it to Perks to sabotage someone else's.

LOL


You could read it either way; I think I might go for both.

 

[Metroscapes]

The direction to staff to pursue a ban on two-stroke engine equipment in Toronto has been adopted.

Colloquially, the leaf blower ban.

Note, Council has not pass a ban, but a motion directing staff to pursue one.

Agenda Item History 2023.IE5.1

Agenda Item History 2023.IE5.1

secure.toronto.ca

I see landscapers using them all the time, (the two-strokes) and aside from them being noisy as hell, and polluting, they aren't terribly effective.

They use them on parking lots and mostly blow dust, gravel and misc. litter around, hitting the cars with it, and dinging the paint, then pushing the resulting matter off the property on to the street.

On lawns, they aren't particularly good as moist leaves tend to cling to everything

I don't get why they don't just attach rake attachment to the riding mower. Much more efficient.

This is going to rattle the landscaping industry in Toronto, and it's overdue. Their activity (through o fault of their own, just market forces) gets concentrated on certain affluent streets and businesses along busy streets. The result is noise and dust that is terrible to walk through. I'd go through it every day walking along a side street near St Clair and Avenue Road.

To really make a dent in air quality though, this needs to go part and parcel with a ban on doing work during rush hour. That's when the dust, on top of all the traffic emissions, is worst. But I don't know that it's enforceable or a political appetite.

 

[Admiral Beez]

We’re having some renovations done and our contractor put a dumpster bin on the street to collect the tear down debris. One of the neighbours complained to 311 that the bin was taking an on-street permitted parking place. The bylaw officer arrived and told the contractor that he needed a permit to put the bin on the street, which is correct and should have been done. But I couldn’t help but ask the bylaw officer that in addition to enforcing parking spot misuse could you please enforce city bylaw 608-13 that prohibits camping in city parks. Our officer just shrugged and drove off.

 

[Jonny5]

We’re having some renovations done and our contractor put a dumpster bin on the street to collect the tear down debris. One of the neighbours complained to 311 that the bin was taking an on-street permitted parking place. The bylaw officer arrived and told the contractor that he needed a permit to put the bin on the street, which is correct and should have been done. But I couldn’t help but ask the bylaw officer that in addition to enforcing parking spot misuse could you please enforce city bylaw 608-13 that prohibits camping in city parks. Our officer just shrugged and drove off.

I'm shocked you actually saw a bylaw officer in the wild.
I thought they were merely myths, though I'm not surprised that parking would be the one issue for which they would come out from wherever they are hiding.

 

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I'm shocked you actually saw a bylaw officer in the wild.
I thought they were merely myths, though I'm not surprised that parking would be the one issue for which they would come out from wherever they are hiding.

Last year, our building was doing some concrete work and had to bring concrete across the sidewalk - it took about an hour, 2 or 3 times. On day 2 a by-law officer appeared here too but was quite reasonable "If it is still happening when I return at 2.15, I will have to stop you". This 'deadline' gave our guys 3+ hours to finish, which they did.

 

[christiesplits]

According to this GR guy, Gary Crawford will resign his council seat in Scarborough Southwest, regardless of the outcome of the provincial by-election in Guildwood. This will mean a by-election for his seat later this year or early next year.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1683465889725706240

 

[Richard White]

Scarborough Southwest councillor Gary Crawford, who is running for the Scarborough Guildwood provincial by-election, appears to be resigning his council seat. This will mean a council by-election later in the year or early next year.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1683465889725706240

Lovely...

I live in this ward and I am dreading having another election. I am not sure he will win Scarborough-Guildwood though. He's a nice guy but it has been liberal since the early 1990s.

 

[Northern Light]

According to this GR guy, Gary Crawford will resign his council seat in Scarborough Southwest, regardless of the outcome of the provincial by-election in Guildwood. This will mean a by-election for his seat later this year or early next year.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1683465889725706240

If a by-election race reflected the previous outcome of the last election, two of the leading contenders for this seat would lean progressive, and pro-cycling and would also add to Council's diversity.