Parkway Forest Redevelopment Meetings

Parkway Forest Redevelopment is coming back to the North York Community Council on April 4.

You have your chance to find out more and get involved on March 22 at a community meeting by the Henry Farm Community Interest Association

In February, the Parkway Forest owner presented a revised proposal, While it cut back on tower heights and density somewhat it still adds a lot of people to an already highly dense and congested area and builds a lot of towers higher than what is proposed in the Sheppard corridor to the west.

Traffic along Sheppard and Don Mills will increase substantially. There is a view that the Don Mills and 404/DVP Sheppard intersections are at capacity.

This proposed Sheppard Ave E redevelopment also has a community working group process running but without the SLHA. It is also at the OMB with a June hearing meeting scheduled. Our councillor is seeking intervention at the OMB by the SLHA and other community groups.

This next door project is huge, almost monstrous in relation to Bloorview. If it gets a go ahead as currently proposed, we will not likely see much change to Bloorview.

Our friends and neighbours in Henry Farm have been part of both the Parkway Forest and Bloorview projects. We need to join with them on Parkway Forest

For more information on the March 22 meeting and proposal check out the Henry Farm Website www.henryfarm.ca under Parkway Forest and Coming Events. You will find a flyer announcing the meeting and neighbourhood issues. You will also find documents outlining the current and previous proposals. A city staff report should be out near the end of March for consideration at the April NYCC meeting. (You can access the original staff report and council decision on the SLHA website under Bloorview, Other Developments)

Governing Toronto Recommendations - REACTION

We provide this to enhance our member awareness on a topic of profound signficance. Things are happening from April to May that will change how the municipal government operates for a long time.

City Council has recommended the acceptance in principle the report and recommendations submitted by the Governing Toronto Panel subject to a public review.

Many of the main recommendations listed in the report (see SLHA website - with Resources/Links and News & Events) are very contentious as evident from citizen feedback. Some of the recommendations appear to be just common sense and you wonder why council(s) have not been foll0wing them as good meeting conduct/ business practice. Others such as the nature and composition of the proposed Executive Committee might be contributing to a city "democratic deficit" as some have pointed out.

A couple of SLHA members attended the March 6 meeting for the NYCC at the North York Library. The meeting was reasonablyl well attended both by interested and concerned citizens and most members of the NYCC. Mayor Miller was also there with many city staff who facilitated discussions of groups at tables.

Some of the citizen attendees had been at the other community meetings and were familar with the list of recommendations, the report behinnd them and some of the councillors. One indicated that citizen feedback was generally consistent at each meeting.

The meeting essentially asked for feedback on the many recommendations with the following groupings under 3 seperate discussions: City Wide Decision Making, Local Decision Making and Civic Engagement.

REACTION POINTS

Enhanced Status Quo - in many ways the Governing Panel has recommended an enhanced status quo with a "muscular mayor". If you follow Canadian politics the expansion of the powers within the Premier and Prime Ministers offices has been a doubtful democratice benefit. Toronto mayor's will see his power expand similarly.

Mayor Appointed Executive Committee - Yes the mayor is elected city-wide and receives more votes than any other elected politician in Canada. But voter turnout in municipal elections tends to be low; what will guide his "appointments" from the ward councillors; how transparent will council be; do we have to wait 4 years to indicate our disfavour....

Under some previous city governance models Toronto has had 2 tiered elected municipal reps. Ward councillors from each ward and a small group of city or district wide "councillors" . The latter formed a board of control or executive committee ensuring voter accountability.


3 or 4 Year Terms - Encumbents already have a major advantage and their advantage will only increase. The argument given for a longer term relates to "there is a 1st year learning and final year running for election with only the mid year for real production" . The evidence is that most councillors win re-election and some are acclaimed. The argument for 4 years doesn't match the evidence. Maybe we need term limits to ensure new blood and ideas.


"Party Politics" vs In/Out of Favour - Toronto councillors and major don't run as party candidates or even with well-conceived election platforms or views on needed municipal policies and programmes. However, the Liberal/Conservative/NDP leanings of each tends to be expressed in the media. The "IN" group tends to be favoured with better appointments (ABC's - agencies, boards, committees) while "OUT" with qualifications and experience become an alternative view or unofficial/non-united "opposition"

Most citizens don't appear to want traditional parties within our municipal government. However, the reality is an "in/out" grouping.

A key aspect of the new governance is an executive with creating and following a city wide proirity plan (policies and programmes). This is the substance of election platforms.

Surely, we need to know where all candidates stand on city needs and who they would support once elected BEFORE making our vote!

Surely we need capable people leading all committees with relevant experiences.

We also need to see a system that develops councillors in office and mayoral candidates for office.

Community Council Power - some of the recommendations give the local councils more direct control instead of a submitting report to the total city council for its decision. Good.

