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$1992.00. That’s how much money a Canadian senior citizen gets in Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) supplements every month. If he or she is living alone and doesn’t have any additional pension, it's not enough to live on — especially in Toronto. Perhaps this is the very first number we need to look at in order to take a good, hard look at the current state of long-term care (LTC) in this country. Many seniors are driven into long-term care as soon as their pension makes independent living unaffordable. We have a public framework for LTC that says anyone who needs care in the final years of their life should get it for the total cost of their CPP and OAS. Here in Toronto, that means that you will get a bed in a shared room in a long-term care facility. You will receive three meals a day, nursing care and assistance from personal support workers as well as periodic visits from an attending physician. An explosive report from our Canadian Armed Forces, who provided emergency relief to the LTC system at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, revealed deplorable conditions in some of our long-term care homes. It turns out that the $1992.00 pension that LTC residents hand over (plus a supplement from provincial governments) is not enough to provide any quality of care. If that money can't sustain you at home, why do we expect it to sustain you in a setting where you are receiving full-time care? Just once, I would like to hold government responsible for a failing without having to discuss the tax dollars involved — but I'm afraid that in the case of long-term care in Ontario, you simply must "follow the money." Public vs private homes It appears the conditions of the 10 LTC homes run by the City of Toronto are slightly better than others. This is probably because, every year, the City contributes an additional $48 million of your property taxes to help operate them. All municipalities in Ontario are required by provincial legislation to run at least one long-term care home each. Toronto ended up with 10 when the six cities and Metro government amalgamated. Currently there is no federal transfer of dollars to our LTC homes. The fact that residents pay their CPP/OAS to the homes is deemed a federal contribution. And unlike the bulk of Canada's universal health care system, the federal government has no jurisdiction over long-term care. Given that the damning exposé by our military covers LTC in both Ontario and Quebec — and one of the earliest and most shocking outbreaks was in British Columbia at the Lynn Valley Care Centre — maybe it's time the feds stepped in to raise the quality of care nationwide. Key areas Many of the issues with our LTC lie in these key areas: Labour: Reducing the number of full-time employees to the bare minimum erodes commitment to their jobs and sends caregivers all over the community in search of a living wage. While homes run by the City of Toronto pay an average of 13 to 17 per cent more than private-run homes, the scarcity of permanent, full-time positions with benefits is an issue across the board. Technology: There are several medical and health information issues. Total lack of investment in technology threatens medical record-keeping, cleanliness, human resources management and the monitoring needed to examine the correlation between cost-cutting and quality. Quality control: Inspection and quality control by provinces is patchy at best. There is little accountability when governments cut inspections — something Premier Ford has been reluctant to admit is that he has scaled back inspections drastically since he took office. Upkeep: In terms of bricks and mortar, little or no new construction is happening since high-income baby-boomer markets are driving demand for luxury "retirement living," where the average cost for a room is about $8000 a month. Provinces take note of repairs and maintenance needed but then don't provide the funding to make those repairs. It's time My 93-year old Dad resides in long-term care. The hard-working women who care for him are amazing — they fought hard for months to have zero resident cases of COVID-19. Unfortunately, just today they marked their first two cases. The number of staff they function with bears no resemblance to the number who used to be on hand at Extendicare Guildwood, where my grandfather quietly passed away on a sunny day in May of 1981. This week, Guildwood has 93 resident cases, 25 staff cases and 27 residents have died of COVID-19. It's time for a nationwide Royal commission into long-term care — and it must result in something tangible. Australia embarked upon such a commission and found themselves lacking. Elder care homes were in desperate condition and all the talk in the 1990's of "Aging-At-Home" had never come to fruition. Today, the Australian government offers home care packages that will pay up to $50,000 a year for qualified seniors to have one consistent caregiver coming to their homes. Already on a path to improving long-term care when COVID-19 began, Australia has flattened its curve. Of its just under 8,000 COVID-19 cases and 103 deaths, about 13 per cent were Australians over age 60. Thus far, 90 per cent of Canada’s 6,735 deaths have been people over 60, the bulk of them being over 80 years of age. Implementing a Royal commission will no doubt cost us as taxpayers. In a nation that is supposed to be a world leader in social responsibility, it's the very least we can do. Our parents and grandparents are worth it.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL For most of my regular readers of this e-blast, when I ask "How are the kids doing?" I could be talking about your kids or your grandkids. They could be anywhere from ages zero to in their twenties. And right now, knowing how they're coping and which supports they need to ride out 2020 is kind of my job. The task force Mayor Tory has set up a major task force to lead Toronto's re-entry to more "normal" times and to support our City's economic recovery. This task force is divided into eight areas of focus, with a Councillor leading each area. I have been trusted with the Children and Youth file, which means I’m examining the challenges of our children and youth sector and making plans to ensure kids don't get left behind. I'm joined in this work by terrific City staff from Children's Services and Social Development. We have conducted multiple virtual roundtable discussions with a variety of stakeholders in the world of services for Toronto's children and young people. These stakeholders include daycare coalitions, recreation program operators, youth workers, youth employment agencies, school board Trustees and staff, youth activists and more. We asked all of these organizations how they are coping, what they need to re-open successfully and what they've been hearing from the families and kids they work with. Mayor Tory asked me to develop five recommendations that tackle the most important things we need to act on first. The problem we faced was that we landed on far more than five recommendations at the end of every single one of our roundtable sessions. Why this is important Helping children transition back to childcare and school is one of the key areas where Toronto is going to need extra help from other orders of government. Our needs in Toronto are unique to the rest of the province, and it's not just a matter of size and scope. The fact that hundreds of our elementary schools are also home to childcare centres is a unique model for serving children that developed in Toronto. The cost of commercial space has always been so prohibitive here that, many decades ago, the City started running childcare centres in schools with low enrolment. This helped many independent not-for-profit daycares (who wouldn't normally have the funds to rent a commercial space) operate out of a school. However, COVID-19 has put these two different users in shared facilities in direct competition. How's that? Well, in order for school-aged children to be safe in September, schools need to modify their space to spread their students out. Childcare centres will need to do the same with their little clients. With everyone looking for space inside the same school, something will have to give. This is the biggest dilemma with our efforts to re-open safely in Toronto. The province's confirmation that school will not resume until September buys us some time to figure this all out — but not much. It's unlikely a vaccine will be available by Labour Day, so Toronto needs to plan now for how childcare is going to work. Once the space solution is designed, the work will need to be done in time for opening. For small children, other government assistance will be necessary as parents are already paying the highest fees in Canada. The challenge is that we will only know the price tag for this when the provincial Medical Officer of Health indicates what the conditions will be for safe operations when caring for children. So far, we've had no