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We’re coming up to the City’s second pandemic budget. Every City division is again being asked to build their operating and capital budgets in a way that addresses the ongoing financial challenges created by COVID-19. The full budget, which includes 30 City divisions, Toronto Police Services, and TTC, will launch in January, but we already have access to the City’s rate-supported budget. The rate-supported budget includes Toronto Water, Solid Waste Management Services, and the Toronto Parking Authority (Green P). These three departments present budgets separately from other City departments because they are entirely funded by their own user fees. Water, garbage and recycling collection, and Green P Parking are parts of your everyday life that have no dependence on property taxes. Hence “rate-supported” for these budgets. These three budgets are a little easier to look at because they have not been devastated by the impacts of COVID-19, although they are being hit by inflation this year. Still, staff are presenting these budgets with economic recovery top of mind. Councillors will get a chance to do a deep dive and ask our questions at Budget Committee tomorrow morning. Let’s take look at what the rate-supported budget is proposing for the services you rely on: Toronto Water Toronto Water’s 2022 budget will ensure that the City continues to provide quality drinking water and wastewater treatment services. It will also address the impact of extreme storms, basement flooding, aging infrastructure, and significant city growth. The recommended budget consists of: A $1.4 billion operating budget A $1.4 billion 2022 capital budget A $15.1 billion ten-year capital budget plan This is the largest capital program delivered by Toronto Water in its history. This capital work includes investment in new assets and the renewal of existing infrastructure, especially in our growth areas. As many of you know, Toronto Water is currently racing to catch up with growth in demand on sewers by completing a project at Leslie and Sheppard. At Council’s request, the ten-year capital plan brings all of our transit growth areas up-to-date within a decade and is funded entirely from reserves. Toronto Water does not rely on debt to finance capital projects. Watermain replacement is one of the many important types of capital project completed by Toronto Water. The operating budget recommends a 3% rate increase in 2022. If approved, the average household would see a $29 annual cost increase next year. It’s important to remember that we can all be “average” consumers of water. Your water bill isn’t based on the size of your home, it comes down to how well you conserve water and how well we all adapt our properties to absorb storm water. Check out the City’s helpful webpage for tips on how to reduce your water usage and save money. Solid Waste Management Someone once asked me why we can’t just call this the Garbage Budget. The reason is that Solid Waste Management (SWM) really is a complex program with a range of services: As you can see, the SWM 2022 budget supports much more than just solid waste pickup. It allows for state-of-good-repair infrastructure projects, the continued development of renewable energy infrastructure, and the advancement of our Long Term Waste Management Strategy, which supports waste reduction and the transition of our blue bin recycling program to Extended Producer Responsibility, as required by the Provincial Government. The recommended budget consists of: A $377.8 million operating budget A $69.7 million 2022 capital budget A $850 million ten-year capital budget plan The price tag for the ten-year capital budget is needed for SWM to complete additional organic processing facilities and prepare for future landfill capacity as we reach the end of use of Green Lane landfill. On the operating side, your bin collection days will continue as usual. We will continue to have Environment Days at the Victoria Park transfer station, and we’ll return to holding one in the Old Cummer GO Station parking lot. There is one service in the budget that I’m working to improve: emptying garbage and recycling bins in our parks. The proposed budget keeps this service level the same as this past year, but I know that overflowing garbage cans in parks is one of the most frequent complaints we hear. I’ve asked staff to prepare a briefing on how this program is delivered and how much it would cost to pick up garbage in our parks more frequently. Stay tuned for that one. I've heard from many of you who are concerned about overflowing bins in parks like this. I'm working to see if we can increase service levels and have these bins cleared more regularly. This budget is proposing a rate increase of 3% this year and each year until 2031 to ensure that SWM can maintain or enhance service levels and fund their many capital projects. These multiple year increases will be the biggest source of debate when the rate budgets come to Council in December. What is most important is to continue on your own quest to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Keep your eye on your black bin. If you notice you aren’t filling it up, you can give us a call to help you downsize your bin and reduce your solid waste bill. Toronto Parking Authority (Green P) The Toronto Parking Authority (TPA), better known as Green P, is the largest municipally-owned parking and bike share operator in North America. Green P manages 18,000 pay-and-display and 40,000 off-street parking spots in our city. They offer rates slightly lower than competitors and still return an average of over $60 million in revenue to the City each year. They also operate Toronto’s Bike Share program, currently operating in 20 of Toronto's wards. You may not have noticed the rapid growth of Bike Share as we don’t have any stations up in Don Valley North yet, but it now has 6,850 bikes in use at 625 stations and has over 460,000 members. The TPA board presents its budget to the City each year so we can take a look at its yearly operations and long-term plans. This year, the TPA budget proposes a parking rate freeze to encourage the return of customers and support local Business Improvement Areas. Green P has also expanded to visitor parking in many condos downtown. I’ll be asking about the possibility of bringing this up to our area. My colleagues downtown tell me that condo boards find TPA to be a great partner to work with, and that affordable visitor parking leads to condo residents parking properly in their own spots. We may need solutions like this to manage parking along our fast-growing Sheppard corridor from Bayview all the way out to Victoria Park. This is just the start to budget season, and the beginning of a conversation I want to have with you about our priorities here in Don Valley North. Let me know what you think and don’t hesitate to reach out to my office if you have any questions. I’m here to make sure your voice is heard at City Hall and work together to find solutions for our neighbourhoods. RapidTO Update I’ve heard from many residents concerned about a flyer that they’ve received about proposed bus lanes on Don Mills, Sheppard, and Victoria Park that is so misleading I feel I must clarify: The City is not proposing Bus-Only lanes for Sheppard Ave or Victoria Park Ave. Don Mills Rd has had dedicated HOV lanes for over fifteen years but these are not 24/7, nor is there any proposal to make them so. November 28th is not a deadline to stop a Bus-Only lane on any of these streets, but it is a deadline for something else. Read on: November 28th is the deadline to take an online survey for the City of Toronto RapidTO first phase of consultation on what criteria the City should use to study bus/streetcar network improvements. The recommended improvements themselves will be proposed in a later phase and lots of local consultation will happen then. Don Mills Rd has had HOV lanes from Overlea Blvd to Finch Ave for over fifteen years. These function Monday through Friday, from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM and from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM. These are not painted red as some newer installations are, and yet, they function very well. As a result, the Don Mills bus route is one of the most efficient routes in the TTC, ferrying riders between Steeles Ave, the Sheppard subway, and Pape Station on Line 2, and will soon be a major carrier to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. In 2020, the City classified a number of major suburban avenues for study as part of RapidTO. The avenues were organized into Groups A, B, and C. At that time, I moved a motion that Sheppard Avenue be added to Group C because it was already being studied by the TTC to determine how we will move traffic along Sheppard given the Province’s subway extension is at least 20 years away. It makes sense for the City and the TTC to share information and not end up with conflicting reports. Sheppard Ave East is difficult to study at the moment as it is facing the challenge of the Ministry of Transport’s bridge rehabilitation and will be for several more months. As for concrete proposals, stay tuned to this E-Blast. If there is ever a proposal to alter Sheppard Ave, Victoria Park Ave, or Don Mills Rd, regular readers of this E-Blast will be the first to know. Below is the flyer that was distributed to residents: Planning & Growth Update North York Community Council – November 23, 2021 Next Tuesday is the final North York Community Council for the year, and there are a few Don Valley North-specific items on the agenda that I wanted to bring to your attention: NY28.10 - Preliminary Report - 1 Greenbriar Road and 635 Sheppard Avenue East Staff have done a preliminary review of the application which proposes to redevelop property and build an 11-storey mixed-use residential/commercial building. The building will contain 134 new residential units and 445 square metres of commercial space. The preliminary report provides an overview of all the relevant bylaws and policies that the proposal must comply with and identifies issues in the proposal that staff will review further and work with the applicant to resolve. This preliminary report, as all preliminary reports do, recommends that staff schedule a public consultation meeting with the Councillor. If the recommendations are approved, we can expect the consultation meeting to take place early in the New Year. NY28.16 - Parking and Traffic Regulations - Thomas Clark Way Thomas Clark Way is an unassumed road which means it is publicly accessible but does not meet the municipal standards necessary before the City "assumes" it—at which point it would become a public road. Work is ongoing to improve the road such that it can be assumed by the City, including widening certain stretches of the road. In the interim of these improvements, our office has been pushing for more immediate solutions to resolve some of the traffic, parking, and enforcement concerns that many residents have told us about. The recommendations in this report reflect these efforts and make improvements that can be quickly implemented. Included in the recommendations is the authorization of a 30km/h speed limit and reducing street-level parking at the narrowest parts of the road, allowing traffic to flow better and more safely. If you have any questions about the above agenda items or about any other planning related matter in the Ward, you can reach me at Scott.Prada-Simons@toronto.ca or (416) 338-2665. Vaccines for Kids Ages 5-11 Yesterday, Mayor John Tory and Dr. Eileen de Villa provided an update on the Team Toronto Kids COVID-19 vaccination plan for 5 to 11 year-olds in the City of Toronto. As announced earlier this month, Team Toronto has been developing the vaccination plan for this age group for several weeks. The initial vaccine roll-out will include school based clinics in 30 Toronto neighbourhoods over a three to four week period. A mobile school clinic model has been developed in partnership between Team Toronto partners, Toronto Public Health (TPH) and the city’s four public school boards. Strategically positioning school clinics, more than 390 schools and more than 55,000 children will be able to receive their COVID-19 vaccine through 230 clinics in 30 priority neighbourhoods. More clinics will be added and a full list of schools will be released in the coming weeks. I want to share the City's helpful website with information about COVID-19 vaccines for children: Vaccine Passports Proof of vaccination is now in effect for select non-essential settings in Ontario. If you need to print or download your proof of immunization, you can do so by visiting covid19.ontariohealth.ca or calling the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line at 1-833-943-3900. For more information on the vaccine passport, visit the link below:

Nothing makes it feel like the holiday season quite like the first snowfall. Most of it may be melting already, but we’re in for a snowy winter. Below are a few reminders about the levels of service you can expect from the City on snow clearing, park maintenance, and more in the coming months. I’ve also thrown in a few tips for how to stay safe and have fun with your loved ones to make the most of our winter season here in Don Valley North. Snow Clearing Every time it snows, my office gets calls asking when the streets will be plowed. The City has a handy chart that shows how much snow has to fall for them to start plowing our different types of roads, and how quickly they’ll be completed: Remember, the City has over 5000 km of roads and they have to tackle the major routes first. Our local roads only get plowed when there’s over 8 cm of snow, and it takes 14-16 hours for every street to be cleared. A separate plow will come around about two hours after the first plow to clear snow from the base of driveways when needed. The City also has an incredibly handy PlowTO Interactive Map that tracks the real-time locations of plows, sidewalk plows and salt trucks and shows when streets were last plowed. This is a great place to start when you’re wondering how soon your street will be cleared after it snows. If your street still hasn’t been plowed after 16 hours have passed, or you notice a pattern of a certain section not being cleared, get in touch with my office. When it comes to sidewalks, the City clears snow in most areas once there is 2 cm of snow accumulation and the snow has stopped falling, or when it’s particularly icy. Sidewalk clearing takes about 13 hours to complete. I know many folks help out by shovelling the sidewalk in front of their home when it snows, even in our neighbourhoods where the City provides sidewalk snow clearing. Remember to pile any snow on your own property or the boulevard and not push it onto the roads—it can be a real safety hazard. Seniors looking for help with shovelling their driveways and steps should try contacting Better Living Health and Community Services at 416-447-7244 ext. 541 to see what snow clearing assistance is available. This service has been a bit harder to find since the pandemic started, but there are still some options available. For our tenants in Don Valley North, remember that your landlord or property manager is responsible for clearing snow from the property (including walkways, steps, and landings) within 24 hours of snowfall. I know the winter season brings many challenges for tenants, so my team has put together a handy Winter Tenant Guide with helpful information and resources. Check it out online or contact my office to receive a hard copy in the mail. Getting Around Safely It gets a bit trickier to get around in the winter. Snow and ice create safety hazards whether you’re walking, cycling, taking transit or driving. Pedestrians, be extra careful and make sure you’re visible to drivers when crossing the street. It can help to make sure you have something reflective on when walking at night. Cyclists should avoid riding over snow and leave extra room for breaking. Drivers, make sure you are extra attentive to your surroundings and