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BY SHELLEY CARROLL A columnist I have particularly enjoyed over the years is Royson James, of the Toronto Star. Other than the time he wrote that Councillors should be hanged in Nathan Philips Square — somewhat traumatizing my teenaged daughter — he generally presents criticism I find constructive. After we finished a TTC Board meeting this week that had a packed agenda of action items, I was keen to read James' thoughts in his next column. Instead I came across his column from last weekend about transit in general. It returned to some familiar territory. Recurring themes Even us amateurs can write a column about failed leadership on delivering Toronto transit. James has a veteran journalist’s way with words but it boils down to the same three recurring themes: We’ve read columns like this before. They are always discouraging. What you may find encouraging is the work being done behind the scenes to improve your transit experience. The deal between Mayor Tory and the Premier leaves new lines and extensions with the province — to my mind, this means there are no more distractions keeping the Commission from focusing on local transit improvements over the next five years. A good start In our first meeting since Council adopted the 2020 Budget, TTC staff and commissioners made a pretty good start. Here are a few examples. Capacity improvements: We received an update and approved funding to proceed with substantial design work for capacity improvements to the Bloor-Yonge subway station. This is a huge project in our five-year capital plan. There can be no safe expansion of Line 1 without improving the way riders move through this busy subway station. eBuses: The Board received an update on the TTC's Green Bus Technology Program. The TTC is working to meet its goal of attaining a zero emissions bus fleet that delivers safe and reliable service. A few models of eBuses are being piloted, and we learned those buses have been delivered and are on the road. We are now evaluating them and installing garage charging sites. Wheel-Trans: We approved the procurement of 111 new Wheel-Trans vehicles. This will be the first vehicle purchase from the Mayor’s new City Building Fund. Later this year we will use that same Fund to purchase more buses and streetcars. Fare evasion: Members of the public expressed their concerns with anti-Black racism, classism and ableism in our transit system, fare evasion and the TTC's Revenue Protection Strategy. The Board agreed that enforcement and inflated fines alone will not change the culture of fare evasion, and Commissioners will form a working group to advise and oversee the TTC Staff action plan addressing these concern DVN Connects: I introduced a motion to have TTC staff study the recommendations developed in our local transit roundtable, DVN Connects. Most of the recommendations are focused on Sheppard Avenue. Staff have agreed to study how our growing community can keep moving despite the fact that the Sheppard subway extension slated by the provincial government is set to come much later than originally proposed. Any improvements or changes TTC staff may recommend as a result of the DVN Connects study will be communicated to all of you for broader public consultation. Investments: Lastly, the CEO’s monthly report was 69 pages of performance indicators with detailed information on everything from track work to employee training upgrades. I was up very late last weekend highlighting and writing questions all over this huge document. The Mayor and Council have invested heavily in our current TTC through the City Building Fund. To keep up with it, I expect more late-night reading as the CEO provides reports on how quickly he can implement these investments so riders can feel it. Silver lining These are just a few examples from a busy TTC agenda. I told you when I was first appointed to the TTC Board that my focus would be on improving your everyday ride on the system we already own. It's finally feeling like everyone is on the same page and the Mayor and Council is right there with us, investing in the system. Now let’s see if we can make improvements so great that even the most grizzled columnists may have to admit there is some good news about transit. Community Events & Notices

BY SHELLEY CARROLL After months of relative silence on development proposals in Don Valley North, you will see two reports for residential buildings being presented for consideration at North York Community Council and then City Council next month. Ryan Lo, our Planning Advisor, will provide more detail on that later in this e-blast. But reading the reports on these two buildings got me thinking about my recent visit to Sidewalk Toronto. Ryan, Tom Gleason and I went to Sidewalk Labs' Toronto office for a tour of their proposal for a 12-acre waterfront community named Quayside. What was left out of all the razzle-dazzle when Sidewalk first arrived in town are fascinating innovations in mid and high-rise development that could be used anywhere. Quayside We were walked through the massive floor model for the new neighbourhood by former City Councillor, Mary-Margaret McMahon. No surprise that MMM, as we used to call her, ended up here — she’s passionate about "greening" our lifestyles and responsible waterfront development. When Council was fighting the foolhardy proposal by then-Councillor Doug Ford to build a shopping mall and ferris wheel at the mouth of the Don River, where crucial anti-flooding measures were needed, MMM went to work. She organized site visits to the waterfront with councillors and Waterfront Toronto board members to show them exactly why Ford's proposal was ill-timed and dangerous. Those tours played a key role in ultimately defeating his proposal. So, on our tour at Sidewalk we saw how the waterfront could become climate-neutral — and even climate positive — while holding 2,600 units of housing and creating more than 3,900 jobs. We saw how density could be spread in a less overwhelming way across a series of three to 30-storey buildings using tall timber construction. Less flammable and environmentally-friendly, timber is already being used for buildings in Canada, Sweden and elsewhere. In fact, students are being housed in an 18-storey timber building in Vancouver known as Brock Commons. Have a look: If you're contemplating downsizing from your house to a condo, you're probably wondering what you'll do with the lifetime of stuff accumulated over the years: out-of-season clothes, Passover dishes, Christmas decorations, your wedding china. Sidewalk proposes you could live in a small unit filled with built-in organizers and convertible furniture. Your additional stuff is in a storage depot downstairs in digitally-coded bins, and when you need it you simply request the bin on your smartphone and have it automatically delivered to your door. Going outdoors, imagine a landscape that brings the LRT right past your door on a special quiet track while also accommodating pedestrians, cyclists, usable green space and garage entrances to take your car underground. What if digitally-controlled lighting embedded in the ground lit your path while you walk or ride your bike, or show you where you should stand while the LRT rolls through? Monitoring how this could attract increased transit ridership and car-less living could provide valuable information to all three levels of government who share the cost of transit. Getting with the times All these ideas are part of the Sidewalk Toronto proposal that's currently being evaluated by Waterfront Toronto. These ideas are reality in other places in the world — the difference here is that Sidewalk is proposing to build all these concepts together into one neighbourhood. Should Waterfront Toronto’s Board decide to move forward with Sidewalk's proposal, it would then be the City's turn to consult with you and evaluate. City Planning and the Chief Building Inspector will be challenged by the fact that we don’t currently have a tall timber building code or any rules for the other concepts. I'm hoping they reach out to other cities like Vancouver and Vasteras, Sweden and use their experiences to create rules that can get us with the times. Our provincial government is changing regulations to push us to grow far more than we planned — in turn, we should be demanding regulation that makes it mandatory for developers to create the best quality, most affordable and lowest environmental footprint structures in our city. Next steps Next week I’ll make a simple start. When the applications for 1650 Sheppard Ave East and 2600 Don Mills Road are before North York Community Council, I’ll move that both builders go beyond the basic first tier of the Toronto Green Standard and make the buildings in the more robust Tier 2 Green Standard. These new buildings are proposed on the sites of existing apartment complexes built in the 1960s with no consideration for energy consumption and the environment. The least developers can do is to reduce the environmental footprint by using the policies we have for their new projects. Growth always challenges our community, especially along Sheppard Avenue. Over at the Atria condos it wasn't a problem for Tridel to build to Tier 2 Green Standard — so let's make that the norm. Let's demand greener, healthier communities. 