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This morning when I made my weekly appearance on the radio, my husband tweeted a quote by me from the broadcast: Toronto City Council held its first meeting yesterday and adopted rules and budgets for Councillors. The results of that session made many headlines, so let me walk you through it. Setting an envelope Here is what I mean by “setting an envelope”: if you are a councillor who has very little growth and development in your ward and no have large committee assignments, it is likely you easily managed your workload with just three staff members. In areas of rapid growth such as Don Valley North, Willowdale and all of downtown, that limited staffing model simply does not work. In the former (and smaller) Ward 33, I managed by partnering with student placement programs at the University of Toronto. I also had a wonderful staffer seconded to me by the City Manager’s Indigenous Fellowship Program. Other wards experiencing rapid growth were allowed a higher budget for staff but this was never officially accounted for in those councillors’ budgets. Rather than opening a can of worms in the Council Chamber about who is busy and who is not, the additional staff for just four wards were added to the City Clerk’s Budget under Council Services. Consequently, Council’s growing needs left another corporate budget out of whack and unable to meet savings targets, while the Councillors’ appeared perfectly balanced. What should happen Every year during the City’s budgeting process, we review the books of every department, including our own. We calculate and acknowledge the cost of living pressures for each division but we also give each division a savings target. Before politicians even begin the political budget process, there is a conversation between leadership staff, finance staff and every service division that comes down to this question: what is the real cost of delivering your services at the level your community and City Council expect? If you claim that cost is lower than it really is to score brownie points, you simply will not get the job done and you are putting the City at financial risk. Budgets are set based on the real cost of doing the job properly, and they are carefully tracked and reported. You could say the City’s method of budgeting is designed to create a surplus — for example, let’s say there are 52 people in your division, five retire in June and their replacements don’t start until September. We call that “gapping” and the savings are applied to our annual budget surplus. The same will be true for Councillors — while there is now a new, higher staffing budget, all unused staffing dollars should be reported as a surplus. My rough math anticipates savings of about $500,000 in 2019. Unfortunately, Council made a big mistake that may wipe these savings out. Live by the rules you set for others While I supported the motion for increasing Councillor staffing budgets, there was one motion adopted that I strongly disagree with. All Councillor staff are paid within a range set by Human Resources. However, Councillor Gary Crawford moved a motion that councillors be permitted to pay their staff above the recommended salary range as long as they don’t exceed the overall staffing budget. Considering he was last term’s Budget Chief, this is a very imprudent move — essentially, this allows Councillors to bonus their staff members until any surplus is spent. We don’t allow that type of bonusing anywhere else at City Hall and Councillors should hold themselves to the same standard. We follow the pay rates set by HR to avoid inequities in the organization based on personal favouritism, gender or anything else. Location, location, location Another issue arose in the first session of Council that will have an impact on the future of Don Valley North’s constituency office. Finding a location in our ward will mean having to choose from some of the most expensive real estate in North York. This is the reason I haven’t had a constituency office in the past. Now that our size has doubled, it is a necessity. Yesterday, Council acknowledged the budget for these local offices is based on unrealistic market rents and may need to be adjusted. This will be reviewed as part of the budget process early in the New Year. In the meantime, here is how we will proceed in Don Valley North. Over the first three months of 2019, the City’s real estate division will help us locate a space for our constituency office. Once they do, we will work to have it ready as soon as possible. In the meantime, my staff team and I will happily schedule individual meetings with constituents in convenient locations such as our local libraries and community centres — frankly, even your own kitchen table is a fancy enough meeting location for me.

