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BY SHELLEY CARROLL Otto von Bismarck, the storied first chancellor of Germany, famously said: “Politics is the art of the possible.” He’s famous for many things but especially this timeless phrase. Bismarck was a fan of Realpolitik, a political philosophy that promotes pragmatism ⁠— realism ⁠— over ideological goals. The philosophy asserts we have to compromise to get what we want ⁠— and refusing to do so could mean getting nothing at all. A compromise The art of the possible is what our Mayor, City Manager and TTC CEO had to pull off in order to reach a deal with the provincial government last year regarding our transit plan and existing transit assets. The City had plans for new lines that the province could easily override. Moreover, the province talked about taking ownership of the whole transit system to guarantee their own plan. So, our three principals had to negotiate a compromise. We now have a signed and sealed deal that ensures three out of the four new projects the province wants to start match Toronto's own priorities. Those projects are the Downtown Relief Line (now expanded and named the Ontario Line), the Scarborough Subway and the Eglinton West LRT. The fourth project is the Line 1 Yonge Subway Extension, which the province is leading. Having set these priorities, the City will also maintain ownership of the TTC. During Budget season, Councillors also have to practice the art of the possible. We all have constituencies with unique needs and wishes. We have to take those wish lists and find ways to get what we want while balancing the budget. Priorities we share in common, such as transit and housing affordability, need urgent attention but where the dollars are applied is another discussion of compromise. A debate Mayor Tory’s new phased-in City Building Fund (CBF) increase will spur the biggest debate on compromise we've had yet. While the City’s whole Budget is moving through its consultation process this week, the TTC Board will debate Monday morning on how to apply the $4.5 billion in new transit funding generated from the City Building Levy. The issue is we all want to apply that money in different ways: downtown residents want more streetcars, the suburbs need more buses and everyone who uses Line 2 wants every penny to go to repairs and trains on that troubled line. When the CBF was announced, I moved a motion to ensure the TTC’s own staff and Commissioners get the opportunity to recommend how and where to spend the transit funds. TTC CEO Rick Leary has now filed a report which recommends spreading the dollars across track, tunnel and signalling overhauls (primarily on Line 2) plus updating the fleet across all vehicle types by purchasing a third of what we know need for the next 15 years. An agreement This week especially, no one can argue Line 2 is in trouble. A lion’s share of the CBF dollars will go to work on that line. Additionally, in order to enhance service across the city we need more streetcars, trains, buses and Wheel-Trans vans. Our vehicle needs are so large we require funding from other governments to meet them. This will come as no surprise to the federal and provincial governments — they receive regular updates on the state of the fleet in the nation’s largest transit system. Mr. Leary has crafted a report that demonstrates the art of the possible. If the TTC Commissioners and City Council agree we need to spread this money across the system — from track and tunnel work to rolling stock in all types — then we can get to work now. We can also call upon the other orders of government, with one voice, to help us grow these orders to meet your needs. If they do so, the TTC will keep you moving, get you to work on time and generate thousands of jobs in the process. A new chapter for DVN Connects Last Thursday, Shelley and our team held the last official DVN Connects roundtable meeting. Over four meetings in the past year, community members from all corners of Don Valley North gathered to discuss the future of transit in our ward, especially along the congested Sheppard Avenue East corridor. The group kicked things off by deciding on a shared vision and a set of evaluating principles to determine which types of transit infrastructure best serve our residents. Our DVN ward team also organized a series of local pop-ups and events to collect feedback from the wider community. We were thrown a curveball when, last fall, the provincial government announced their intention to extend the Sheppard subway line east of Don Mills — but not until the four new transit lines Shelley mentioned above are complete. This means work on Sheppard would not begin until at least 2041. The DVN Connects group understood that transit riders can't afford to wait until 2041. So, they got to work and proposed ideas for an interim, “before-the-subway” plan. These ideas will be part of a motion Shelley will present to the TTC Board in February. Although the official roundtable meetings are over, members of DVN Connects will continue to organize their own community meetings and reach out to neighbours and friends. Shelley and our team will continue to support them by bringing the group’s recommendations to the TTC Board and other City divisions. Read more about DVN Connects on our website here. If you have any questions about the process please feel free to send me a message at ryan.lo@toronto.ca. Sincerely, Ryan Lo, Planning and Policy Advisor Community Events & Notices This week I appeared on the season premiere of TVO's Political Blind Date to discuss City Finances with Budget Chief Gary Crawford. If you didn't catch it on TV, it's up on YouTube now. Click here to watch!

