Councillor Mike Del Grande appointed to the Toronto Police Services Board

Toronto City Council has passed an item from the City's Striking Committee which includes the appointment of Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt) to the Police Services Board. Del Grande, who is also Chair of the City's Budget Committee, said he was honoured to receive the appointment:

"My appointment to the Toronto Police Services Board is a privilege and I look forward the challenge.

Toronto Police serves the Public and it's oversight is civilian based. Each member's skill set is required to provide a broad perspective of values and experience.

It is those values and experience that I will bring to the Board. Organizational and Financial experience are just two of the skills that I bring.

As a Ward Councillor representing many ethnic groups I also hope to continue the TPS bridge to all of our communities."

The Toronto Police Services Board is a seven member civilian body that oversees the Toronto Police Service, Canada's largest municipal police service. The Board rules on general management and policy for the Police Service.

Neighbourhood Safety Survey from Toronto Police Services

A message from our friends at Toronto Police Services 42 Division:

Neighbourhood Safety Survey

The Toronto Police Fall Safety Initiative called Project Neighbourhood Safety, began on October 15th 2012 and was intended to be an extension of the Service’s successful Summer Safety Initiative. It will wrap up on January 31st.

The goal of ...the Project Neighbourhood Safety is to prevent violence. To do this 42 Division has extra officers deployed to areas where there is a greater potential for gun and gang violence to occur. These areas were identified through crime analysis as well as officer and community input.
In order to determine how effective this initiative has been, we are soliciting feedback from the community in the form of an online survey. We are looking for you, members of the community, to tell us how you feel about safety and policing in your neighbourhood.

Go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NeighbourhoodSafetySurvey. 42 Division’s boundaries are Steeles Ave to the North, the 401 to the South, Victoria Park to the West and the Scarborough/Pickering town line to the East. A map can be found on the TPS website.

Let It Snow

From the City's Transportation Services Division:

Let It Snow… Let It Snow… Let It Snow

It’s that time of the year again – winter!

A Canadian winter can sometimes mean a lot of snow, and the City of Toronto is ready!

Here are a few things that you can expect as we gear up for another winter in Toronto.

As soon as the snow begins, Transportation Services sends out its fleet of salt trucks to the expressways, main roads and local roads. If the City receives 2.5 centimeters of snow, the plows go out to the expressways. When we get five centimeters of snow, they start clearing the main roads. Plowing then takes place for the duration of the storm.

When the snow stops and if the snow accumulation reaches eight centimetres, plows will be sent to the local roads. Normally, local road plowing will be completed between 14 and 16 hours after the storm has ended.

The City will clear snow from sidewalks on local roads where it is mechanically possible to do so after eight centimetres (five centimetres in January and February) of snow has fallen. In the central core of the city, property owners are required to clear their sidewalks of snow 12 hours after a storm has taken place.

The City of Toronto’s levels of service for snow clearing meet those set by the Province of Ontario for municipalities and road authorities. These levels of service were adopted by Toronto City Council in 2009.

Residents who have questions about snow clearing efforts in their area can call the City at 311.
If you need more information about the city's plans for snow clearing, visit toronto.ca/transportation.

Here’s an important tip about shoveling snow. Please don’t push snow back onto the road. It’s against the law, hampers snow clearing efforts and is very dangerous for motorists.

Winter, and the snow that comes with it, is a part of what makes us Canadians. By working together, we can make sure that Toronto continues to be a safe and accessible city in which to live, work and play.

Video showcases need for new surgical suites

From The Scarborough Hospital:

Video showcases need for new surgical suites

The Scarborough Hospital is proud of its history of providing excellent surgical care to patients. But aging operating rooms at the General campus are limiting the hospital’s ability to introduce new technologies, and to ensure they are recruiting and retaining the brightest surgeons and nurses.

Ironically, the operating rooms at The Scarborough Hospital are some of the busiest in the province. More than 45,000 procedures are performed each year, and the surgical team is highly respected in the healthcare community for its innovation and excellent patient outcomes.

Scarborough residents deserve access to the very best surgical care, right here in our own community. The hospital has produced a short video that takes you behind the scenes to demonstrate the need for new surgical suites. Please share this video with your own friends, family and colleagues in an effort to build awareness of the need for this important project.

The video is available online at http://youtu.be/__bkfhBM1cI

TPS alert

From our friends at the Toronto Police Service:

Toronto Police would like to remind all of you that when you are out raking leaves to lock the doors to your house. we are having a number of reports of thieves walking into homes and stealing goods while people are out cleaning up the said leaves. stay alert be safe and protect yourself.

Letter from Councillor Del Grande regarding the Land Transfer Tax

I have received a number of duplicate messages demanding that the Land Transfer Tax be removed.