Housing has been a hot topic these past few weeks, though most of the attention here in Toronto has been focused on the Vacant Home Tax. Rest assured, I have a thorough update on that below today’s column. Today, I want to dive into some of the other policy tools we’re using here at the City to combat our housing crisis, and touch on some decisions being made at the Provincial and Federal levels that will impact housing in Toronto. Fourplexes First off, the Prime Minister is offering additional incentives to municipalities that pass bylaws allowing fourplexes on lots currently zoned as single-family. Toronto already has a bylaw allowing low-rise, multi-residential buildings across the city—called Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods, or EHON—and because of that we’ll receive additional funds from the Federal government for housing infrastructure. Despite our bylaw coming into effect last year, these types of homes have been slow to appear on the market. The Toronto Star recently showed a perfect example of how these buildings can seamlessly integrate into neighbourhoods: A fourplex recently constructed in East York. I don’t know about you, but to me that home looks like an average flat-top reno you could find anywhere in Don Valley North. Instead of being a “monster home” only housing one family, this property contains four separate units—everything from a one-bedroom basement apartment to a three-bedroom garden suite at the back of the property. It’s early days, but it will be interesting to watch what happens if the owner is able to sell all four of these units quickly. I imagine that would generate market interest to create more fourplexes like this. I wanted to highlight this project featured in the Star because it shows that we can meet the demand for a range of housing without necessarily having to change the visual nature of a neighbourhood. Anyone wanting to build a fourplex still needs to go through our approvals process. I do hope we see these housing options start to take hold, as they have the potential to fill the “missing middle” and provide more choices for seniors looking to age in place, young families getting their start in Toronto, and many others who are struggling to find housing to meet their needs in our city. Short-Term Rentals At Planning & Housing Committee last week, staff brought forward a proposal designed to close some of the loopholes in our short-term rental bylaw, which regulates the operations of companies like Airbnb here in Toronto. Their proposal will also raise the licensing fees so we can hire more enforcement officers on a cost-recovery basis to take appropriate action when operators don’t comply. We brought in the short-term rental bylaw for two reasons. First and foremost, we wanted to get units of housing back on the market. Too many condos and homes were being bought up to list on Airbnb. In a housing crisis, we need all of those units available for the people who are looking to build a life in our city, not those who are just stopping by. Secondly, this bylaw helps us deal with some of the problems short-term rentals were creating in our neighbourhoods. I know quite a few Don Valley Northerners who had to deal with noise from “party houses” or parking issues as cars with out-of-town plates clogged up the street. The short-term rental bylaw has significantly improved our situation in its first few years. A short-term rental can, by definition, only be rented for 28 consecutive days. We have another provision that an STR can only be rented for 180 days per year. There are currently about 8100 listings in total, all of which should be people renting out part of their principal residence, not entire homes. On a given day, only about 3800 of those listings are active. Not only have we gotten much-needed housing back on the market, but we have also noticed a significant decline in short-term rental complaints and problems in our neighbourhoods. One example of a permitted short-term rental setup in a home. Click the image to look at other permitted setups. Staff are recommending a few changes to our short-term rental bylaw, particularly to combat multiple bedrooms being rented out simultaneously in a single home (known as “partial-unit rentals”). These types of listings now make up a third of all short-term rental listings, and are not subject to the same 180-day maximum rule that applies when an operator lists a “whole unit”. Staff recommended closing this loophole, and I intend to support their recommendation when this item is considered at Council next week. RentSafeTO Another item that came to Planning & Housing Committee last week had to do with RentSafeTO, our program to enforce property standards in existing purpose-built rental buildings across the city. Privately-owned apartments built during the 60’s boom represent one of the only affordable housing options for many Torontonians. These buildings were built to last, but they must be maintained in liveable conditions. Our bylaw officers follow up on complaints, levy work orders and fines, and do full building audits on problem properties. Apartment building owners will pay an increased fee to ensure this program is properly funded and bylaw officers can continue this important work of keeping housing liveable for renters. Here is the progress report in a nutshell: Staff are recommending several improvements to the program to better serve renters, including an expanded building evaluation tool that will now include in-suite investigations and a new threshold for building audits that will hold building operators accountable. Staff will continue to monitor the implementation of these program changes, and I will be following closely to make sure that our apartment buildings are maintained in good condition. We must prevent the deterioration of this critical housing stock and make sure tenants are living in safe conditions. The “Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes” Act At the Provincial level, the biggest news this week came when the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing introduced the “Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes” Act. This can only be described as an omnibus basket of changes. While we’re still sifting through the bill to figure out all the impacts for Toronto, there are some notable proposals. The bill suggests removing planning and density restrictions around post-secondary campuses, which is a challenge as suburban campuses expand. We want to see more student residences on campus but need thoughtful design to best integrate them into our neighbourhoods. The bill would also reverse some earlier Provincial action that reduced development charges collected by the City. This is great news, but we’re still analyzing the language to see if this change would bring us back to the amount we need to properly service new neighbourhoods. Finally, the Province is suggesting putting an expiry date on development approvals, as we’re seeing an increasing number of applicants sit on approvals for years without getting shovels in the ground. If an approval expires, the applicant would have to submit a brand new application that would be considered based on updated circumstances in the neighbourhood. I believe that’s a very good thing for Don Valley North and all of Toronto, as it will both incentivize developers to start building much-needed housing and ensure that new developments are built with an accurate understanding of the neighbourhood as it stands. I know there was a lot to digest here. I’ll be sharing updates on some of these pieces when they come to City Council next week. The crux of it is, we need to incentivize housing starts of all types. Our children’s future and the future of our city depends on it. Update on Vacant Home Tax Notices An update for those of you who received a Vacant Home Tax bill last week: As Budget Chief, I have been working closely with Mayor Olivia Chow to ensure that no one who has received a bill in error will have to pay. We will also be bringing a motion to City Council next week to have the late declaration fee waived for everyone—no one will have to pay the $21.24 fine that was mentioned in the billing letters. We will also direct staff to refund any late fees already collected. Aside from making sure you do not have to pay any fees as a result of this year's challenges, we're taking steps to ensure this is a much-improved process next year. I'll be sure to share an update in next week's column. In the meantime, if you have received a Vacant Home Tax bill and your home is not vacant, you need to submit a Notice of Complaint to the City. You can do so online at the link below: If you need assistance filing your Notice of Complaint, you are welcome to contact my office.