BY SHELLEY CARROLL It’s that time of year again — the City's 2020 Budget was launched last Friday. That means, for the first two months of the year, I become a bit of a broken record. From launch day to Council’s final vote, I spend a lot of time scrutinizing and speaking about our annual budget exercise. It’s a lot of your money, and my chief responsibility is to track where your dollars go. There is a long way to go before the final Budget is approved on February 19, with lots of opportunity for tactical amendments and fiery debate. I'm also hosting a Budget Town Hall in the ward next Wednesday (January 22) at Fairview Library at 6:30PM. There, City staff and myself will present you the Budget and then we'll have a Q&A session. I'll give you a primer on the Budget now, and in the coming weeks I'll focus on some key areas that are under pressure or will see change. Operating and Capital Budgets The Operating Budget is what keeps your services humming. The draft Operating Budget for 2020 totals $13.53 billion — of that, $1.94 billion has already been approved for garbage, water and the Toronto Parking Authority. These services are funded by fees that have to be set at the beginning of the year and do not use property taxes or city debt. That leaves $11.59 billion to deal with all other services that are property tax funded. The other side of the City Budget is the Capital Plan — the money that goes to constructing, repairing, renewing and purchasing things. In other words, it's the things we build. The draft Capital Budget for 2020 proposes a ten-year plan worth $43.4 billion. Tax increases You're probably thinking, “Cut to the chase. Where's the increase?” I’ll expand on what you may have already heard in the news. According to this proposed budget, the average residential household will pay $128 more in property taxes in 2020. That comes from two places: first, a 1.5 per cent increase to the City Building Fund. That money will go straight to urgently-needed transit and housing projects. Second, there’s an inflationary tax increase of 2 per cent. That’ll be used to fund ongoing operating programs and services. As always, the City touts the 2 per cent budgetary increase as being at the rate of inflation. But that refers only to the increase for single-family dwellings. Businesses, condos and apartments also pay property tax, but legislation requires their rates to be increased at a slower pace until 2023. That's because their property tax rates are actually higher than single-family homes. This will balance out eventually, but in the meantime the overall tax increase is not what you think. Not what you think When you look at the full range of increases in the slide below, you’ll see the increase in the 2020 budget is just 1.43 per cent. Furthermore, due to legislation, the additional City Building Levy can’t be applied to businesses until 2023. That means overall revenue is growing at a rate significantly below inflation. Each year when the budget is launched, the news media focuses entirely on the single-family residential property tax rate. I can understand the frustration some feel when wondering why Toronto can't just manage to keep up with inflation. The range of different increases you see above is your answer. And if you look at the graph below, you'll see our spending has stayed largely the same for years. Now, hearing that we are not keeping pace with inflation is small comfort to those actually paying the bill. In my own case, I’ve only owned my current home since 2001 but it has seen a couple of huge assessment jumps and the bill reflects that. Assessment plays a part whether the Mayor promises to keep increases low or not. That's why I've been saying our city needs an entirely new funding formula that reduces the reliance on property taxes. Municipal sales tax Every year, our Budget Committee and City staff comb through the books looking for savings. But after many years of this, it's hard to find savings that won’t chip away at your quality of service. The 2020 Budget process found $27 million in savings. But investments are needed to serve a city growing and aging at the same time. New property taxes do not fill that gap with new money. The new residents who become ratepayers demand the same service level as you — so, new firehalls, paramedic stations, libraries and community centres are not only built but also require more staff. The way other large cities around the world afford big-ticket items such as transit systems and projects such as Raildeck Park and the Gardiner East Hybrid is by shifting away from property tax as the principle source of revenue. It's perfect timing that next Tuesday I'll be appearing in an episode of Political Blind Date on TVO. I'll be alongside my colleague, Budget Chief Gary Crawford, as I explain how a municipal sales tax allows cities such as New York and Chicago reduce their reliance on property tax. I promise it's not as dry as it may sound — with the help of a few special guests and an exciting location, it's going to be an informative yet colourful episode. You can tune in next Tuesday at 9PM on the TVO channel or watch it online at TVO.org. I hope you'll give it a watch — it will provide some useful background for our town hall next week and our budget discussions going forward. Community Events & Notices

Statement on Iran plane crash My thoughts are with our Persian-Canadian community who lost loved ones in the devastating plane crash last night. I know we have an incredibly tight-knit Persian community in Don Valley North who are feeling this tragedy deeply — I share your grief. The Iranian Women's Organization of Ontario will hold a vigil tomorrow at 7 PM at 1761 Sheppard Avenue East. Details here. BY SHELLEY CARROLL If you take a look at the boundaries of Don Valley North, you may notice something unique. At its core, it's made up of "Phase Two"s. By that, I mean the area east of Leslie Street extended out from Canada’s first planned community, Don Mills. And the area between Bayview Ave and Leslie St extended from the original village of Willowdale into a giant, modernized Willowdale "Phase Two". I think this is why we have a tendency to care deeply about what happens just beyond our borders. We care about plans for a Yonge Street transformation in Willowdale because we feel part of it in some way. We took an interest in the Shops at Don Mills transformation even though it's south of the 401 and far from our subway corridor because it really is the area where our community originated. It's where farm houses began to disappear, making way for the post-war residential neighbourhood. Many people bought homes in the area to make the very short commute to IBM at the dawn of the technology boom. Mid-century heritage An item on North York Community Council this week considers a unique part of Don Mills heritage and it deserves our attention. Part of what made Don Mills so successful was its rich offering of employment for the post-industrial work force. At the corner of Don Mills Rd and Eglinton Ave, a massive manufacturing plant sprouted during the 1950s, preparing to build the ill-fated Avro Arrow aircraft. Instead, it became Canada’s first IBM plant and employed many former Avro employees. Then, futuristic commercial buildings began to fill in the belt of land between IBM and the planned residential neighbourhood to the north. Bata Shoes, Grand & Toy, Wrigley's Gum, Foresters and other Canadian businesses competed to build the most state-of-the-art modern headquarters. Every top-flight business park also needs a hotel, so Isadore Sharp, founder of the Four Seasons Hotels, hired Peter Dickinson to build the grand Inn On The Park hotel and the Four Seasons headquarters on Leslie Street. At Council, we determined this is a valuable part of our North York mid-century heritage. We voted to add eight buildings to the list of heritage properties and seven more should be listed but have been deferred to a later date. We need to list them as soon as possible — as Don Valley Northerners, we have learned the lesson of how brand new transit lines can radically change a neighbourhood. I don’t want to see the neighbourhood surrounding the Eglinton Crosstown stations at Don Mills and Leslie have to re-learn this lesson — the former IBM plant (now Celestica) is already being converted into a massive new high-rise community, similar in scope to the