1650 Sheppard and 2600 Don Mills In next week's North York Community Council meeting, Shelley and other councillors will be voting on staff's reports for the development applications at 1650 Sheppard Avenue East and 2600 Don Mills Road. These two sites are part of a larger Don Mills-Sheppard Context Plan that our city planners and the applicants have been working diligently on. While the applicants are proposing new infill residential buildings and new townhouse units, the context plan includes new streets to improve traffic circulation, a new park and a proposed daycare centre. The existing apartment buildings will be retained and current tenants will see new investments in community benefits, more stringent tenant protection, and improvements to their building facilities. 2900 Steeles Avenue East Some residents may have recently heard about a large redevelopment proposal at the Shops on Steeles and 404 just north of the city's boundaries. The project was actually approved back in 2011 at the former Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). The public hearing held in the City of Markham this week was for a severance application (dividing the site into two parcels) that would help facilitate the developer's first phase of development. Since the site is located in Markham, the City of Toronto has no jurisdiction over the approval process. However, Shelley and our office share your concerns about the potential traffic impact that the construction and added density would bring. We are closely monitoring the development and will be requiring the developer to submit construction hoarding, safety and traffic plans on Steeles. We also know that some of you were worried about losing the existing grocery store in the mall. The City of Markham was able to negotiate for a new food store on site as part of the OMB approval, so we hope this would be a relief to residents in the neighbourhood. If you have any questions related to planning or development, please feel free to email me at ryan.lo@toronto.ca. Community Events & Notices Registration for City of Toronto summer camps and rec programs begins this weekend Initial registration for summer camps as well as spring and summer recreation programs begins on March 7 and continues until March 11. Residents can prepare for registration with extended customer service hours at 416-396-7378 from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on March 4, 5, 6 and 9. Registering online at https://efun.toronto.ca/ is the fastest and easiest way to register. Registration starts at 7 a.m. on the following four dates: • Saturday, March 7 – Etobicoke/York • Sunday, March 8 – Scarborough • Tuesday, March 10 – North York • Wednesday, March 11 – Toronto/East York and West Toronto/York

BY SHELLEY CARROLL It's amazing how fast our world can change. A week ago yesterday, I sat down to write an e-blast about an upcoming report on training for taxi and Uber drivers. We figured a quick update on COVID-19 would suffice. While I was writing that column, word came of a few more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the GTA. Next, a basketball player was infected and the whole NBA season was called off. By the time news came that Tom Hanks and his wife were in quarantine, I knew my Thursday e-blast needed to focus entirely on this public health crisis. Since then, the work of everyone at Toronto City Hall has been devoted to implementing the recommendations of public health officials. Government support As you may already know, my Don Valley North team and I are now working remotely from home. We get updates from Chief Pegg and his Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) every day, as well as from Dr. de Villa, the City Manager and Mayor Tory. We have special access to send any concerns from residents to the EOC team and we also relay some of those concerns to the Mayor's office. Mayor Tory is still in self-isolation, but if you know John you know he is wide awake and very much at the helm, albeit via technology. This week we received many updates on financial supports and regulation changes from every order of government. Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Ford are rolling out significant support packages, although some supports may take time to implement. My team and I are monitoring all these plans so we can help you access these supports as the economic impact of COVID-19 continues. What you can do Now that we are practising social distancing by staying home to prevent further spread of the virus, many of us are wondering what we can do to stay productive. I've been gathering ideas by looking through the #StayAtHomeChallenge hashtag on Twitter, so here are a couple of suggestions. If you are one of the lucky ones — meaning not financially impacted by COVID-19 — consider making a donation to a local charity. North York Harvest manages the Oriole Food Space in our own Oriole Community Centre. In any given week, they serve hundreds of food-insecure families in Don Valley North. That may soon stretch into the thousands. Showing up in person to volunteer is not social distancing, but sending a cash donation online is a safe way to help. When at home, it also helps to get dressed daily and keep a routine. Go for a walk outside but keep your distance from others. Phone a friend or two, especially those who are seniors. Email us if you need anything. Turn off the news and social media for a few hours a day to avoid getting overwhelmed. If you don’t already use a streaming service, call your kid and find out how to get Netflix, Crave or Amazon Prime. Tomorrow morning, while my daughter works all day at a hospital with a COVID-19 assessment centre, I’m going to teach my granddaughter how to write cursive. Looking forward to that is my own little silver lining — what could yours be? Remember that the most productive thing you can do right now is to stay home and follow these simple steps: Wash your hands with soap and water often Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue or your sleeve if needed These rules are more important than wearing a mask. If we follow these rules effectively, we will flatten the curve and make our way back to normal. Helpful information and resources Here is a summary of the government supports announced this week as well as some phone numbers and links you should keep close at hand for whatever you may face in the coming days. I strongly suggest that, before you pick up the phone, you read through Toronto Public Health's webpage on COVID-19 here. They have put together an excellent resource that includes health advice, information about affected City services and economic supports. Municipal supports Extended grace periods for property tax payments and utility bills Toronto Public Health webpage: toronto.ca/home/covid-19 Toronto Public Health hotline: 416-338-7600 Please only call this number if you have questions that are not addressed on the website. Note that