have prepped your car for winter. Check out the City’s helpful website with more Winter Safety Tips. I also want to remind drivers that the North York Winter Maintenance Bylaw came into effect yesterday. Under this bylaw, you cannot park on-street in the former City of North York from 2:00 AM – 6:00 AM. This allows the City to completely clear our streets of snow. This bylaw will remain in effect until March 31, 2022, so make sure you park accordingly. Enjoying our Parks and Trails I know that last winter, many of us discovered the beautiful parks and trails we have here in Don Valley North. The City provides winter maintenance in more than 250 parks, and pathways are cleared within 24 – 48 hours of snowfall after 8 cm of snow accumulation. The City has another handy map that shows the parks and trails in our neighbourhoods that receive winter maintenance. I also heard loud and clear from many of you that we need more winter maintenance on our park trails and pathways. This is especially true for our ravine trails, many of which don’t currently receive winter maintenance because they are considered Environmentally Significant Areas (ESAs). My fellow Councillors and I have asked Parks staff to determine how to safely clear snow in ESAs and what funding they need to expand winter maintenance to more of our parks. I hope this helps even more of you get outside and enjoy our beautiful scenery this winter. Get Outside and Have Fun! To end off my winter tips, there are so many great activities to take advantage of right here in our neighbourhoods and across our city. We’re lucky to have some excellent skating rinks here in Don Valley North at Cummer Park, Oriole, and Pleasantview Community Centres, and outdoor rinks at Van Horne Park and Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Park. You can also apply to create a community rink to enjoy with your neighbours. Some other fun activities to try out are checking out the toboggan hills in 26 parks across Toronto and making use of our golf courses in the winter by snowshoeing or even cross-country skiing. No matter how you like to enjoy the season, I hope you and your family stay safe and take some time to get outdoors this winter. As always, if you need assistance with anything above, do not hesitate to reach out to my office at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca or 416-338-2650. Bayview Village Association COVID Vaccine Clinic The Bayview Village Association is sponsoring a North York General Hospital COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic on Saturday, December 11 from 10 AM - 2 PM at Forest Grove United Church (43 Forest Grove Drive). This COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic is offering first doses, second doses, and booster does for those ages 12 and older as eligible. This is not a walk-in clinic, registration is required. The link to register for an appointment will be available 48 hours in advance of the clinic date. To receive the appointment booking link directly, the BVA encourages you to first register on their event page below: Vaccines for Kids Ages 5-11 COVID-19 vaccine appointments are now available for kids ages 5 to 11 (born in 2016 or earlier). Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 It is important that parents share information with their kids and answer their questions about vaccines. You can find helpful resources about vaccines for kids at the City's website below: Vaccine Passports Proof of vaccination is now in effect for select non-essential settings in Ontario. If you need to print or download your proof of immunization, you can do so by visiting covid19.ontariohealth.ca or calling the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line at 1-833-943-3900. For more information on the vaccine passport, visit the link below:

I know that people are getting tired of the after-dinner virtual consultation meeting. I am too. The online format really doesn’t provide the same opportunities that come when we meet in-person, but we still have a few virtual consultations ahead of us and we have to make the most of them. The most important consultation for Don Valley North, in my view, is coming up in December. You would probably rather spend your evening relaxing and watching TV, but it’s time for another consultation about your city and we need your feedback. City transportation staff will be consulting you before embarking on a major road reconstruction on Sheppard Avenue East between Bayview Avenue and Leslie Street. They will also be doing road resurfacing on Sheppard Avenue East from Bonnington Place to Bayview Avenue. The community consultation will take place on Tuesday, December 7 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. You can find the registration details at the end of this column. Road reconstruction might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but it is a once in a lifetime occurrence. The City only completely reconstructs roads once every 75 to 100 years. This is a huge opportunity for our community to create a road that can support our growing population for the next century. Unlike a simple surface repave job, during road reconstruction the road is dug down to its base and rebuilt entirely. This means the concrete base, asphalt, curb and sidewalk are all completely replaced. This diagram shows the various layers that make up our roads. In road reconstruction, the "base" layers and the surface layer are completely replaced. Council has a policy that when a road reconstruction comes around, staff must consult the community on any potential for road redesign according to Toronto’s Complete Streets Guidelines. As I said, these reconstructions only come around once every 75 to 100 years. This means we need to figure out how to design Sheppard Avenue East to support the needs of the community now and decades into the future. Complete Streets is a design approach to make streets safe, convenient, and comfortable for users of all ages and abilities, regardless of their mode of transportation. This means looking into improvements like widening sidewalks and making them more level, which makes them safer and easier to navigate for pedestrians. This is especially important along Sheppard Avenue East as we have a large and vibrant population of seniors who often walk along this major artery. Staff also look at things like the location of bus stops to see if they can improve the road experience for transit users. This short video explains the ideas behind complete streets and shares some examples of road design changes that can help makes streets comfortable and accessible for everyone, regardless of their mode of transportation. Bike lanes are also considered when road reconstruction happens. I know that our office receives dozens of calls per month from pedestrians who have had close calls with cyclists on the sidewalk, and that there are frequent requests to add bike lanes to this road from cyclists and other road users. I know that proposing big changes like bike lanes garners a lot of questions and concerns from the community. The most important thing is that we get all the details about the proposal so that each of us can form our opinions and share them with staff effectively. For example, for bikes lanes, it helps to know what type of lane is being proposed, whether they can be installed without losing a lane for cars and buses, and how they would function in intersections. The answers to these questions make a big difference, so be sure to ask staff whenever you need clarification or want to know more about something they’re proposing. Overall, it’s important to come into the virtual consultation meeting with the goal of walking away with as much information as possible. Keep a pen and paper handy to jot down your questions while staff are presenting so that you can remember to ask them during the Q&A portion of the evening. You get much more helpful answers when you ask questions based on the presentation itself. These questions are often what let us get right into the detail of what’s being proposed. Let’s make sure we come away from our Sheppard consultation with all of the info we need, in addition to making our opinions clear. For my own part, I will be asking staff to show us real life examples of any changes they propose. Complete Streets are being put into practice all across North America, so it shouldn’t be hard to show us some visuals so we can fully understand what’s being proposed. Through a quick search, I was able to find this great example of what road reconstruction can look like from Nanaimo, BC: Finally, for those of us who primarily use our cars to get around, here is a key thing to remember: They really aren’t out to get us, those transportation planners. Honestly, they know that many of us will always own cars, and part of a road reconstruction is making the road work for drivers. However, Council has directed City staff to work with the community to examine what road design changes are possible when the opportunity arises. Sheppard Avenue East is our busiest corridor, and we know many more people will call it home in the coming decades. This reconstruction is a real opportunity for all of us to get involved in designing a road that works for our community for decades to come. I know I can always count on Don Valley Northerners to come out to a consultation, and look forward to working with you on this major capital project. To register for the Sheppard Avenue East Reconstruction community consultation on Tuesday, December 7 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM, visit the link below: If you are not able to attend this consultation session, rest assured that there are many more opportunities for engagement. There will be an online survey available from November 30 until the end of December and a second consultation session later this winter with more details that reflect the feedback received at the first consultation. For more information on these additional ways to get involved and details about the project, visit the City’s website below: Vaccines for Kids Ages 5-11 Calling all Team Toronto superheroes! More than 20,000 COVID19 vaccine appointments are now available for kids ages 5 to 11. All kids can be super heroes and get vaccinated. Heroes protect their city, and getting vaccinated protects kids, their families, school and community. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 All children who are born in 2016 or earlier are eligible. Some locations where the vaccine will be available include: City-run Clinics, including Mitchell Field Arena Family health teams, including North York Family Health team Local pharmacies The City of Toronto is also planning on hosting hundreds of school-based clinics in the coming weeks, and has extended hours of operation at City-run clinics to make vaccinations as accessible as possible for families. It is important that parents share information with their kids and answer their questions about vaccines. Our kids have the opportunity to protect our city and be Team Toronto superheroes! The City's vaccination clinics will have selfie stations, colouring sheets, sticker books, and everything needed to make our kids feel like the superheroes that they are. You can find helpful resources about vaccines for kids at the City's website below: Vaccine Passports Proof of vaccination is now in effect for select non-essential settings in Ontario. If you need to print or download your proof of immunization, you can do so by visiting covid19.ontariohealth.ca or calling the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line at 1-833-943-3900. For more information on the vaccine passport, visit the link below:

It’s been an eventful few months for the Toronto Transit Commission. That’s really saying something, given the whole slew of challenges the TTC has faced since the start of the pandemic. Let me give you a rundown of what’s been happening these past few months and how I’m pushing the TTC Board to get our transit system back on track. Over the summer and early autumn, as vaccination rates rose, we saw ridership across the entire transit system reach 50% of pre-pandemic levels. This is the highest it’s been since the first COVID-19 lockdown. However, as ridership grew I began to hear from many of you that TTC service was not up to snuff. The amount of time between buses, streetcars, and even subway trains started to climb to eye-popping levels. Then came the hack. While not much information about this cyber attack is public yet, it took out a large chunk of the TTC’s communications infrastructure across the system. This was a huge blow to the system and critically impacted all TTC services, including Wheel Trans, for several days. Thankfully, our Automatic Train Control on the subway system and customer information remained largely safe and the TTC has since been able to restore most services. However, this was the cherry on top of a stack of problems the TTC was contending with, including their impending vaccination mandate and labour issues associated with it. At the end of the summer, the TTC announced a mandatory vaccination policy for its staff. This was largely in line with what was announced by Mayor Tory for City workers and Chief Ramer for the Toronto Police Service. Regrettably, ATU Local 113 that represents thousands of frontline transit workers took a different approach than the City’s unions and even the Toronto Police Association. The outcome: At the end of October, the TTC quietly announced temporary service reductions of 10% beginning in late November with more details to follow. At the same time, the TTC was vigorously trying to assist staff with vaccinations, hire new drivers, and bring back recent retirees to fill the gap. Unfortunately, once these announced service cuts went into place, the moderate complaints already coming in about inadequate on-time performance of TTC vehicles became a full shout. TTC Riders, an advocacy organization that pushes for better transit service, launched a new campaign called “Where’s My Bus?” asking Mayor Tory to intervene and reverse the cuts to 57 routes across the city. Steve Munro, a long-time transit writer and advocate (and masterful holiday cookie maker), has done a great job covering these service reductions and asking the central question: Are the service changes we’re experiencing just the result of our vaccine-related labour issues, or is there something else going on? Truth be told, I believe these service changes go beyond the labour piece. Yes, the fact that almost 10% of TTC workers are currently unvaccinated plays a large part, but we were seeing issues with TTC service even before the vaccine mandate came into effect. As Steve notes, the TTC presented a financial update last month that shows they’ve been able to reduce their budgeted spending through “cost controls” (AKA service reductions).This is separate from the labour gap they’re experiencing now. I followed up on Steve Munro’s observations at our TTC Board meeting this past Wednesday. Our monthly statistical report showed that the TTC was below target for on-time vehicle performance for several months over the summer and fall, pre-vaccine mandate. I pressed staff on this, and they admitted that during this time driver absences were not being filled. Instead, they would tweak schedules and skip an entire bus being sent out. This strategy was only shared with the Board as a result of my question, and it’s still being used today. This is not a “cost control” that any TTC Commissioner ever signed off on. This brings me to a larger issue we’re facing with the TTC: Lack of communication with the Board. This year, we’ve seen a reduction in the number of Board meetings, near silence during the cyber attack, and the complete doing away with the Board process around the TTC’s budget. Despite being one of the largest line items for the City’s budget each year, it will simply appear on the last agenda of the year without a committee or briefing preceding it. Don’t get me wrong, the Board has still been highly engaged on a number of issues. This week, for instance, we