Some citizens would also like local councils to have policy initiation (bottom up rather than top down) powers that also extend to some discretionary local budget spending. Surely, all programmes need not be city wide (should a community have a choice on city leaf pickup vs sidewalk snowclearing, for example).

The city is implementing something called Zero Base Budgeting (ZBB). ZBB creates decision making on bundles of activities and resource uses. It would make sense for the city governance to build up its budgeting by district and citywide.

Ward Councillors should also have some "line" control versus having to accept or reject a total budget framework as submitted by an Executive Committee.

Governing Toronto Public Consultation, Mar 2006

The following email on was sent out for the city in late Feb on "Have your say about the way Toronto is governed" : Note time line in last 2 paragraphs.

Plan to attend Governing Toronto public consultation in March 2006

Toronto City Council is making decisions about how it will govern with additional powers under a new City of Toronto Act. Mayor David Miller and Members of City Council invite you to learn about and discuss the directions Council is considering for governance and how they will be implemented after the November 13, 2006 municipal elections.

- For more information, visit www.toronto.ca/governingtoronto

In small groups, participants will share their ideas about the roles of Councillors, the Mayor, Committees, Community Councils and the public.

- Etobicoke Collegiate Institute: 86 Montgomery Rd. (n/e of Islington & Bloor), Thursday, March 2, 7 - 9:30 p.m. Transit: Royal York Station - west on Bloor, north on Montgomery

- St Lawrence Hall: 155 King St. East (s/w of King & Jarvis), Saturday, March 4, 2 4:30 p.m. Transit: King Streetcar

- Memorial Hall: 5100 Yonge St. below the North York Public Library (Yonge n/w of Sheppard), Monday, March 6, 7 - 9:30 p.m. Transit: North York Centre Station

- Scarborough Civic Centre: 150 Borough Drive (n/w of McCowan & Ellesmere), Wednesday, March 8, 7 - 9:30 p.m. Transit: Scarborough Centre Station

Registration begins on Tuesday, February 21, 2006. Please call Access Toronto at 416-338-0338. TTY Line 416-338-0889. Registration phone lines are open weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Seating at the consultations is limited.

Following these consultation sessions, each of Toronto's four Community Councils will consider governance recommendations on Tuesday, April 4, 2006. Members of the public may register to appear before the Community Council of their choice. Please call Access Toronto at 416-338-0338 for more information.

Finally, recommendations of the Community Councils will be considered together with a report from the City Manager on options for implementing governance changes at the meeting of the Policy and Finance Committee scheduled for May 16, 2006. The Policy and Finance Committee will then make recommendations to the City Council meeting of May 23-25, 2006.

Governing Toronto - Direct City Action

Direct City Action is a community organization interested in improved governance of, and financing for, the City of Toronto. See www.directcityaction.ca bulletins on "muscular mayor".

We have been following developments at City Hall and Queen’s Park regarding proposed changes to the office of Mayor, and are concerned with the changes and the haste with which they are being pushed to implementation.

We want to alert you to our concerns and to seek your assistance in ensuring that a better approach is adopted.

Toronto City Council has decided in principle that the best way to restructure Toronto is to give the Mayor substantially increased powers.

They have agreed, without adequate notice to the public that:

The Mayor would appoint the chairs of all Standing Committees and the TTC;

The Mayor would appoint the chairs of all Community Councils;

The Mayor would appoint the Deputy Mayor;

The Deputy Mayor, the Chairs of the Standing Committees and the TTC, and the Chairs of the Community Councils would form the Executive Committee. (So, the whole Executive Committee would consist of people appointed by the Mayor);

The Executive Committee would shape the city budget and agenda;

The Mayor would appoint the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) who would be responsible to the Mayor.

The CAO would directly or indirectly appoint all other city staff.

This is the Strong Mayor Proposal, and the changes agreed to by City Council are mirrored in Section 151 of the proposed New City of Toronto Act, Bill 53, which gives the Provincial Cabinet the power to require the Mayor to make these appointments.

We believe there is a better way to restructure the city to improve governance.

The better way should not assume that whoever is Mayor is the person with the one true way to solve the city’s many problems. In fact, we know from the past that a Mayor can be the problem rather than the solution.

We also know that concentration of power defeats the principle of open and democratic government. The most recent commentator on this subject is Mr. Justice Gomery whose criticism of the concentration of power in the Prime Minister’s Office should give us serious pause, before adopting a similar structure in Toronto’s governance.

We believe compellingly, that the public deserves to be thoughtfully and carefully consulted, before far reaching changes are made to the structures by which we are governed.

Fortunately, the issue will be before each of the Community Councils on April 4, 2006.

If you wish more information on this matter please visit our web-site www.directcityaction.ca. Please contact David White at dvdwht@sympatico.ca if you wish to help us win this issue at City Hall and Queen’s Park.

We welcome you to our meetings, the time and place of which can be found on our web-site.

We would appreciate it if you would forward this notice to anyone you feel is interested in achieving an open and broadly democratic form of governance for our city.

Thank you,

David White