the hotline is experiencing a very high number of calls and there are long wait times to get through. Provincial supports Legislation to come on job protections for workers Ministry of Health webpage: ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus Telehealth Ontario hotline: 1-866-797-0000 Online Self-assessment tool If you think you have COVID-19 symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has it, use this self-assessment to help determine if you need to seek further care. If you are having difficulty breathing or experiencing other severe symptoms, call 911 immediately. Advise them of your symptoms and travel history. Federal supports Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan provides an overview of the Federal Government’s announced support for Canadians and Businesses. Topics include: Income Support for Individuals Who Need it Most Flexibility for Taxpayers Mortgage Default Management Tools Helping Businesses Keep Their Workers Ensuring Businesses have Access to Credit Full details on these supports and how to access them are here. My team are posting daily updates from all levels of government on my website here. Remember you can also email me at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca if you have any questions or concerns that aren't addressed on the Toronto Public Health website.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Yesterday, all Toronto City Councillors were hauled into a board room for the first of what may become weekly COVID-19 briefings for ourselves and our staff. News is rolling in rapidly. Almost as soon as we sat down for the briefing, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic in the middle of Dr. de Villa's and Dr. Dubey’s presentation, rendering much of it obsolete — but they were prepared for that. Our public health officials learned a lot from SARS and H1N1, and have developed a streamlined protocol for this precise situation. Despite the virus being declared a pandemic, the rules for the general public are still the same. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to this virus. Prevention measures include: Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 15 seconds, including your fingernails, wrists and between your fingers. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands Avoid close contact with people who are ill Stay home when you are ill Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then immediately throw the tissue in the garbage and wash your hands If you don’t have a tissue, sneeze or cough into your sleeve or arm Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces Avoid sharing personal items Don’t panic. COVID-19 is usually transmissible only through at least 15 minutes of contact within 6 feet of an affected person. We are fortunate to live in a community with an excellent local public health system. All the reliable and evidence-based advice I'm sharing on this e-blast and social media comes directly from Toronto Public Health. Toronto Public Health is providing up-to-the-minute advice for community residents as information and news about the outbreak become available. You can follow these updates at toronto.ca/coronavirus as well as my website, where I've summarized information and advice from public health officials. My staff are monitoring Toronto Public Health closely to keep that page updated. If you have any questions about COVID-19, please check Toronto Public Health's page for answers or email my office at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca. I must stress that neither myself nor my staff can provide medical or diagnostic advice. If you are seeking medical advice related to COVID-19, call Toronto Public Health at 416-338-7600, Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-000 or your health care provider. Current situation Here is the latest information from Toronto Public Health as of 4:00PM on March 12, 2020: Toronto Public Health (TPH) is monitoring 29 positive cases of the novel coronavirus: COVID-19 in Toronto. To date, there have been four other confirmed cases reported in Toronto. All four of these people have since recovered from their illness. TPH continues to work with our provincial and federal health colleagues along with airports in response to this situation. At this time the virus is not circulating locally, however given the global circumstances, TPH is actively working with City and health partners to plan for the potential of local spread. If you have travelled from Hubei Province (China), Iran or Italy within the last 14 days or have had close contact with a person ill with COVID-19, please self-isolate and contact Toronto Public Health at 416-338-7600 within 24 hours of arriving in Toronto. Information about self-isolation is available here. If you have travelled from anywhere else outside Canada , please monitor your health for symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g. fever, cough or difficulty breathing) for 14 days after you arrive back in Canada. If you develop symptoms, self isolate and contact Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000. Canadians are also advised to avoid all cruise ship travel. Community Events & Notices

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Tomorrow will mark two weeks since we were all told to start practising physical distancing to lessen the impact of COVID-19. Up until a few days ago, government and health officials were using the term "social distancing," which was widely criticized as too vague. Physical distancing is now the preferred term, and the meaning is clear: it means going home and staying home. If you're like me, it took a few days to really wind down and take it seriously at first. I recall Friday, March 13th as if it was a distant memory. We had one last meeting where we awkwardly greeted our guests to the office without shaking hands and keeping a courteous distance. After that last meeting, my staff and I reviewed how we would work from home and continue to serve Don Valley North throughout this crisis. The City was just ramping up its Emergency Operations Centre. Now, as we enter our third week in stay-at-home mode, I believe we should brace ourselves for some mixed signals from public health officials and political leaders. Trust the experts The COVID-19 outbreak is still on the upswing of a curve. More cases are coming and some partisan politicians will blame it on the actions of government leaders. This coming week, more than ever, we must separate politics and listen to the health care heroes who are doing everything they can to get us through this pandemic. Medical Officers of Health from all levels of government are sounding more urgent every day as they tell us what we must do to get COVID-19 under control. This is not a political matter — we will not return to normal any time soon if we don't listen to the expert advice of our public health officials. Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Dr. de Villa explains physical distancing. I get it. I’ll admit the gravity of the situation didn't hit me immediately. Going back to March 13th, I succumbed to my grandson's pleading and took him and a couple of his friends to a Taco Bell. We ate in to avoid messing up the car. The next morning, I went out again to get a manicure. It wasn’t until my dad's nursing home called me on the 15th to tell me they were locked down and forbidding visitors did I realize everything had to change. We have to move faster to smooth out the impact of this virus. If you are not taking serious measures to isolate yourself yet, you must do so now. Don’t crowd others at the grocery store. Instead, go to stores with physical distancing measures in place. Do not go shopping daily — keep a list of the supplies you need and go once a week. In your apartment or condo building, take the stairs if you are able. If you can't, avoid crowding into the elevator with more than three people, including yourself. While waiting for the elevator, lead by example — say out loud that you are hoping to go in only three at a time. Most people feel awkward and would appreciate knowing how others want