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.