adopted a state-of-the-art process for capital project quality assurance that we’ve needed all along. However, I want to push for more Board engagement and oversight on a number of items. I want to bring back a transparent and engaging process around the TTC's budget, ensure we have adequate governance oversight of our labour and HR issues, and, most importantly, create a Ridership Recovery committee to guide us as we make our way through this pandemic. This is where broader engagement becomes crucial. No doubt, this has been an extremely challenging year for transit. The pandemic continues on, ridership levels remain low, and there’s much uncertainty around funding from other levels of government to sustain this backbone of our local economy. These roadblocks can’t stop us from pushing forward and making the TTC the best it can be given the circumstances. We need to engage our riders (past, present, and potential), improve communications on service disruptions, and work on labour relations. These are all issues that the TTC Board can and should take the lead on. As a TTC Commissioner, I consider it my homework for 2022 and beyond. In the meantime, the Board will consider the TTC’s 2022 Budget on Monday, December 20. Before I vote on it, I need to hear from you about your recent transit experiences. Your feedback is critical as I advocate for a better system to get all Torontonians moving again. Together, we can get the TTC back on track (pun intended) and ensure this vital service operates at its best through the pandemic and beyond. Bayview Village Association COVID-19 & Flu Vaccine Clinic The Bayview Village Association is sponsoring a North York General Hospital COVID-19 Vaccine and Flu Clinic on Saturday, December 11 from 10 AM - 2 PM at Forest Grove United Church (43 Forest Grove Drive). COVID-19 Vaccines The clinic is offering first doses, second doses, and booster does of the COVID-19 vaccine for those ages 12 and older as eligible. This is not a walk-in clinic, registration is required. The link to register for an appointment will be available 48 hours in advance of the clinic date. To receive the appointment booking link directly, the BVA encourages you to first register on their event page (linked below). Flu Shots: The clinic is offering regular doses of the flu vaccine for those ages 12 and older. Flu shots are being offered on a first come, first served basis. You do not require a booking time for your flu vaccine. Please note that the high dose flu vaccine for seniors (age 65+) will not be available at the clinic. For more information on this clinic and to register to receive the COVID-19 vaccine appointment booking link, please visit the link below: Oriole Community Centre COVID-19 & Flu Vaccine Clinic COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots are available at Oriole Community Centre (2975 Don Mills Road). The clinic is open on: Wednesdays from 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM Thursdays from 1:30 PM - 5:30 PM No appointment is needed. COVID-19 first and second doses are available to anyone born in 2009 or earlier, and booster doses are available to those who are eligible. Flu shots are available to anyone 6 months and older. This clinic is a collaboration between North York Toronto Health Partners, Working Women Community Centre, North York Harvest Food Bank, Toronto Public Health and Flemingdon Health Centre. For more information, visit the link below: Vaccines for Kids Ages 5-11 COVID-19 vaccine appointments are now available for kids ages 5 to 11 (born in 2016 or earlier). Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 It is important that parents share information with their kids and answer their questions about vaccines. You can find helpful resources about vaccines for kids at the City's website below:

December 16, 2021 It’s our last Council session of the year, and it’s a busy one. We dive right into the budget in January, so our December Council meeting always has a few big ticket items for me and my fellow Councillors to consider. A big thank you to everyone who joined me at Coffee with Your Councillor yesterday morning to ask your questions about these items and more. Here’s a rundown of the most notable items so far: TRANSFORMTO - CRITICAL STEPS FOR NET ZERO BY 2040 Municipalities do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to climate action. While national leaders may be the ones signing onto international climate agreements, cities make these commitments come true as we’re the ones delivering the vast majority of infrastructure and services. At Council yesterday, we committed to making our TransformTO climate strategy even more ambitious by moving our Net Zero goal forward ten years. We are now aiming to reach Net Zero by 2040. This update spells out important short-term goals to keep us on track to hit our targets. In particular, we need to focus on retrofitting buildings, reducing natural gas use, increasing access to low-carbon transportation options including electric vehicles, and increasing our supply of local renewable energy. These are all essential if we want to keep Toronto liveable for future generations. My colleague Councillor Layton added an amendment for staff to look into how to ban small equipment like leaf blowers as part of our carbon reduction strategy. I hope this speeds up the report on banning gas-powered leaf blowers that I’ve been fighting for since before the pandemic began. TORONTO HYDRO CLIMATE ACTION PLAN AND NEXT STEPS The City of Toronto still owns Toronto Hydro, our electricity distribution company. As its sole shareholder, we asked Toronto Hydro for a comprehensive report on its Climate Action Plan and how it aligns with our TransformTO strategy. It is essential that we expand our hydro network to accommodate the switchover from more carbon-intensive energy sources and modes of transportation across the city. It needs to be easy and cheap for folks to make the changes we’re pushing for, like retrofitting your home or switching over to an electric vehicle. In my time as Councillor, I’ve had some concerns about the Hydro Board’s accountability on climate action. From what I’ve seen, previous boards were not focused enough on electricity conversion in homes and businesses. Hydro staff assured me that the current board is focused on their Climate Action Plan, both through expanded electricity delivery and lobbying the Province to make these actions a priority in all of Ontario. These are both crucial to helping us reach Net Zero by 2040. CONTRACT AWARDS FOR WINTER MAINTENANCE SERVICES Council is once again re-tendering its winter road maintenance contracts for the next seven years. I have not been happy with the quality of snow clearing services delivered under the previous contracts. We can’t seem to achieve the quality of service we used to have in the legacy city of North York, when snow clearing was done by in-house staff. City staff have revised much of the language in this set of contracts, imposed performance metrics, and reduced the number of contracts being managed to 11 instead of the previous 47. I hope these changes can get us closer to the standard of snow clearing many of us remember. UPDATE ON OUTSTANDING VEHICLE-FOR-HIRE DIRECTIVES Council asked for an update on our original regulations for vehicle-for-hire services like Uber and Lyft. The City won the right to require certain regulations in a court battle a few years back, but we have not seen all of these regulations implemented. In particular, the driver training program has been long delayed. I am in favour of the Committee’s recommendation to stop issuing a percentage of new vehicle-for-hire licenses until this program is fully implemented. However, when Council debates this tomorrow morning, I can’t support freezing licenses while we wait for a framework that seeks to re-litigate the court challenge we went through when Uber first came to town. RECOMMENDED PARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW DEVELOPMENT City Planning asked Council to change its policies on parking requirements for new developments, as their study found we are often over-requiring underground resident parking. This leads to half-empty parking lots that are a real challenge (and expense) to keep safe and clean. While I agree with reducing resident parking minimums, I’m concerned about the changes proposed to visitor parking. Planners were recommending that we reduced visitor parking requirements by more than 50%, and I believe we should be increasing them. The Chief Planner agreed that we might need to reconsider suburban visitor parking, even for developments near subway stations. He helped me draft a motion to report back on this in June 2022 and it was supported unanimously. REQUEST TO ALLOW AN APPLICATION TO AMEND THE CONSUMERSNEXT SECONDARY PLAN When the Province pushed the Sheppard subway extension far off into the future, it put the development on the corner lot at 2135 Sheppard on hold. The applicant, Tribute Communities, applied to amend their application this past summer. Our City Planners have spent months negotiating the conditions under which they would consider these changes, and drafted a motion for me to present at Council to allow this process to proceed. An early rendering made for the ConsumersNext Secondary Plan. I want to stress that this is not any sort of approval. The applicant will have to wait for a robust community consultation process and rigorous planning review for any proposed changes. This step just allows us to properly evaluate the application and avoid an appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal that would completely cut the community out of the process. Residents of Brian Village are practically planning experts at this point. I have to ask you to help us once again and come out for the next round of consultations on these proposed changes once they’re scheduled in the New Year. I’ve already reminded the applicant that retail space for a grocery store is a deal breaker for the community. GREATER ACTION TO FIGHT AUTO THEFT IN TORONTO Councillors Mike Colle and James Pasternak have put forward a motion to request that Toronto Police Services (TPS) take greater action against car thefts in the city. I know this has been a growing issue here in Don Valley North, both on our neighbourhood streets and in our parking garages. This motion asks TPS to re-establish a dedicated unit for auto thefts and calls on the Province to help establish a task force to fight this issue on a larger scale. REAFFIRMING TORONTO'S OPPOSITION AND PROVIDING FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO THE LEGAL CHALLENGE AGAINST QUEBEC'S BILL 21 Finally, I joined a few of my colleagues and Mayor Tory in moving a motion to have the City of Toronto join Brampton in supporting the fight against Quebec’s discriminatory Bill 21, which prevents Quebec’s public servants from wearing religious symbols. We know this Bill targets specific communities, particularly our Muslim and Sikh communities, and that’s not something we can stand for here in Toronto. I’m happy to say this motion passed unanimously and the City will be providing vocal and financial support to the court challenge against this bill. To close off the E-Blast this week, I want to acknowledge the passing of Mayor Mel Lastman. Over the weekend we heard many remembrances of his time as the first mayor of post-amalgamation Toronto, and not enough about his time as our mayor here in North York. It’s ironic that Premier Harris said our amalgamation was part of his “Common Sense Revolution”. Mel had been using real common sense to run North York all along. He saw the value in running things in-house and striking a good deal for it. Our parks and school yards, for example, were maintained by the City in exchange for running swim programs out of high school pools, something we pay millions for today. While our Mayor Mel certainly had his ups and downs in public life, we all mourned him last week because Mel represents that bygone era we miss so much. As Mayor of North York, he was always 100% confident that we were on the right track, so we were confident as well. Mel’s passing reminds me to continue to strive for that. Booster Shots & Rapid Tests Yesterday, the Province of Ontario expanded eligibility for third doses (also known as booster shots). Starting Monday, December 20, anyone 18 years old and older who received their second dose approximately three months ago (84 days) will be eligible for a third dose. Everyone age 50 and older is now also eligible to receive a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine three months following their second dose, rather than the original six-month waiting period. The Province has also expanded access to free rapid tests over the holiday season. For more information, visit the link below: Vaccines for Kids Ages 5-11 COVID-19 vaccine appointments are now available for kids ages 5 to 11 (born in 2016 or earlier). Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 It is important that parents share information with their kids and answer their questions about vaccines. You can find helpful resources about vaccines for kids at the City's website below:

We’re all in this together. These are the words we lived by back in March 2020. It was all about staying home to save lives, looking out for our neighbours, and banging pots and pans at night for our healthcare heroes. Since then, the pandemic has worn us all down. Our interest in making it work, together, has sort of faded. However, it’s time to bring back the intention behind that phrase. As we face a new COVID reality with Omicron, we are going to have to summon up the will to be all in this together, again. I understand the pandemic overload everyone is feeling. Too many have been deeply affected by endless disruptions to our economy, our learning institutions, and our career opportunities. And of course, there have been far too many harrowing hospital stays and terrible losses. It makes no sense to be heading into year three of this ordeal. I understand these feelings and challenges because my own family has been affected by COVID-19. We have been blessed to be able to maintain our incomes, but the virus has still taken its toll. There have been education impacts, mental health impacts, and deterioration for senior family members due to isolation. In short, my family feels lots of the things you are feeling. Around this time last year, one of my grandsons caught the virus just as the second wave was taking off. This Christmas, Omicron got three of us, including me, even though my entire family is proudly double-vaccinated. I won’t go into too much detail about my personal COVID case. Suffice to say, this virus definitely takes age into account. My grandson slept it off in two days, his mother was miserable for three days, but Grandma had two waves of sickness over a span of ten days. I don’t even want to think about how much worse my case might have been if I was not fully vaccinated. Omicron may be less severe than previous variants, but it still needs to be taken very seriously. I’m sure many of you have stories just like mine, or know a friend or family member who has caught the virus in this new, highly-transmissible form. It’s very worrisome, and especially challenging now as people are not able to access tests to confirm whether or not they have COVID-19. I was very disappointed to see the way the Provincial Government chose to distribute tests over the holidays, and am even more concerned now that testing is almost completely inaccessible to the vast majority of our community. Our Provincial Government needs to step up and ensure that the tests that are available are distributed fairly, to those who need them most, and have a plan in place for when we receive more testing kits. As we move through this new wave, it’s time to hunker down and refocus on the daily COVID-19 updates you probably got tired of listening to in the news. Mayor Tory, Dr. de Villa, and Fire Chief Pegg spent a long time on the airwaves this past Tuesday imploring Torontonians to stay home as much as