to proceed once the elevator doors open. I know kids need to move around. I’m looking after two teenagers and a nine-year-old for my daughter, a health care worker. But playgrounds are not your friend right now — the equipment is not sanitized and gathering in a space with a number of kids and parents is a significant risk. That's why the City has closed all playgrounds and parks amenities. Kids are not immune to COVID-19. Some young people have gotten seriously ill. Make sure they are also adopting strict hygiene habits, and cut them some slack. Try not to go nuts when they do cartwheels all over the living room, like my grandkids here. [cartwheel grandkids gif goes here] Two siblings can shoot some hoops in your driveway but they can't go to a basketball court like the ones we love at Parkway Forest and Van Horne Park. Playing there draws more players to the game. This is not physical distancing. As the weather warms up, you can bring your bikes out but keep them off the sidewalk. There are many pedestrians who need to stay safe and maintain their distance on our sidewalks. Kids can ride their bikes to stretch, but not to meet up with friends. Don’t worry, your kids know how to stack their friends up on their phone screen, Brady Bunch-style. Stay informed Make sure you're regularly checking toronto.ca/covid-19 for the most reliable updates and information. Our Toronto Public Health team has put together a very comprehensive page with details on everything from service impacts, economic supports and health advice. I can't emphasize it enough — we all must comply with physical distancing now. So many people are counting on us: every child who needs to get back to school; every isolated senior watching their retirement investments shrink; and every working person who has suddenly lost their income. Tune out the political rhetoric, conspiracy theories and terrifying economic forecasting. The best thing we can do right now is just listen to the doctors.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Bravo to you all. This past week I've noticed that Don Valley North is taking its duty to flatten the curve of COVID-19 very seriously. Most stores are placing markers on their floors to encourage physical distancing and are controlling the number of people allowed inside at a time. Where they haven’t, residents are letting us know. People are learning how to be careful on their fresh air outings by keeping a safe distance and avoiding playgrounds. I've been calling a few of you every afternoon and most of you have said you're happy to do your part. A more serious tone Yesterday morning, you heard Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health take an even more serious tone with us. That tone was matched by other leaders as the day progressed. That's because our local incidence of the virus has grown by 500 per cent in just two weeks — and our leaders want us to be mindful that this can mean an exponential increase over the following two weeks if we don't continue to take physical distancing seriously. Mayor John Tory sounded so stern that he reminded me of my grandfather, Wallace Baskerville. No one could make you feel worse when we disappointed him with our shenanigans than my dear old granddad, mainly because we loved him so much. Hopefully, John will evoke the same feeling in us. We can still do better John is particularly disappointed, as am I, that people are taking advantage of the quiet roads to do some extreme speeding. While they are not health care workers, Toronto’s police officers are key to our response during this crisis — having them stop to ticket people racing down Leslie Street at 90 km/h is a tragic waste of their time. We still see the odd person forgetting to keep their distance as they walk through parks. Remember that we should only be walking closely with people we live with, otherwise we must keep at least a two-metre distance. In fact, Mayor Tory just announced this afternoon that anyone caught walking within two metres of another person in a Toronto public park or square may be subject to fine as high as $5,000. Additionally, removing caution tape from playgrounds and sports equipment endangers everyone — not to mention it will incur a hefty fine. Leave it taped off for the sake of others if you don’t care about your own safety. Even sitting on a park bench for a quick rest is a risk. Just keep it moving and be sure to wash your hands as soon as you get home even if you think you didn’t touch anything. If you live in a building with a common laundry room, wash your hands before you go downstairs to use the machine. Stand away from others and wash your hands again when you get back upstairs. Think about it: what if the other person in the laundry room works in a nursing home? Being diligent with your hygiene helps keep that worker safe as well as her patients. Dr. Eileen de Villa really wants us to limit our outings to the grocery store as much as possible. So dust off some cookbooks and try something new. Earlier this week I baked "Corona Cupcakes" for my daughter to take to the hospital where she and her co-workers are working so hard. I tried a type of icing I haven’t before and botched it. I ended up doing them over at midnight with my tried and true buttercream. My husband and I had some laughs and got them done. The hospital staff loved the treats even though they were required to individually bag them and isolate them for three hours before consuming — I am told it was worth the wait! Available supports With the range of supports being offered at every level — from school supports that your local school trustee can help with to employment insurance from the federal government — we want you to know how to access your Don Valley North elected representatives at every level. Here is their contact information: Federal Representative: MP Han Dong Email: Han.Dong@parl.gc.ca Phone number: 416-443-0623 Provincial Representative: MPP Vincent Ke Email: Vincent.Keco@pc.ola.org Phone number: 416-494-8778 Toronto District School Board: Trustee James Li Email: James.Li@tdsb.on.ca Phone number: 416-395-8787 Toronto Catholic District School Board: Trustee Angela Kennedy Email: Angela.Kennedy@tcdsb.org Phone number: 416-512-3411 I also want to remind you that if you are able, a donation to North York Harvest Food Bank is the safest, fastest way to help our community right now. Many of our neighbours have suddenly become unemployed and are facing food insecurity. Click here to find out how to donate. Something to make you smile I want to close with a cute video and a shout-out. In Parkway Forest, local community leaders Candice and Lubna partnered (while distancing, of course) with TPS Constable Extraordinaire, PC Dale Swift, to get residents of the towers to thank our first responders. It got very loud and joyous as the video demonstrates. If you doubt the meaningfulness of these impromptu displays, take a look at the touching comments that have been left on the video. I hope this brightened your day even a little. Please consider sharing this e-blast with anyone who may need the information included here — it's especially important now to stay connected and know how to get help. Community Events & Notices A message from the Toronto Board of Rabbis