Canadian Tire lands. All of the employment opportunity and the architectural heritage nearby should be listed to ensure heritage is a required part of the planning conversation. Look around Listing a property in the heritage register doesn’t lock it down forever — full designation of heritage status does that. With listing, any development application will kick-start a heritage report and consideration of what can be done to preserve or honour what is on site. As growth pressure continues, and with provincial planning regulations changed to encourage even more than we bargained for, I think it's crucial we consider our suburban history and look around us to see what needs to be preserved. In the heritage area discussed above, we’ve already seen the carving up of the Inn on The Park. The swanky dining room where my Sixties family enjoyed Mother’s Day brunch is now a car dealership. The distinctive Bata Shoe building is gone, making way for the Aga Khan Museum — listing it as heritage would have slowed down the planning conversation just long enough to consider an offer the City had to dismantle and relocate that small architectural treasure. With that in mind, I’d love to know your thoughts on the treasures in our midst here in Don Valley North. What do you think should be preserved in honour of our suburban heritage? Community Events & Notices

As I sit down to write this year-ender, I realize why my DVN Ward Team is ready for a little rest. The super-sized Ward 17, Don Valley North is only one year old but the list of things my team and I have managed to accomplish over this year is too long for an e-blast. So, I'll give you the highlights — and I'm sure there are a few things I've forgotten. We have even bigger plans for 2020. I'm hoping this list will give you ideas about what more we can do in your neck of the woods. Please give it some thought over the holidays and let me know! Now, the highlights: Six-month Participatory Budgeting process in Parkway Forest & Henry Farm. Using $500,000 of community benefits funds, residents chose three projects: Outdoor Lights in Parkway Forest Park, Picnic Tables in Parkway Forest Park and Improvements to Parkway Forest Park Playground. We're so excited to work on making these projects a reality. Our DVN Connects Transit Roundtable. This year-long process with residents representing a variety of transportation needs is wrapping up in January 2020. Three ward-wide town halls on the City Budget, transit and road safety A joint town hall with Councillors Filion and Robinson discussing Bill 108, the province's sweeping planning and development reforms. Our pop-up Vision Zero project on Pineway Boulevard with 8 80 Cities. Two newsletter editions delivered to every door in the ward. Launched a WeChat account — my ID is ShelleyCarroll, be sure to add me! And 45 weekly E-Blasts! Sign up here if you haven't already. Two of our local PB champions holding up the poster for one of the winning ideas. Summer Celebration at Oriole Community Centre — this was a huge success, with hundreds of residents attending despite the scorching heat! Annual Environment Day at the Old Cummer GO Station. Compost Days at Clydesdale and Bayview Village Parks. And as always, we attended your own community events whenever we were invited and able. We salute the dozens of community groups, residents' associations, health and wellness agencies and faith-based groups who contribute so much value to Don Valley North. Speaking with residents at our Summer Celebration last July. Knocked on over 1000 doors during our ward tours. Worked on over 1800 individual cases. Visited dozens of homes, condo board meetings and many chats with residents over coffee. Answered thousands of calls and emails to our office. Set up our Community Office at North York Civic Centre to serve you closer to home. Setting up our North York community office last spring. Advocated in the best interests of residents while reviewing nearly three dozen development applications (most of these are not yet approved). Worked with the North York City Planning team to require developers to respect our Official Plan and the Sheppard Avenue Secondary Plan in their proposals. Fought against the elimination of child care occupancy grants, keeping hundreds of child care spaces in Don Valley North from increasing in cost. Championed TO Wards Peace, a program consisting of a youth violence prevention framework to complement the work of the Toronto Police. Took part in dozens of divisional detailed reviews to help our Budget Chief find efficiencies that can save money with minimal impact on your services. Continued advocacy for Toronto to be granted a mature government funding formula that will fund our big city needs from sources other than property taxes. Park enhancements at Shawnee, Cliffwood and Skymark Parks. Completion of the much-anticipated seniors' fitness equipment at Godstone Park, as well as fitness equipment at Parkway Forest Park. Sourced funding for new playscape equipment at Elkhorn Public School. Supported the new Parkway Centre Business Association. Safety Meetings in Parkway Forest, Woodbine Middle School and the Hillcrest neighbourhood. Interactive visioning sessions for the Clydesdale Clubhouse and Bayview Village Park. School Safety Working groups with Lester B Pearson, Zion Heights, Hillmount and Kingslake, along with our local TDSB Trustee, James Li. Naming of Thomas Clark Way as a nod to the historic Thomas Clarke House in Bayview Village. Naming of Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Park and Lane in honour of our history on the lands of the Wendat First Nation. Naming of Clara Will Park to honour the memory of the founder of Adventure Place. Heritage Plaque for O’Sullivan Hotel, with another plaque coming soon for George S. Henry's "Oriole Lodge." Exhaustive Youth Services Review with results to be launched early 2020. Continued advocacy for our Housing Now site to be a collaboration with North York General Hospital. This would combine new affordable housing while bringing hundreds of new long-term care beds to the hospital. Participating in the Sparroways Wellness Committee and securing funding for local youth-focused improvements. Started the process for the City to consider ranked ballots and campaign finance reform to improve municipal election accountability. Supporting Toronto’s Vision Zero initiative by making speed limit reductions on unsafe streets and voting in support of city-wide speed reductions. Working with City staff to include a pedestrian/cycling underpass in the Finch hydro corridor, connecting Pineway School to students on Leslie St and creating a continuous cycling network through to Seneca College. A snap of our pop-up pilot project on Pineway Boulevard. Toronto Transit Commission (Budget Working Group) Toronto & Region Conservation Authority Toronto Arts Council North York Community Council Economic & Community Development Committee Toronto Atmospheric Fund (Investment Committee) Budget Committee Global Participatory Budgeting Support Board Deputy Speaker of Toronto City Council Special Committee on Governance Participated in a housing learning exchange with government officials in South Africa, sponsored by Rooftops Canada. Shot an episode for the TVO series Political Blind Date, set to air late in January 2020. Attended the first Board meeting for the Global Participatory Budgeting Hub in Scotland, hosted by the Hewlett Foundation. Feeling grateful The purpose of this list is not to brag — but I will brag about one thing: I have the most terrific, high-energy DVN Ward Team. I think they are the best and I feel very blessed. As you read this e-blast this Thursday night, I'm hosting them at my home in an effort to show how much I appreciate everything they do for you. The pavlova I’ve made tonight as a token of my appreciation. You never know what could crop up over the holidays, so my City Hall office will remain open every day except statutory holidays. If you have an issue that needs to be addressed, please email or call my office and we will work quickly to get back to you. As always, 311 is available by phone or online 24 hours a day. I also recommend you review the graphic below to learn about Toronto's snow clearing services. I wish all of you a happy and peaceful holiday season. I am very excited to see what this new decade will bring — see you next year!