possible and follow all public health guidelines. Mayor Tory also asked for your patience as we experience many service disruptions across sectors. Here at the City, we are experiencing mass absences from public service and expect them to continue over the next four to six weeks. Just this past Tuesday, for instance, 890 TTC operators called in sick. Due to these staffing shortages, we are back to closing down some operations and redeploying healthy staff to essential services. Here are some of the services impacts currently in effect: Closing indoor facilities (indoor recreation, museums, meeting spaces, entertainment venues, etc.) Cancellation of all winter indoor instructional programs Delayed re-opening of After-School Recreation & Care Programs until in-person learning resumes The City also has a webpage that outlines COVID-19 service impacts for every City department, but you have to read it with a grain of salt. This information is based on a minimal number of absences and may change in the coming weeks. Remember, you can always call me and my team to clarify and get up-to-date info. Here in the Don Valley North office, we are back to 100% work from home, as per the advice from our City Manager and Dr. de Villa. My team is well-seasoned in making sure our office is here to serve you in the virtual form. We have a solid system for keeping in touch with each other so that we can keep track of how well the City is responding to your requests and flag any major challenges our neighbourhoods are experiencing. I rely on this information to be your best advocate at Council and in meetings with senior management. There are many new challenges we are experiencing with Omicron. Know that my team and I are here to help. Whether you need help booking a booster appointment or want clarification on our new public health measures, my office is just a phone call or email away. In the coming weeks, be sure to stay tuned into the latest public health info. Our City communications team has done a good job at putting out a steady stream of public health information through television and social media. Of course, I’ll continue to share important information with you right here in the E-Blast every Thursday. If there’s a need for a virtual community town hall as Omicron measures progress, I’ll promote it here. In the meantime, stay at home as much as you can. From my week of having COVID, I can tell you there is plenty of quality TV out there (CBC Gem is a goldmine!) and endless books you can download. If you’re planning to order in or do some online shopping, shop local. Many of our small businesses offer delivery and curbside pickup options that are just as convenient as their bigger competitors, and local jobs really do depend on support from the community. The one good reason to leave your house is to get your booster shot, or your first or second dose if you’re not yet fully vaccinated. It not only keeps you safe, it keeps your loved ones safe as well. I know that none of us want to be in the thick of COVID-19 again, but we will get through this. Many scientists around the world say that Omicron is leading us towards the end of the pandemic. If they are right, the rest of our year should be far less concerning than what we’re experiencing now. I sincerely hope they’re correct. I want our kids back in school, our seniors back in the company of family, and I want to be able to get back into our community, working on whatever makes Don Valley North a great place to be. We just need to hunker down for a few more weeks. I’ve seen our community come together many times, in many ways over the course of this pandemic. I know we can do it again. Remember, we’re all in this together. Planning & Development Updates Prepared by Tom Gleason, Chief of Staff Upcoming Community Meeting: 1 Greenbriar Way/635 Sheppard Avenue East Thursday, January 13, 2022 at 6:30 PM City Planning staff will be hosting a virtual community meeting to hear from residents about this development application, which proposes an 11-storey mixed-use building with 134 units and 454m2 of non-residential gross floor area. You can join the meeting online by WebEx or call in by phone. Please register here and you will receive further instructions by email. As always, our office will keep you informed and involved after the initial community consultation. Updates from North York Community Council There were many important items for our community on the agenda at North York Community Council today. Here’s a summary of the most notable items: Traffic Calming on Ernest Avenue and Pineway Boulevard After years of study and community engagement, traffic calming is finally coming to both Ernest Avenue and Pineway Boulevard! Both streets have become major Google Maps shortcuts whenever there is traffic nearby. Speed humps will be installed this year to cut down on speeding and reduce the amount of shortcutting happening through these neighbourhoods. A big thank you to all the residents who I've had the pleasure of working alongside to make this a reality! Thomas Clark Way Extension Thomas Clark Way runs between Barberry Pl and Rean Dr, just south of Sheppard Ave. It has been the subject of much frustration lately, as it remains unassumed by the City. Back in November, we brought in bylaws to allow parking enforcement to finally begin on this road. In December, Shelley submitted an Administrative Inquiry through City Council to determine who is responsible for the road currently and when it will be extended to Kenaston Gardens and assumed by the City. Unfortunately, the City Manager’s response to this inquiry still left questions. At NYCC today, Shelley moved that staff report back on the final plan for Thomas Clark Way by June so that the community will finally receive certainty on this local road. Sheppard Avenue East Secondary Plan Review – Next Steps Back in late 2018, former Councillor David Shiner directed City Planning to undertake a review of the Sheppard Avenue East Secondary Plan. Since then, there has been considerable staff turnover in the Planning department. Consequently, the review took much longer than expected and public engagement hasn't met expectations. City Planning has finally determined that the Secondary Plan should be updated. Shelley has directed them to undertake the prioritized study and begin community consultation by this spring at the latest. Stay tuned for next steps on how you can be involved. If you would like to receive more regular updates on this study, please let us know by responding to this email. 123 Parkway Forest Drive As mentioned several months ago, Choice REIT has submitted a development application for 123 Parkway Forest Drive. The application proposes to demolish five of the 10 existing townhouses and redevelop the site with a 29-storey residential building containing 339 units. The existing 19-storey residential building would remain. The Preliminary Report which outlines the application is available here. We are only at the consultation stage for this application. It has not been approved yet. The community meeting will likely take place in February. Notices will be mailed out by the City Clerk and we will include the registration details for the virtual meeting in a future E-Blast. Should you have any questions about the process for this application, please don't hesitate to be in touch. For questions on the specifics of the application, you may contact the City's Planner reviewing the application directly: Marian.Prejel@toronto.ca 12-24 Leith Hill Road North York Community Council approved the application at 12-24 Leith Hill, which was first applied for back in 2017. Since then, the application has shrunk from 14 storeys to 9 storeys with increased setbacks, protections for existing tenants, and infrastructure enhancements to meet the needs of the growing neighbourhood. Shelley voted in favour of this application given the context of site: It’s within a major transit zone, and across the street from the Ontario Land Tribunal-approved buildings of over 30 storeys, meaning we risked a far more aggressive building should this have been appealed to the OLT. The City will create a construction management committee with local residents to mitigate the impacts on the neighbourhood as this project moves forward. Please let us know if you’d like to be involved. NYGH Vaccine Clinic at Seneca College North York General Hospital has re-opened its Seneca Vaccination Clinic. The clinic is open from Monday to Friday for those 30+ and will be providing Moderna only at this time. Hours will vary and all bookings should be made online. Available appointments will be posted at the link below: Enhanced proof of Vaccination Measures As of this Tuesday, January 4, 2022, the use of the enhanced COVID-19 vaccine certificate with QR code is required where proof of vaccination is required. Your enhanced vaccine certificate can be downloaded by visiting https://covid-19.ontario.ca/get-proof/. For those without a smartphone, rest assured that you can still present a paper copy of the enhanced vaccine certificate. You can print a copy from the above website, or call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900 to have your vaccine certificate mailed to you. For more information on enhanced proof of vaccination, visit the Province's website below: Booking Vaccine Appointments COVID-19 vaccine appointments for first and second doses are available for those ages five and older. Third dose appointments are now available for those ages 18 and older. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 Shelley Carroll Councillor for Don Valley North councillor_carroll@toronto.ca 416-338-2650 100 Queen St. W, Suite A3 Community Events & Notices Merry Christmas! Tomorrow, Orthodox communities in Don Valley North and Toronto will be celebrating Christmas with their loved ones. I wish those celebrating a safe and very Merry Christmas. Survey: Sheppard Reconstruction City transportation staff are consulting the community before embarking on a major road reconstruction on Sheppard Avenue East between Bayview Avenue and Leslie Street. They will also be doing road resurfacing on Sheppard Avenue East from Bonnington Place to Bayview Avenue. There is currently an Online Comment Form available for you to share your thoughts. This survey is available until January 7, 2022. To complete the survey and for more information about the project, visit the links below: Survey: Clydesdale Park Playground Improvements The City is planning improvements to the playground in Clydesdale Park. These improvements are part of an ongoing city-wide program to ensure our playgrounds provide safe and accessible fun for years to come. Share your thoughts on the features and equipment for the new playground in an online survey that is available until January 7, 2022. To complete the survey, visit the website below: Toronto Public Library Closures Toronto Public Library (TPL) will temporarily close 44 branches as of Monday, January 10 due to COVID-19 related staffing shortages. Here in Don Valley North, Hillcrest Library and Pleasant View Library will be closed starting this Monday. 52 of TPL’s largest and most-used library branches will remain open and staff from closed locations will be reassigned to these branches. TPL’s open branches will continue to operate at their current service levels, which include 50 percent capacity limits. Bookmobile and Home Library Services will also continue at their current service levels. All TPL online services will remain available and can be accessed from anywhere including access to digital collections, online programs and Answerline. Toronto residents 13 and over who live in Toronto and don’t have a library card can register for a Digital Access Card online and get instant access to thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, streaming video, eLearning resources and more. For more information, visit the website below: POSTPONED: Neighbours Night & New Year's Skating Levee In order to keep our community safe and observe current COVID-19 restrictions, we are postponing two upcoming events: POSTPONED: Neighbours Night (previously scheduled for Thursday, January 6, 2022 at Oriole Community Centre) POSTPONED: New Year's Skating Levee (previously scheduled for Saturday, January 8, 2022 at Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Park) We are hoping to be able to hold these and other events at a later date when it is again safe to do so. Keep an eye out in future E-Blasts and on my social media channels for announcements about upcoming events. Levels of Snow Clearing Service Every time it snows, my office gets calls asking when the streets will be plowed. The City has a handy chart that shows how much snow has to fall for them to start plowing our different types of roads, and how quickly they’ll be completed: The City also has an incredibly handy PlowTO Interactive Map that tracks the real-time locations of plows, sidewalk plows and salt trucks and shows when streets were last plowed. This is a great place to start when you’re wondering how soon your street will be cleared after it snows. If your street still hasn’t been plowed after 16 hours have passed, or you notice a pattern of a certain section not being cleared, get in touch with my office. Prevent Frozen Pipes Cold weather can cause your water pipes to freeze, resulting in no water and expensive property damage. For tips on how to protect your water pipes from freezing, visit the link below:

December 21, 2021 I can hardly believe 2021 is almost over. I think it’s safe to say that when this year started, most of us hoped we would be out of this pandemic by the end of it. There’s no doubt it’s been another tough year for us all. Even with the challenges of the pandemic, our community here in Don Valley North found so many ways to come together. Here are some highlights of what my team and I were up to in 2021. CONNECTING WITH YOU I’m always bragging to my fellow Councillors that I have some of the most engaged residents in the city, and this year you certainly did not disappoint. For me, the highlight of our year was the summer, as I got to re-connect with many of you in person. My team and I hosted 27 Park Pop-Ups, and it was a delight to have an outdoor chat with so many of you. I have to say we truly got to every corner of the ward! This maps shows the location of every Park Pop-Up we did this year. These Park Pop-Ups gave me a sense of what was going on in each neighbourhood and helped me dive deeper into some local issues. For instance, we hosted Community Safety Audits for the Crossroads and a townhouse complex on Godstone Road based on concerns they shared. I also worked closely with social service agencies around emergency shelters to make sure we have the proper support systems in place to keep our communities safe. We also knocked on hundreds of doors canvassing to hear your thoughts on local issues, and I got to see some beautiful gardens and holiday decorations through our DVN Garden Contest and DVN Holiday Contest. Of course, with COVID-19, we also did a lot of connecting online. I joined many of you at over 35 virtual community meetings, including City-led public consultations, meetings with many of our residents associations, and some of my office’s own virtual events like our Budget Town Hall and Rooming House Community Meeting. I also tried out something new this year and hosted seven Coffee with Your Councillor sessions on Facebook Live to answer your pressing questions in real time. While I always prefer to connect with you in person, virtual meetings will certainly continue to be a part of our lives in 2022. I know that together we can make the most of these online opportunities. A priority of mine this year has also been supporting our community through the pandemic, especially through the initial vaccine rollout. We hosted a Vaccine Telephone Town Hall with Dr. de Villa and top doctors from North York General Hospital (NYGH) in April when many of you had urgent questions about your vaccinations. My team helped thousands of DVN residents get vaccinated through outreach and partnership