I cannot answer each and everyone personally but I too have to standardize my answer.

The City has a structural financial problem. In the last administration the answer was to look for "funding tools" which meant more taxes. These included the LTT, car registration tax, billboard tax, new water tax, new garbage tax, new user fees.

Every time one of these was introduced people screamed that they found them unfair.

I too find them unfair and do not support a double taxation and I especially am concerned to use it as a means to continue to have spending dependent upon it.

So, we started with the removal of the car registration tax because I see the Province using this to pay for transit. The cost was 50 million which was difficult but we managed by reducing spending to provide a 0 tax increase in 2011 and a 3% increase in 2012 slicing hard in spending.

Council did not have the fortitude to do the things that needed to be done and added back spending in 2012.

I wanted to reduce the LTT by 5% each year but I found that our spending is tied into this revenue which will cause us trouble once building activity slides.

I also have a capital debt of 3.2 billion which will rise to 4.1 on expenditures determined by past decisions. This does not include 700 million that is required to purchase the street cars that were unfunded ( the order was cut back to the minimum, each cost 6 million)

So, I embarked to sell Enwave and other City land holdings and when this was done Council wanted to spend it on other priorities.

I also find that 2014 is going to be very hard with FED/PROV funding ending and our reserve base to fund programs is gone. I cannot then ask in 2014 to put the reduction in LTT back to cover the 2014 problems that are coming.

People want things and do not want to pay for them or have others pay for them.

Toronto enjoys the lowest property taxes- 25% less than anyone and provides all kinds of benefits for FREE that other communities do not.

We have the highest Business taxes and to keep jobs that must occur but even with this wish it is difficult to do.

So, I have not been twidling my thumbs when you consider that a 2% increase in operating spending of 9 billion cause a demand for $180 million and a 2% increase brings in 46 million you can see we have a structural deficit.

The LTT only helps to delay the day of all Torontonians facing all the realities including the back log in transit, roads, parks etc which are each worth billions not to mention pensions and sick leave.

I also know that we have the lowest development fees which is providing this growth to the City and real estate sales have been strong.

The City is not just about LTT, it is about what you get when you live in the City even though we all cannot afford it.

Thank you.
Councillor Mike Del Grande

Agincourt Library: Short Closure for 2 weeks

The Agincourt Library will be closed for 2 weeks beginning at 5 p.m. on Sunday November 25 in order to install an automated self serve check in sorter.

The sorter processes a large volume of materials returned by our customers to the branch efficiently, while also enhancing service by providing customers with a receipt for their returned items.

Given that Agincourt branch has the highest use of materials borrowed for a district library in the City of Toronto with a circulation of 1,188,128 materials in 2011, the sorter is both an innovative and efficient use of resources.

Please view the attached flyer for more details

Decision on Subways for Scarborough

A November 1st City Council Meeting decided to support the TTC/Metrolinx contract. This contract will not put any subways in Scarborough.

A motion to discuss the contract in private was opposed by the following Scarborough Councillors: Berardinetti, Cho, De Baeremaeker, Lee, Moeser (Thompson- absent).

The following Scarborough Councillors voted against any faint hope for subways: Berardinetti, Cho, Crawford, De Baeremaeker, Lee and Moeser.

Flu Shot clinics at Scarborough Civic Centre

Toronto Public Health will be holding free flu shot clinics at the Scarborough Civic Centre at 150 Borough Drive throughout the fall and winter season. Please see below for a schedule of clinic sessions:

Friday, November 2, 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 3, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 10, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 17, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Friday, November 23, 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday, November 30, 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 1, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Friday, December 7, 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 8, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, January 9, 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

For more information, please call 1-877-844-1944.

Heathwood Ratepayers Association

The Heathwood Ratepayers Association is an active citizen group which serves to protect and enhance the Heathwood community (Steeles to McNicoll, Birchmount to Kennedy) and the surrounding areas. Their members have represented the community passionately through several major ward developments, including the Finch/Warden and Bridlewood revitalization, Splendid China Tower, and the Sheppard LRT.

For more information on the group and information on how to participate, please see their website at http://www.heathwoodratepayers.org/

studentawards.com

The website studentawards.com helps connect students with scholarships throughout Canada. There are hundreds of scholarships available and registration is free. For more information, visit http://www.studentawards.com/

More options for Stouffville GO Train passengers, adjusted GO Bus service

GO Transit is adjusting its schedule on the Stouffville line to provide an additional train cars in the mornings and an additional train in the afternoon. These changes will take effect on September 1st, 2012.

The Stouffville train line stops twice in Ward 39: south near Sheppard at the Agincourt GO Station, and north near Steeles at the Milliken GO Station.