indication on when we'll get those details. What about youth? What youth need most right now is patience and understanding. This should come as no surprise — most of us know at least one youth who is driving their parents mad in lockdown. My husband, Sandy, and I fret about how our teenaged grandchildren are up all night in their rooms Snapchatting and playing PS4 with their friends. We had taken to calling them "The Bats" until I heard Matt Galloway on CBC refer to his kids as "keeping the same hours as raccoons." For many, adolescence is the most magical, social time of our lives. For others, adolescent life is challenging and the activities that take them out of the house, such as school, sports or arts programs are their salvation. Either way, they are all dealing with loss without your adult ability to keep things in perspective. The task force must dedicate resources to helping Toronto’s youth stay healthy and safe. We've heard that some staff in youth services are struggling to find their clients other housing options because the homes they live in have become threatening during lockdown. For older youth, there must be a huge focus on helping them find gainful employment in the difficult economy we're facing. What are the prospects for post-secondary education if parents have lost their jobs and youth can't find summer employment to pay for school? Can we get them into alternative training such as growth and construction-related careers? Can we get Toronto’s economy hopping enough so youth and adults with dependents don't have to compete for the same jobs? Our recommendations I'm sharing our findings on Children and Youth services here. This report will be presented to the Mayor and City Council next week along with the seven other areas of focus. Councillors will likely add the concerns they have heard over the last 10 weeks to the mix before Saad Rafi, the Chair of Toronto’s Recovery and Rebuild Strategy, begins his work. I will continue to focus on this work as much as possible. In the course of leading our virtual roundtable discussions, I learned so much more than I ever knew about agencies who serve the needs of young people. I've taken these agencies for granted because I thought they'd always be there — but now, they need help. If we get these agencies successfully running again, the kids will be alright.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL First off, I want to thank everyone who reached out to me about my long-term care column last week. We received a record number of responses and it renewed my commitment to maintain a focus on that file long after the pandemic subsides. I also can't go into today's e-blast without acknowledging the movement happening south of the border and across Toronto and Canada to protest systemic anti-Black racism. Just this week, I (and my colleagues on Council) have received thousands of messages demanding action. Anti-Black racism is real and pervasive in our institutions and we must do better. I'm not avoiding this conversation — rest assured, I will discuss this with you in-depth in next week's e-blast. I just need a few days to gather my thoughts. Today, I want to bring you up-to-date on growth and development in Don Valley North. The North York planning office resumed full operations on Monday, which means we're gradually returning to contending with our ward's rapid growth. So, let’s review where we’ve been, what’s coming up and the policy changes that may guide growth in the future. Toronto's Official Plan In Ontario, every municipality is required to have an Official Plan (OP) and an accompanying Zoning By-law. The OP is basically a vision document which lays out how and where the city should grow, ideally. Toronto’s Official Plan was produced back in 2000 and is based on a forecast for growth up to the year 2041. Despite the ups and downs of the global economy and unanticipated world events, that forecast has generally come true across the GTA. In fact, we are tracking slightly ahead of the forecast as Toronto arrives at 3 million people in 2020. So, it is a good thing our OP is a trio of visions: To increase housing at all income levels, To preserve employment lands and generate new employment areas, and To improve our ability to move people with an enhanced transit network. To make investment in transit viable, Toronto’s OP calls for growth to be concentrated along major roadways served by transit (also called "Avenues") while preserving our existing low-density, single-family neighbourhoods. While our Official Plan and provincial planning regime has maintained your neighbourhood as promised, we are now experiencing overwhelming density on our Avenues. A new report from the Ryerson City Building Institute calls this phenomenon “tall and sprawl”. The report, titled Density Done Right, challenges us to think about density in other ways. It might provide a way to re-jig our OP to meet our housing needs in the post-COVID19 economy. Gentle density I'm sure many of us would like to see smaller buildings popping up along our Avenues instead of high rises. I often hear from residents that they don't like having high rises right at key intersections, because the large influx of residents causes congestion and traffic. The authors of Density Done Right agree and suggest we should move away from this high-density model. As the drawing above demonstrates, they propose accommodating the same growth — just gently. What would that look like? Well, we would have to stop opposing lot splits that allow for two homes on one property. We would also have to stop fighting the construction of legitimate secondary suites. We would have to start seeing the development of townhomes on the outer edge of subdivisions as an opportunity, not a tragedy. The more we consider these opportunities in a new light, the more we can get away from the "tall and sprawl" phenomenon. At this point in the column, you might think your Councillor is coming for your nice, quiet street. I ask you to consider a few things about the current conditions. An Official Plan that holds our neighbourhood streets sacred, even as the City is growing rapidly, has led to rampant illegal density. Rooming houses and vacation rentals are placed throughout our subdivisions because there are no legal locations for them that would place them in better areas outside the suburbs. Legally-licensed secondary suites would provide accessible housing that fits better with our quiet neighbourhoods as well as help ward off illegal rooming houses. Where we fight lots being split in two, we get monster homes so out of context with neighbouring properties that they appear comical. Instead, what if we opened our minds to thoughtfully-designed two-family homes? An intertwined two-family home with modern interiors. High-rise development is massively expensive and takes five to seven years to construct. While Ontario cities have done their best to require developers to include affordable housing in their buildings, we are seeing more and more developers apply to construct extremely tall buildings in order to offset the cost of those affordable units. To move from "tall and sprawl" to gentle density, we have to re-think our own Official Plan. Our Chief Planner is going to have to present a plan that can make the right case to the province. I believe there is no better time to make that case than right now. Yes, we're living through a pandemic — but gentle density can be achieved with far less expense and takes half the time of building high-rises. In the post-pandemic economy, lowering the costs of construction and infrastructure while still providing more housing for our growing community just makes sense. What’s next for DVN In the meantime, Don Valley North is very busy with applications under the current Official Plan. Most of these are along the Sheppard subway. As soon as the North York planning office opened back up, applicants began checking in. In a "normal" economic downturn, we can expect a slowing of the real estate market. To use the 2008 Global Financial Crisis as a reference, this means developers will continue as usual through the application process until they receive a decision from Council or finish appealing to the LPAT. Beyond that, they may monitor the financial and real estate markets for some time and decide to delay the construction. But this is not the usual kind of economic downturn — we will have to wait and see how it unfolds. Check out Ryan's Lo-Down below for more detail. To refresh your memory, he's put together a list of recent applications in Don Valley North. If you have any questions about these, be sure to send him an email. As Shelley mentioned above, development in Don Valley North hasn't quite slowed down. Here are a number of recent applications that have been received by City Planning staff and remain under consideration: 699 Sheppard Ave E This is a re-submission by the developer since the last community consultation meeting back in January. The application is proposing a 12-storey mixed-use building with 170 residential units. 