with NYGH, and even by booking appointments for residents having trouble with the Provincial system. I also vocally advocated for vaccine mandates, for City clinics to be open 24/7 to meet demand, and protections for our frontline healthcare workers. Aside from our dozens of scheduled events, my team helped a whopping 3800 residents with local issues this past year. We reached thousands more residents of DVN with our Summer and Winter Tenant Guides and our newsletters. Getting to chat with so many of you outdoors was the highlight of my summer! None of these engagement opportunities would have been a success without you. If you reached out to share your ideas with me, whether in-person, over Zoom, or through a simple call or email, thank you. Whenever you took the time to connect with me and my team this year, you became a part of making our community better. IMPROVING OUR NEIGHBOURHOODS The pandemic definitely slowed the pace on many City projects in 2020, but we saw a lot of progress across our ward. We got brand new playground equipment at Old Sheppard Park, Parkway Forest Park, and Cummer Park, and we got the ball rolling with community consultations for playground enhancements at Ruddington, Bellbury and Pinto parks. Many of you also took the time to come out and share your suggestions on how to improve our neighbourhoods. Hundreds of residents joined our Parkway Forest Park Master Plan pop-ups and our Participatory Budgeting process in Henry Farm to vote on the improvements they want to see in their communities in the New Year. Thank you to the over 100 Henry Farmers who came out to vote in our Participatory Budgeting process. My team and I also worked closely with the Parks department and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) to speed up the work being done in Newtonbrook Creek, and we are finally able to again enjoy our beautiful Duncan Creek now that the restoration work is complete. I also know that upgrading our infrastructure and making our roads safer have been top priorities this year. I worked very closely with City Planning staff to protect our infrastructure along Sheppard Avenue by putting a hold on certain new developments while vital sewer upgrades are made. We’re also seeing a major road reconstruction along Cummer Avenue to make the street safer for pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and drivers alike. At North York Community Council, I’ve pushed reports forward to investigate safety improvements and traffic calming on Blue Ridge Road, Pineway Boulevard, and Ernest Avenue. We all know that these types of improvements can take time, but I appreciate how engaged local residents have been every step of the way to make our neighbourhoods the best they can be. MAKING COUNCIL WORK FOR YOU To wrap this up, I want to share some of the challenges we took on at Council this year and the changes we pushed through to make our city better. I joined my colleagues Councillor Wong-Tam (centre) and Councillor Lai (right) at the Stop Asian Hate rally at Nathan Phillips Square in late March. I moved motions that help us out right here in Don Valley North, from pushing back on stunt driving and excessive vehicle noise and prioritizing the Peanut as a Neighbourhood Improvement Area to advocating for $10 a day childcare. As always, I continue to advocate for more options for seniors to age in place while still improving the conditions and capacity of our Long Term Care system. Council also passed motions to pilot alternative responses to policing and confront Islamophobia, anti-Asian racism, and anti-Semitism in our communities, and I worked closely with the Beth Tikvah Synagogue to resolve a zoning issue that will allow this vital community to expand their educational offerings on site. On the transportation front, I led the way in talking about the future of the TTC so that we can ensure this vital system bounces back from the impacts of the pandemic and ride-sharing programs like Uber. I’ve also advocated strongly to create a transit hub in Don Valley North when Oriole GO is relocated to Leslie station so that it better integrates into the community, and have pushed the bike plan forward at Old Cummer GO to create better cycling integration for our many path and trail users. With the beautiful system of parks and ravines here in Don Valley North, I know protecting our environment and fighting climate change are top of mind. Many of you signed my petition to phase out gas-powered leaf blowers and got in touch with my office to let me know we need to do more to combat LDD moths on our trees. As a TRCA Director, I also successfully fought to preserve our wetlands, led the charge to endorse the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, and worked with other Councillors towards eliminating single-use plastics. Finally, one of the things I’m most proud of this year is the work my team and I did to engage with young people on these critical issues. We held monthly Youth Council meetings and welcomed a new set of youth council members, and launched our Youth Network to reach even more young people in Don Valley North. It was great to engage with Don Valley North's young people through our monthly Youth Council meetings. FAREWELL TO 2021 One last stat for you. This is the 49th E-Blast I sent out this year. Thank you to each and every one of you for taking the time to read this newsletter every week. I want to wish you and your loved ones a safe and restful holiday season and a Happy New Year! COVID-19 Restrictions In response to the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant, the Province of Ontario has announced additional COVID-19 restrictions that are now in effect, including: Indoor public settings limited to 50% capacity Indoor social gatherings limited to 10 people Outdoor social gatherings limited to 25 people I know many of us were looking forward to seeing our friends and family over the holidays. We can still do so, but we need to adhere to public health advice to keep ourselves and and our loved ones safe. Enhanced Proof of Vaccination Measures Starting on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, the use of the enhanced COVID-19 vaccine certificate with QR code will be required where proof of vaccination is required. Your enhanced vaccine certificate can be downloaded by visiting https://covid-19.ontario.ca/get-proof/. For those without a smartphone, rest assured that you can still present a paper copy of the enhanced vaccine certificate. You can print a copy from the above website, or call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900 to have your vaccine certificate mailed to you. For more information on the new COVID-19 restrictions and enhanced proof of vaccination measures, visit the Province's website below: Booking Vaccine Appointments COVID-19 vaccine appointments for first and second doses are available for those ages five and older. Third dose appointments are now available for those ages 18 and older. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900

Throughout the year, Councillors ask for many reports from staff. We like to give them enough time to write a detailed and useful report, so you’ll often hear us say “Report back to us on this in the new year.” Well, January has rolled around again and our committee agendas are loaded with important items. This week, the Infrastructure & Environment Committee and Planning & Housing Committee both considered items that I’m paying close attention to for our neighbourhoods. Read on to see what these items mean for us here in Don Valley North. GOLF At Infrastructure & Environment Committee (IEC), staff reported back on the future of the City’s five public golf courses. Over 40 community members joined the meeting to share their thoughts, and they raised many of the issues I wrote about in this E-Blast back in September. Most speakers were disappointed that the report doesn’t show any real imagination. There isn’t much proposed to improve our courses or the non-golf uses of the golf course lands. In the end, IEC rejected staff’s recommendation to start a planning exercise that would reduce Dentonia, the only course that’s perfectly subway-friendly, to nine holes. Instead, IEC directed staff to improve connections to nature at all five locations and do a better job of promoting the non-golf activities the City already offers on these lands. Interest in golf has continued to grow over the pandemic across our diverse communities here in Toronto. Even with a shortened season, our public courses returned over $800,000 to the City’s coffers last year. I hope this newfound interest in our public outdoor spaces over the past two years becomes a permanent part of our lives in the city. MAINTAINING OUR PUBLIC WALKWAYS Ever since I was a little girl, I can remember making my way through the neighbourhood by walking along the little pedestrian paths that run between houses and connect our streets. City staff call them public walkways, I call them cut-throughs. They are a wonderful feature of our neighbourhoods when they’re maintained, but every summer my team takes calls about these cut-throughs being in very rough shape. An example of a cut-through here in Don Valley North. This one runs between Bellbury Crescent and Nymark Avenue. In 2015, I moved a motion that staff take inventory of all of our cut-throughs and create a plan for proper maintenance. This plan never materialized. Councillor Peruzza tried again last year, and staff have reported back that there is enough funding in the capital budget this year to repair public walkways in urgent need of maintenance. A full plan for all of our city’s public walkways will finally be produced this year so we can take a more proactive approach going forward. By January 2023, staff have promised to create a proper 10-year state of good repair plan. If at first we don’t succeed, we Councillors band together to try-try-again. MORE TRANSPARENCY IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS I sat in on Planning & Housing Committee (PHC) on Wednesday because, once again, there were many items that impact our ward. First up, PHC considered an item that will create more transparency in our development process. As some of you may know, it is quite common for a developer to meet informally with the Planning department to get an idea of what’s possible on a given site before making a formal application. They may still apply for an amendment to the Official Plan down the road, but these meetings give the developer a sense of how much their application will cost in terms of public process and mandatory infrastructure expenses. I have long been uncomfortable with the lack of transparency around this informal phase of the development process. At PHC yesterday, the Chief Planner presented a report that creates a formal process for this preliminary step. In my opinion, this is long overdue. Our Chief Planner is proposing a formal pre-application phase, where both Planning staff and the developer have set responsibilities. More importantly, any of the work done in this phase will be presented to the community at the first public meeting. PHC also added to the recommendations to require a pre-application meeting with community stakeholders and Councillors. I’m happy to see this phase in the development process formalized to make it more transparent to residents. GARDEN SUITES The Planning & Housing Committee took another big step at yesterday’s meeting: adopting guidelines for Garden Suites. Garden Suites are single housing units that can be built at the rear of a property, sometimes called nanny suites. They are similar to laneway homes, which have been permissible for some time now but don’t exist in Don Valley North because we don’t have vehicular laneways behind our houses. Garden Suits cannot be severed from their lot and sold separately, they can only be rented or owner-occupied. These suites must also meet all of the Ontario building code requirements for any detached dwelling unit. An illustration of Garden Suites in a neighbourhood. During the debate, Councillor Bailao offered some very helpful insight. She’s Chair of the PHC and the Councillor for Davenport where most of Toronto’s laneways exist. She predicts that Garden Suites will follow a similar trajectory to laneway homes when they were first allowed: There will be a lot of interest expressed at the application counter initially, but homeowners will quickly learn that many steps are required before a building permit is awarded. Tree protection and stormwater management plans need to be commissioned, legal work will be mandatory, and much more. In short, these Garden Suites won’t spring up overnight. Planning staff are going to produce a detailed information booklet for homeowners interested in applying for a Garden Suite so they know what to expect of the process. PHC also added a recommendation that Councillors should be notified of all Garden Suite applications, regardless of size. These suites are a great opportunity for families in our neighbourhood to grow and age in place. I shared my thoughts on Garden Suites at Planning & Housing Committee. MUNICIPAL COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW My team has written about the Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) in the Planning & Growth Update of a past E-Blast. This month, City Planning presented their initial assessment of the over 150 applications received to convert General Employment Lands to other uses (mostly a combination of residential uses). In the Consumers/Parkway Centre Business Park, there are five such applications. It’s critical that the City protects its employment lands and preserves local jobs wherever possible. The next step of this process will include public consultation, with a final report back by July 2023. I’ll share more on this in a future E-Blast. All of the committee matters discussed above are on their way to Council in the first week of February. This gap between committees and Council gives us Councillors time to think about all the details that still need to be addressed. It’s important for me to hear your questions and concerns before Council. Every Councillor gets an opportunity to ask questions of senior staff at our meetings, and your feedback helps me know how to vote on last minute changes that may be added to these items by the Mayor and my Council colleagues. As always, feel free to reach out to my office to share your thoughts on any of the above. PLEASANT VIEW PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING We're starting a Participatory Budgeting process in Pleasant View! We'll be hosting a virtual idea-gathering meeting on Wednesday, January 19th at 6:30 PM to hear from Pleasant View residents on how to spend $500,000 in your community. To RSVP for the meeting and to learn more about participatory budgeting, visit our website below: These funds come from community benefit charges collected from local developments and can be spent on capital projects on City-owned land in your community. Proposals can be for “things” (a one-time cost) but not services (an ongoing cost). These new community amenities can be located in parks, community centres, libraries, and other public areas. We need your ideas to move forward and allow the community to decide which projects get built. After this meeting, our office will work with City Staff to assess the costs and feasibility of the proposals. Once this is done, we’ll ask you to vote on which proposals should be implemented. My team and I look forward to working together to create exciting new amenities for the Pleasant View community. Planning & Development Updates Prepared by Tom Gleason, Chief of Staff TONIGHT: Community Meeting for 1 Greenbriar Way/635 Sheppard Avenue East Thursday, January 13, 2022 at 6:30 PM City Planning staff will be hosting a virtual community meeting tonight to hear from residents about this development application, which proposes an 11-storey mixed-use building with 134 units and 454m2 of non-residential gross floor area. You can join the meeting online by WebEx or call in by phone. Please register here and you will receive further instructions by email. As always, our office will keep you informed and involved after the initial community consultation. Clarification Re: Sheppard Ave E Secondary Plan Review Last week, we shared an update from North York Community Council on the Sheppard Avenue East Secondary Plan Review. The update stated that City Planning will undertake a prioritized study and consultation process along Sheppard, but was missing a line that explained that this review only covers the portion of Sheppard from Bayview to Leslie. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Booking Vaccine Appointments COVID-19 vaccine appointments for first and second doses are available for those ages five and older. Third dose appointments are available for those ages 18 and older. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 For more information on vaccines, visit the link below:

Budget season has rolled around again here at City Hall, and I know what you’re thinking: “Our Councillor is the biggest budget nerd there is. Is this E-Blast going to be full of boring numbers?” Rest assured I’m not going to fill this column with numbers. You already know the big number. There’s going to be a property tax increase of 4.4% this year. This is the largest increase since 2001, when Mayor Lastman followed his promised three years of 0% property tax increases with a 5% increase in one year. I’m pretty sure you know that inflation is the biggest reason for this year’s increase. As I write this column, I’m watching CBC’s The National explain why inflation is at a 30-year high nationwide. Municipal governments are especially vulnerable to inflation because we are so service delivery-oriented and labour intensive. Supply chain issues, rising labour costs, and even the rising price of fuel and food all impact the cost of City services. Since the mega-city of Toronto was created, every Mayor and Council has struggled to continuously improve the services you rely on while also creating enough capital to build and renew our infrastructure. My favourite blog, City Hall Watcher, produced a chart of the past twenty years of Toronto tax increases that is quite telling: You can click on the above image to view a larger version. Way back in 1998, the new City of Toronto began with Mel Lastman’s bold promise of zero property tax increases for an entire three-year political term. It seems amazing when you look back at it on a chart. What isn’t shown in that chart, and what we often forget, is that those zero percents were balanced out by a $900 million amalgamation fund provided by the Provincial government at the time. Once that fund ran out, reality set in. It became clear that shrinking Council and reducing six mayors down to one didn’t shrink the number of residents needing service, nor the cost of providing that service. Since that time, property tax increases have been roughly in line with inflation, no matter how you slice it. Keeping property tax increases at the rate of inflation for so many years has meant hundreds of millions in cost-cutting measures. Any time we need to fund a new service, or address a growing crisis like climate, poverty, or our affordable housing supply, it means cuts to other services or pushing much-needed infrastructure projects even further into the future. These infrastructure costs are the most concerning because they have to be met sooner or later. I constantly hear from residents who want to know when we can get our roads in better condition, create more affordable housing for our children’s future, improve our parks and recreation spaces, and build a better, more affordable transit system. Take a look at another City Hall Watcher chart: You can click on the above image to view a larger version. This iceberg has been growing for years. When I was Budget Chief, inflation was trending upwards and then the 2008 global financial crisis arrived. Each division manager told me they could only balance their budget if they put off a few infrastructure projects to future years. This was how they had survived the three years of zero percent increases. Our great senior financial planner, Josie Lavita, cautioned us, “If you keep putting off this capital infrastructure work, as the guy on the Titanic shouted, ‘Iceberg, dead ahead!’”. City Hall Watcher brought the iceberg back to demonstrate that while this year’s budget makes grand promises of infrastructure spending over the next ten years, it still leaves $40 billion in important work unfunded. Some of these unfunded projects are solely the responsibility of the City, but others really require the support of our Federal and Provincial governments. In particular, our housing crisis continues and the City can’t address this on our own. We are investing in housing, but our Federal and Provincial partners need to do more. In particular, I want to see every party running in the June Provincial election to promise that they will commit more to housing solutions. Take a look at how this year’s capital budget for Shelter, Support and Housing is funded: Note that on an annual basis, the City is contributing roughly what Mayor Tory committed to spend to address the housing crisis in his 2018 mayoral campaign. However, he quite reasonably expected the Provincial and Federal governments to match those funds since they, too, ran on addressing the crisis. It hasn’t happened. There is one other looming pressure the City needs to address: staffing vacancies. This one is not addressed in this budget, but it affects all of the services you rely on and needs to be solved in the very near future. The City of Toronto has long been a very demanding place to work, and staff are often enticed to go work elsewhere in the GTA. Our 2020 salary/wage freeze has made this issue worse by causing Toronto to fall behind what is being offered in surrounding municipalities. This chart shows the current vacancy rates in our different service areas: Clearly, this freeze needs to be lifted. Our best and brightest staff are being attracted away, and we need to fill these vacant positions. I’ll be asking the City Manager for an urgent update to his People Plan to address this. It’s my job as your Councillor to tell you what’s happening with our budget, but that’s not my only job. Despite some grim news around budget pressures, crisis planning, and inflation, it’s still my job to improve our neighbourhood in every annual budget process. Every year, I pore over the budget with my Chief of Staff, Tom, to track any work slated for Don Valley North. If staff promised to do something in this budget year, we go on the hunt to make sure it hasn’t been pushed out. If it has, we get to work ensuring that staff realign their draft budget to deliver on what they promised. If they can’t, they have to give me a detailed reason that I can share with you. I also sit down with my team to make a list of your most frequent calls to the office. This helps me know which services are lacking in our neighbourhoods and what to look for in the thousands of pages of Budget notes. Once I see what City staff have proposed, I can press them to invest in service improvements where needed. Ultimately, it’s you, the residents of Don Valley North, who determine what I focus on in our budget each year. I’m holding my annual Budget Town Hall on Wednesday, January 26th at 6:30 PM to share more details on our budget and give you a chance to ask your most pressing questions. I’ll also share a comprehensive list of what’s budgeted for our ward and my plans for how to address what isn’t yet included. You are investing more than ever in Toronto’s budget this year. I’m going to make sure you have the 411 on where your dollars are going. Budget Town Hall Want to dive deeper into the 2022 budget? My team and I are hosting a virtual Budget Town Hall on Wednesday, January 26 at 6:30 PM. This is your chance to ask questions of City finance staff and learn more about how the budget shapes the services you rely on. To RSVP for the meeting, visit the link below: Update on Snow Clearing Operations That was some snowstorm we had on Monday—over 55 cm! That’s more snow in one day than when Mayor Mel called in the army to help with snow clearing back in 1999. I know my team has taken calls from many of you over the course of the week with questions and concerns about snow clearing operations. We know that many people’s driveways were blocked in by snow banks and some local sidewalks still have not received plowing. Rest assured that City staff and contractors are still working around the clock to continue snow clearing and snow removal efforts. The City has completed salting and plowing on our major roads. Plowing on local roads and sidewalks is continuing today. City crews have also started the snow removal process in North York, where front-end loaders and dump trucks are used to collect snow and remove it to the City’s five snow storage sites. Let us know if there are still streets being missed. As of this morning, my team has been able to help residents make requests to 311 for driveway windrow clearing and missed snow clearing on roads and sidewalks. If you’re still experiencing any snow-related issues, send my office an email at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca or give us a call at 416-338-2650 and a member of my team will be happy to help. I also want to let you know that this is the last year of the old snow clearing contracts. Next year, we’ll have modernized contracts with one company accountable for all of the snow clearing services north of the 401 between Dufferin and Victoria Park. They’ll be experts in our North York-style streets. Thanks to all of you for your patience as the City continues to work through this major snow event. Upcoming Vaccine Clinics in Don Valley North Parkway Forest Community Centre North York General Hospital and North York Toronto Health Partner's are running a weekly vaccine clinic at Parkway Forest Community Centre for the next three weeks, and may extend the clinic depending on demand: Tuesday, January 25: 4:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday, February 1: 4:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday, February 8: 4:30 - 7:30 PM First, second, and third doses of Moderna are available for people 30 years and older. Walk-ins are welcome while supplies last, but appointments are preferred. Book an appointment at the link below: Seneca COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic North York General Hospital has reopened their Seneca vaccination clinic. First, second, and third doses of Moderna are available for people 30 years and older. Walk-ins are welcome on the following dates while supplies last: Thursday, January 20: 4:30 - 6:30 PM Friday, January 21: 4:30 - 6:30 PM Saturday, January 22: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM Sunday, January 23: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM Appointments are also welcome. More information is available at the link below: Tyndale University GO-VAXX Mobile Bus Clinic (3377 Bayview Ave) Tyndale University is very pleased to be hosting a mobile vaccination clinic on campus on Monday, January 31. It is available to anyone in the community. The clinic will bring pediatric doses for 5-11-year old’s, 11-17 youth doses, and first, second and booster doses for adults. The vaccines administered will be in line with the Ministry of Health guidelines. Anyone under 30 will receive Pfizer and those 30 and older will receive Pfizer or Moderna depending on availability. You can start to book appointments at 8:00 AM the day before the clinic using the Provincial booking website at covid19.ontariohealth.ca or by calling the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line number at 1-833-943-3900. Booking Vaccine Appointments COVID-19 vaccine appointments for first and second doses are available for those ages five and older. Third dose appointments are available for those ages 18 and older. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 For more information on vaccines, visit the link below:

As Canadians, we all know the beauty of snow. It is gorgeous in those first thirty minutes. A hush falls over the city. As if by magic, suddenly everything is white and sparkly, and we remember every childhood snowstorm when all we had to do was play in the stuff. This photo is from a beautiful walk in the ravine after our first snowfall. That first snow day always feels magical, but snow gets old very quickly. Now we’re grown-ups, and reality sets in pretty fast. We see snow and quickly remember that we have to shovel it, drive in it, and trudge down the sidewalk in it, sometimes pushing a stroller or navigating a wheelchair. For most of us, snow is just something we have to endure until the spring comes again and melts it all away. With a winter like this, we city-dwellers can get pretty cranky about it. I know we’ve all endured a lot since January 17th, when 55cm of snow accumulated in one storm: Missed medical appointments, stranded buses and cars, endless hold music while trying to call in snow clearing requests to 3-1-1. Thank you all for your patience and the work you did to look out for your neighbours during that storm. I could go on about storms past and how unprecedented this snowfall was, but you already know that January 17th was a major storm. Most of you were willing to give our snow clearing operations the benefit of the doubt for a whole week, acknowledging just how much snow there was to deal with. But one week later, the tone of our calls and emails from the community changed, and rightly so. My team and I heard from many of you whose driveways were left blocked and sidewalks left unplowed for well over a week. I know that for some, these problems still haven’t been resolved. This long after the storm has passed, this is simply not acceptable. The snowstorm on January 17th was one of the biggest we've seen in decades. I’ve been out in my car looking for trouble spots in our neighbourhoods. Once I find them, I photograph them and report them right away. Every member of my team has also been working extra hours to make sure every one of your issues is being prioritized for action. Once we entered week two, every snow complaint was followed up on, resubmitted, and escalated if it still had not received attention. I waited until two full weeks had passed to take to social media to criticize. I heard that City Staff were holding an afternoon press conference to assure Torontonians they were ready for the next storm. I felt strongly that we shouldn’t be talking about how prepared we are for the next snowfall when there are still roads and sidewalks left unplowed from a storm two weeks past. I was up in the ward with my team near Ravenscroft Circle, which we heard had never been plowed in spots. I know that many other roads still have this same issue, but this was a street that was close by and we could get to quickly with a camera. The video I posted from there is a direct call on the City to take action on all of the unplowed walkways, roads, and sidewalks you have reported to us in every corner of Don Valley North. [embed twt link here - https://twitter.com/shelleycarroll/status/1488587642065371137 ] Late Wednesday night, as the snow began to fall again, Council commissioned a report from Transportation Services. It asks for a full review of our snow clearing operations during the major storm to be presented at Infrastructure & Environment Committee at the end of March. The intent behind this report is to figure out where service worked, where it didn’t, and then use that information to develop a better plan for next time. The timing of this report is quite strategic. A new group of contractors will be conducting our snow services next winter and will be supervised under a new management model. My fellow Councillors and I believe it’s crucial that City staff debrief from this storm experience so that they can make sure next year’s contractors are prepared to deal with every kind of storm, including the occasional extreme one. Given how late Council was running yesterday night, I