At the rate things are tracking, Toronto will reach two major milestones in 2020: first, our city will reach a population of 3 million; and second, Torontonians will visit food banks over one million times. Far from being a temporary solution for a short-term problem, food bank usage has grown by 4 per cent this year. Many of us in Don Valley North never go hungry. We may flippantly say "I'm starving!" but we do not know real hunger. We have never had to look in the cupboard and decide who in our family should eat and who will have to miss another meal. We may enjoy pasta but we aren’t forced to eat it five nights a week to stretch food dollars to the end of the month. The numbers Recently, North York Harvest, in partnership with Daily Bread Food Bank and The Mississauga Food Bank, released their annual "Who's Hungry" report. The report uses big data to show food bank use is rising and it has a great deal to do with the high cost of housing. What the numbers above show is the impact of high rents on those who rely on Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) as their only income. Some assume that people receiving social assistance must also live in subsidized housing. In fact, the majority of OW and ODSP clients live in market-value rental homes. Hanging on to their apartments can mean going full days without food at the end of every month. An even more troubling trend is the increase in food bank visits by employed people and seniors who receive full CPP, OAS and GIS, after working all their lives. These demographics make up 31 per cent of food bank users. Again, housing is the main culprit, followed by phone bills and transportation costs. Not just a holiday issue Around Thanksgiving every year, we become aware that food banks like North York Harvest need our help. We fill a bag of groceries and leave it in a collection box. Some may even volunteer to visit the food bank and sort food for a couple of hours. By Christmas, you might even reach peak guilt and write a cheque. This is all wonderful — but there are bigger actions we must take to tackle this. All levels of our government must come together to invest in creating truly affordable housing, repairing our transit system and stabilizing its fares and increasing access to affordable childcare. If you are a reading this and you have never experienced food insecurity, you may want to pitch in to help. North York Harvest is our favourite agency because they run the Oriole Food Space right here in Don Valley North, as well as many other outlets. They offer a number of ways to get involved, depending on your time and resources. If you want to help out locally, check out the January 2020 calendar for Oriole Food Space below. Reminder: final PB voting starts tomorrow! It's time — Parkway Forest and Henry Farm residents will cast their final votes for their favourite Participatory Budgeting projects starting tomorrow! Come by Parkway Forest Community Centre on Friday December 13 from 4-8pm or Saturday, December 14 from 10am-4pm. The winning projects will be announced at 4pm and we will celebrate with cake. To read more about PB and the projects that will be voted on this weekend, visit our Participatory Budgeting page.

As always at this time of year, we become aware of how quickly time flies. I know you all have a lot going on, so I wanted to give you a couple of updates in Don Valley North and the wider City that I know you'll find of interest. Pineway pop-up update You may recall the school safety zone pop-up project we conducted earlier this fall with 8 80 Cities. If not, watch this short video for background: This week, the 8 80 Cities team came in to discuss the results of the project. They gathered local input and measured car speeds before, during and after the project, which temporarily transformed a portion of Pineway Blvd for a week to calm traffic. Not surprisingly, local drivers did slow down and kids still got to school on time. This all supports my theory: most people don’t mean to speed - they speed in response to the design of a road. On Pineway, most speeding during the pilot happened in the afternoon and especially the evening. City Transportation staff were also at this meeting to hear about the results. Transportation Supervisor Dan Clement reported that they already have Pineway on the Vision Zero list for a speed limit reduction in the near future. He also says staff are still willing to approve speed humps or other safety measures if there is enough demand from residents, as the budget allows. My office is committed to exploring different options on physical changes to the street with as much resident feedback as possible. If you live on or around Pineway, we will reach out to you again in the new year. Click through the slideshow below for a snapshot of the results. Mayor Tory’s big announcement On Wednesday, the Mayor made a big announcement on his intention to ask Council to approve a property tax increase. He wants us to approve adding an additional 1 per cent to our City Building Fund (about an extra $48/year or $4/month) in order to accelerate maintenance of the TTC and address our housing affordability crisis. The City of Toronto partners with the other two orders of government on all major transit projects, but getting help on basic state-of-good-repair can be challenging. There are times when we must start crucial repair projects ourselves and hope other governments will contribute as we go. We are at that point now - anyone who experienced the massive delays caused by the track fire on Line 2 this week knows this. Subway track fire, storm cause commuter chaos in Toronto At the same time, we must commit our share of funding to urgent repairs needed for social housing and the creation of new affordable housing. Increasing the levy means dedicating a larger share of the City’s budget directly to these two massive responsibilities. Pundits from certain media outlets will attack this move. They will frame the Mayor and Council as wanting to raise the levy because they enjoy raising taxes and are unwilling to make cuts to their own budget. I ask you to think about this assertion for a moment. No politician ever - no matter their political leaning - wants to raise taxes. In Toronto, the process to bring you a budget for 2020 begins halfway through the previous year. Several layers of review lead to the finished budget and every effort is made to control it. On January 22nd, when I hold my annual Budget Town Hall at Fairview Library, I will speak to alternatives to the City Building Fund. These alternatives exist around the world and we need provincial permission to pursue them now. Watch the video above to learn more about what this announcement means for Toronto. Coming up Next week we have a safety meeting in the Hillcrest community. It's a vibrant neighbourhood in the northern portion of Don Valley North. My team and I have been working closely with this community as it deals with two recent crime incidents. We will have an update from our local police division on what's being done and also discuss possible traffic safety improvements. Further south, in Parkway Forest and Henry Farm, it’s almost time for residents to cast their final votes in their Participatory Budgeting process. If you live in these areas, come by the Parkway Forest Community Centre on Friday, December 13 or Saturday, December 14 to participate. More details are in the poster below. And if you don't live in Henry Farm or Parkway Forest - come by anyway! Feel free to check it out and learn about the process. After all, it may be coming soon to your own neighbourhood. PS: If you drop by around 4:00 PM on Saturday, every PB process ends with announcing the winning projects and cutting a Very Big Cake. See you then.

