generalcanada
Senior Member
the fact that "downtown elites" is still a term used proves me right
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- Thread starter DSCToronto
- Start date
DSCToronto
Superstar
From my perspective the City is doing better and taxes in Toronto were kept artificially low for far too long. Of course, I think some parts of the budget (the police in particular) are bloated but others (upkeep of parks and buildings and 'small things' like street sweeping) get too little. Overall, I think Chow is a pretty good mayor - certainly FAR better than the sanctimonious Tory or the crazy Ford.
Northern Light
Superstar
Less?
- A drastic increase in Library hours with every branch to be open Sunday.
- A modest expansion of Community Centre hours.
- The largest TTC Service increase in years.
- More police
- Expanded outdoor swim season
- Expanded outdoor pool hours (2 additional hours daily in July/August)
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I' ve been critical of some of the budget choices in here, the Mayor and her team don't get a free pass........... but the idea that we're getting nothing is wholly unreasonable.
Durham Region is 7.5% this year. It was 7.4% last year, for a cumulative total of ~15%
Mississauga is 8.8% this year, it was 4.9% last year for nearly 14%.
I think its important to realize this is not the Mayor delivering increases that are outlandishly high relative to peer Cities/Regions.
Additionally, the City's rate after this increase will be broadly in line with or slightly below the area average.
DSCToronto
Superstar
Market Lane Park has a schedule of:
- Winter 2025: Hire a construction team
- Spring/Summer 2025: Construction starts
- Spring 2026: Construction complete, park reopens
- Early 2025: Hire a construction team
- Spring 2025: Construction for park and cycle track starts
- Late 2025: Construction for cycle track complete
- Spring 2026 to Fall 2027: Construction for park improvements continues
- Fall 2027: Construction for park improvements complete
generalcanada
Senior Member
Thanks for digging into the numbers from the suburbs.
This is why I think its just a hate on toronto thing
guavadelic
Active Member
Taxes were kept low for 14 years so there will be some sticker shock initially to catch up and balance things.
This is a much better option than continuing the slow decay of the city that has been going on for the last decade and a half.
DSCToronto
Superstar
This is a VERY interesting development! SEE: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/a-...cle_8300406c-d284-11ef-adb3-67ce836460bc.html
In a tight vote that split the board down the middle, city councillor Shelley Carroll has been elected chair of the Toronto police board — a powerful position that involves approving the cop budget and hiring the police chief.
”I really think that I can offer the board a bold step forward,” Carroll said at a Tuesday morning meeting inside Toronto police headquarters, after being nominated for the role by fellow councillor Lily Cheng.
“I think right now we are at a critical point.”
Carroll, a longtime city councillor who has also served as chair of the city’s budget committee, won the position 4-3, unseating Ann Morgan, a former Crown prosecutor who had held the chair position for the last two years.
Morgan’s vice-chair, Kostakis, was also unseated Tuesday and replaced by Brillinger in a vote that replicated the split between city and provincial appointees.
In a tight vote that split the board down the middle, city councillor Shelley Carroll has been elected chair of the Toronto police board — a powerful position that involves approving the cop budget and hiring the police chief.
”I really think that I can offer the board a bold step forward,” Carroll said at a Tuesday morning meeting inside Toronto police headquarters, after being nominated for the role by fellow councillor Lily Cheng.
“I think right now we are at a critical point.”
Carroll, a longtime city councillor who has also served as chair of the city’s budget committee, won the position 4-3, unseating Ann Morgan, a former Crown prosecutor who had held the chair position for the last two years.
Morgan’s vice-chair, Kostakis, was also unseated Tuesday and replaced by Brillinger in a vote that replicated the split between city and provincial appointees.
evandyk
Senior Member
Is it positive for a Toronto city councillor, which is already a full-time job, to take on another $90K/year job? How many hours does the Chair of the Police Services Board require to fulfil it diligently? If it can be easily accommodated within a city councillor's free time, why does it pay like a full-time job?
LOL. If the TPA didn't like a former Crown Prosecutor at the head of the Board, they're going to love Sherry Carroll!
LOL. If the TPA didn't like a former Crown Prosecutor at the head of the Board, they're going to love Sherry Carroll!
