” Better Ballots aims to explore options that deliver a better result when we go to the polls. Should there be term limits, municipal parties, or a “ranked ballot” where you place your first, second, third, fourth choice from among the candidates? Or other options? … Dave Meslin and a group of citizens are pushing an initiative to improve the way we elect our city councillors. ”

Send your ideas to Dave, check out www.whorunsthistown.to, and read the full article from the Sept 22 Toronto Star.

After a recent trip to the Home Hardware in Cabbagetown, I discovered out there is a separate tax in Ontario for pesticides!

Try searching the official provincial government website for “eco-fee” and I doubt that you’ll find any info about this fee. Similarly, this Ministry of the Environment webpage makes no mention of the “electronics tax”, introduced in April 2009. You have to do some more Internet sleuthing to come up with these websites

• www.stewardshipontario.ca runs the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) program
• its imaginatively named “Big Brother” is www.ontarioelectronicstewardship.ca
• The URL for their “sister” website for the Ontario Tire Stewardship is more succinct www.ontariots.ca

All of these “stewardship” websites contain the disclaimer “none of the fees collected will go to government; therefore it is not a tax.” Kinda difficult to follow their logic here: we pay tax for public services such as health care, garbage collection, water etc. But if the province decides to outsource the collection of used electronics (or tires), why is it no longer called a tax? Lucky us; we get to pay GST + PST on top of these fees.

Just how much ?

• fees for electronics
• the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) program “fees” aren’t as easy to find
• No idea what the amount of the tire tax is; who cares. So far, bicycle tires aren’t taxed yet (at least, I don’t think so, but who really knows for sure, the mysterious “stewards” are in charge.)

Councillor McConnell spent a full hour talking at last night’s Corktown meeting.  She is a member of the city’s Labour Relations Committee, and so is involved in strike negotiations (although, according to today’s Toronto Star, that “committee hasn’t met since before the strike began June 22″). Pam McConnell said “any solution must be affordable”, and then followed up by defending the 2009 cost of living increase to City Councillors (but not to non-union staff), as “a good system”.  Pam’s personal website has daily updates on the strike, including alternative children’s programmes.

As an update to the June 23 meeting, Pam mentioned there is money available for the proposed dog park on the Power - Richmond - Adelaide “triangle” of land, although Build Toronto now controls this land, and needs to be convinced this land is not develop-able for any other purpose.  Pam assured residents that the Shuter-Sumach park will not revert to “dogs prohibited”, and explained the Parks Dept process for applying for “leash free status”.  She was unsure whether this park would qualify, due to minimum size requirements, or inadequate distance separating dogs from childrens’ area.

The meeting finished with the usual complaints about negative impacts of homeless persons, drug dealing and prostitution; too bad that Corktown or Trefann residents’ associations aren’t sufficiently large enough or well organized to actually hold the Councillor and police accountable to ensure city programs such as Parks Ambassador, regular police foot and bike patrols, Streets to Homes, actually lead to sustained noticable improvements in our area.

Meeting attendance was typical:  8 board members, 4 guest speakers, maybe 1 member (and 5 non-members). Like most Corktown meetings, this one lacked an efficient chairperson.  The first speaker droned on for 40 minutes about the Sept 29 marathon, when 5 minutes would have sufficed:  there will be a “cheering section” at Parliament + Front, available for local residents, to cheer for marathon runners.

A wonderful thing has happened in Trefann.

Since the start of the City Workers strike, many neighbours and friends have come out and cleaned our little community. Walking up Sumach street, it is not unusual to see a few people out on the street, picking up litter, offering to drive their neighbours’ garbage to a transfer station, sweeping up sidewalks, laneways and driveways. Strolling along Shuter and Tracy Streets, you see the same thing happening. Neighbours helping each other and keeping Trefann clean and tidy.

Last evening, one resident went so far as to transport their ‘ride-upon’ lawn mower down from their cottage and mowed the entire grass area of Stinky’s Park. He did this so the rest of the community could continue enjoying our park.

His actions have motivated others to organize a small ‘clean-up’ party this weekend. We have transport to the transfer station. We have donated garbage bags. We have the will to see this strike through.

I know I’ll be there and hope to see you too.

Councillor Pam McConnell and her assistant met for a full 2 hours on Oct 8, with approximately 15 residents who live in Cabbagetown South. (It seems that a strong, well organized residents association can have sufficient influence to warrant regular attention from the city councillor.)

More than an hour was spent discussing problems with the new recycling and garbage bins.  Pam suggested that front-yard storage of these bins was unsightly, and if a resident has no other storage option, then they should quality for bag pickup instead, if requested.  Several attendees complained about trespassers (persons coming into a private backyard or front porch, to search their bins for deposit-return bottles).  It was suggested that once winter snowbanks have accumulated, our narrowed sidewalks will be impassible when cluttered with bins; Pam doesn’t believe bins will be any problem in the winter.