BY SHELLEY CARROLL I’ll confess I was excited on day one of working from home by the thought of catching up on some TV shows. There is never enough time for TV when you are out at events and meetings four nights a week. We thought this might only last a couple of weeks and all my husband and I wanted was to watch the movie of the year, Parasite. We ticked that box on the first weekend. Weeks later, I’m now over watching TV and would love to go back to community meetings most evenings. Until then, I’ll re-watch Fleabag, Bodyguard, Happy Valley and every episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee before I eventually succumb to watching Tiger King. These things fill the long quarantine evenings and weekends, but what happens during the working day? Rest assured, the Don Valley North team is hitting our virtual offices first thing in the morning. Our new day-to-day We’re still organized the way we’ve always been at City Hall. Each member of the team is assigned to a section of the ward and they are responsible for responding to residents and resolving any issues, in addition to the duties related to their specific roles. Every morning, Monday through Friday, we all meet for a video conference. Tom, my Chief of Staff, goes through all the COVID-19-related government and operational decisions that have been announced over the past 24 hours. Then, the team gives me feedback on how the community is feeling and coping, based on the inquiries you've been sharing through emails and phone calls — and we’re so glad you are still reaching out to us. Getting responses from City staff on your local matters is not as easy nowadays because they're all so busy with COVID-19 crisis response work. So, after our morning check-in, I stay online for one-on-one time with each member of the team to discuss solutions for our trickier cases. After that, I spend another hour with Tom on emerging issues and requests for my attention from City Hall. Next comes another time slot reserved for requested meetings. Somehow this time gets booked up every day; it may be a committee responsibility, such the Toronto Atmospheric Fund Investment Committee, where work must continue to protect our green investment and climate change work. Sometimes it’s a meeting with leadership at the Toronto Arts Council where work began immediately to keep the creative arts sector afloat. Other times it's a call with Mayor Tory and his staff where they provide updates and assign "homework" related to economic recovery preparations. All of this is possible by video call. I’ll admit to a longer lunch break while working from home. During this time I plan dinner and the menu for the next day, check on my grandkids' schoolwork progress and grab a bite to eat. Collaborating By 3 pm, I'll have another meeting lined up. Mayor Tory has asked my office to work with City staff and key stakeholders to understand and coordinate recovery efforts for our children and youth services sector. As the curve flattens, this will take more and more of our time. I also have a weekly call with the rest of our Don Valley North representatives, MP Han Dong, MPP Vincent Ke and TDSB Trustee James Li. Han put this call together to make sure we coordinate our efforts to get our community through this pandemic. I end each day by personally calling residents from all over the ward. My team pick out a neighbourhood and put together a list of up to 10 households to call. Driving up and down the streets of Don Valley North is also a regular (and safe) activity for me, but talking to you on the phone is when I really get a sense of what more we need to be doing to get us through this. When evening comes, it’s time to serve another big dinner, get the grandkids home to bed, bake and cook for the next day and — oh yeah — watch another episode of Ozark. I'm finding this structured routine very helpful in maintaining some normalcy in these very abnormal times. What does your typical day look like right now?

BY SHELLEY CARROLL At the best of times, this is a big "food" week for many. The Seder was served in homes across Don Valley North last night, and this Sunday there will be a traditional Easter supper along with a visit from the Easter Bunny. Usually, families gather in large groups to share a meal in observance of these important religious holidays — but of course, things are looking quite different this year. I could complain about not being able to bring my father home from his long-term care facility due to the quarantine. I could grumble about my daughter having to work at the hospital on Sunday, and every other day, during Holy Week. But I won't. That's because right now there are people all around us who are scrambling after being laid off for the foreseeable future. If we are lucky enough to have the same grocery budget as before, then this is the time to both give thanks and give to people in need. Safe shopping The City’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has been tackling the rise in food insecurity since the day we locked down four weeks ago. For those who are still working or have an unchanged grocery budget, it has taken some time to adjust to the new norms around safe shopping. By now, most of us know the dos and don’ts made clear by public health experts: 1. Make a list of what you need and designate only one day per week to go to the store. If you haven’t made a list in years, try menu-planning and keeping the list on your phone. It’s a whole new world when you can delete the items as you put them in your cart. 2. Stores have been asked to limit the number of customers inside to allow for physical distancing. We should arrive prepared to comply with their safety systems, which means you may have to line up outside before being allowed in. 3. Once inside the store, shop efficiently — this isn't the time to casually browse. Make sure you are only touching items you are putting in your cart. Stand back and wait for others to finish if they are looking at the items you want — don't reach across or crowd people. 4. My healthcare worker-daughter demands I follow these steps when I return home from the store: Wash my hands immediately after getting home Disinfect each item before putting it away Wash my hands again Only then does she allow me to touch my darn face for the first time since I left the house. (We’ve nicknamed her "Dr. Carroll" because we can never dispute her COVID-19 rules.) Now you may ask: what if I'm wearing a mask and gloves? That's fine — but this does not make you invincible. If you have the virus but aren't showing symptoms, that gear may have protected others from you. However, all the shopping rules above still apply. You still need to distance and keep your hands away from your face. If you wear a mask and gloves, you must remove them properly and wash your hands immediately after. When you can't shop Many of the calls my staff team are taking every day are from people who can’t shop. The number of people who cannot afford groceries is growing rapidly. You've heard the latest unemployment numbers — this comes as no surprise. Even in normal times, hundreds of our neighbours in Don Valley North rely on the Oriole Food Space. We call it a "Food Space" rather than a food bank because they function as a food bank two days a week and offer nutrition and cooking programs every other day. Food bank users learn helpful and delicious ways to maximize what they get in their baskets. In turn, this builds their capacity to stretch their limited grocery money and helps make their families more food secure over time. Now, the Oriole Food Space has to scale up to serve thousands. Their parent organization, North York Harvest, is doing their best to help. The EOC has helped by providing a forklift for much larger delivery operations. But moving forward, Oriole can’t do it alone. As a result, the City is working with several large food banks as well as community and corporate partners to develop a food access strategy. Part of this strategy involves opening up additional food banks in some library branches and Toronto Community Housing buildings. You can visit 211.ca to find out where and how to use these services. The City is also working with the Red Cross and other partners to provide food hamper delivery to seniors and others in need who are unable to leave their homes. This service is made available for qualifying seniors and others in self-isolation who do not have alternative access to food. If this applies to you, call 1-833-204-9952 for eligibility and registration information. How to help If you want to help your neighbours, you can donate non-perishable food to food banks or drop off food donations at local fire halls. If you know of any restaurants wondering what to do with extra food, encourage them to donate to Second Harvest’s FoodRescue.ca. Those interested in volunteering should register with Volunteer Toronto or SPARK Ontario. However, the best way you can help is through a cash donation. Volunteering to help sort food is difficult right now due to social distancing rules, but you can feel confident about a cash donation. When you go online and donate to North York Harvest, you are helping our Oriole Food Space. I have been to their headquarters multiple times to help sort food, and I can tell you they are administratively lean — your donation really does end up in hungry mouths. We may not be able to visit and gather with our loved ones for Passover, Easter and Ramadan like we have in previous years, but we can still foster the holiday spirit by helping our neighbours in need. After all, we are in this together.