680-688 Sheppard Ave E The application is proposing a 24-storey residential building with 527 residential units, including 35 rental replacement units. It includes a new day nursery. 1181 Sheppard Ave E The application is proposing a 22-storey office building and a 25-storey residential building with 513 units, connected by a mixed-use podium. It also includes a new day nursery. 1 Heron's Hill Way This application was just received this week – it proposes a 39-storey mixed-use building next to an existing 2-storey office building. 2450 Victoria Park & Bayview Village Mall These applications have previously-scheduled LPAT appeals pending. However, it is not known when LPAT offices will re-open post-pandemic. City Council has not voted on the direction to be taken at these hearings. Parkway Forest The last block of buildings, which includes a grocery store, is under construction. Currently, there are no further applications inside Parkway Forest. Both 680-688 and 1181 Sheppard Ave E were on deck for a community consultation meeting this year, but due to the current public health measures, Planning staff are looking for alternative ways to gather residents' input. In the meantime, if you have feedback for any of these applications, please feel free to contact me at ryan.lo@toronto.ca. I will share your comments with Shelley and forward your email to the assigned Planner on the file for consideration. For more information about other development applications in Don Valley North, visit our website: shelleycarroll.ca/development-updates. Sincerely, Ryan Lo

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Right now, there is an opportunity to make meaningful changes to the way our communities are policed. And I don’t mean cosmetic changes like the kind outlined in the Toronto Police Board's The Way Forward plan, which was launched in 2016 while I was sitting on that Board. I mean the deep, institutional changes we have needed for decades. The galvanizing force comes not from the announced retirement of Mark Saunders, Toronto's Police Chief, but from the shocking video evidence of the police brutality that killed George Floyd. The "Defund" movement There are misconceptions swirling around the global activist movement known as “Defund The Police”. Consider this excerpt from last Sunday’s New York Times: “Advocates for police reform are making the case that the phrase “defund the police” doesn’t mean what many people think it means. “Be not afraid,” Christy E. Lopez, a Georgetown University law professor, wrote in The Washington Post. “‘Defunding the police’ is not as scary (or even as radical) as it sounds.” What it actually means, these advocates say, is reducing police budgets and no longer asking officers to do many jobs that they often don’t even want to do: resolving family and school disputes, moving homeless people into shelters and so on. Instead, funding for education, health care and other social services would increase. The challenge for advocates is that many people equate “defunding” with a major reduction in policing — and they don’t like that idea. Reducing police budgets is arguably the only high-profile reform idea that’s not popular:” I have received thousands of emails since the deaths of George Floyd and Regis Korchinski-Paquet, many from right here in Don Valley North. As I read these emails, I suspect the same survey you saw above would produce similar results here in our community. And I doubt it's about saving money; rather, the Defund movement still has a ways to go in explaining that defunding is not just about cutting — it's about re-defining who should be responsible for keeping vulnerable people safe. As this global movement continues, it's becoming clear that "defund" really means pushing the reset button. It means starting over completely and creating a new map of services as if you were building the whole system from scratch. That includes disrupting the culture of police officers as the sole responders to society's challenges. It also includes breaking up the not-so-hidden practice of police union leadership acting as the arbiter of police culture and resisting needed change. Such things are necessary here in Toronto just as they are in the States. A case study Consider the case of Camden, New Jersey — at one time the most cash-strapped and also most dangerous city in the USA. Camden was struggling with crime and poverty while their local police force was bankrupting the city with no results. So, Camden County disbanded the police force in 2012 and set up a new one. Every single officer was terminated, shown a new set of principles of safety and guardianship and made to re-apply for their jobs. The latest crime statistics in Camden show a 42 per cent drop in violent crime between 2012 and 2019. Overall crime has also dropped. Even more fascinating is that increased investment in education, housing and social services has led to economic growth and drastic improvements in graduation rates. Today, Camden police boil this down to one fundamental change: “Our police are guardians and not warriors.” On the first weekend of the George Floyd protests — while police cars rammed protesters with their cars in one American city — Camden’s police chief, Joseph Wysocki, walked alongside them. What can Toronto do? We have our own community of "Defund The Police" protesters and they are passionate. They have watched as studies to improve policing in Toronto have been ordered, delivered and then passed on by like sushi boats travelling along a restaurant conveyor belt. We cannot ignore that people are dying in the presence of police. Across Canada they are disproportionately Black and Indigenous men. Here in the GTA, they're almost always Black. Parents have to teach their young Black sons to move slowly and show their hands when they encounter police. Because no matter their personal background, they are more than twice as likely to have an encounter with police than a young white person. Recommendations What many people might not know is that the steps to change police culture have already been laid out for us. Years ago, Justices Frank Iacobucci and Michael Tulloch conducted separate, exhaustive studies and recommended sweeping changes in the areas of personal crisis response, police oversight and conduct. But as often happens, these recommendations were only partially implemented and only through the lens of status quo police culture. When Toronto City Council meets on June 30th, there will be a spirited debate on the 2021 police budget. I am working to build support for motions that will seize this moment and implement changes now. As I mentioned above, the studies have already been done — there is no reason to delay. I want to draw from these past studies and take the steps needed to ensure Black and all people of colour are safe in their own city. Not only that, I want them to grow up knowing Toronto is fully invested in their success. This includes partnering with our provincial government to ensure professionals with proper training respond to people in crisis. Let both governments be open to the idea that this professional should not be an armed police officer. Most importantly, we must have a police service that does not view change as their enemy. We have to break out of a decades-long cycle of under-funding social services and then leaving the police to deal with the negative results. Although she's speaking from the American perspective, Senator Kamala Harris explained best what I am hoping to convey: Reporter: “Can I ask you about this idea of defunding the police? What’s your thinking on that idea?” Senator Harris: “Well, it’s a concept. We do have to reimagine what public safety looks like. And here’s the thing. It is status quo thinking to believe that putting more police on the streets creates more safety. That’s wrong. It’s just wrong. You know what creates more safety? Funding public schools, affordable housing, increased home ownership, job skill development, jobs, access to capital for those who want to start small businesses, or who are running small businesses in communities. But, no, we’re not going to get rid of the police. We all have to be practical. But let’s separate out these discussions. Many cities in our country spend one-third of their entire budget on policing. With all the responsibilities those cities have, one-third on policing? Put it in the context of the fact that over the last many decades, we have essentially been defunding public schools. If anyone thinks that the way we’re going to cure these problems is by putting more police on the street, they’re wrong.” Kwasi Skene-Peters Andrew Loku Jermaine Carby Ian Pryce Sammy Yatim Michael Eligon D’Andre Campbell Regis Korchinski-Paquet This is an incomplete list of people who have died in the presence of police only in this decade. All but Sammy Yatim were Black; most were in the throes of a mental health or personal crisis. We have to change the way we respond to people in crisis, especially where people of colour are involved. I don't want to see more names added to this list. We have come to a place and time in the world where change is possible, and leaders in policing across the world are committing to it. Toronto cannot squander this opportunity — we need to get on the same page.