If homes occupied for 6 months of 2023, residents don't have to pay late fees, mayor says.

Update on Hosting FIFA World Cup 2026 The biggest item on the agenda of last week’s Council meeting was the update on the City’s role in hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2026. The headline of the story is that the cost has grown from $300M to $380M due to the addition of another game being hosted in Toronto, plus inflation and security costs. Another (related) headline was the source of this eye-watering figure, and that comes from the agreement that the City signed with FIFA itself. Questions remain around how and why the City signed on without the support required by Council, but the fact remains that we have signed the FIFA agreement and backing out now would have significant financial penalties (north of $100M), reputational damage to Toronto, and leave us with none of the benefits. This is not an agreement that the Mayor, many of my Council colleagues, or myself would have signed But as the Mayor says, we are now “saddled” with it and must now make it a success. We need transparency, strong financial oversight, and partnerships to make this a celebration that Torontonians won’t forget. Early in the morning, before Council had even been called to order, Mayor Chow held a press conference to introduce her approach to accountability and transparency for executing the FIFA World Cup 2026 I am honoured to Chair the sub-committee of City Council that will track the work of staff with respect to cost control and financial accountability. Former Councillor and Budget Chief, David Soknacki, has been named the Mayor’s FIFA Envoy to keep these games and their legacy open, transparent, and accountable to the people of Toronto. Finally, another group of Councillors will be tasked with event promotion, community partnerships, and maximizing the economic development impacts in the city. As a first step to accountability, I moved at Council to have the full FIFA agreement shared with all Councillors, something that had yet to be done in the years since it had been signed. Now let’s talk about the go forward. While there have been some fits, starts and stumbles while the World Cup was still far in the future, we are now just two years away and I want us all to remember why Toronto is the perfect city for a North American World Cup. Let us never forget how much we love our World Cups and always have. I can well remember 1982 when Italy won and my brand new husband and I made our way to the party on St. Clair Ave. When Ghana made the quarter finals in 2006 and again in 2010, it was a massive celebration in the northwest of Toronto and my grandkids aunts and uncles and grandpa from Ghana were there at Jane and Wilson. I will work hard to make these games a success because we are a global Footie City and we have demonstrated it throughout the history of the Cup. Prioritization of Planned Higher Order Transit Projects Toronto’s Transit Expansion Office is the division that collaborates with the Province’s Metrolinx on the coordination of higher order transit. While the building of new transit lines is now fully a Provincial responsibility, the City has a wealth of data and experience to provide insight and analysis on the design, prioritization, and implementation of projects over the coming decade. At this Council session, they brought their latest prioritization update before us and as per our usual, we proceeded to contradict their findings and redesign what they should forward on to Metrolinx. That is essentially how we keep making a political mess of transit planning in Toronto and we almost did it again. My Build the Sheppard Subway campaign from 2022. We all know here in Don Valley North that an extension of the Sheppard Subway out to McCowan is urgently needed. The new population to support it is already here and growing and the Province has already agreed that it is needed. Despite this, the Province has still placed the Sheppard Subway expansion at a lower priority than the Yonge Line extension into York Region. At this session, I rose to question staff and confirm that the motions I have placed in the past are still serving as direction to the Transit Expansion Office to advocate that the Sheppard expansion is urgent and should be re-prioritized. Ultimately, it is the call of the Province which transit projects go next. I’ll continue to advocate for the transit we need and you, as residents and voters, can be very effective if you are advocating for the same whenever there are provincial town halls or Metrolinx community consultations. Leveraging City-Wide Real Estate Opportunities for Affordable Housing, Complete Communities and Financial Sustainability The last big item on this month’s Council agenda was another go at leveraging City properties to deliver on affordable housing and improving the City’s financial position. This report focused on three key segments of the City’s real estate portfolio: transit-oriented parking lots, properties near Provincial transit stations, and TTC stations. Much of the debate in the media and at Council zeroed in on that first piece: parking lots. The Toronto Parking Authority manages the vast majority of the City-owned parking spaces. These spots are located all over the city and bring in revenue that allow us to invest in key services. However, not all parking lots are used equally. As part of the debate, Council asked that we prioritize lots that either cost us money or else bring in only marginal revenue as candidates for affordable housing. These sites, in addition to other surplus City-owned sites, are all being studied to deliver on the ambitious affordable housing goals proposed by Mayor Chow and adopted by City Council as a whole. What I am looking for, as we move forward with the City taking a more active role in developing housing, is for creative partnerships that allow us to maximize the benefit for communities. My goal is to leverage these partnerships to create new parks, expand much-needed community spaces, improve our school capacity, and provide options for thousands of families to live and grow in our cherished neighbourhoods.