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL It's pretty clear to us that life will be different once COVID-19 lockdowns are over. Daily life will still require certain precautions to be in place until the risk of a major recurrence has passed. I know leadership at all three levels of government are discussing how this will work. All options are being weighed: which rules and recommendations are actually implementable, enforceable, equitable and affordable in every facet of our normal daily lives? These are called "active discussions," and there are lots of them happening right now in every COVID-19 response centre. In the meantime, I’ve begun looking further out into what I call the "Aftertimes." On paper, Canada makes its way through modern types of financial crisis pretty well; the mid-90s recession, the post 9/11 dip, SARS and even the Global Financial Crisis were followed by pretty healthy recoveries. If you worked in the "right" field, you did okay. But if you didn't, your family struggled longer and is no doubt still struggling now. How can we change this time? Can governments apply new measures to reset our economy so more of us recover? The usual strategy The usual government response to an economic crisis is to stimulate the economy with major spending on public infrastructure and a few breaks for the private sector to keep it afloat. This is usually met with public support. The electorate seems to worry less about deficits at the beginning of a crisis and applauds investment into areas where jobs will be generated, like in construction, engineering and auto-working. These are great middle-class jobs but they aren’t where most of the current economic devastation is taking place. Later, as a more conventional economic crisis carries on, we can expect the media, lobbyists and large private interests to raise concerns about the deficit that stimulus spending leaves behind. This results in a hard push against the very governments that may have helped you through the crisis. A campaign to cut spending, reduce deficits and keep business taxes low begins. The focus shifts away from those who were most hurt by the economic crisis, resulting in more families failing to get back on their feet. Private sector This time, we must push ourselves to stay focused on those who are hit the hardest and allow ourselves more time to lift them up. When people stop buying homes and cars, the economy takes a huge hit and we expect action. But we must also help the former employees of closed restaurants, beauty salons, boutique stores and even independent daycare centres and nursing homes. We’ll have to maintain the survival of as many businesses as possible through inter-governmental support measures. For those that don’t survive, we will have to replace them with start-up businesses equipped with the right tools — phased wage subsidy programs can help small businesses succeed by keeping people working instead of receiving Employment Insurance. Over the long term, we need to make a case for less precarious, full-time work. Businesses that have struggled through this crisis will argue that the fewer the rules, the faster they will succeed. That is their go-to request whenever the economy takes a turn — but really, it's full-time employees earning livable wages who build businesses and brand loyalty. If we are going to offer government-financed programs to help private businesses, there must be strings attached. Businesses receiving support need to be prepared to start treating employees like the key components of our service economy they are. Public sector I’m not just picking on private sector businesses. The current crisis in long-term care (LTC) is a perfect example of another troubling path. The government got into the business of delivering LTC in order to set the bar for quality of care. Turns out, that costs a pretty penny. Over time, publicly-funded homes cut costs by privatizing parts of the service and shedding full-time positions to save on employee benefits. LTC workers now find themselves having to split their work week between two homes and a private client or two to earn a living wage for their families. These people do the hardest work of all. They care for our loved ones when we can't, sometimes at great personal risk. Over the next few weeks, we’ll see the curve flatten in the community but not in LTC. Outbreaks will continue there for some time longer. We are going to have to find the resources in the post-COVID economy to properly compensate the everyday long-term care heroes who are fighting for our parents’ and grandparents’ lives. I know many of us want things to return to normal — frankly, the global impact of this pandemic has made it clear things will never be the same. But if we do things right, our new normal will be better. I visited my dad's long-term care home with my daughter and granddaughter to say hi to him and thank our healthcare heroes. And don't worry, I'm not breaking any distancing rules here — they're both isolating with me for the duration of the lockdown.

Residents of Don Valley North will receive a phone call this evening prompting them to join the Town Hall. You can email us your phone number to ensure we reach you. You can also participate online here: video.teleforumonline.com/video/streaming.php?client=11914 BY SHELLEY CARROLL I’ve already described the typical workweek for the Ward 17 Team during the COVID-19 lockdown. After a couple of days adjusting, we found our groove and are continuing to serve you through phone calls and video conferencing. We quickened our pace after the Prime Minister and Premier Ford opened this week with some early talk of their re-opening strategies. The considerations There are many things to consider in the plan for re-opening our economy. As I've mentioned, Mayor Tory has trusted me to lead the Children and Youth Services file of his Economic Recovery Task Force. I spent the past week speaking with organizations that serve children and youth all over town. These services will be critical in our recovery — they need to be ready to hit the ground running once parents return to work. Before that can happen, a lot of questions must be answered first. Naturally, once you heard that re-opening plans are being made, you had many questions for my staff team. They have been answering your calls and emails as quickly as possible and are also pro-actively reaching out to you by phone. If you received a call from one of them out of the blue, it's because we know from past conversations that you are our eyes on the street in Don Valley North. In a brief conversation, you can help us gauge how our community is coping. If you have not received a call, there is another opportunity at the end of this column. Oh, and just a word in-ear: some of you need to empty your voice mailbox! Now, let’s review the three stages of the province's re-opening plan: The criteria The Chief Medical Officer of Health (Provincial) and health experts will advise the government on when it may begin to ease public health measures using a range of criteria, including: A consistent two-to-four week decrease in the number of new daily COVID‑19 cases Sufficient acute and critical care capacity, including access to ventilators and ongoing availability of personal protective equipment Approximately 90% of new COVID‑19 contacts are being reached by local public health officials within one day, with guidance and direction to contain community spread Ongoing testing of suspected COVID‑19 cases, especially of vulnerable populations, to detect new outbreaks quickly The