Dan416
Senior Member
Fuck the TPA. I literally could not care less what their opinion is on anything after their anti-Trudeau rant. Defund Toronto Police while we're at it since they're useless anyway. Peel Police want a 23% budget increase...for what? Ugh. Awful police organizations.
evandyk
Senior Member
The TPA and all police unions in general are probably the biggest barrier to having effective and accountable policing.
Northern Light
Superstar
A report on Stormwater/flooding mitigation to next week's Executive Committee kills the proposed Stormwater/'rain' tax.
From the above:
For the record, this is the correct move, subject to proceeding with the Commerical Parking Levy (as they overlap, and the CPL is far easier and less costly to implement) However, the City is stalling on that one too.... see next post.
From the above:
For the record, this is the correct move, subject to proceeding with the Commerical Parking Levy (as they overlap, and the CPL is far easier and less costly to implement) However, the City is stalling on that one too.... see next post.
Northern Light
Superstar
Here's the Report on the Commercial Parking Levy.......which in my judgement wrongly seeks to forestall the idea, while playing footsie with MPAC.
They make the basic idea seem much more challenging than it is.
In reality - No assessment value is necessary if the fee is per space, per day. If you target only larger lots, which is the efficient way to do this, you can easily pick them out on google maps, a list of Green P assets and with a handful of other tools.
No need to bother with 10 space strip malls, the target is Yorkdale, STC, Big Box Power Centres etc etc.
In the report, staff wrongly suggest they need to capture underground lots. They certainly could and that would generate revenue, but they can choose to exempt them on the grounds that they don't have they same adverse impact to landuse or stormwater. The key is simply to set criteria which can be read as objective and fair.
Equally, they are lowballing the annual revenue estimate severely.
There are 1,000,000 commercial parking spaces in Toronto, for argument's sake, by exempting smaller lots we slash that to a mere 200,000, and assess them at $3 per space, per day, we arrive at annual revenue of 219M
This is more than double what the City now estimating.
To be blunt, the tax is being sabotaged.
They make the basic idea seem much more challenging than it is.
In reality - No assessment value is necessary if the fee is per space, per day. If you target only larger lots, which is the efficient way to do this, you can easily pick them out on google maps, a list of Green P assets and with a handful of other tools.
No need to bother with 10 space strip malls, the target is Yorkdale, STC, Big Box Power Centres etc etc.
In the report, staff wrongly suggest they need to capture underground lots. They certainly could and that would generate revenue, but they can choose to exempt them on the grounds that they don't have they same adverse impact to landuse or stormwater. The key is simply to set criteria which can be read as objective and fair.
Equally, they are lowballing the annual revenue estimate severely.
There are 1,000,000 commercial parking spaces in Toronto, for argument's sake, by exempting smaller lots we slash that to a mere 200,000, and assess them at $3 per space, per day, we arrive at annual revenue of 219M
This is more than double what the City now estimating.
To be blunt, the tax is being sabotaged.
DSCToronto
Superstar
Indeed, they are probably right that using MPAC data is essential and I suspect this will be seen as another front in the 'war on the car' and thus not supported by MPAC or the Fordites. If we need to rely on MPAC then it is deader than the dodo.
"While staff will continue to discuss the implementation of a commercial parking levy with MPAC, ultimately, they hope to also secure access to greater revenue tools that reflect Toronto’s contributions to the economy. Should MPAC and the Province support the implementation of a CPL staff are committed to ensuring a final implementation plan is presented to City Council for their consideration, which would detail how to implement it in a fair, clear and consistent manner across the commercial property class, in consideration of the meaningful feedback collected as part of the stakeholder engagement conducted in 2024."
Towered
Superstar
This is where Chow needs to step up and put a stop to such nonsense...
DSCToronto
Superstar
oops!
www.thestar.com
City’s largest workers union votes in favour of strike mandate
On Tuesday, CUPE 79, the union that represents 30,000 city workers, said more than 90 per cent of its members voted in favour of a strike.
City’s largest workers union votes in favour of strike mandate
On Tuesday, CUPE 79, the union that represents 30,000 City of Toronto workers, said more than 90 per cent of its members voted in favour of a strike.
www.thestar.com