For more detailed information about the schedule change, please click here to find out more.

Toronto Police Service reminds residents to be vigilant about break & enters

From the Toronto Police Service:

Break and Enters are still happening all over our city and we really need to get tough on the criminals. Getting tough on criminals simply is : not giving them the freedom to waltz into our neighbourhoods, commit criminal offences and leave seemingly unnoticed. The reality is, they are being noticed by community members who see them in our neighbourhoods but ignore them and go about their business instead of calling the police or keeping an eye on them to see where they are going and what they are actually doing in your neighbourhood.

Please be reminded that the criminals do not just appear in the homes they break into, they walk and drive into your neighbourhoods using the streets and walkways. If you see anything at all suspicious, please call the non-emergency number 416 808-2222 and report it so the responding officers can immediately attend and investigate the suspicious persons. It might prevent your home from being broken into. Thank You PC Gary Gomez # 6528 42 Division Crime Prevention 416 808-4220

Church land needed for Redlea Ave. extension (Scarborough Mirror - July 13, 2012)

From the Scarborough Mirror (July 13, 2012)

Church land needed for Redlea Ave. extension
Mike Adler

The City of Toronto is preparing to extend a road through the parking lot of one of Scarborough's largest churches in order to ease traffic congestion around Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue.

The first $2-million section of the long-planned southward extension of Redlea Avenue would be built by developers proposing a grocery store and two-storey mall building where Redlea now ends, in a cul-de-sac south of Steeles.

On Wednesday, Toronto Council approved expropriation of land on Passmore Avenue and at the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church in order to push Redlea further south from Passmore to McNicoll Avenue.

PLANNED FOR 40 YEARS

The former Scarborough Township had planned 40 years ago for Redlea, running parallel to a rail line, to end at Finch Avenue. Because the road was left unfinished, the employment area south of Steeles "hasn't seen its fair share of growth" and is in "a race for density" with property owners on the Markham side of Steeles, Scarborough-Agincourt Councillor Mike Del Grande told a community meeting this week.

Residents of the Heathwood area in the northeast Agincourt see extending Redlea as a way to discourage people from driving on Cannongate Trail and other neighbourhood streets to bypass Kennedy and Steeles.

Building Redlea to Passmore will be an "enormous benefit" to the community and "literally uncork the bottle" at some intersections, said Dave Richardson, a transportation engineering consultant who studied the area traffic for the mall developer, Global Fortune.

Church officials did not respond to an inquiry this week, but a report to council said city staff started proceedings to expropriate the property last February and have met and corresponded with the church "on numerous occasions" in an unsuccessful attempt "to reach mutually acceptable terms" for selling the land.

"They're not too happy about it. They don't want to do it even though they've known for a long time there is an easement (protecting the Redlea right of way) going through their property," Del Grande said at the community meeting.

The church has been at its Kennedy Road location, which houses a sanctuary for 1,600 worshippers and a community centre, since 2007. The Redlea extension would split the church parking lot, which Doors Open Toronto in 2010 described as the city's first to have approved "bio swayles" for processing storm water.

Plans for the supermarket and mall on Redlea, meanwhile, may be cleared by Scarborough Community Council at a meeting in September.

On a 3.6-acre site south of the parking lot for the Milliken GO Station, the 109,000-square-foot commercial building, which would have most of its 487 parking spots underground is being counted as a third phase of the Splendid China mall project.

Splendid China converted a former Canadian Tire into the first phase of a condominium-style indoor mall on the Scarborough side of Steeles. A second Splendid China phase stalled, however, and the latest proposal is from a "successor" company, Global Fortune.

Del Grande said he has hope Toronto will eventually widen Steeles, which narrows at the tracks, after Markham agrees to help pay for a rail underpass under Steeles that could easily cost $50 million.

Owners of Pacific Mall and Market Village have ambitious plans for redevelopment and expansion on the Markham side of Steeles and allowing traffic to reach those malls through an extended Redlea would be "a bonanza" those owners don't deserve, he said.

Denis Lanoue, president of a Heathwood ratepayers group, said the city should post "no through traffic" signs on Redlea to stop Steeles traffic from going north to south.

Lanoue said residents also see a need to give southband traffic an advance green on left turns from Kennedy onto Passmore, a measure Del Grande said he would support.

Splendid China's developers had pledged $60,000 to build traffic-calming speed humps on Cannongate, but Lanoue said resdents don't like the idea.

3551 Victoria Park Ave - OMB decision

Dear Friends

As you may be aware the decision of the City to not allow a place of worship at 3551 Victoria Park was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board. This is the body of last appeal on City Planning matters.