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL First off, I want to thank everyone who shared their feedback on last week's e-blast, Re-defining policing. I’m working my way through all your thoughtful responses and am so grateful to be guided by them. There is something psychologically daunting about three months. After the first two weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown, I was over the delicious feeling of stealing some rare time at home, in between the many conference calls and virtual meetings. That feeling has multiplied many times over now that we're three months in. For example: normally, I love cooking for my family — especially for my three grandkids and their speedy little metabolisms. By mid-April, I was sick of meal-planning for seven people and longing for my office at City Hall where work is done in-person. At week six, we were sick of the grandkids staying up all night playing video games when Mom and Gramma both work in the morning, ruining our precious sleep. Thankfully, their basketball coach was sick of it, too, and began a rigorous Zoom Workout Regime, topped off with a daily 3-kilometre run before dinner. By week eight, we were sick of the kids' workouts dictating the day's schedule but hey — at least they sleep like logs! Best practices Something happens to the brain at three months. Rationally, we know we will have the world back one day, but the longer the pandemic goes on, the dimmer the light at the end of the tunnel seems. Most people have now adopted germ-fighting tactics, and these may stay with us forever. But if these tactics keep us healthy, shouldn't we hang on to them? I hug too much. I love people; I hug and shake hands both coming and going, all day long. Maybe that behaviour should be toned down a bit, and particularly during flu season. Being vigorous when washing hands really isn’t so bad, especially now that soap and sanitizer dispensers are being refilled religiously. That's something we should keep going. Wearing a mask to keep people around you safe when you think you may be sick really isn't that hard. There are cities in Asia where this has been considered good manners for years. Now that we are used to seeing one another in masks, let’s remember to wear them whenever physical distancing isn't easy. And even when the pandemic is over, let's make this a normal habit and respect anyone who chooses to wear a mask for safety reasons. What's next Lately, we’ve been getting calls about what the rules are from one week to the next. The rules are still changing all the time, and it's getting more difficult to discern new information. I understand this can be frustrating — there is a political leader or medical expert talking at you every time you turn on the TV. However, my great DVN team has you covered. See below for our latest cheat sheet on current guidelines. While the rest of Ontario has been given the go-ahead to move into Stage 2 of re-opening, Toronto still has too many cases to make that leap. While we work on getting our cases down, we will remain in Stage 1. Here's a breakdown of what's currently operating and what's still closed: Once we can enter Stage 2, we can look forward to: Shopping malls re-opening Restaurants and bars serving customers seated outdoors Barber shops, hair salons and tattoo parlors operating Swimming pools, campgrounds and guided tours resuming I will update you with full details once Toronto is clear to move on to the next Stage. For a full list of changes to City services during COVID-19, click here. Final thoughts One last thought: make the most of Father’s Day this weekend if you are lucky enough to be with yours. Some dads will be working, maybe as first responders or front-line workers on their special day, and they deserve your thanks. At the same time, some dads aren’t working at all because of the virus, but they still deserve your appreciation. I’ll be waving to mine through a window at his long-term care home. We’re all doing our best — and right now, that's all we can do. So get out there and enjoy the day, safely.

If you have someone in your life who lives with mental illness or some cognitive disability that causes unexplained behaviours — and many of us do — you worry a lot about their future. You shouldn’t have to worry they’ll end up dead after an encounter with police. But in Toronto, if that someone in your life is a person of colour, that’s exactly what you worry about every day. In our city, the issues of race and mental health converge, and far too often with tragic results. My proposal I discussed this in my column a couple of weeks ago after the death of George Floyd in the States and Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto. Since then, I have been working every day on a motion to Council that will enact changes to our policing system. The broad community call for change happening across Toronto means this motion can result in real action. Let me remind you what I said on June 11th: “When Toronto City Council meets on June 29th, there will be a spirited debate on the 2021 police budget. I am working to build support for motions that will seize this moment and implement changes now. As I mentioned above, the studies have already been done — there is no reason to delay. I want to draw from these past studies and take the steps needed to ensure Black and all people of colour are safe in their own city. Not only that, I want them to grow up knowing Toronto is fully invested in their success.” The motions I referenced in that column have now been rolled into one long, multi-faceted motion that will be moved by Mayor Tory. My list of recommendations were improved through the input of other Councillors, some of the best staff in City Hall and, of course, the Mayor's staff team. The most important addition is Councillor Thompson’s insistence that the Toronto Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism be attached to the motion and expedited. With Councillor Thompson’s addition, this motion now represents two sides of a very important ledger. First, we need to change the way police interact with Black Torontonians. We give several recommendations on how to get there; however, real change is only possible when we confront anti-Black racism in all our institutions — not just policing. The opportunities in the Action Plan were designed by Black community leaders to achieve just that. For me, it is important and strategic that this motion be introduced by Mayor Tory. His membership on the Toronto Police Services Board ensures the motion will be taken seriously by the Board, once Council adopts it. As Mayor, John is best positioned to insist that the provincial government, who legally define the role of police in Ontario through the Police Services Act, do whatever is required of them to make these changes. John also knows from my past work on the Police Board that, once this huge motion passes, I won't forget about it — I will work doggedly to bring every part of it to fruition. The Defund movement Now, I want to speak directly to the thousands of people who have written to me about the "Defund the Police" movement and the motion authored by my colleague, Councillor Matlow, to immediately cut the police budget by 10 per cent. I have chosen a different route by collaborating with the Mayor and others on a separate motion. Initially, I hoped to bring together what I was working on with Councillor Matlow’s, but at the end of the day the two motions represent different approaches. A 10 per cent cut to the police budget is an arbitrary change that will not cause the culture shift we need. Just having fewer police officers won't change anything — we need to go deeper than that. Make no mistake: this motion I am supporting will result in a reduction to the Toronto Police Budget and funds will be reallocated to social services. It will redefine policing by removing police from tasks that don't require armed officers or do not achieve the best results. These actions will fundamentally change the police system as we know it. A motion that hinges on a number makes that number the media célèbre. If the Toronto Police Service were tasked to find $122 million in cuts by October, the conversation would be about that number. It needs to be about how we serve and protect Black and Indigenous Torontonians — particularly those in crisis. Mental health response The demand I hear most is that someone other than an officer armed with deadly weapons should be responding to a person in the throes of a mental health crisis. I agree — damn straight. That recommendation dates as far back as the death of Lester Donaldson in 1988. By 2014, Justice Frank Iacobucci proposed that our Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams (MCITs) be expanded. The MCIT dispatches a mental