Over the Family Day long weekend, I spent a few days driving all over the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. My family and I were there for a basketball tournament that my grandson was competing in. There were multiple venues spread across the suburbs of Indianapolis, as well as NBA All-Star events happening in the centre of the downtown core. The city center of Indianapolis, Indiana. When Councillors occasionally travel to international cities, it’s all business. On these basketball trips with the kids in my personal time, I get to compare, contrast, and observe all sorts of details that are useful when I get back to work in municipal government. With its jumble of highways for just one million people, Indianapolis is a cautionary tale, described years ago by Jane Jacobs in her famous book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. If lots and lots of highways were the answer to a city’s mobility and productivity, then Indianapolis should be the perfect place. It has an ambitious network of highways that fan out from the downtown core like a spiderweb, feeding into a giant suburban ring road and then extending to endlessly sprawling subdivisions. A map of Indianapolis showing the network of highways. While some might think these highways make it easy to get around the city, they do the opposite. It felt like there was no way to get anywhere without spending at least 45 minutes in a car, despite the city being only a third of the size of Toronto. You had to use the highways to get anywhere, and neighbourhoods were disconnected by the real estate that highways take up. I also learned that pedestrian and cyclist injuries and deaths were about three times higher in Indianapolis than in Toronto in 2022 and 2023. When I got back home to Toronto, I thought about the work we’re doing to make our city move both more quickly and more safely. Neighbourhood Streets Plans (NSPs) are one new tool we’re using to deliver comprehensive traffic solutions to areas of the city with a history of unsafe travel patterns. We have a street network already in place, so we have to figure out how to make it work for everyone. Each Councillor was asked to nominate a neighbourhood for an NSP. After reviewing collision history and ongoing conversations we’ve had with the community, the DVN team and I put forward The Peanut and its surrounding street network for consideration. An aerial photo of the Peanut from the 1960s, named for the shape made by Don Mills Road between Sheppard Avenue and Finch Avenue. Last year, we were informed that The Peanut was selected for the 2023-2024 program cycle. Based on concerns raised by local neighbours, we identified the following major issues with the existing road network: Pedestrians are separated from community amenities (like Oriole Community Centre, Oriole Park, Peanut Plaza, Woodbine Middle School and Georges Vanier Secondary School) by three lanes of traffic on Don Mills Road. The area frequently experiences excessive speeding and unsafe driving Walking routes need improvement Cycling routes need improvement There are frequent crashes and near-misses School areas in particular need enhanced traffic safety measures I want to thank everyone in the neighbourhood who has worked with my office to identify and grapple with these issues over the years. While we’ve been tackling these problems one at a time, the benefit of a NSP is that it will develop a comprehensive set of solutions for the neighbourhood as a whole. This means that the traffic safety improvements will be coordinated and work together to make the entire area safer. This process will also be done in consultation with the local community. The first community consultation is taking place on Wednesday, March 27 from 6 PM to 8 PM at Georges Vanier Secondary School (3000 Don Mills Road East). This is a drop-in event, which will give neighbours the chance to learn more about the project, share comments and suggestions, ask questions, and speak with the project team. There will also be Mandarin, Cantonese, and Persian (Farsi) interpreters present. To give you a quick overview, the Peanut Streets Plan process will: Consider the needs of all road users in the neighbourhood including vulnerable road users (e.g. pedestrians, children, older adults and people cycling). Assess network-wide transportation needs throughout the neighbourhood, and coordinate with existing and planned future connections. Develop solutions that, together, support local and City of Toronto objectives for mobility and safety. Identify opportunities for short-term action that can be implemented with quick-build materials. Identify opportunities for long-term changes that can be installed over time alongside planned road resurfacing or reconstruction. The project area is shown in the map below: If you live in or travel through this area, I really encourage you to take part in the community consultation. I’ll be there with my team and hope to see as many neighbours as possible come out to make this plan the best it can be. In these early meetings, I always like to remind folks that the main goal is to get every issue on the table. You don’t have to arrive with all the answers in hand. Rather, we want you to bring every question and concern you can think of. City staff will then use everything they hear from you to design our Neighbourhood Streets Plan. This way, it really will be a made-in-neighbourhood solution. It will be important to remember the overarching goals of the NSPs, both short-term and long-term. Any NSP aims to address three main concerns in a project area: Road safety for vulnerable road users (e.g. pedestrians, children, older adults and people cycling) Excessive speeding Excessive motor vehicle traffic on local streets With our NSPs, we want to create transportation networks in neighbourhoods that move people safely and efficiently. Our local streets should be about livability, safety, and connecting communities. In my view, there’s no better way to achieve that than working hand-in-hand with the community itself. I look forward to a productive first meeting on the Peanut NSP next week, and to see the solutions we come up with in collaboration in the months ahead.

