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Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto

Northern Light said:
There isn't currently enough affordable housing in the pipeline to keep up with population /demand growth, it will take years to rectify that, if a serious effort is made.

Well managed transit doesn't require more money, more service does, some more will be added this September, probably the largest increase of the year, but we will still be below pre-pandemic levels.

Crudely the TTC needs in/around 12M to achieve a 1% service increase in hours. To get us back to where we were, with an appropriate population adjustment would be get to about 110% of pre-pandemic service and require something like 120M in additional subsidy (but it would be more initially until ridership growth caught up).

That's do-able, but it will require another above-inflation increase of taxes in the range of Inflation + 3%. Or alternative equivalent in revenues.

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For most people the most tangible things this year will be the September TTC service improvement and the expanded Library hours the same month.

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In respect of the infrastructure backlog on the capital side, its actually currently forecast to continue growing, we will need a parking tax, a storm water levy, much higher permit parking fees, and an increase to the City building fund of at least 3% to get the municipal side caught up.

That, however, would presume additional Federal and Provincial contributions in matching funds on major projects.
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Though the TTC certainly does need more money, they also need to do MUCH better in spending their current budget better. They seem incapable of running properly spaced services which means you see lots of over-crowded vehicles and lots running in packs. Their maintenance practices have been exposed by the City's Auditor General (streetcar overhead) and other professional groups (subway maintenance). Lets hope they hire a competent CEO, soon.
 
News Release

July 29, 2024

City of Toronto parking fines to increase on August 1 to support safer roads and reduce congestion

On August 1, the City of Toronto will increase parking fines for 123 offences to help curb illegal parking, stopping and standing in designated areas. Increasing fines can help reduce congestion by discouraging drivers from parking and stopping their vehicles in high-traffic areas and encouraging people to consider other modes of transportation such as walking, cycling or public transit to promote a smoother flow of traffic.

Some examples of the increased and new fines include:

• parking without paying at a parking meter (increase from $30 to $50).

• parking a prohibited vehicle on a bicycle path (increase from $60 to $200).

• non-electric vehicles or electric vehicles parked and not actively charging in an electric vehicle charging stall will be issued a $75 fine.
 
DSC said:
News Release

July 29, 2024

City of Toronto parking fines to increase on August 1 to support safer roads and reduce congestion

On August 1, the City of Toronto will increase parking fines for 123 offences to help curb illegal parking, stopping and standing in designated areas. Increasing fines can help reduce congestion by discouraging drivers from parking and stopping their vehicles in high-traffic areas and encouraging people to consider other modes of transportation such as walking, cycling or public transit to promote a smoother flow of traffic.

Some examples of the increased and new fines include:

• parking without paying at a parking meter (increase from $30 to $50).

• parking a prohibited vehicle on a bicycle path (increase from $60 to $200).

• non-electric vehicles or electric vehicles parked and not actively charging in an electric vehicle charging stall will be issued a $75 fine.
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We really should have income-geared fines here and corporate-specific charges as well. $50 is still little more than daily parking in some lots in the city, and $200 for blocking a bike path is a small amount for delivery companies like UPS and especially Purolator who regularly park in the lanes is nothing.
 
zang said:
We really should have income-geared fines here and corporate-specific charges as well. $50 is still little more than daily parking in some lots in the city, and $200 for blocking a bike path is a small amount for delivery companies like UPS and especially Purolator who regularly park in the lanes is nothing.
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Agreed, was just typing about this. Commercial vehicles need hefty fines otherwise their companies will rarely even slap the wrists of their drivers.
10x the fines (maybe even more?), companies receiving multiple fines will hopefully fold and be forced to train their employees to park safely.

Maybe I’m a little enraged but I see no negative repercussions to this at the moment.
 
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reinventingthewheel said:
Commercial vehicles need hefty fines otherwise their companies will rarely even slap the wrists of their drivers.
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Fines don't work, as it's just a cost of business they pass onto their customers. Permanent vehicle confiscation for auction/disposal. Now that would work.
 
evandyk said:
Towing them or even booting them would be highly effective as it's way more disruptive to their business than a $200 ticket.
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That is certainly true but in fairness if illegal parking is made too 'expensive' to use, the City needs to provide lots of convenient short-term parking areas for delivery trucks like Canada Post, Amazon, Purolator, UPS Uber Eats etc.
 
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DSC said:
That is certainly true but in fairness if illegal parking is made too 'expensive' to use, the City needs to provide lots of convenient short-term parking areas for delivery trucks like Canada Post, Amazon, Purolator, UPS Uber Eats etc.
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Just on Friday, I watched a Purolator truck park in the eastbound Bloor bike lanes at the corner of Ted Rogers Way while I sat outside of Starbucks. The driver was inside the manulife offices for well over 20 minutes and he already had a ticket on his windshield (I think they keep them there to fool enforcement into thinking they were ticketed where they’re currently parked).

There were literally street parking spots available on Ted Rogers; almost the same distance from the offices. He was just a lazy ass who knew he could get away with it.

Not to mention, manulife has their own lot the dude could’ve parked in.
 
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DSC said:
That is certainly true but in fairness if illegal parking is made too 'expensive' to use, the City needs to provide lots of convenient short-term parking areas for delivery trucks like Canada Post, Amazon, Purolator, UPS Uber Eats etc.
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That’s called problem transference. Delivery firms and their customers have a problem that there’s nowhere to short-term park, so they transfer their problem onto everyone else. If you run a business that is dependent on society turning a blind eye to illegal activity, then you can’t blame anyone when that society pushes back so that doesn’t work out for you.
 
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Richard White said:
You legally cannot confiscate a Canada Post van full of mail. It has to do with privacy laws.
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Canada Post might be an interesting case because it's part of the federal government, but I'm pretty sure the provincial government could craft a law that provides for seizure of Canada Post vehicles for breaches of provincial laws.

There is a criminal charge of "theft of mail" (s. 365) but that requires someone to "steal" the mail, which a government seizure authorized by law is not. They'd surely have to give the mail back, though, since that's not the property of Canada Post.
 
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