health nurse to attend calls involving people with mental health issues alongside police officers. Under current police practices, the MCIT is treated as a second response team, but Justice Iacobucci recommended they be the first responders to the scene. Chief Bill Blair held Justice Iacobucci’s report high, declaring it ground-breaking and promised "it would not gather dust." But where Blair found the report most useful was its recommendation that the use of Tasers be piloted, which was implemented rapidly. The recommendation that MCITs become first responders is indeed gathering dust. Today, armed police officers get dispatched to 911 calls for EDPs — "Emotionally Disturbed Persons." Once they decide the site is safe, they allow in the MCIT. If these specially-trained mental health nurses were first on the scene instead, could they have saved Regis Korchinski-Paquet? Could they have de-escalated the situation instead of shouting the same thing for 20 seconds at Andrew Loku and spared his life? Is it possible they might have convinced Michael Eligon, in his hospital gown, to stop walking for a moment and think about where he was so he wouldn’t be gunned down in the street? I wish they could have been allowed to try. That’s the recommendation at the heart of the motion I have worked so hard on. These are urgent conversations that need to be had and then move rapidly to implementation — right now.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Before I get into this week's e-blast: Earlier this week, City Council approved several changes to policing in Toronto. I support these changes and am looking forward to working hard over the remainder of this term to get them implemented. I have spoken about this at length in prior e-blasts, so I won't get into the details here. I've posted the full motion on my website for your reference. I know this is a subject many of you are passionate about — if you want to discuss this with me personally, please contact me so we can arrange a time to talk. On a related note, my office has been experiencing a high volume of calls as part of the activist movement around this vote. Our voicemail inbox has filled up several times to the point of not being able to receive any messages. I want to assure you that we are trying our best to free up our voicemail inbox as quickly as possible and that we are not ignoring you. Please remember if you are unable to leave a voicemail, the best way to get in touch is by emailing me at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca. As of July 7th, the "to wear or not to wear a mask?” dilemma is over: Council is making it mandatory. We know there are as many different opinions on the matter as there are types of face coverings but it's time to decide in favour of masks for everyone’s safety. As we gradually re-open businesses and public services, your social circle is probably widening. Some of us are returning to work, stepping inside more stores or visiting relatives. So, it's time to be more vigilant about wearing a mask to protect others from the contacts you have had. As I drove around Don Valley North on Canada Day, I saw lots of clumps of parked cars, the tell-tale signs of backyard parties. No judgement here — we all held out as long as we could before risking seeing family and friends. I’m the last to judge as I’ve kept a wide family circle from the start for care-giving reasons. How have I stayed healthy? I ordered 100 masks on Amazon as soon as I heard medical staff supply was improving. What are the rules? After much legal opinion going back and forth, Toronto City Council is following definitive advice from our own Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa: “City Council has enacted a temporary bylaw requiring the person or organization who owns or is responsible for the operation of a facility or business to have a policy to ensure masks or face coverings be worn by the public in the enclosed public spaces under their control, subject to appropriate exemptions for individuals who are unable to wear a mask or face covering for medical reasons, children under two years old, and other reasonable accommodations. The policy shall include corresponding signage and training for staff on the requirements of this bylaw.” — Dr. Eileen de Villa That sounds like a bunch of legalese, I know. What it boils down to is pretty much what the doctor has been telling you all along: when you are in a place where physical distancing is a challenge, you’ve got to cover your mouth and nose. We are asking proprietors and managers of indoor spaces such as stores, salons and coffee shops to have a policy requiring you to wear a face covering. We will do the same for all public facilities like the TTC, libraries, offices and more. In fact, face coverings for all users of the TTC are already mandatory. This is especially important as more and more people are starting to return to work. To support riders during this switch, the TTC will distribute one million non-medical masks to people who need one. I know this is a big adjustment, but the new mask rules aren’t forever. They will be reviewed again when Council meets at the end of September. We will know by then if re-opening businesses, schools and other facilities has happened safely. Cautionary tales We hope everyone co-operates with the mask bylaw but Council is taking steps to be heavier-handed if necessary. We are asking the provincial and federal governments to enact similar laws specific to the City of Toronto, so that if we find we have the same silliness that has happened in parts of the United States, there will be no grey area where the law is concerned. The pandemic is still with us and we're learning more about how it's transmitted every day. But there is still so much more we need to know before there is a successful vaccine. In the meantime, we can gradually re-start and re-build our economy as long as we are all willing to be prepared and mask up. Not doing so will almost certainly mean going back into lockdown, like we're seeing in California this week. None of us want that — that goes especially for the many Torontonians whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic and the many thousands for whom contracting COVID-19 can be deadly. My advice to you is to always have a mask, scarf or some kind of face covering handy whenever you leave the house. Just wear it whenever you are asked to. Why argue and risk becoming famous on Tik Tok under the hashtag #antimasker? If you want that kind of fame, just learn a new dance and teach it to your mother.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL As you begin to spend more time out in the sunlight, every resident becomes our "eyes on the street." You notice more when you are outside, like neglected properties or broken infrastructure. You discuss more with your neighbours in the summer months. So the whole DVN Team are receiving calls about the kinds of things that need attention in any big city. But this is really anything but a normal summer. The global pandemic continues to affect every aspect of our city's operations. Every service we normally provide has to be analyzed and prioritized according to pandemic constraints, which is why you may not be receiving the same level of service you are used to. Earlier this week, Mayor Tory warned that, without a bailout from the provincial and federal government, we may have no choice but to make significant cuts to several city services, which could include transit and libraries. This is because the City is still losing close to $65 million a week due to increased costs and reduced revenue. City staff are preparing a report for our next Council meeting that will detail which services could be on the chopping block. I'll update you here when we receive that report. CALL TO ACTION: LET YOUR MPP AND MP KNOW TORONTO NEEDS THEIR HELP! While the Mayor is having daily conversations with our provincial and federal counterparts about receiving help for Toronto, we have yet to receive any relief. I have been speaking regularly with our Don Valley North MP, Han Dong, who has been vocal with his colleagues about giving Toronto the support we need, but your voice makes his argument stronger. So, consider sending a message to our local MP and MPP with your concerns. Here is their contact information and a suggested email template: MP Han Dong Han.Dong@parl.gc.ca 416-443-0623 MPP Vincent Ke vincent.keco@pc.ola.org 416-494-8778 Subject: Toronto needs your support Dear MP Dong and MPP Ke, The City of Toronto is still losing $65 million a week due to the impact of COVID-19. Without immediate relief from our federal and provincial partners like yourselves, the City is going to have no choice but to dramatically reduce services and increase taxes — none of which we can afford during this pandemic. As the economic backbone of Ontario and Canada, I am asking for your support and advocacy on this matter. Sincerely, [Your name] [Address and postal code] Impacted services In the meantime, services essential to the healthy