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FORUM: A busy legislative agenda ahead (Oct./Nov. 2024)

November 8th, 2024 · No Comments

TTC and safety initiatives dominate

By Dianne Saxe

Fall is a lovely time in University-Rosedale. Mornings are cool, summer gardens yield a few more delights (my cherry tomatoes are still ripening), and the leaves are starting to turn yellow, orange, and red. Fresh fall apples are crisp and tart; farmers’ markets are bursting with produce and looking ahead to Halloween. I always enjoy fall celebrations, such as the Annex Residents’ Association cornfest, BENA’s social and the HVRA fall fair’s auction and concert. Thank you to everyone who said hello.

Fall is also, of course, when the pace of work at city hall snaps back into high gear. 

Having no council in August plus a limited scope for council in September, entails a heavy agenda every October. Flashpoints at this council will likely include: fixing the vacant home tax; Ports Toronto’s request to add safety buffers to the Toronto Island Airport; the perennial topics of congestion and housing; and whether to give up on an ambitious and long-awaited redevelopment of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.

Some of my own motions will also be on council’s agenda, including:

My compliance and enforcement strategy for transportation services

Much higher maximum fines for serious road obstructions

Zoning obstacles to home energy efficiency, energy storage, and renewable energy

Protecting tenants of older buildings from lead contamination in their drinking water

A promising building-based approach to curbside EV charging for garage orphans

Whether 16- and 17-year-olds should be able to vote in neighbourhood polls (not general elections)

Refusing greenwashing ads that conflict with Toronto’s climate commitments

I will also be making section 37 motions to fund mass timber affordable housing in Kensington Market and to beautify the forthcoming pedestrian space on Avenue Road between Davenport and Dupont.

At the TTC, I am progressing in two areas of critical importance: fare enforcement and the impact of road congestion on bus and streetcar reliability. 

For the first time since COVID, the TTC is stepping up fare enforcement and closing off weak points where fare evasion is rampant. Legacy tickets/ tokens will no longer be accepted after December 31, and most crash gates are being closed. 

Ticket issuance is up sharply to about 1000 tickets per month, halfway to what it was in 2019. On road congestion, I am coaxing TTC staff to work more effectively with city staff, and to document the worst pinch points.

In other TTC news:

We welcomed Greg Percy (former CEO of Metrolinx) as interim CEO. He is already making an excellent impression!

Hillcrest Yard celebrated its one hundredth anniversary with a popular open house.

Because of my swing vote, staff will give the board options for continuing free public WiFi after Rogers closes down the old, collapsing technology on December 31.

The TTC board adopted my motion to prescreen advocacy advertising from documented fossil fuel greenwashers like the Pathways Alliance and to not accept such advertising unless the advertiser proves their claims to be true. Thus, at long last, the TTC will stop lending its brand and credibility to false, misleading claims that the billionaire tar sands companies are compatible with our net-zero commitments and a liveable future. This decision, apparently the first of its kind in North America, was quickly adopted by Montreal’s transit system, which has been musing about such action for months. Thank you to CAPE and StandEarth for their inspiration and support.

It’s great to have my office team almost back in full force, with Tasneem, Sydney, Daniel and Anne joining William, Christian, Ben and Andrew, plus Cameron part-time for the school year. Holli, Jessica, Quinn and Teodoro are thriving in their new gigs and send everyone their best wishes.

Dianne Saxe is city councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale.

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Tags: Annex · Columns · Opinion