stages Re-opening will be gradual and occur in stages. There will be two to four weeks between the launch of each stage to allow health officials to assess conditions before moving to the next one. This will determine if measures should be adjusted, loosened or tightened. Everyday actions to protect your health, like physical distancing, frequent hand-washing and staying home when ill will continue through each stage. STAGE 1 In the first stage, we will consider: Opening select workplaces that can meet current public health guidelines Allowing essential gatherings of a limited number of people Opening some outdoor spaces Continued protections for vulnerable populations STAGE 2 In the second stage, we will consider: Opening more workplaces with significant mitigation plans Opening more public spaces Allowing some larger public gatherings Continued protections for vulnerable populations STAGE 3 In the final stage, we will consider: Opening all workplaces responsibly Relaxing restrictions on public gatherings Continued protections for vulnerable populations Considering the amount of build-up we heard from the media about this plan before the Premier announced it on Monday morning, this probably does not look very concrete. It's important to know this is just a framework — the hard and fast rules still need to be developed. What the City is doing At the City, we are actively working on the specifics we need to continue to fight the virus while getting you safely back to work. Here are just a few: Children and youth We know that in order for you to return to work before schools open, you need childcare. The City is asking the province to release public health guidelines for children's settings well in advance of re-opening so we can help daycare operators prepare to meet all those standards on time. Furthermore, we will be calling on the province to ensure all types of childcare centres are able to afford to function throughout the phased re-opening of Ontario's economy. Many young people will be without camp counseling and leadership opportunities this summer, without recreational sports and without the kind of summer employment their families need them to earn from. Using federal government supports, the City will be working hard to connect youth to employment through many youth-serving agencies. Believe it or not, some of our City’s best organizations still have some resources to help young people get their life plans back on track. Service industry We know that in order to open public-facing workplaces such as salons, retail stores and restaurants, both business owners and customers need to know how to navigate things safely. Again, the province will announce guidelines and the City will be responsible for enforcing and communicating the rules. Transit Last, but not least, I’m committed to doing everything in my power to help our City’s circulatory system, the TTC, get the resources it needs to return to full service as you return to work. Your transit system must be able to respond to ridership levels returning to normal while keeping passengers and drivers safe. Unapologetically, this will require support from other orders of government — and cities across Canada agree. As I’ve explained before, the TTC became the most under-funded transit system in North America when the provincial government withdrew from funding TTC operating expenses back in 1995. When a crisis like this hits and causes ridership — and revenue — to plummet, it immediately puts our transit system in crisis, too. In the near future when we on our way to good health, physically and economically, a permanent improvement to our transit funding arrangement is a no-brainer if we want a strong system that's able to respond to any future challenges. It's your turn I have thrown some big considerations at you this week. Tonight, it's your turn to ask questions and bring up concerns I haven't addressed yet. At 7:30 PM tonight I’m joining forces with MP Han Dong and Dr. Joshua Tepper of North York General Hospital for a telephone town hall. If your phone number is in our system, you will get a phone call tonight that will prompt you to join us. If you don't get that call, you can also participate online using this link. Talk soon!

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Last week I sent out my e-blast first thing in the morning to remind you about our telephone town hall happening that night. While my team and MP Han Dong's office were getting ready for that, I headed down to City Hall for the first time in weeks to attend Toronto's first-ever virtual City Council meeting. The set-up Our City Clerks have been dreading the thought of managing such an undertaking. We are a lively bunch representing the largest city and Council in Canada. So while other cities held virtual meetings earlier on, Toronto’s promised to be much harder to pull off. In the end, the session went on without a hitch, thanks in no small part to the preparations of the City Clerks and our wonderful IT support. The virtual Chambers consisted of Speaker Nunziata in one room with Clerks assisting, senior staff answering questions in another, me in yet another room in case I was needed as alternate Speaker, Mayor Tory in his office and lastly, 23 more councillors at home. It wasn’t as entertaining as a virtual Saturday Night Live or Stephen Colbert At Home but then the topic was more serious. Our agenda was dominated by items about guiding Toronto through the remainder of the lockdown and into re-entry. The agenda We immediately adopted more rules for virtual participation so Council can slowly begin to hold regular meetings, even if physical distancing continues and live audiences are prohibited. We unanimously extended Mayor Tory’s authority under the State of Emergency rules but not without asking lots of questions — all councillors had a chance to provide input into a group-crafted motion moved by the Mayor. This omnibus motion listed actions Council would like to see incorporated into the pandemic response. Two items on the agenda have been in the works for some time to help deal with housing affordability and homelessness. This was the City’s biggest challenge pre-pandemic; now, we can expect that the virus and its economic impact will plunge housing-insecure Torontonians into further crisis for a long time. First, we approved the implementation of a grant that will be available for people who have been on the subsidized housing waiting list for a long time and who fall into certain priority groups (ie people with disabilities, Indigenous people and those who have experienced domestic abuse). Eligible households will receive portable rent supplements to stabilize their situation. Council also gave the go-ahead to construct modular supportive housing. This type of housing can be constructed in half the time, sometimes less, than conventional social housing and can quickly turn lives around by having social supports available on-site. Successful projects in Vancouver, Calgary and other cities are already seeing great results. The TTC The next opportunity for a live-streamed public meeting will be the TTC Board on Wednesday, May 13th. As a TTC Commissioner, I am shaken by the numbers every day: we are seeing only about 15 per cent of our normal ridership on buses, streetcars and subways. This makes distancing easier but it also means that, financially, our transit system is bleeding. Toronto taxpayers contribute a little over 30 per cent to the cost of running the TTC each year with the rest of the revenue coming from fares. TTC CEO Rick Leary announced he would be asking the Board for permission to temporarily lay off 1,200 employees at our meeting next week. Now, only seven days later, we are seeing announcements that some retail workers will be returning to work just as the TTC Board is considering laying off some of theirs. If the layoffs must proceed, I will be moving motions to require specific benchmark ridership numbers to guarantee a return to work of all employees to keep the system safe as the economy recovers. North York Some of you have asked why we are not having virtual North York Community Council