It’s hard to believe that March Break is already here. Whether or not you have kids bouncing off the walls heading into the break, this week always reminds us that spring is right around the corner and there is so much for us to enjoy right in our own backyards. In this week’s E-Blast, I’m sharing some of my favourite things to do in Don Valley North and information about March Break activities the whole family can enjoy. Let’s get right into it! EXPLORING OUR PARKS & RAVINES I couldn’t start off a column about the best things to do in Don Valley North without talking about our incredible ravine system and network of parks. As the weather starts to warm up, it’s the perfect time to take a hike or leisurely bike ride along one of our multi-use trails. I want to remind cyclists to please travel at safe, pedestrian-friendly speeds and dismount your bikes in busy areas when using multi-use trails. We’ve got German Mills Creek, Duncan Creek, the East Don Parkland, and Betty Sutherland Trail right in our own backyards. A hike through the ravine is the perfect way to get some fresh air, connect with nature, and appreciate the natural beauty of our city. A scenic view from our local East Don Ravine. We also have dozens of wonderful parks, many of which have been decked out with new playground equipment in the past few years. Some of my favourites are: Bellbury Park Parkway Forest Park Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Park Pinto Park Clydesdale Park Elkhorn Parkette Leslie Park March Break is the perfect time to venture outside your neighbourhood and check out a park that’s a few blocks further from home than you might usually go. We have a number of parks with outdoor fitness and seniors’ fitness equipment, including Bellbury Park, Parkway Forest Park, Pleasantview Park, Shawnee Park, and Van Horne Park. You can also check out tennis and pickleball courts, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, outdoor table tennis tables, and more. COMMUNITY CENTRES If you missed the chance to register your kids for a March Break CampTO, don’t fret! You can still register for some of the City’s March Break day camps, which include everything from indoor and outdoor games to arts & crafts, sports, and nature-based activities. Our community centres also host dozens of fantastic drop-in programs for all ages, including swimming, skating, basketball, volleyball, floor and ball hockey, arts classes, yoga, and more! Our local community centres here in Don Valley North are: Cummer Park (6000 Leslie St) Seneca Village (1700 Finch Ave E) Pleasant View (545 Van Horne Ave) Oriole (2975 Don Mills Rd W) Parkway Forest (55 Forest Manor Rd) Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ (100 Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Ln) You can find a handy map with the drop-in program listings here: FARMS, ZOOS, & WILDLIFE ADVENTURES Many folks don’t know that Toronto has not just one, but four zoos and farms that you can explore this March Break. If you want to make a trip to another part of the city, you can check out the scenic grounds at Riverdale Farm (which some of us remember as Toronto’s first zoo, operating until 1974) or the High Park Animal Display, which includes everything from llamas and peacocks to highland cattle and emus. Both are free to enjoy and are open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM. The capybaras at High Park Zoo. The Toronto Zoo is also putting on a number of fun family events all March Break long, and extending their admission hours to 9:30 AM to 6 PM daily. MUSEUMS & GALLERIES Almost all of us know about the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), and Ontario Science Centre, all of which run fantastic March Break programs. But did you know that the City also runs a number of Toronto History Museums? This March Break, they’re offering a number of fun, interactive and exciting activities. Participants can prepare a traditional recipe in a historic kitchen, create a handwoven project, print a picture book, sample Indigenous foods, enjoy an interactive drumming session and so much more! Many of these events and activities are free, while some require tickets. Check out the full list of events below: TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY Finally, I couldn’t write a column on the best things to check out in Don Valley North this March Break without shouting out our fabulous public libraries. Toronto Public Library is hosting over 250 events for all ages this March Break, including magic and puppet shows, Henna art, and other arts & craft activities. Here in Don Valley North, you can check out: Hillcrest Library Pleasant View Library Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Library Fairview Library recently re-opened to the public, but has limited programming due to the ongoing renovation of the third floor. Whether you want to adventure outside, try out a new activity, or explore a new neighbourhood, there’s no shortage of things to do in Don Valley North this March Break. So get out there and enjoy everything our city has to offer! Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Community Recreation Centre & Library Grand Opening Mark your calendars! The Grand Opening of the Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Community Centre & Library is coming up on March 23rd at 10:00 AM.We are honoured to have representatives from the Huron-Wendat Nation, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and Six Nations of the Grand River in attendance.There will be cultural performances and free activities for the whole family including swimming, face painting, cultural performances, fitness classes.For those of you who haven't been, the community centre is located at 100 Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Lane, behind Bessarion TTC Station.Learn more at the link below: I also want to share a video I made a few years back to help Don Valley Northerners and residents across Toronto learn how to pronounce Ethennonnhawahstihnen'. You can watch the video below:

Shelly Carroll is the City Councillor for Don Valley North and the Budget Chief for the city of Toronto.

