By Mary An
Priorities are shifting in Kensington Market, according to a recent motion adopted by Toronto City Council that declares the parking lot at 25 Bellevue Ave. a surplus location that could be used to build affordable housing.
The most recent Ontario budget targets Toronto for over $177 million in annual provincial funding cuts. The targeted cuts are to Toronto’s programs in healthcare, child care, legal aid, tourism, and transit. In exchange, Premier Ford’s province-wide base gets a few shiny trinkets, and as a whole the budget still fails to resemble the kind of plan that could lead our province in the direction of fiscal balance.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
By Ellie Hayden
Local residents’ associations, business improvement areas, and community organizations are concerned that reducing Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 seats will wreak havoc with the business of the city in their neighbourhoods.
Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) speaks at an emergency public meeting at Scadding Court Community Centre on August 13. ELLIE HAYDEN/GLEANER NEWS
By Ellie Hayden
“Shame!”
Hundreds of people huddled shoulder to shoulder shouted the rallying cry at an emergency public meeting on August 13 at the Scadding Court Community Centre.
Premier Ford wants to do Toronto a favour by slashing the size of council, and only Toronto seems to be targeted. Our ward of University-Rosedale, population 98,600, is now represented by a single councillor. To put this into perspective, Grey County, population 93,000, has 19 representatives to make decisions about roads, sewers, zoning, and all the other services that are vital to day-to-day living.
As the nation celebrated the big 150 this month, we wondered how our local politicians marked our big day. Member of Provincial Parliament Han Dong (Trinity-Spadina), councillors Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina), and Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Catholic School Board Jo-Ann Davis (Ward 9, Spadina-Fort York) shared their Canada Day plans, and some of their favourite Canadian facts, books, and treats!
PHOTO BY GEREMY BORDONARO/GLEANER NEWS: Dragon City Mall on Spadina Avenue was crowded wall-to-wall for the Chinatown BIA’s celebration of the Lunar New Year on Jan. 28. Representatives from the Toronto Police Service’s 14 Division joined councillors Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina), Adam Vaughan (MP, Spadina Fort York), and Han Dong (MPP, Trinity-Spadina) for a day of jubilation featuring a traditional dragon dance and inking of the dragon’s eyes.
By Annemarie Brissenden
If residents at the well-attended town hall on rail safety were looking for the federal government to commit to diverting railway tracks out of dense urban neighbourhoods, they came away disappointed.