The Board has overruled the City's decision and the place of worship is allowed to continue. They also indicated that parking on the street is allowed and chose not to recognize the arguments raised by your neighbours. Should you have parking issues, I would advise you call 416-808-6600 to report if cars are blocking your driveways.

You may also wish to request "NO PARKING" rules on one side of the street Monday to Friday but this will also not allow you or your visitors to park on the street.

Please decide collectively what further assistance I can provide.

Toronto Hydro: PowerUP project update

Toronto Hydro will be distributing the below flyer to residents affected by their, Bridletowne / Brookmill, Bridletowne L'Amoreaux, Glen Springs, and Victoria Park infrastructure renewal projects. If you have not received your copy, please click the link below to download a copy.

Download

Useful links:
Toronto Hydro: PowerUP

Councillor Mike Del Grande's Community Environment Day 2012 - September 8

This year Councillor Del Grande's Community Environment Day will be taking place on September 8, 2012. Community Environment Day is an opportunity for residents in the ward to dispose of various items. The City will ensure that items are disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. We will post more information on our website at a later date, for the time being, please see the City's dedicated site about the events:

http://www.toronto.ca/environment_days/

OMB Ruling/Decision on 10 Marilyn Avenue

Dear Neighbours

As you may know, there has been an application to the City of Toronto from 10 Marilyn Avenue to sever the lot into two parcels, and to build a house on each. The application was denied at the Committee of Adjustments, but was appealed at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

Many of you appeared before the OMB Hearing for 10 Marilyn Avenue to represent the neighbourhood on November 14th, 2011. Recently, the OMB has concluded its deliberations and has published a ruling. I am forwarding you this information to keep you informed on this item.

The ruling has come in favour of the applications at 10 Marilyn. Below is the decision of the OMB as stated in their findings:

For all of the reasons given, the Board find that the appeal under s. 53(19) is allowed and provisional consent shall be given, subject to conditions that may be required by urban forestry and public works. The appeals under s. 45(12) are allowed and the Board authorizes variances from the by-law requirements in respect of lot frontage of 12.9 m for the severed lot and the retained lot.

This ruling is final and cannot be further appealed. For further information, we have uploaded a full transcript of the ruling to our website:
http://www.mikedelgrande.ca/documents/omb20120110.pdf

Yours truly,
Mike Del Grande

City news release: Winter sightings of coyotes are normal in the city

Coyote sightings are not uncommon in Ward 39. In past years, neighbours have reported seeing the wild animals in the Heathwood, Beverly Glen, and Glendower subdivisions. For more information on the animal and how to keep your neighbourhood safe, please see the City's news release below:

News Release

January 12, 2012

Winter sightings of coyotes are normal in the city

Residents in the city of Toronto who live on or near ravines and forests (typical coyote habitat) should expect to have more coyote sightings during winter months.

Coyotes have become a natural part of the urban landscape in Toronto. They can thrive in urban areas because of the abundance of food and shelter available to them.

Residents can expect to see coyotes more often in winter for the following reasons:
It is easier to spot coyotes in parks and ravines in the winter because they are not hidden by foliage.
Coyotes are wary by nature and are more comfortable roaming in residential neighbourhoods when fewer people are outside.
The months of January and February are mating season for coyotes, which means coyotes are more active during this time, making them more visible.

Coyotes may approach pets that are not supervised, especially cats and small dogs. It is always a good idea to keep an eye on your pet while they are outside. It is very unlikely that a coyote will be attracted to a child; however, close supervision of children is also important.

Residents are advised to follow these practical steps that will help to minimize negative encounters with coyotes:
Never feed a coyote or any wild animal. Feeding wild animals is detrimental to the community and to the animals themselves.
Do not feed domestic pets outside.
Ensure all household garbage is inaccessible to animals.
Place garbage at the curb the morning of the scheduled pick-up.
Consider using green bins instead of composters for food waste.
Always supervise pets - keep dogs on a leash and cats indoors or supervised while outside.
Remove dense brush and weeds around property to minimize hiding spots for coyotes.
If you encounter a coyote, wave your arms aggressively, make loud noises, and throw objects in its direction (but not at it) to scare it away. These actions teach coyotes to be afraid of humans and this will minimize conflicts. If these actions do not scare a coyote, back away slowly from the animal. Do not turn your back or attempt to run away.

In this last scenario, if the coyote is not scared away, please call Toronto Animal Services, through 311. There is no need to call if you simply spot a coyote exhibiting its normal behaviour.

If every member of the community commits to following these steps, we will experience fewer negative encounters with coyotes in Toronto.

For more information, call 311 or visit http://www.toronto.ca/animal_services/coyote.htm