Councillors introduced a motion asking the mayor to work with city staff to find ways of "improving affordability" for residents.

Speaking alongside Chow Wednesday, Budget Chief Shelley Carroll said the aim of the public engagement sessions is to create a joint set of priorities for the city to move forward with as it crafts its next budget.

This week seemed to be all about parking: Where we park, how much we pay when we park in the wrong place, and who pays the price of providing precious off-road real estate for parking. No doubt it will dominate the debate at the March City Council meeting in a few weeks. Here’s the lowdown on the parking conversations we’ll be having next month and later this year. INCREASED PARKING FINES On Tuesday morning, the Infrastructure & Environment Committee considered a proposal to increase the fines for many parking violations. Let’s take a look at what’s being proposed and why. First off, enforcing parking violations isn’t about getting our hands on more cash. It’s about congestion and safety. Staff looked at which violations are most chronic and most impede the flow of traffic, and whether or not the corresponding fines reflect the severity of that violation. The goal of a fine is to set it at a level that will act as a deterrent. If successful, no one pays the fine because they stop breaking the law. As part of this parking fine review, staff did a broad scan of fines and violation levels in other Canadian cities. Where we had a much higher incidence of violations, staff have recommended the highest fine possible. City Hall Watcher and Toronto Star columnist Matt Elliot pulled all the data into a handy chart, showing us what the fines are now, the highest rate in other Canadian cities, and the new rate being proposed for Toronto, effective August 1, 2024. Click on the image to view a larger, interactive version of this chart. I can’t stress enough how much these higher fines are about improving the flow of traffic and, in turn, everyone’s safety. When someone parks their car in the middle of a bike lane, they slow down about 1000 cars over the rush hour and endanger dozens of cyclists who now have to dart out into traffic. Similarly, if you pull your car up to a Tim Horton’s on a downtown street for just five minutes, you take out a full lane of traffic and force about 250 cars to go around yours. All of us have waited in a line of traffic to merge past an illegally parked car and it is beyond frustrating. So, while there are new fines coming, let’s all do our best never to have to pay them. We want to keep traffic moving and keep all road users—drivers, cyclists, transit riders and pedestrians—as safe as they can be. A COMMERCIAL PARKING LEVY Given the information above, what we debated at Executive Committee earlier today will probably seem counterintuitive. On top of increasing the fines for illegal on-street parking, the City is contemplating taxing businesses for providing you with parking spaces off-street. A photo of a parking lot at Sherway Gardens Shopping Centre. This is known as a commercial parking levy, and Toronto has had the permission to charge one since the City of Toronto Act in 2006. It was already in use in Vancouver and Montreal followed a few years after, but here in Toronto we didn’t immediately take it up. It was deemed onerous to collect and, more importantly, not capable of generating enough new revenue to substantially fix our structural financial problem. More recently, it’s come back into the conversation as both a climate policy tool and a revenue generator that the City already has the authority to collect. So why not go for it? I wish it were that simple. This week, one of my Council colleagues from a downtown ward suggested that we don’t need a lot of study on this levy, as we could simply start by taxing the big malls with large surface lots. She was surprised when I pointed out the incredible inequity of this approach, both amongst businesses and Toronto consumers. Commercial parking levies generally work by levying an additional tax on a business’s property tax bill (for ease of collection), based on the number of square metres dedicated to parking on the commercial property. You don’t charge it on a per parking spot basis because commercial landlords begin reconfiguring their lots to have fewer actual spaces, but don’t enforce