There is good news for Toronto residents when it comes to regulating short-term rentals and keeping our neighbourhoods liveable. As you may know, City Council adopted rules for short-term rental (STR) operators like Airbnb back in 2017, but the implementation was postponed when STR operators appealed to the LPAT. Finally, last week, the LPAT announced their decision to uphold our rules after all. Mayor Tory said it best in his reaction to the verdict: “When we approved new regulations in 2017, we strived to strike a balance between letting people earn extra income through Airbnb and others, but we also wanted to ensure this did not withdraw potential units from the rental market. I have always believed our policy achieves the right balance, which, in this case, falls more on the side of availability of affordable rental housing and the maintenance of reasonable peace and quiet in Toronto neighbourhoods and buildings." Background The case before the tribunal took so long that a refresher is probably in order. I have taken the step of meeting with City staff to find out when we can expect full implementation of the new rules. These rules will significantly impact Don Valley North and our neighbouring ward, Willowdale. Both our offices will get reports of all STR listings, from condos to high-end single-family homes being rented out as party houses. Let’s look at the definition first to be clear where these new rules will apply. How will this work? When a new enforcement regime like this is set up, it takes time to get it right. The City will first focus on educating the public about the new regulations. We believe the majority of people will comply if they know about the regulations and we want to provide opportunity to do so. We will also work with both STR companies and operators to ensure compliance. The registration system will allow the City to have oversight of operators and ensure they are accountable and only operate within principal residences. The City has the authority to revoke registration rights if needed. If the City cancels an operator's registration, the company would also be required to remove the operator from their platform. Short-term rental companies will also be required to provide the City with data that includes operators' registration number, number of nights rented by type and location of listing. What's next? The City will have more information in mid-December 2019 about implementation, timelines and the licensing and registration process. Carleton Grant, who manages Toronto's licensing division, tells me everything needs to be in place by May or June 1st at the latest to be ready for the height of the tourism and party season. So, what can you do in the meantime? Call me: If you are aware of a property being used for short-term rentals, we want to hear about it and map it in my office. Once enforcement begins, I want to provide staff with our own comprehensive view of where they should see licensing applications popping up in our ward to aid enforcement efforts. Call 311: While we are waiting for the rules to formally come into play, there is still basic enforcement. If a short term rental is causing you immediate problems, you should let my office know or call 311 anytime, day or night. Call TPS: As always, no matter which rules are in place, if you observe criminal activity you should call the police. Call 911 if you are in immediate danger or 416-808-2222 for non-emergencies. I want to assure you that calling the non-emergency number does work; police log every call, and over time this data informs strategic decisions about areas that are chronically problematic. The future of STRs Finally, if you are reading this and you are a STR host or use them when you travel, I want to take you back to Mayor Tory’s comment in the opening of this article. He really is reflecting the view of almost every member of Council. A map showing a distribution of Airbnb listings across Toronto (Dec 2018) Many residents of Toronto would have preferred an outright ban of these services. In arriving at these regulations, we took a direction that we believe is more realistic than a ban. The reality is, these services will exist illegally if we don’t provide a legitimate avenue. The reality is that Toronto is facing a housing crisis, and these rules provide a means for short-term rentals to continue to exist while freeing up space for people to live — for the long term. POSTSCRIPT: A BIG WIN AT COUNCIL A couple of weeks ago I discussed the motions I put forward at the Special Committee on Governance regarding ranked ballots and campaign finance reform. I asked that we initiate the process to pass a by-law allowing for a ranked ballot election in 2022 and for the City Clerk to review and report back about moving to a New York City Campaign Finance Authority model of financing Toronto Municipal Elections. Both motions failed in Committee, but I had a chance to revive them at our meeting of City Council yesterday. I'm proud to announce both motions passed! This means Toronto is one step closer to having a ranked ballot election in 2022 as well as a more transparent and fair campaign process. I look forward to seeing what comes back and updating you on the process.