and smooth operation of our city are open wherever possible. Where things are cancelled, such as some City-run recreation programs, it's because of a direct impact of COVID-19. There is an important tab on the City of Toronto website that can help you get a sense of what is fully operational (lots of things are now) and what is not, titled COVID-19: Changes to City Services. Enforcement staff are slowly working to get back to normal levels of adherence with City bylaws. But for the time being, the focus is on deploying bylaw officers to calls related to health and safety. Any time you see news reports of a dangerously crowded beach or encampment, you can bet bylaw officers are on their way over. In turn, this means calls to investigate tall grass and weeds and illegal dumping is lower on the priority list, and it will take longer than usual for officers to address these types of complaints. That said, I still want you to call in each and every concern to my office or to 311. We log each resident complaint or concern and can make sure it is addressed once more services resume. Service vs enforcement City functions are a balance of delivering services and enforcing rules. For example, we manage services such as garbage, water, childcare and transportation. We then enforce rules such as noise, pet waste and construction bylaws, property standards, business licenses and more. People are feeling a little sensitive about being asked to follow rules these days, especially new ones such as mask wearing in public. Funny thing is, new rules should never come as a surprise. Cities begin creating bylaws for the common good pretty much as soon as they exist. As soon as Toronto switched from an agricultural region to a harbour town, there were rules about having livestock in your home because houses started to be built quite close together. Farm animals could be noisy, smelly and breed disease — and the animals themselves were also unhealthy and unhappy roaming busy streets. A bylaw moving them out of the centre of town was best for all. In frontier times, there always comes a moment when people realize we needs bylaws. As a city begins to grow, you can’t have a large, poorly-built barn suddenly falling over on neighbouring buildings. As business leaders cluster and a main street takes shape, the local government makes its first stab at economic development by creating a bylaw prohibiting homes and churches being built beside the central saloon. Present day And so it goes. Local governments make new rules to keep the community strong, healthy and attractive to live in for all. New bylaws are created whenever innovations make them necessary. Pesticides made pretty lawns but they got more powerful and carcinogenic until a pesticide bylaw was required to reduce harm. Smoking anywhere you please was fine for a century until science confirmed that second-hand smoke was a danger to others. One by one, cities all over the world created anti-smoking bylaws for public areas. Toronto's tree canopy was found to be gravely lacking, with the city literally heating up after generations of dense growth and a few devastating insect infestations. Enter the infamous Tree protection bylaw. The newest bylaw of them all? You guessed it: wearing a mask in enclosed public spaces. Just like the science behind second-hand smoke, new science showing a reduction in COVID-19 transmission when masks are widely worn by the general population has brought about this new bylaw. So, please don't challenge bus drivers or shopkeepers about the bylaw. They're your fellow human beings and they need you to wear the mask. For all you know, they might be on their way to visit their elderly mother, and you could preserve that mother's health by complying. A favour On behalf of the whole team, I ask for your understanding. As we follow up on every call on a same-day basis, we do come up against some postponements and backlogs from the long pandemic lockdown. We will keep open files on your concerns until we get resolutions. On the plus side, it's now safer to get out and enjoy our beautiful city a bit. It’s getting better every day. You can even grab an ice cream on a hot summer night. Just keep a distance of two metres from your fellow ice cream fans — after all, you can't eat ice cream with a mask on.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL During our meeting this week, I had to remind my colleagues on the TTC Board of something they voted on back in February of this year. I don’t know how well it was received; during virtual meetings, one gets no feedback by way of expression. We say our piece while staring at our laptops which display tiny tile-sized pictures of our fellow board members. They, in turn, stare back at the tiny tile-sized pictures in their home offices. One thing is for sure: bringing up something that happened in the "before times" pre-lockdown always feels like asking to hearken back to a simpler time in the late Fifties. But pre-COVID life wasn’t that long ago and we shouldn’t lose track of what seemed important then. Remember DVN Connects? At the February TTC meeting, I presented the transportation and transit requests of DVN Connects, our local residents’ working group on mobility needs in Don Valley North. For months in 2019, DVN Connects examined the growing density in our Ward — particularly along Sheppard Avenue — and proposed solutions that would be professionally studied and reported on by the end of 2020. Chief among their proposals was to study and consult on the possibility of priority bus lanes on Sheppard Avenue between Don Mills Station and the Agincourt GO Station. It’s nowhere near the end of the year yet, but COVID-19 has confused our long term plans for the TTC. The pandemic has made it very clear that our bus system is the true "GOAT" of the TTC. This is the system that overwhelmingly carries our city's front-line workers to their jobs: our buses are now back up to 40 per cent of last year’s ridership while subways are only at 22 per cent. As a result of these findings, Staff have proposed expediting the installation of priority bus-only lanes on a number of high-ridership routes. Commissioners and TTC Staff are talking buses much more than subways these days. Buses, buses, buses TTC Staff have proposed that the existing High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on Eglinton Avenue East be converted to priority bus-only lanes. The 10.9-kilometre Eglinton East corridor runs from Kennedy Station to the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. This service is urgently needed to carry students safely and quickly to campus. Their next priority, six months later, will be in the west end along Jane Street. All Commissioners agree with this — these routes are some of the TTC's most heavily-used, and are crucial to much more than the universities at each of their end points. They also travel through priority neighbourhoods in need of improvement, social housing communities and employment zones. Then, staff want us to turn our minds to Dufferin Street, Finch Avenue East, Steeles Avenue West and even Lawrence Avenue East. That's when I raised a few questions about Sheppard Avenue East. Don't forget the before-times As I've discussed before in this column, the Ontario government says there will be a subway extension east along the Sheppard line — but it's not a priority. In fact, Doug Ford's latest map shows it coming up in 2041. In the meantime, more density is being built along the Sheppard Avenue East corridor than any of the streets TTC Staff identified for bus-only priority lanes. That's why I insisted that Staff add the study of bus-only lanes for Sheppard Avenue East to their list. After all, DVN Connects already asked for this months ago. We need an “until-the-subway” plan. We had some ideas of great merit in the "before times" and we should not throw them out in favour of post-pandemic thinking. When residents commit several nights to big thinking on transit, cars, pedestrian realms and cycling, they deserve to have their work followed up on. In my experience, ideas developed from the ground-up are far more useful and adaptable than any other. That's why I'll continue to advocate for DVN Connects' hard work — because we need to consider the "after times" too. In the upcoming City Council meetings on July 28 and 29, it is very likely that two major development applications in Don Valley North will be discussed and voted on by Shelley and other City Councillors. These applications are Bayview Village Shopping Centre and 2450 Victoria Park Avenue. As mentioned in Shelley's previous e-blasts, both applications are currently under appeal before the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), but the developers in both cases are working with City Planning and other parties involved to reach a settlement. These parties are local community organizations in the ward, including the Bayview Village Association, Bayview-Sheppard Neighbourhood Alliance, and the Armenian Community Centre. We are happy to see that through this LPAT process, City Planning staff have been able to negotiate for more reasonable densities and built form, accessible public spaces for the community, and in the case of Bayview Village mall, a better connection to the TTC station. Since Bayview Village Association is a party to the hearing, they have created a great explainer for the mall redevelopment that they are able to share. This process, however, is not without its flaws. Since it is a legal process, City Council is required to review the City Solicitor's report and vote to provide direction in private. While this means we will not be able to share every detail of these applications at this moment, we will work to share the information with you after the Council meetings through the e-blast, community meetings, and other means of communication. If you have any questions about these applications or other matters related to planning and development, please feel free to contact me at ryan.lo@toronto.ca