cars parking in non-designated spaces on their private property. This leads to chaos in parking lots and serious safety issues. In the report we looked at today, staff are proposing to spend a year taking very careful inventory of parking both downtown and in the inner suburbs, and simultaneously engage key stakeholders to create proper exemptions in the policy, such as for accessible parking spaces and shipping/receiving space. They would then prepare the levy to come into effect in 2025. Staff estimate that the levy would collect about $100 million per year, maybe more. As Budget Chief, I should be over the moon about this potential new revenue, but I’m not. Here’s why: The first reason is one that is very relevant to us in Don Valley North. Over time, shopping centre parking lots are being developed into housing, and not all of the parking will be replaced. Both of our big malls—Bayview Village and Fairview—have subway stations beside them which change the parking requirements as they proceed with housing development. As a result, we need to look at large surface-level parking lots as a shrinking revenue pot that we should not become too reliant on. The second reason that I’m not over the moon about this parking levy has to do with Toronto’s Long-Term Financial Plan. I’m afraid that the discussion around this parking levy and the year it will take to implement is a big distraction from the most fundamental flaw in our municipal funding formula and the action we need to take to solve it. A slide taken from the City Manager’s September presentation on the Long-Term Financial Plan. The slide above is the clearest and most concise explanation of our city’s financial woes. We cannot fix our city with financial tools that do not grow with our economy. Currently, we are entirely too reliant on property-based tools like property tax, land transfer tax and, potentially, this relatively flat and limited levy on parking lots. When our economy booms, these tools do not net us a single extra dollar. No amount of hunting for efficiencies can compensate for the fact that municipalities in Canada get nothing new when the economy is strong. I would much rather us direct the energy being spent on creating this parking levy toward securing tools that grow with our economy and have the potential to fundamentally change Toronto’s financial formula. Third, I’m worried about the impact this levy will have on Toronto’s economy, particularly our small businesses. Fundamentally, this is another property tax on small business. As we continue to run impactful programs like the Main Street Recovery and Rebuild Initiative that aim to reanimate our neighbourhoods post-pandemic, we shouldn’t be adding financial hardship to the mom and pop shops that make our neighbourhoods vibrant and liveable. This is especially true for the small businesses in our suburban strip malls, where parking availability is both a regulatory requirement and critical to their success. Lastly, and this is a big one, there is a direct financial impact on every Torontonian if this parking levy rolls out. We know that where the cost of this parking levy can be passed down to the consumer, it will be, particularly by big businesses like chain grocery stores. The last couple of years of inflation have taught us that many large businesses will likely attribute higher prices to “the new parking tax” but will raise those prices higher than they actually need to. Their profits and dividends will increase while hardworking Torontonians are stuck paying more. My climate activist friends, and I do count them as friends, will say that a parking levy is about getting us out of our cars. That’s a laudable goal, but it simply dumps us all onto a transit system that is desperately underfunded and struggling as a result. Instead of focusing on this parking levy, I would much rather see us fully engage in the business of working together with the Provincial and Federal governments to complete the New Deal discussions that have been incredibly productive for our city so far. We need to provide cities with the revenue tools that give us direct access to growth in our economy and access to income, instead of slicing and dicing how we tax property, over and over and over. As Budget Chief, this will continue to be my focus and I hope to see it become Council’s focus as well.