meetings since we had a full Council meeting. That's because many City planning staff have been redeployed to work on the City's pandemic response. This seemed like a good department to call upon for extra hands since many parts of the planning process have been closed due to the lockdown. LPAT hearings, application counters, permit counters, the Committee of Adjustment, City Council, etc. are all unable to consider planning matters right now. Getting all of this machinery back up and running will take much of the month of May. Once the picture becomes clearer in a few weeks' time, I will give you a walk-through of the planning delay impacts for Don Valley North. Did you miss the town hall? If you missed last week's telephone town hall, don't fret — I have the full audio and a Q&A on my website. It's worth a listen — MP Han Dong and I answered many questions about government actions and Dr. Tepper of North York General Hospital provided great insight to your health and lifestyle-related concerns. It's important to note that the government response to COVID-19 is changing every day. Just yesterday, the province announced it is relaxing some restrictions by allowing retail stores to open for curbside pick-up, among others. Remember to frequently check trusted, reliable sources of information like Toronto Public Health and Ontario Public Health for the most recent updates and guidelines. For your convenience, my team is updating my website with information from all levels of government daily. Of course, if you have any questions that you can't find answers to, you can always send my office a message and my team will be happy to help you out.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL When I’m in a hurry and I want to describe the boundaries of Don Valley North to someone from other parts of Toronto, I just say: "We're north of the 401, from Bayview Village Mall all the way east to Fairview Mall and Victoria Park." People who don’t live around here might not know the exact name of our subdivision but they know the businesses. It’s not unlike the downtown neighbourhoods defined by the avenues of shops and services that run through them. Whether they're housed in malls or on a busy street, small businesses are hurting right now. It’s truly a terrible consequence of this pandemic because Toronto was just experiencing a resurgence of small retail. Lately, department stores have been struggling to reinvent themselves to keep up with the trendsetting that local businesses are best at. Brand-conscious shopping enthusiasts tend to prefer brands exclusive to one store rather than a multi-label institution. That’s why sections of Queen Street, Bayview Village and Mount Pleasant were doing so well; it’s why we would see small boutiques full of customers while anchor stores like Sears disappeared. Rent relief Most of these unique small businesses are now shuttered and left wondering if they can hang on long enough to re-open. A rent relief program jointly offered by the Ontario and federal governments was meant to be the solution to these business owners' biggest worry: rent. But this relief program, called the Canadian Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA), comes with too many strings attached. In fact, it's really just a loan program with a forgivable payment schedule. Shop owners are nervous about being able to pay off these loans in an uncertain economy down the road. Their commercial landlords have been very reluctant to take part at all. It's not unusual for Toronto businesses to pay anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 a month for a small storefront in a prime location. In an out-of-the-way strip mall, a store may only need to pay $3,500 a month. No matter the amount, locked doors still mean zero dollars coming in. Business owners hoped CECRA would help them through at least April, May and June. A forgivable loan program that only their landlords can apply for was not what they were hoping for. How it works Here's how it works. If a commercial landlord: Owns a property Holds a mortgage on it, and Has commercial tenants who pay less than $50,000 a month Then, and only then, can he apply for a government loan to receive 50 per cent of the rent his commercial tenants were supposed to give him. But there is a catch: this landlord has to agree to absorb 25 per cent of the rent out of his own pocket and the tenant, whose business is in lockdown, must still pay the other 25 per cent. Not surprisingly, most Toronto landlords are not interested in signing up for CECRA. Many of them have long hoped to empty their properties to sell to condo developers for a lot more cash. Some mall landlords are reluctant because they believe chain boutiques should get their own financing and their smaller, independent tenants who aren't the mall's biggest draw lose out, altogether. In my own experience, the small business in the mall can be what draws us. My family bought generations of baby shoes at The Three Little Pigs in Bayview Village — and who can forget Ye Olde Cheese Shoppe in Fairview Mall! In fact, a survey of landlords done by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) showed only a quarter of eligible commercial landlords are planning to apply for CECRA. Stepping up The CFIB and I very seldom see eye-to-eye. They have some funny ideas about property tax and have opposed Toronto City Council over the years. I had the CFIB in my office once and said: “I sometimes wonder whether you work for small businesses or their landlords. We have created a small business tax rate and kept their property tax increases lower than homeowners’ as you asked. But we still see landlords gouging their tenants for whatever rent the market will bear without ever hearing from the CFIB about it." This time, however, the CFIB has been properly vocal in a crisis. Here’s an excerpt from their recent interview with the CBC: "The CFIB wants more businesses to have access to CECRA and says if it doesn't work, restarting the economy will stall. They think the tenant needs direct access to CECRA funds. 'Reopening and rent relief are very closely tied. If you don't get the rent relief you need, how are you going to reopen?' says Laura Jones of the CFIB. Then Jones adds she’s, 'disappointed that the provinces haven't done more in this area, to be frank, stepping up to stop evictions from happening.'" Speak up I’ve discussed this issue with both your MP and MPP. They have also been reaching out to local business owners to understand the issue better. Over the next few weeks, if you are in touch with them, let them know that not all of our Don Valley North businesses can live online forever. We want all of our favourite businesses to be able to open their doors again when the time is right. ACTIVETO Walking, running and biking outside are great ways to stay active as the weather warms up. To encourage this, the City recently launched ActiveTO. The program is designed to make physical distancing easier by creating more space in your neighbourhood for pedestrians and cyclists. The first ActiveTO locations were determined by City Transportation staff. Starting today, Shaughnessy Blvd (from Van Horne Ave to Havenbrook Blvd) will be the one of the first areas to see these temporary changes. What will ActiveTO look like? Temporary street calming installations (concrete blocks at major intersections; barrels at minor intersections) with information and signage Leaving enough clearway for motor vehicles and city/emergency vehicles to pass, and encourage slow, local vehicle access only Limiting traffic volume and providing a safer environment to enjoy public space Although City staff did not consult with us about the first round of ActiveTO streets, I have confirmed with Transportation staff that additional locations will be considered based on their criteria as well as feedback from the community. As we move to the next phase of ActiveTO, I want to hear from you – where in Don Valley North would you like to see ActiveTO implemented next? Email my office with your suggestions so we can work together on creating a less congested and more connected neighbourhood.