Meeting attendees complained about other problems, which are similar to those encountered by Trefann residents:  the poor state of repair of their potholed streets, garbage dumped in parks not cleaned up for several days, poor maintenance of individual houses owned by TCHC.  Seven “police surveillance” cameras were installed in the Dundas Street East and Sherbourne Street area (51 Division) for a 6-month pilot (Nov 2007 - April 2008); meeting attendees thought the level of prostitution and drug dealing had increased, now that the cameras have been removed.  If a neighbourhood identifies a location where illegal activity frequently occurs, it will be added to the “directed patrols” list (ie. police will drive by that location several times each day).  Pam mentioned that the police are currently preparing their new business plan.  Cabbagetown South lamented that they no longer get a small financial donation from the city’s film liaison office, as happened in the past.

The sign at Jessie’s (Centre for Teenagers) was recently changed to the June Callwood Centre (for Women and Families); see their website for details.

A local “photo opportunity” Aug 22 for our city councillor Pam McConnell (and also for the new boss at Police 51 Division, Superintendent Kimberley Greenwood): the unveiling of an attractively landscaped pie-shaped piece of land immediately north of the crosswalk at Shuter + Sumach. The garden and grass area are approximately 1400 square feet and cost $35,000. Lots of police in attendance at this ribbon-cutting ceremony, including at least 2 constables equipped with Tasers (fortunately, the small crowd was well behaved).

More pictures …

Previously, a larger garden was built just north of here, in the spring of 2006: “a memorial flower garden for people killed in Regent Park. The garden was created and is tended by community leaders in Regent Park, with the involvement of youth who are at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence.”

Now, if only the city could be prodded to make similar landscaping improvements at other nearby TCHC properties, such as the fence and gardens surrounding Moss Park Apartments, those residents could similarly “take pride” in their neighbourhood.

Toronto wants everyone - downtowners as well as suburbanites - to use large wheeled bins for recyclables, garbage (and eventually, a 3rd large bin for organic waste). This plan was approved in June 2007, but until recently, no recognition that “big bins” might not be feasible in downtown neighbourhoods. In early January, the city made a rushed attempt to force acceptance of the bins: a brochure giving Trefann Court residents 10 days to choose a bin size, no small bins (only medium, large, or jumbo), large bin by default, information meetings only a few days before the deadline for ordering bins. After considerable opposition, the City’s only compromise for Ward 28 is a “one bin pilot”: use the same bin for garbage and recyclables, on alternate weeks.

No one likes being lied to by their government. The city’s stated rationale for the bins is to “increase recycling”; not mentioned are the real benefits:
1) mechanized garbage collection (use hoists to lift and empty these bins into the garbage truck), and
2) user-pay “garbage fees” (starting in Nov) set at an amount to ensure extra revenue for the city

Objections have been voiced on the Urban Toronto discussion board:
- large bins will occupy lots of sidewalk space, making it difficult for persons in wheelchairs or pushing a stroller to get by
- challenge of manoeuvring bins around snow banks and parked cars

The newspapers have reported on the controversy with these big bins.
- In a Jan 20 article in the Toronto Sun, it was suggested that one motivation for the bins is to “pay back the CUPE unions for supporting Mayor David Miller in the 2006 election”.
- And on March 25, the Sun asked whether the entire exclusive Cabbagetown area had been granted an exemption from having to use these big bins ?

Toronto Star articles:
Jan 8 (includes a video),
Jan 26 - reasons from the city why bag collection would be problematic,
Jan 29 - suggests that residents revolt, similar to 1773 Boston Tea Party,
Jan 30 - where Mayor Miller asserts that for downtown residents, the new bins are “easier for people to use”,
Feb 8 - estimated garbage fees, now more than anticipated,
Feb 13 - suggests garbage collection fee might be “extra City revenue”, not just a “user-pay fee” calculated to cover costs, and
Feb 22 - challenges of proposed bins for Ward 19

• “They are too damn big. They won’t fit between most houses. There isn’t room for them on most porches. They are too damn heavy. Empty they are cumbersome, full they are dead weights – even with their wheels. …Forget getting one that’s loaded down steps. They’re too damn ugly. Considering that most of them will be left parked in front of houses, they’ll lend a slummy tone to even the most pretentious streetscapes.” (Slinger, Jan 29)
• “Last June, they said the plan would net about $54 million extra. Now, they’ve increased the take to $74 million and rising. Soon, garbage fees will be covering any municipal budgets costs a mayor wants to hide.” (Royson James, Feb 13)

Hopefully some creative thinking and co-operation among downtown residents associations can produce some viable alternatives to these monster bins, that will still achieve our recycling goals.

(Updated to add links to Feb 22 and March 25 newspaper reports.)

A federal by-election for our riding (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) is planned for March 17. The Liberal Party has nominated former Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae. Activist El-Farouk Khaki is running for the NDP and Chris Tindal is the Green Party of Canada candidate. Zeeshan Baig is running for the Rhinos.The nominated Conservative candidate in the byelection, Mark Warner, was dropped by the party’s national council on October 31, 2007. Don Meredith was nominated as the Conservative candidate in December.

Consult Wikipedia and Elections Canada for more details.

Here is the Xmas greeting we sent to Councillor McConnell. During the fall of 2007, dog owners in the Shuter-Sumach park were being unfairly hassled by city inspectors, even when dogs were on leash. Hopefully the city won’t be hassling Trefann Court-area dog owners during 2008.