There have been some calls and emails about a sharp increase proposed to the fees for your Solid Waste bins after the 2020 Rate Budget was announced last week. The overall budget for Solid Waste (which includes garbage pick up, recycling services, and organics services) is only going up by the low estimated inflation rate. However, if you have a small or medium size black bin, there is some history as to why your rate increase is higher. It goes back to when we decided to shift the cost of solid waste services off of the property tax base. Council felt that you really should pay based on what a good sorter and recycler you are instead of your property tax assessment. Take a look down below for a quick explainer and let me know what you think as Council will be voting on this proposal in early December. If you have any questions, I welcome your emails and calls. Solid Waste (the City term for garbage, recycling, and compost), is an environmental and financial challenge in every city in the world. It poses a global environmental challenge no matter how it is dealt with by municipalities: to varying degrees, both land-filling and incinerating emit greenhouse gases. The rising cost of safely dealing with solid waste is a major stress on the property tax rate in many cities so Toronto moved in a new direction. In 2007, we began removing Solid Waste from the property tax and onto a bin rate-based utility system, meaning that you pay according to the volume of waste you produce. At the same time, we began moving towards a debt-free, cost-recovery garbage system, just like water, so that your bin rate could represent the true cost of solid waste and all waste diversion programs, from curb side to landfill. Reflecting true costs is key in Solid Waste Management because, like water usage, garbage pick-up is an unavoidable volume-based service. It can only be controlled if all users of the service are working, both collectively and individually, to reduce volumes. Solid Waste Management Services focus all of their efforts in four main areas: controlling costs; increasing waste diversion in single family homes and multi-residential buildings; extending the life of Toronto’s landfill; and long-term planning for Solid Waste disposal needs fifty years into the future. The Budget proposal to continue to remove the rebates in 2020 will increase the fees for small and medium size bins by $86 and $82, respectively or about $7 a month (with an additional projected increase for the small bin of about $88 next year). The large and extra large bins absorbed rate increases of $91 and $23 over the past two years. If the proposal is adopted at budget, funds saved on the property tax side of things will go towards much-needed investments in your city services. Later in 2020, a City-wide discussion will begin as to what options Toronto has to replace its current Green Lane Landfill facility as it reaches capacity around 2030-35. Celebrating a Local Hero It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to a genuine local hero from the Brian Village community. After a short but fierce battle with cancer, Esther Cutler, longtime president of the Pleasant View Community Recreation Committee passed away last week. Esther Cutler, left, with myself and the Pleasant View Community Recreation Committee some years ago. There she was just this fall, commanding the September registration like she always does: as fast as any Parks and Rec computer but ten times more engaging. She even let me help out on one of the tables when the line up grew too long. Esther started PVCRC almost 40 years ago with a dedicated group of Brian-area moms when they realized their small children were lacking after school recreation programs in their otherwise perfect new neighbourhood nestled between the new Highway 404 and Victoria Park Blvd. Today, the program serves children and adults using schools and Pleasant View Community Centre almost every night. Esther didn’t suffer fools gladly and she never missed an annual visit to tell me what the City could do better to facilitate her large, entirely volunteer-run group in running their own robust recreation program. I never minded her complaints because Esther put her money where her mouth was. She never complained from the comfort of a sofa but rather, with her sleeves rolled up and giving her all whenever she wasn’t at her full time job or raising three fantastic kids or spoiling 5 beautiful grandkids. As for the Pleasant View Community Recreation Committee, they survived a battle with North York Mayor Lastman to make sure a new Bocce Court would also become a community centre for all. They survived amalgamation even after other local programs were ‘harmonized’ out of existence. Esther shepherded the organization through it all. We must all do what we can to help them survive the loss of our hero, Esther Cutler.

For about twelve years, I’ve wanted to discuss the idea overhauling of the way we finance municipal political campaigns but haven’t found my fellow Councillors very interested. It’s not that they don’t want fair elections, but it’s human nature to think in terms of ‘what would be most fair to me, and by extension, everyone else?’ as opposed to ‘what would make things most fair in the race between me and my challengers?’. We have fiddled around the edges under the powers vested in us by the City of Toronto Act but the same old rebate system for donations still exists. We never discuss it with you, our community whose right to a fair election is most important, because it seems awkward and self-interested. In an election year when people turn their minds to these matters, we are not allowed to talk about such things in a Councillor newsletter. It never seems to be the right time even though the funding of campaigns can have a greater impact on your democracy than any other part of our election system. After the shocking removal from office of a Councillor last week for campaign expenditure infractions, we’ve got to talk about it. In Ontario, municipal elections are governed under the Provincial legislation known as the Municipal Elections Act (MEA). The MEA has been reviewed regularly but no reviews has ever truly leveled the playing field in local politics. There is a ban on donations from corporations and unions and the period of time in which fundraising can be done has been reduced. These tweaks make for a more stringent set of election practices but they do little to ease the steep hill to climb for first-time candidates. One could argue that shortening the time frame has made things even harder for those candidates. Currently, if you donated $100 to any candidate in the 2018 City Hall election, you’ve had 2019 to sign a rebate form and will finally receive your $75 rebate check in January 2020. But what if we flipped that system so that you only had to donate $25 to the candidate of your choice and then s/he gave documented proof of your donation to the City Clerk to receive a grant for $75 up front to invest in the campaign? The math is the same, but how does it change fairness and democracy. In Toronto’s rebate system, you need to raise the whole cost of your campaign from donors in six months. Some go after the largest donors wherever they can, particularly now that wards are twice the size. An incumbent or experienced candidate will have a much easier time doing this. In a grant system, candidates can focus on local supporters with small donations and end up with the same amount of money once they have received their grants from the Clerk. This forces big money out of what should be very local races fought based on local interested, ward by ward. You are always going to be better represented if your local politician is more beholden to the local community members who paid $25 to go to a fundraising Bowl-A-Thon than s/he would be to the attendees of a swanky downtown steakhouse dinner costing $1200. Moreover, the candidates you will have to choose from changes radically once potential candidates know that they can enter municipal politics with nothing but very local, grassroots support. While federal politics in the United States may be struggling because of the big money amassed in fundraising ‘Super Pacs’, something different is happening at the local level in 27 different US counties, towns and cities, including New York City. Over the past couple of decades, they have moved over to campaign grant financing. In most of these jurisdictions, the much easier grant fundraising scheme comes with strict conditions such as pre-election day audits of your books and pre-election public disclosure of campaign donors. In New York City, multiple audits during the campaign year give all candidates regular exposure to the local campaign finance authority board. Because they receive guidance throughout the election year from this Board, few candidates find themselves in an awkward Campaign Compliance investigation after the election, as happens with shocking regularity in Toronto. The unfortunate situation that happened to Councillor Karygiannis last week wouldn’t be likely to happen in the NYC model: an Authority Auditor would take another look at his filings shortly after the election and the exact limit of further, post-election spending would have been handed to his auditor. An excerpt from the website of the New York City Campaign Finance Board The Campaign Finance Board is a nonpartisan, independent city agency that empowers New Yorkers to make a greater impact on their elections. The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) administers one of the strongest, most effective campaign finance systems in the country. NYC’s matching funds program amplifies the voice of average New Yorkers in city elections by matching their small contributions with public funds. By increasing the value of small-dollar contributions, the program reduces the possibility and perception of corruption from large contributions and unlimited campaign spending, and encourages citizens from all walks of life to run for office. Through its rigorous oversight and enforcement efforts, the CFB holds candidates accountable for using public funds responsibly. Recently, at a meeting of the City of Toronto Special Committee on Governance, I moved a motion that staff study the NYC model and others to see if this would make a more fair municipal election now that we have 25 super-sized Wards. The motion failed on a tie, as did my additional motion on moving to a system of ranked ballots. Councillors don’t like change any more than the rest of the human race. I’ve been honoured to be a Councillor for a long time. I strongly believe that it is incumbent upon me, as a senior Councillor, to do everything I can to make local elections more transparent, more fair to all candidates and able to deliver the best government possible to you. I’ll try those motions again at full Council at the end of the month. A Footnote on Havenbrook Park: Recently, we have received a lot of questions about the possibility of an off-leash Dog Park in a portion of Havenbrook Park. City Staff are still reviewing the location. In the meantime, I have prepared an update page for my website. You can have a look at https://shelleycarroll.ca/havenbrook.