BY SHELLEY CARROLL During our virtual City Council meetings, I am told by well-meaning family members — namely my grandchildren — that we're the most boring thing on YouTube. I think we're all getting bored with seeing talking heads on our computer screens. But if you read the news the next morning, you'll find we get a lot done and make big moves. A recent article by David Rider of The Star listed major decisions in such an exciting way, I read it and thought: “Wow, was I at this meeting?” Masks The biggest accomplishment from this week's Council meeting was something many of you in Don Valley North have been asking for since the lockdown began. A little over half of you live in apartment buildings and condominiums and you have been telling us that everyone needs help understanding elevator and laundry room etiquette during COVID-19. In response to your concerns, Council has now made it mandatory for masks or face coverings to be worn in common areas of residential buildings. Property managers in many buildings have been excellent about posting signs provided by Toronto Public Health. It's true that we are going to enter Stage 3 of the province's re-opening plan, but it will only work if we stay vigilant about wearing masks and practising physical distancing to keep our families, friends, neighbours and co-workers safe. Stage 3 means almost all businesses and public spaces will be able to open, with some restrictions. Places like playgrounds will re-open because they're considered fairly low-risk, but we still have to impress on our kids the importance of good hygiene. The same old rules from the first weeks of lockdown are still the most important and you should not forget about it just because we are all wearing masks now. E-Scooters Stalled Have you seen any electric kick scooters or e-scooters, the newest innovation in micro-mobility? I have seen the odd one whizzing along the trails in our area and zipping along the sidewalk on the way to the store. They're not supposed to be on the sidewalk because they're held to the same rules as bicycles: sidewalks are for pedestrians. That is what caused Council to put its own brakes on. We had a report before us that contemplated a proposal to allow an e-scooter rental service that would partner in some way with our city-wide bike rental service. That would put a thousand or so of these vehicles on downtown streets. However, Staff provided safety research: it turns out these little vehicles can be incredibly dangerous and especially in your first 9 or 10 trips. Head injuries are quite common in e-scooter accidents as operators can move at 20 km/h, often without wearing a helmet, while mingling with car traffic. Once Council heard the safety stats and had a second sober thought, we decided to shelve plans to allow an e-scooter rental service for now. If you privately own an e-scooter, that’s okay — but remember that sidewalks are for pedestrians and pedestrians always have the right of way. PayIt Council put the brakes on another item as well. As keepers of the public purse, our government must conduct fair and transparent tender processes when the private sector wants to do business with us. In the case of PayIt, City staff were recommending we proceed but I moved a motion to stall it so that more work could be done on the transparency front. I think the problem arises from underestimating how much money would potentially be involved. PayIt is an American firm that came to Toronto to present their (unsolicited) idea to convert all payment transactions between you and City Hall into a digital wallet concept. City staff were intrigued and spent the better part of a year talking to the company about how this might work. Similar to the banking apps many of us use, you would be encouraged to have a City Hall app where you pay property tax, parking tickets, water bills, even building permits and street parking permits. Eventually, the wallet could become your whole interface with government. You would download forms there, search for information and surveys and have it sent to you. This is called GovTech Sounds pretty neat, right? Well, consider this. Companies like PayIt want a percentage of every tax and government transaction in order to turn a profit. In the United States, about $25 billion passes between governments and their constituents every year. In Canada, it's about $6 billion. Now, imagine giving a private company an exclusive contract to process your bills and skim 2.35 per cent without first seeing who else in Canada or the rest of the world is interested in bidding on this work. I know we will develop a service for you just like the one PayIt described, but it will be done through proper public procurement to get the best deal for Torontonians. Tenants We also voted to mount a legal challenge against Premier Ford's bill that is heavily skewed in favour of landlords and would make it easier for them to evict tenants. What's more, Ford quietly rushed the approval of the bill without any public consultation. This is cause for alarm at any time, but to have this legislation pass during a pandemic when renters need security is deplorable. I can remember my grandmother, a great storyteller, describing life during the “Dirty Thirties”. Young housewives lucky enough to still be running a good home kept a big vat of soup on the stove and made extra bread twice a week. So many people were homeless and wandering from town to town that you had to be ready to serve some soup and bread out the back door to passing hobos. “You would tell them to move on and leave their cups on the stoop,” my grandmother said, “but the next day there would be a new batch and you couldn’t say no.” Nowadays we have a social safety net — but these are extraordinary times. A net can only stretch so far. Tilting the law so in favour of landlords, making it easier to evict as many as 6000 households throughout Ontario would not help us weather this pandemic. Don Valley North Two major developments are now headed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) for their hearings. Bayview Village Mall applied for intensification in 2016 and the old Universal Pictures site at 2450 Victoria Park Ave applied to add residential towers in 2017. Both developers wanted far more density than the City Plan called for. So, both developers decided to appeal to the province. Planning staff, great organized community groups, and my DVN Ward Team have worked hard to achieve good compromises and good planning with the respective applicants so that the Provincial LPAT Hearings could potentially be used to present mutually settled terms of agreement. Up until the end, which is held in confidential Council session for legal reasons, the work was done together. When the previous provincial government abolished the old Ontario Municipal Board and created the LPAT, we all jumped for joy in fast-growing neighbourhoods like ours. Gone are the days when an OMB hearing consisted of throwing out whatever position Council took and starting from square one. However, the process is still highly legalistic. Last-minute legal arguments or terms between the City and the developer go to Council for approval in private, which is definitely not my preference. In the case of Bayview Village Mall and 2450 Victoria Park, staff now have directions from council voted on and are ready to appear on your behalf at the LPAT. We will be presenting details as soon as these are public and the LPAT will also be a public process you can watch. Coming up If there is enough interest, I'm considering holding a virtual town hall on what's next for Don Valley North in terms of planning and growth. There is more change coming and there are, of course, more development applications. What do you think? Let me know if this is something you and your neighbours would find helpful. Depending on your feedback, we could use this virtual town hall model for other community matters, too. Even though we can't gather in person like we used to, we still need to find ways to work together to ensure good results for our treasured community.