Today, I wanted to provide you with updates on two of the biggest projects underway in our ward right now: the redevelopment of Fairview Mall and the long-term care expansion at North York General Hospital. Both of these projects will shape the future of our community, and it's imperative that we get them right as we work to create an affordable and liveable Don Valley North for generations to come. We'll start with Fairview Mall. I wrote a comprehensive E-Blast on this development application when it first came to our community back in 2022. I'm going to give a quick recap now for new readers who aren't familiar with the project. Fairview Mall is an economic, transit, and community hub here in Don Valley North. It supports thousands of jobs and tens of thousands of transit riders daily, and these numbers will only rise as our community continues to grow in the coming years. From the start, I have said that any proposed development needs to acknowledge this reality and meaningfully engage our community to best support the needs of both current and future residents. This application proposes to redevelop Fairview Mall with a mix of residential housing and new retail space. The mall itself will not be changed, but the applicant has proposed to add a total of 12 new buildings to the surrounding property, with height ranges between 18 and 52 storeys. This would add approximately 4500 residential units to the site. In addition to new housing, the applicant is proposing to add over 7800 square metres of new parkland, a multi-use trail, and a new street network. The applicant has proposed to complete this development in multiple phases. We’re currently considering Phase 1, which would include three towers with proposed heights of 38 storeys, 45 storeys, and 52 storeys. A preliminary rendering of the Fairview Mall Redevelopment, with the Phase 1 buildings highlighted and future phases ghosted out. We had our first community consultation meeting on this application in July 2022. I heard loud and clear from the community that it was important to have ongoing engagement opportunities given the scope of this application, so I directed the applicant and City Planning staff to host two community open houses in March 2023. Over 120 neighbours attended to learn more about the proposal and share their feedback on how to best make this redevelopment work for our community. So, where is this application at now? The developers resubmitted their application in September 2023, after this enhanced engagement process with the community. Since then, staff in several City divisions have been hard at work reviewing the application. On February 5, 2024, City Planning staff submitted a refusal report to North York Community Council, meaning they are refusing to proceed with the application as it currently stands. City Planning wants to see the applicant make a number of key improvements to the application, including: Better phasing and coordination so that we can evaluate the first phase of the application within the context of the larger plan for the site A more diverse range and mix of housing options, including affordable housing More parkland and greater provisions to encourage a healthy and active community Stronger policies to make the new development safer for pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and drivers. A photo from one of the Community Open Houses held last March. Now, I want to be clear: I share many of these concerns and want to work together with both City Planning staff and the applicant to resolve them. However, I do not believe a refusal report is the best way forward for our community at this time. If City Planning refuses this application, the developer can appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal, which would seriously jeopardize our ability to secure these improvements. Today, I moved a motion at North York Community Council directing Planning staff to work with the applicant to resolve the issues they have identified within a specified time frame, to incentivize both parties to work together in earnest. The applicant has agreed to this process as they want to continue the collaborative approach they've taken with the community so far, and have committed to not appeal their proposal to the Ontario Land Tribunal. I was grateful to have the support of my Council colleagues on this motion, and City Planning staff will now spend the next few months working with the applicant to iron out these issues. I'd like to thank the community members who have been engaged on this application so far. Rest assured that I will continue to push for every opportunity available to bring community voices to the table. This redevelopment has the potential to deliver much-needed units of housing and community amenities for future Don Valley Northerners. We should have an update on the application this summer, at which point I will be sure to share the details right here in this blast. Now, onto North York General Hospital (NYGH). NYGH is planning to build a new long-term care and seniors' health facility at 4000 Leslie Street, right across the road from the main hospital campus. I wrote about this project more recently, as NYGH hosted a community information session on it back in November. North York is home to a vibrant and growing seniors' population, with the highest percentage of folks ages 65 and older in Toronto. That means it is absolutely essential that we start working right now to make sure we have the infrastructure that will allow our seniors to age in place. That means both a range of housing and care options, and the community and health infrastructure that supports seniors' physical and mental wellbeing. NYGH is proposing to build a new state-of-the-art long-term care home that would be one of the largest in the Province, if not the country. It will include private rooms for every resident and a number of fantastic amenities like green space and an in-house salon. The building will also house a number of seniors-focused health and wellness services so that it can truly act as a seniors' hub in North York. Knowing how vital these services will be to our aging community, we want to take every action possible to get this facility built ASAP. I have submitted a letter to Planning & Housing Committee that will be considered next week, asking City Council to support NYGH in requesting an Enhanced Minister's Zoning Order (EMZO) to help expedite the process. The Minister has already indicated his support for this project, and is working closely with NYGH to ensure they have the licenses they need to proceed. Even with this EMZO, the long-term care and seniors' health facility will still be subject to maximum height requirements, minimum setbacks, parking requirements, and more. The proposal will also be subject to a development agreement with the City that will allow for an additional level of design review before construction starts. I am fully supportive of this EMZO because I know how transformational this facility will be, not only for Don Valley North but for all of North York. We need to create every opportunity available to allow seniors in our community to continue living in the neighbourhoods many of them have called home for decades. I will be sure to keep the community up to date on this exciting project. As our city grows, we need to guide its growth in a way that supports residents of all ages and backgrounds. We need everything from one-bedroom condos to multi-family homes to dignified long-term care rooms so that people at all stages of life can call our wonderful community home. Of course, our communities are much more than just the physical homes we live in. We need to make sure new developments include the physical and social infrastructure that make our neighbourhoods vibrant and liveable. I'm looking forward to continuing to work closely with the community to realize these ambitious projects and strengthen the future of Don Valley North.

Toronto’s newly appointed fiscal czar dishes on why the city needs new taxes, playing hardball with Queen’s Park and Ottawa, and how her grandkids keep her grounded in a chaotic time