At the beginning of 2019, my newly-minted DVN staff team and I headed out on a cold winter day to canvass a neighbourhood where residents were finding their energy bills particularly daunting. We had heard this many times from areas where homes rely on electric heating, like the Seneca Hill, and we wanted to provide helpful information on how to conserve energy and reduce a home's energy footprint. We talked about going solar, organizing district heating, installing heat pumps and so on. But in a way, our door-to-door canvassing added to the overwhelming nature of this big move in home ownership. There are lots of different energy affordability and home retrofit programs out there, and sifting through them to see which ones you qualify for can be overwhelming. So, how does one make the right decision? Well, last week the City’s TransformTO office and Mayor Tory gave us some good news. BetterHomesTO The Mayor launched BetterHomesTO, a multi-partner program that helps tenants and homeowners make their homes more energy-efficient. With the federal government and some non-city utilities as partners, this program offers the best website I’ve seen yet for simplifying your home energy plans. It's a comprehensive online resource where Toronto homeowners, tenants and apartment building owners can find information on home energy retrofits and see which programs or rebates are available to help with the costs. Homes and buildings generate more than half of the greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto today. Last month, Toronto City Council declared a climate emergency and adopted a stronger emissions reduction target for Toronto: net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. This means by 2050 all Toronto homes need to be near net zero emissions, as well. To meet that target, we know existing homes in Toronto need to be retrofitted ASAP. Net Zero Net zero homes produce as much energy as they consume. Typically, energy consumption is low and they are up to 80 per cent more energy-efficient than homes built to conventional standards. A net zero home is comfortable, healthier and better for the environment because the efficient features work together to lower energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shrink the home's carbon footprint. They also save you money by reducing your utility bills — and for added incentive, you can enter a contest to win some of the simple tools you need to get started. No excuses I know many of us have our own Greta Thunberg at home reminding us that we need to act now for the sake of our kids and grandkids — we need to take that seriously. And now that the resources we need to take action are as simple and accessible as ever, we are running out of excuses. But that's not all — the goal to meet net zero emissions doesn't stop at homes. According to the map above, our next assignment will be lowering the emissions of our personal vehicles. As you can see, Don Valley North has a ways to go. TONIGHT: PB Ballot Selection Meeting! To all residents of Parkway Forest and Henry Farm – your Participatory Budgeting ballot selection meeting is at 6:30 PM tonight at the Parkway Forest Community Centre. This meeting is an essential step in the PB process. Many great ideas have been collected and City staff have reviewed each idea's cost and feasibility. Now, it's time to choose which ideas should make it to the final ballot for your neighbours to vote on. This is going to be a lively meeting full of friendly debate – you don't want to miss out!

BY SHELLEY CARROLL It’s time for another entry in my PB Diary. Last week I got to vote in a Participatory Budgeting (PB) process for the first time. While I'm currently facilitating my fifth PB in the ward, I’ve never had the opportunity to participate. That's because politicians don't have a vote with PB — the whole point is it's your money, so you and your neighbours get to decide. But this time I was given a special opportunity to vote just like you. PB Scotland I have been invited to sit on a Global Participatory Budgeting Support Board funded through a generous donation from the Hewlett Foundation. The Board met for the first time last week in Edinburgh, Scotland. Future work will be done via webinar but the leaders felt the group should initially meet at a well-timed conference held by PB Scotland, the government program set up to make sure PB happens in every local authority in Scotland. Little did I know that our first task first task as this global group would be to conduct a PB exercise to determine a one-year budget using our grant money. Since this initiative is made up of people who make PB happen all over the world, we’re used to being facilitators. Being turned into subjects was new for us. To those of you who have participated in one of our local processes, you'll appreciate that I discovered how hard it is to be in that position. It’s exhilarating, no question about it, but it’s hard work. It's one thing to call your local politician's office and simply relay your wishes for your neighbourhood — it's an entirely different experience to work with a group of neighbours with diverse interests in order to achieve those wishes, as is done with PB. It can be difficult to admit your idea has to wait, but there are also times when PB is incredibly affirming, like when community members say "Oooh, that’s a good idea. Can we do that?” PB at home Here in Don Valley North, the PB process going on in Parkway Forest and Henry Farm is soon going to the ballot selection stage, which is one of the last steps before the big final vote. Residents are invited to Parkway Forest Community Centre on Thursday, November 7 at 6PM to learn about the costs of their ideas that were gathered last month. They will learn the viability of each idea according to City Staff and then decide which ideas will go on the final ballot. And for the first time in my five PBs, I’ll know exactly how they're feeling. In a future PB Diary, I’ll describe the projects that made it to the ballot. A word about Scotland In terms of using participatory democracy to empower struggling communities and engage a very troubled youth population, Scotland is light years ahead of us. The Hewlett Foundation recognized this and decided to create this global group to spread the word about other successful models of participatory democracy. Above is an excerpt from a manual one of my global PB colleagues used for a process in of a PB Manual used in a process in Chengdu, China. These pages outline what PB is and what the steps are. The Scottish version started in Glasgow with certain wards holding one-day events where an entire PB process starts over breakfast in a school auditorium and ends with a call out to the whole community to come and vote after dinner. It grew to enough other towns and cities that the Scottish national government studied its impact and decided to fund PB Scotland. This organization has been providing research, evaluation and facilitation dollars to local authorities since 2015. They commit these funds so that PB will be as inclusive as possible, engaging the hardest citizens to reach, the youngest and most at-risk. In the densely-populated neighbourhoods of Glasgow and Edinburgh, you see the wealthiest residents living side-by-side with struggling service industry wage earners and street-involved youth. And yet, all are coming together annually to understand each other and set priorities for spending public money. Next year, the PB Scotland process will gradually begin "mainstreaming." This is the term they use to describe changing from using PB for smaller projects to having citizens decide actual service levels in their local authority’s operating budget. Food for thought This is huge. Currently, community discussion about the City Budget usually happens at our annual town hall, where I present a Budget that's already been created and you express your ideas and concerns. Imagine instead gathering at a meeting where I say: “We have a department that sweeps our streets, maintains boulevards and picks up litter. Is this a priority in our part of the City? Do you want it done more, less or at the same level as now? If less, where do you want the funds to go?” That’s just an example. There is a service level for everything we do for you in Toronto. Who do you think should decide what those levels are? As I learned in Scotland, there are places in the world where they think the answer is "you."