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Just about everyone has a story about that friend of a friend who won $400,000 in the lottery, blew it all in one year and ended up back in their 9 to 5 job. The moral of that tale doesn’t have to be "easy come, easy go." It’s a matter of being prudent, having a plan and sticking to that plan. The City of Toronto is in a similar situation at the moment: we are about to receive a healthy infusion of funds from our federal partners. Hearing that we will likely receive the funds we need is a bit like winning a lottery — but I am hoping we take the most prudent path with that new money. Impact on cities All governments have been slammed by the cost of responding to COVID-19. Municipal governments, however, must cover the cost immediately. They don’t have the option of running a deficit for a few years. That's why you've seen all the mayors of the GTA banding together to demand that the federal and provincial governments find financial solutions. By law, municipalities are required to cover all of their day-to-day operating expenses by the end of the year. The pandemic's impact on cities varies from place to place. In any city, people who can't work because of COVID-19 have been able to collect EI or CERB, but how far that money goes depends on the household and the cost of living in each city. Toronto has had unique challenges, and they boil down to the usual things that set us apart: housing most of Ontario’s poor and providing the core transit system to a region of six million people. By the end of 2020, the pandemic is expected to cost the City of Toronto $1.9 billion. Costs we continue to incur are things such as emergency homeless shelters and isolation spaces, enhanced public health services and big revenue losses such as $20 million a week in transit fares and a quarter of a billion dollars in land transfer tax collection. The City has absorbed as much of these losses as possible. By freezing the usual hiring to cover retirements and, yes, some layoffs, the City Manager has saved half a billion dollars. This has reduced the cost of COVID-19 on Toronto to $1.3 billion and change. Federal support When Prime Minister Trudeau announced that he was sending $19 billion to premiers across Canada to support their province's municipalities, we all jumped for joy in our virtual offices. We quickly did the math and determined that if the money is distributed based on population, everything will be alright. But the number cruncher in me came back down to Earth pretty fast. If the provincial government flows these federal funds to us and we simply plug the hole in our 2020 Budget and move on, that would make us much like the "easy come, easy go" kind of lottery winners. Instead, I would like to offer some things to consider: This means the City will have to resolve to be careful with our money. We must make this emergency funding last and hunt for savings in areas that aren’t a priority. There are things we have made strong commitments to and we should be putting money aside for future years so we can keep those commitments. And there is one other thing I believe we should do that is going to take the most courage of all. New thinking Just like a wise lottery winner who invests in the future, we have got to take the lessons of the pandemic and have a conversation about finding new ways to invest in our city. We have to do this right now in order to survive the coming years when other orders of government are deep in deficit. Consider this: during the lockdown, those whose finances were unaffected continued to shop online for fun and the governments who receive HST — sales tax — continued to earn revenue from that. As businesses open up and masked shoppers return to malls and salons, the provincial and federal governments are watching their HST earnings grow and recover. Imagine if just one cent on the dollar were added to that HST and forwarded to the city where it was earned. A property tax system will always be the backbone of a healthy, predictable city funding formula. But as more businesses shut down their physical stores and pivot to online sales permanently, Toronto will be losing out on commercial property tax with no other revenue to replace it. That's why a sales tax, which captures revenue from all purchases (including online and only from those who have purchasing power), would be a great tool — and help our City weather any other storms the future may hold. If I've given you some food for thought, watch this episode of TVO's Political Blind Date I appeared in with Budget Chief Gary Crawford last year. In it, I explain how a municipal sales tax allows cities such as New York and Chicago reduce their reliance on property tax.

I'm taking a break from my usual editorial-style column this week to update you about Stage 3 operations for our City, as well as local news and updates from our community partners. Keep reading for COVID-19 information or scroll down to the "Community Events & Notices" section for local updates. Stage 3 Last Friday, Toronto officially entered Stage 3 of the province's phased re-opening plan. Entering this Stage allows for the safe restart of more businesses and services including playgrounds, additional recreational programs, indoor restaurant dining, gyms and sports facilities with certain restrictions in place. While businesses and workplaces have almost all re-opened, we must continue to listen to Toronto Public Health advice by continuing to practise physical distancing, limiting our social bubbles to 10 people, washing our hands often and wearing a mask when physical distancing cannot be maintained. Summary of changes PLAYGROUNDS Dallington Park The city’s more than 800 playgrounds and play structures are now open. City staff will be visiting all playgrounds over the coming days to post updated signage with public health guidance. Outdoor playground equipment will not be sanitized. If a playground is busy, Toronto Public Health recommends finding another park or coming back later. The full guidelines document for parents and guardians can be found here. COMMUNITY RECREATION AND LIBRARIES Additional recreational programs and services at community centres will resume in multiple phases beginning mid-August. Instructor and staff-led programs and activities such as fitness classes, drop-in sports and aqua-fitness programs are expected to begin in September. Beginning mid-August, the Toronto Public Library will begin to gradually resume adapted in-branch services in multiple phases, with relevant health and safety measures in place. GATHERINGS Toronto residents are allowed to participate in indoor gatherings of up to 50 people and outdoor gatherings of up to 100 people, with continued physical distancing requirements from anyone outside your 10-person social circle. BUSINESSES AND FACILITIES I visited Marjo Bakery at Van Horne Plaza for a sweet treat recently Under the Province’s Stage 3 order, many businesses and facilities are able to re-open, under specific conditions and with mandatory public health measures. Below are some examples. Restaurants and bars are permitted to offer indoor dine-in service, with requirements including: Separating tables by at least two metres or using barriers between tables; Prohibiting dancing, singing or musical performances; Patrons must be seated at all times except when entering or exiting, using the washroom, or while placing or picking up an order or paying for an order Maintaining customer logs to be used by Toronto Public Health for contact tracing purposes. Recreational attractions and businesses (i.e. museums, zoos, arcades): Live shows, performing arts and movie theatres are subject to a limit of no more than 50 people indoors and no more than 100 people outdoors; There is no attendance limit on drive-in cinemas. Personal services: Personal services settings can now perform services tending to the face, i.e. facials, beard trims, eyebrow grooming, eyelash extensions, etc. This is subject to patrons continuing to wear a mask or face covering unless receiving services to the chin, mouth, or nose area. Services that are not re-opening Some businesses, services and activities deemed high-risk are not yet permitted to resume, including: Nightclubs Amusement parks and water parks Buffet-style food services Private karaoke rooms Saunas, steam rooms, bath houses and oxygen bars Table games at casinos and gaming establishments Dancing at restaurants and bars Overnight stays at camps for children Team sports (may only be played if there is no physical contact) What's next? While our numbers are going down every day, it's important to remember that COVID-19 remains a risk in our community. No service or space can re-open without strict public health measures. We absolutely must continue to be diligent if we want to maintain our success and prevent the virus from spreading. It's more important now than ever to keep up our good habits as more establishments and public spaces open, and as people take part in more activities. Physically-distanced community meetings like this one I held at Blue Ridge Rd last month will be common for the time being To learn more about what to expect and how to keep safe as we adapt to life in Stage 3, visit toronto.ca/ReopenTO. The City’s website is also updated daily with the latest health advice and information about City services, social supports and economic recovery measures. And of course, if you have a question or concern that isn't addressed on the City's website please don't hesitate to contact me.