didn’t nitpick the motions moved on the “Major Snow” report. There will be an opportunity to make amendments and work with staff before the March Committee meeting to make sure they get this report right. So far, I only have one major quarrel with the instruction Council has given for the final report: I believe we should have gave this direction to more than just the General Manager of Transportation Services. You’ve likely seen the General Manager of Transportation Services, Barbara Gray, on TV many times this winter giving updates on the City’s snow clearing efforts. We certainly need Transportation Services to review their operations during the storm, but responding to this storm required multi-division coordination. We weren’t just disappointed by plows and dump trucks—my team and I were shocked that 3-1-1 seemed unable to bundle complaints by area and help Barbara Gray get her crews in the right places. At Infrastructure & Environment Committee on March 29th, I will want to hear from the Deputy City Manager who coordinates all City operations needed to get this job done. I want to hear that when our city is crippled by an extreme weather event, there is accountability from top to bottom for the cleanup. We know that “once in a lifetime” snows are becoming much more regular, and our every City division needs to be prepared. We’re reasonable people. We can all accept some inconvenience in extreme circumstances, and understand that it’ll take a few days, even a week, to deal with a storm like we had in January. We can’t, however, be expected to have that same understanding at two weeks plus. Now, it’s time to ask the hard questions: How can we do better? Have we documented every lesson learned from this storm? What will we do differently next time a storm like this puts our system to the test? Rest assured that as your Councillor, I will be asking these hard questions of staff and making sure we get the answers we need so that every street, sidewalk and walkway in Don Valley North receives the attention it deserves. Reporting Snow Clearing Issues We've had another significant snowfall. This chart shows the City's regular levels of service for snow clearing: The City also has an incredibly handy PlowTO Interactive Map that tracks the real-time locations of plows, sidewalk plows, and salt trucks. It also shows when streets were last plowed. This is a great place to check the status of plowing operations in your neighbourhood. If you've noticed any issues on your street, you can report them to 311 right away by calling 3-1-1, emailing 311@toronto.ca, or submitting a report online. If you need assistance making a report to 311 or escalating an issue that is not being dealt with, you can get in touch with my office by calling 416-338-2650 or emailing councillor_carroll@toronto.ca. Upcoming Vaccine Clinics in Don Valley North Bayview Village Association: Forest Grove United Church The Bayview Village Association and North York General Hospital are running a vaccine clinic at Forest Grove United Church (43 Forest Grove Dr) on Saturday, February 5 from 3:30 - 6:30 PM. First, second, and third doses of Pfizer and Moderna are available, and all ages (5+) are welcome. Walk-in spots and appointments are available. A doctor will also be available on-site to answer questions. Book an appointment at the link below: NYGH: Special Lunar New Year Clinic @ Seneca (1750 Finch Ave E) North York General Hospital is hosting a special Lunar New Year COVID-19 vaccine clinic at their Seneca location on the following dates: Sunday, February 6: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Monday, February 7: 1:00 PM - 8:00 PM First, second, and third doses of Pfizer and Moderna are available, and all ages (5+) are welcome. Appointments are preferred, but walk-ins are also welcome until 5:00 PM on Sunday and until 6:00 PM on Monday. Chinese language staff will be on site, along with a doctor who will be available to answer your COVID-19 vaccination questions. Prizes and gift cards will also be handed out. Book an appointment at the link below: Parkway Forest Community Centre North York General Hospital and North York Toronto Health Partners are running a vaccine clinic at Parkway Forest Community Centre on the following dates: Tuesday, February 8: 4:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday, February 15: 4:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday, February 22: 4:30 - 7:30 PM First, second, and third doses of Pfizer and Moderna are available, and all ages (5+) are welcome. Appointments are preferred and prioritized but walk-ins are also welcome from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM while supplies last. A doctor will also be available on-site to answer questions. Book an appointment at the link below: City of Toronto Clinics: New Appointments & Walk-Ins Welcome 12,500 new vaccination appointments for City-run clinics are now available. The appointments, booked on the provincial booking system, are available between today and Saturday, February 19. There are 7,000 appointments available for residents five to 11 years of age and 5,500 appointments for residents 12 years of age and older. To continue to encourage residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19, all five City-run immunization clinics are now welcoming walk-ins for first, second, third and pediatric doses of COVID-19 vaccines. City-run clinics are open Monday to Friday, from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM for walk-ins and booked appointments. For more information, visit the link below: Booking Vaccine Appointments COVID-19 vaccine appointments for first and second doses are available for those ages five and older. Third dose appointments are available for those ages 18 and older. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900

We’ve had quite a few societal reckonings over the past two years. The pandemic has forced us to take a hard look at many of the inequalities that have been deepening in our city for decades. Shortly after the pandemic hit, we also had to reckon with our definition of community safety and who is actually able to feel safe in our neighbourhoods. Most will remember the demonstrations in our streets in June 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in the presence of police here in Toronto. Council responded to these tragedies with an omnibus motion directing City staff and police to work together to make massive change. Today, I want to zero in on community safety and the changes we need to make in responding to community crises. I spent two days this week listening to Budget deputations from the community, and the most common issue my fellow Budget Committee members and I heard about was changes to policing. Community safety was also the biggest item on the agenda for the Mayor’s Executive Committee the following day. Creating a safer city is something Council and staff have been working on for many years. Even before the tragic deaths that took place in June 2020, Toronto had been given an assignment from the Province to create a Community Safety and Well-Being Plan (CSWB). The goal of these plans was to create sustainable communities where everyone is safe, feels a sense of belonging, and has access to the services they need. Municipalities were instructed to report back on these plans in July 2021. The pandemic made it more challenging to create this plan, as the very staff that were tasked with creating it, our Social and Community Development experts, were most needed in response to the serious social costs of multiple city-wide lockdowns. Thankfully, Council began investing in extra staff to support this work and create SafeTO: A Community Safety & Well-Being Plan. This plan will help us radically change the way we approach community safety, now and especially over time. The most urgent work is already underway: Changing the way we respond to persons in crisis. Since July 2020, Toronto Police Services have established a partnership with the Gerstein Crisis Centre, who now help 911 triage calls from people in immediate mental health crisis. Some of these calls are directed to a Mobile Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) that includes a police officer and a nurse specializing in mental health interventions. Starting this year, we’re going even further in diverting mental health calls from police response by launching the Community Crisis Support Service (CCSS) Pilot. In four areas of the city that have the highest volume of mental health crisis calls, 911 will triage and determine if one of four mental health partner agencies can respond to a person in crisis instead of police. In cities that have implemented this service, many crisis calls are deescalated more easily because there is no fear of police presence. The first responders attending these calls are also often able to stay much longer than a police officer might and can help the person connect with long-term mental health supports. The above map show the four areas included in the CCSS Pilot. You can click on the image to view a larger version. The CCSS Pilot will be monitored very closely over the coming years to see how it impacts our communities and how we can look to expand the program in future. Of course, this is just one piece of our larger SafeTO plan, which will work to create a safer city by taking on four of our biggest challenges: community trauma, community violence, harm reduction and victimization, and injustice. There are many steps involved in creating the safer city all Torontonians deserve. The year one, 2022 work plan for SafeTO is as follows: Action 1.3: Make the preparations to embed the community crisis support service as a first-response service city-wide, if the pilot programs succeed. Action 2.1: Develop a multi-sector gun violence reduction plan, starting with the establishment of an Anti-Gun Violence office that can work across city divisions as necessary. Action 2.3: Strengthen the current community crisis response protocols to better support victims and communities impacted by violence. (This is a community team that currently responds to neighbourhoods where extreme violence has occurred. They help neighbourhoods recover but currently have limited hours and resources.) Action: 7.1: Develop a comprehensive strategy to share, integrate and analyze data across multiple institutions for the purpose of informing real-time policy development and service planning. (This may sound bureaucratic but has long been an obstacle to enacting meaningful change. Police services in Canada need to share their data to help cities target their investments for maximum impact.) I know there are some in our community who feel these actions are too painstaking and will take too long to deliver real change. There has been a lot of talk over the past two years about defunding the police and making huge societal change happen right now. I would respond that we have to start somewhere. We do have an opportunity to make real, lasting societal change here in Toronto. I believe it’s better to invest the time and resources into a thorough, thoughtful plan than to take flash-in-the-pan actions that won’t result in permanent change. If we get the mental health crisis response right, tragic deaths can be avoided. It can also lead to rebuilding the mental health system we’ve needed in Ontario for, well, forever. SafeTO's guiding principals. Every year, we can build on these actions and work to create a safer city. The most important step we have to take right now is properly funding SafeTO. This plan will not only help us support those in crisis, it will help us stamp out the issues that lead to violence in our cities before it occurs. Over time, instead of throwing money at police to respond after a crime occurs, we will be investing in the most impactful interventions to prevent violence and create community safety. I know this information can seem daunting and bureaucratic. Let me close by putting it in very real terms. Last week, a 13-year-old child is alleged to have shot and killed a 15-year-old boy in an apartment parking garage in East York. What happened here? Why did that child have a gun? One life was lost, another life destroyed, and both families are devastated. Police responded to this tragedy, but we need to take action to prevent tragedies like this from occurring in the first place. If SafeTO does its job, Toronto will be a city where a 13-year-old boy doesn’t ever need or want a gun. That’s my definition of a safe city, and how I’ll measure every report back from the SafeTO team. I’ll always ask, “Does this report get me one step closer to a city where no child ever has a gun?” It’s my job as your Councillor to make sure the answer is always yes, and that we taking meaningful action to create a city that is safe for all. Upcoming Vaccine Clinics in Don Valley North Bayview Village Association: Forest Grove United Church The Bayview Village Association and North York General Hospital are running a vaccine clinic at Forest Grove United Church (43 Forest Grove Dr) on Saturday, February 5 from 3:30 - 6:30 PM. First, second, and third doses of Pfizer and Moderna are available, and all ages (5+) are welcome. Walk-in spots and appointments are available. A doctor will also be available on-site to answer questions. Book an appointment at the link below: Parkway Forest Community Centre North York General Hospital and North York Toronto Health Partners are running a vaccine clinic at Parkway Forest Community Centre on the following dates: Tuesday, February 1: 4:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday, February 8: 4:30 - 7:30 PM First, second, and third doses of Pfizer and Moderna are available, and all ages (5+) are welcome. Walk-in spots and appointments are available. A doctor will also be available on-site to answer questions. Book an appointment at the link below: Tyndale University GO-VAXX Mobile Bus Clinic (3377 Bayview Ave) Tyndale University is hosting a mobile vaccination clinic on campus on Monday, January 31. It is available to anyone in the community. The clinic will bring pediatric doses for 5-11-year old’s, 11-17 youth doses, and first, second and booster doses for adults. The vaccines administered will be in line with the Ministry of Health guidelines. Anyone under 30 will receive Pfizer and those 30 and older will receive Pfizer or Moderna depending on availability. You can start to book appointments at 8:00 AM the day before the clinic using the Provincial booking website at covid19.ontariohealth.ca or by calling the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line number at 1-833-943-3900. Booking Vaccine Appointments COVID-19 vaccine appointments for first and second doses are available for those ages five and older. Third dose appointments are available for those ages 18 and older. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900 For more information on vaccines, visit the link below: Shelley Carroll Councillor for Don Valley North councillor_carroll@toronto.ca 416-338-2650 100 Queen St. W, Suite A3 Community Events & Notices International Holocaust Remembrance Day Today and every day, we must remember and honour the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust. #NeverAgain is a commitment to remember the past and work together to build a better tomorrow. Last Friday, I joined the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA)'s Ontario Municipal Leaders Summit on Antisemitism. We are seeing alarming trends in hate, particularly toward our Jewish communities. We must stand together and fight Antisemitism wherever and whenever we see it. National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action Against Islamophobia This Saturday, January 29 marks five years since the Quebec City mosque attack, a senseless act of violence against Canada's Muslim community. This National Day of Remembrance reminds us that we must work together to eradicate Islamophobia and all forms of discrimination in our country. I encourage you to join me in wearing a green square to remember the victims and survivors of this attack, and to reflect on the work we all must do to fight hate in our communities. TAF Electric Vehicle Station Fund This past Monday, I joined the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) for the launch of the Electric Vehicle Station Fund. I'm so glad to see us leveraging TAF's low-carbon expertise to make electric vehicle charging more accessible and help combat climate change. This $2 million fund will support electric vehicle (EV) charging installations region-wide. Reliable charging access is an essential component in encouraging people to switch over to EVs, and to meet our TransformTO climate targets. This program will help get charging station in the hardest to reach places, like on-street and multi-family buildings. Building and retail owners, and other community organizations with public or private parking lots can check out the program and apply for incentives at the link below: Budget Town Hall Thank you to everyone who joined our virtual Budget Town Hall last night! It was great to see so many Don Valley Northerners engaged in our budget process. My door is always open for conversations with our community about what this budget means for the services we rely on. Coffee with your Councillor Join me bright and early for another Coffee with your Councillor on Wednesday, February 2 at 8:30 AM. I'll be on Facebook Live talking about some of the big ticket items coming to Council. I'll also provide community updates and answer your questions about what's going on in our neighbourhoods. You'll be able to find the event on my Facebook page. I look forward to seeing you there! NEW: 311 App 311 now has an app! This new mobile app for 311 Toronto makes it easier and more convenient for residents, businesses, and visitors to connect with 311 Toronto – anywhere, anytime on any smart device. The 311 Toronto app offers more benefits, including: GPS capability to allow users to pinpoint and set the exact location of a service request Ability to view open requests in a given neighborhood to find out whether an issue has already been reported Functionality to explore nearby points of interest, such as civic centres, libraries and museums Camera function to easily upload and attach a photo to a service request, for additional context Appointment booking for select services with confirmation, reminders and notifications to the user’s device Individual personalization, dark and light mode, stored preferences, and information auto-fill Learn more and download the app at the link below: Ongoing Snow Clearing Efforts The City's snow clearing and snow removal efforts are still underway. If your street is still experiencing snow clearing issues, whether on the road or sidewalk, you can report these issues to 311. I do want to let folks know that it is taking the City a longer than usual to get through all of these 311 requests due to the incredibly large volume they have received. 311 received thousands of requests since last week and staff are working through hundreds per day. If you've already contacted 311 or have an ongoing snow clearing issue on your street, feel free to get in touch with my office. We can assist you in making and following up on requests to 311 for driveway windrow clearing and missed snow clearing on roads and sidewalks. You can send my office an email at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca or give us a call at 416-338-2650 and a member of my team will be happy to help. Prevent Frozen Pipes Cold weather can cause your water pipes to freeze, resulting in no water and expensive property damage. For tips on how to protect your water pipes from freezing, visit the link below: Willowdale Winterfest To connect with neighbours and beat the winter blues, NeighbourLink North York is hosting a virtual variety show called Willowdale Winterfest! Join in on January 30 from 6 - 8 PM over Zoom, where there will be performances from local talent, opportunities to get to know your neighbours, and prizes from Willowdale businesses. Performers include Musician Marcus Schwan, Magician Sawyer Bullock, TSO Violinist Shane Kim, and many more! It'll be fun for the whole family! RSVP for free at the link below:

We wrapped up our first regular Council session of the year last week. I already wrote about many of the major items a few weeks back as they made their way through Committee. Today, let’s take a look at their final outcomes at Council, along with a few other notable motions. The Community Crisis Support Service Pilot & Garden Suites The Mayor designated these as his two key items at Council. I spent a fair amount of time on calls in the week leading up to Council to make sure that both were successful. Staff did great work to put in good controls and monitoring for both items, so I asked my fellow Councillors not to tinker with or amend them too much. The Community Crisis Support Service (CCSS) Pilots, as you may recall from a past E-Blast, are the new, non-police emergency responses to persons in mental health crisis. Some of my colleagues wanted to withdraw money from the police budget and redirect it to these pilots right away, but I feel strongly that we shouldn’t make that move during the initial rollout. As we get the hang of this new system, Toronto Police Service should have the resources they need to serve the rest of the city with their Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams. They also need to be a partner in any situation that gets beyond what the new CCSS can handle. In the end, Council agreed. A rendering of Garden Suites next to a detached home and a semi-attached home. Council also approved the framework for Garden Suites, largely in line with the rules proposed by our Chief Planner. Homeowners will need to have a large enough yard to even be eligible for a suite, and will need to construct it to meet all Ontario Building Code requirements. Homeowners will also need to fund two additional tree plantings for the City. This means that constructing one of these units with the proper permits will cost around $250,000, minimum. There’s also a provision that makes sure Councillors are kept up-to-date on all Garden Suite applications in their ward so that we can monitor the impact these have on our neighbourhoods. Supporting Toronto’s Music Industry: Rehearsal Spaces, Venue Grants, and Hugh’s Room Loan Guarantee Toronto has a long and rich history as a live music town. I remember when I was little, my dad would regale my sisters and I with tales of his after-work stops at places like the Town Tavern for some jazz or the Riverboat Coffee House, “to see what the Beatniks are listening to.” A photo taken outside the Riverboat Coffee House on the day of the venue's last performance in 1978. These were legendary places in the heart of the city. They not only hosted some greats who couldn’t quite fill Massey Hall, they were also places for new artists to grow. All of this was backed up by a seemingly endless supply of aging industrial areas in the east and west where musicians and artists could live and rehearse affordably. Our development explosion in recent years has put these spaces, and our local music industry, at risk. Mayor Tory and Council have been voting for a “Music City” strategy for some time. We like to say we’re all for helping the local music scene thrive, and some of my Council colleagues even spent a wonderful week in Austin, Texas to understand how that city achieved its “Music City” reputation. Last week at Council, we finally had a chance to walk the talk. Two items passed quite handily to make more space for music. One was directed to preserve our stock of rehearsal spaces. Since 2005, over 200 rehearsal rooms have closed. Only 232 are left, and many are located in future development areas. Council passed a motion asking the Chief Planner to explore whether the Province’s new Community Benefit Charges can be used to negotiate replacement rehearsal spaces for those closed due to development. The second was a motion asking staff to consider proposing a grant program for non-profit organizations to create or save live music spaces. There is no financial impact to asking for a report, so this passed as well. Hugh's Room at its original location on Dundas St W. Then came a chance to actually help musicians now. Hugh’s Room, a beloved small venue displaced from its long-time home in the west end, found a new place to rent in the east end but now has a dilemma. The property owner wants to sell, and has offered a very short window of opportunity for the venue operator to buy. In order to leverage financing to act quickly, they have asked the City for a loan guarantee on a $2 million loan. We have a long history of granting loan guarantees to cultural and sports facilities, but when a chance came to help out a small local venue Council started a debate that could’ve eaten up an entire afternoon. I’m happy to report that Council decided to move forward with this loan guarantee, provided staff complete the required due diligence and conditional on the City being ahead of all creditors if Hugh’s Room folds. Big motions aimed at supporting our music industry across the city are important, but Council must also take action to support our small venues if we want our city’s rich music scene to survive. New Transit Area Planning Zones & Troubling Trends with the OLT To finish off, there are a few general planning matters I want to touch on. Council adopted the Chief Planner’s report on creating the new Major Transit Station Area planning zones, as required by the Provincial Government. Don Valley North isn’t on the map for the first phase, but I’m keeping a close eye on this process because all of our Sheppard subway stations will be included in phase two. I also want to draw your attention to a number of items that we call “Request for Direction Reports”. We get these when development applications are headed to the Ontario Land Tribunal without Council having voted on a finished site plan. As per Provincial guidelines, when a developer skips the Council process and appeals to the OLT, the City Solicitor tries to arrive at a settlement agreement with them. The Solicitor then brings a confidential report to Council requesting whether to enter into the agreement or oppose the OLT hearing. This month there were twelve such confidential reports presented at Council. I raise this because I want you to be aware of the Provincial rules and this troubling trend on the Council agenda. Twelve developments heading for the OLT is far too many. In my experience, the developments that are most successful and least disruptive to the neighbourhood are the ones that go through proper Council process and are negotiated without going to the OLT. Our Provincial Government has made it easier than ever for developers to bypass Council and the community, and we’re seeing many developers taking advantage of these new rules. It was a busy first session back at City Council. As always, if you have questions or comments about anything above, feel free to reach out to my office. Hearing from the community is what lets me advocate for you as best I can on the (virtual) Council floor. Planning & Development Updates Prepared by Tom Gleason, Chief of Staff Upcoming Community Meeting: 123 Parkway Forest Drive Wednesday, February 23, 2022 at 6:30 PM City Planning staff will be hosting a virtual community meeting to hear from residents about this development application, which proposes to demolish five of the 10 existing townhouses and redevelop the site with a 29-storey residential building containing 339 units. The existing 19-storey residential building would remain. The Preliminary Report, which outlines the application, is available here. You can join the meeting online by WebEx or call in by phone. Please register here and you will receive further instructions by email. As always, our office will keep you informed and involved after the initial community consultation. Updates from North York Community Council The agenda for the next North York Community Council meeting on Wednesday, February 23rd was released today. Here’s a summary of the most notable items: 1200, 1210, 1220 Sheppard Avenue East - Plan of Subdivision Application - Final Report Back in 2013, the Ontario Municipal Board approved Amexon's development application for the site at 1200 to 1220 Sheppard Avenue East (just north of Leslie TTC station). After many years, Amexon has come in for approval of their Plan of Subdivision—the process that implements that Zoning By-law approved in 2013. The Plan of Subdivision creates the block for the road, the two development blocks, and the blocks for the lands to be conveyed to the TRCA. The heights for this development were set in the 2013 OMB approval. 680 and 688 Sheppard Avenue East - Request for Directions Report In 2019, Tribute Communities submitted an application to redevelop the site at 680-688 Sheppard Avenue East. The application proposed a 22-storey residential building consisting of an eight- to 13-storey mid-rise tower component and a six- to eight-storey podium containing 487 residential units total, including 35 rental replacement units. Tribute Communities subsequently appealed this application to the Ontario Land Tribunal. This report from City Planning recommends that the City oppose this application at the Provincial Tribunal. Shelley supports this direction from staff and will be working with community members as we approach a hearing date in the coming months. 11 Greenbriar Road - Preliminary Report A development application has been received by City Planning for 11 Greenbriar Road. The application proposes a 4-storey residential building with 29 units. The Preliminary Report which outlines the application is available here. We are only at the consultation stage for this application—it has not been approved yet. The community meeting will likely take place in March. Notices will be mailed out by the City Clerk and we will include the registration details for the virtual meeting in a future E-Blast. Should you have any questions about the process for this application, please don't hesitate to be in touch. For questions on the specifics of the application, you may contact the City's Planner reviewing the application directly: Michael.Romero@toronto.ca Name of Forthcoming Community Recreation Centre and Library at 100 Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Lane City staff have come forward with a request to formally name the new community centre at 100 Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Lane, next to Bessarion TTC station, in line with the street and park. "Ethennonnhawahstihnen'" comes from the Wendat language and means "where they lived good, beautiful lives”. The name was originally suggested by the Huron-Wendat for the site given its close proximity to the Moatfield Ossuary. What makes the Ossuary site unique was presence of many people who lived in peace, good health, and with few injuries past the age of 50, an exceptionally long time for the period which continues to hold true to this day. More information and the full report to Community Council can be found here. Upcoming Vaccine Clinics in Don Valley North Parkway Forest Community Centre North York General Hospital and North York Toronto Health Partners are running a vaccine clinic at Parkway Forest Community Centre on the following dates: Tuesday, February 15: 4:30 - 7:30 PM Tuesday, February 22: 4:30 - 7:30 PM First, second, and third doses of Pfizer and Moderna are available, and all ages (5+) are welcome. Appointments are preferred and prioritized but walk-ins are also welcome from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM while supplies last. A doctor will also be available on-site to answer questions. Book an appointment at the link below: Booking Vaccine Appointments COVID-19 vaccine appointments for first and second doses are available for those ages five and older. Third dose appointments are available for those ages 18 and older. Appointments cam be booked through the provincial booking system online or by phone: Online: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ Phone: 1-833-943-3900