BY SHELLEY CARROLL Well, this is what they call a "turn-up for the books." Ordinarily, when Toronto wants to build a transit line, we pay for all the research and planning, upfront costing and environmental assessments and then, months or years later, the other two orders of government agree to partner and fund it. But the current Ontario government wants to build transit according to its own design. Basically, they want to buy any related design work that the City of Toronto and the TTC have done for reference and be handed over any money the federal government promised the City for its transit expansion plans. And once the province has built their transit line, they want the TTC to operate it using only your Presto fares and Toronto's property tax coffers. A new deal The Mayor's staff gave me a very rushed version of the new deal for the Ontario Line the morning it was announced. It sounded like a pitch from a used car salesman because staff had been given only the highlights and best details to deliver to certain councillors. Later, when Mayor Tory announced the proposed transit deal, surrounded by members of his Executive Committee, I wondered why they all looked so dour. As always with our partners from other orders of government — no matter who is in power — the devil is in the details. There is a lot of talk about how much money the City can now free up for its backlog of transit repairs and maintenance, but a detailed report coming to Council next week will shed light on the cons. There are a couple of statements in the summary of terms that trouble me. Fine print "The Province will not seek City contributions towards the capital cost of the Provincial Projects, subject to the City redirecting the capital contributions it would have otherwise been expected to make to Provincial projects [...]" I’ve read through the entire report in search of comforting words that indicate this term doesn’t mean what I think it means. Previously, we were expected to contribute $2.1 billion to the Relief Line South, now expanded to become the Ontario Line. Staff assure me that we get to keep our money and walk away from funding the Ontario Line, which is great news because we can use it towards the TTC's state-of-good-repair backlog. But I'm still not convinced — no one knows the true cost of Doug Ford's newest project. Item 7 of the terms sheet makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It speaks to the future of your ride, no matter what happens. It’s about the day-to-day operating costs of your TTC service. "The City/TTC shall be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Provincial Projects and the existing transit system, including labour relations, and the parties shall define, through an Operating & Maintenance Agreement(s), as applicable, the specific roles and responsibilities of the parties, including: 1. farebox revenue from the Provincial Projects will be used to defray operating costs; 2. the parties' roles and responsibilities in respect of all maintenance cost funding, the performance of all maintenance, and service standard setting; and 3. in respect of a Provincial Project that extends beyond the City boundary, the Province shall negotiate with the relevant neighbouring municipality an ongoing operating contribution commensurate with the level of subway service provided.” You’ve heard me rant about this before. In 1995, when Premier Harris withdrew from the long-standing arrangement made by Premier Davis to fund 25 per cent of the cost of operating the TTC, your individual fare began to climb. Worse still, cuts to service had to be made, with whole routes vanishing and bus frequency reduced. By the time I was elected to City Council in 2003, the TTC was struggling to build back its ridership. Ratios When the Harris government was defeated, Toronto opened discussions with Premier Dalton McGuinty about restoring the provincial operating contribution to the TTC. Instead, the province wanted to talk about giving cities a share of gas taxes, similar to the federal government’s deal. It doesn’t add up to the 25 per cent we once had, and what we do earn generally goes straight back to the province in Presto licensing fees. The agreement contemplated in term 7 is sorely needed whether these proposed transit lines materialize or not. Sadly, term 7 assumes that fare revenue will somehow cover operating expenses. This assumption is fundamentally flawed. The fare you pay for transit never pays the full cost of riding the system. Globally, the health and sustainability of a transit system is always measured by the ratio between how much the rider pays and how much the government pays to subsidize each ride. In the Bill Davis days, ours was considered to have one of the best ratios. While his government was contributing to the operating budget of the TTC, the farebox ratio was significantly lower than it is today. Now, after almost a quarter century of under-funding, 70 per cent of our fare box revenue goes toward operating costs — the highest ratio in North America. The future I want to be happy about this new deal from the province. The biggest saving is that your property tax dollars will no longer be used to cover project cost overruns or legal claims. On the four lines the province hopes to start ASAP, they agree to absorb these. But while their ambitious plans are being executed, our TTC costs will increase every year. On Sheppard Avenue East, for instance, there are no plans to expand the subway for at least another two decades. It will take operating more buses to carry all of the new population moving in along this stretch. After all, new developments along Sheppard Avenue were OMB-approved on the basis of adding rail transit. Our TTC Board has work to do to make the TTC serviceable while all these lines and stations are being designed and built. As a member of that Board, I will continue to work hard to protect your interests and keep you informed.