Neighbours,
The events that are unfolding in Ukraine today have been extremely concerning. These aggressive actions by Russia against Ukraine are unacceptable, and my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine and all Ukrainian-Canadians at this very sad and difficult time. The federal government has created a link with information on this evolving situation, and I encourage residents to learn more here.
I know that it has been a challenging time over the past two years, and events of the recent past have only furthered cause for concern. Yet I remain confident that despite the challenges we face, and the uncertainty around us, brighter days are ahead. A lot of progress has been made in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and as we continue the return to normalcy in our communities and the City, we have much to look forward to.
As of February 18th, Team Toronto has now administered more than 6.7 million first, second and third doses of COVID-19 vaccine. This is an incredible achievement, and I thank every resident who has done their part by getting vaccinated and following public health guidelines. Getting vaccinated has helped enormously to move us forward towards an end of the impacts of this pandemic. You can book an appointment online through the provincial portal here.
There will be a local COVID-19 vaccine clinic in our Davenport community on March 5th from 10:00am to 6:00pm at Casa das Beiras Community Centre (34 Caledonia Rd). This clinic will be offering first, second, or third doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. I have provided more information about this clinic below.
Throughout this week and next I am attending meetings at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities representing our City. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is the national voice of municipal government in advocating to ensure our Citizen's needs are reflected in federal policies and programs. I also serve as the chair of the FCM Social Economic Development Committee, and in this role, I work with my fellow committee members to facilitate detailed debate and policy on housing and homelessness, cultural and community infrastructure, and more. You can visit this link to learn more about the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
Today, I joined with officials from all levels of government, community leaders and stakeholders for the National Housing Supply Summit where we continued to seek ways to work collaboratively as we address housing challenges across the country and in our City. The focus of the summit was building more affordable homes and I was pleased to join with so many others as we work together towards lasting solutions to housing affordability. As Chair of the City's Planning and Housing Committee I always welcome opportunities to work together with all stakeholders as this is the way we will most effectively implement the solutions we need.
The City's budget process is a long and detailed undertaking that includes wide consultation with individuals and stakeholders. I am grateful for all your comments and recommendations and as you may know on February 17th, City Council approved the 2022 Budget. Our City's 2022 Budget invests in key priorities for residents, such as affordable housing, climate action, and investments in transit. I have provided more information below on the 2022 Budget below.
I also want to thank residents who participated in the 261 Nairn virtual open house on February 22nd, as well as the Earlscourt Park pathways virtual open house on February 23rd. It is through this kind of community feedback and community consultation that we can build our community in a way that works for all residents.
On a similar note, there are a couple of upcoming meetings that I want to remind residents about. Tonight, (Feb 24th), the developers of the 158 Sterling site in the lower Junction Triangle will be hosting a virtual Zoom meeting for the community to hear about the status of construction and an overview of progress. Interested residents can register for this Zoom meeting here.
Furthermore, on March 3rd, 2022 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., the City will be hosting a virtual open house on the Keele-St. Clair Local Area Study. The upcoming virtual open house will be an opportunity for the community to provide comments and feedback on the Keele-St. Clair Local Area Study before it is sent to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for approval and implementation. I have provided more information about this upcoming meeting below.
As always please do not hesitate to contact my office if we can be of any assistance. You can contact my office by email at [email protected] or by phone at 416.392.7012.
In community,
Ana
Table of Contents
COVID-19 Updates
- Province Proceeds With Next Phase of Reopening
- City of Toronto Begins Reopening City Hall and Civic Centres for Counter Services
- Upcoming Local COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic on March 5th
- Walk-ins Continue At Any City Clinic for Youth and Adults
- Spaces Still Open for March Break CampTO Registration
- City's COVID-19 Dashboard Continues To Be Updated
City & Local Updates
- City Council Passes 2022 Budget
- City Budget Expands Support for Renters and People Experiencing Homelessness
- Budget To Fund Community-led Crisis Response Pilots
- Budget Increases Support For Small Businesses
- National Housing Supply Summit
- Engaging Virtually on Important Issues Affecting Our City
- Keele-St. Clair Open House March 3rd from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
- Earlscourt Park Pathways Open House A Success
- Community Members Attend 261 Nairn Park Open House
- Consultation on Single-Use & Takeaway Items Underway Until March 4th
Recent Municipal Announcements
- February 16 - City of Toronto safely resuming additional services as Toronto enters next phase of provincial reopening
- February 17 - Toronto City Council approves 2022 tax-supported operating and capital budgets
- February 18 - More than 6.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered by Team Toronto
- February 18 - Design concept selected for landmark Terry Fox mural to be painted in downtown Toronto this summer
- February 18 - City of Toronto following provincial guidance on proof of vaccination requirements to access City facilities
- February 22 - Mayor Tory launches campaign to help small businesses during their pandemic recovery
- February 23 - New City of Toronto community recreation centre and library to be named for Wendat word Ethennonnhawahstihnen’
- February 23 - Team Toronto shifting to a hyper-local, equity-focused COVID-19 vaccination approach
Province Proceeds With Next Phase of Reopening
The Ontario Government is proceeding with the next steps in the provincial reopening plan.
The province has now:
- Increased social gathering limits to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors;
- Increased organized public event limits to 50 people indoors, with no limit outdoors;
- Removed capacity limits in certain indoor public settings like restaurants, bars, cinemas, and other food & drink establishments, where proof of vaccination is required;
- And more
Effective March 1st, the province will be lifting capacity limits in all remaining indoor public settings, as well as lifting proof of vaccination requirements for all settings. I encourage residents to learn more here.
City of Toronto Begins Reopening City Hall and Civic Centres for Counter Services
The City of Toronto has begun to reopen City buildings to residents and staff. Residents can now receive select in-person counter services at Toronto City Hall and civic centres.
These in-person counter services include:
- Payments for property taxes;
- Utilities and parking violations;
- Construction permits;
- Tree removal permit applications;
- and COVID-19 rapid screening kits for small and medium-sized businesses.
Some of these in-person counter services will require booking an appointment in advance, while other services will be made available on a first-come first-serve basis.
Residents can click here to learn more.
Upcoming Local COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic on March 5th
Walk-ins Continue At Any City Clinic for Youth and Adults
City Immunization Clinics continue to accept walk-in visits for COVID-19 vaccinations while continuing with booked appointments. All five City immunization clinics are also offering walk-in third dose COVID-19 vaccinations for youth aged 12 to 17. Youth are eligible for a third dose if approximately six months (168 days) have passed since their second dose.
Information on City immunization clinics can be found here. Residents can also book an appointment online or call the Provincial booking system at 1-833-943-3900 (TTY 1-866-797-0007).
Spaces Still Open for March Break CampTO Registration
Registration for March Break CampTO is open, including in-person and online camp experiences for ages four to 12 and adapted programs for ages six and over. Camps take place from March 14 to 18 and will reflect the provincial COVID-19 requirements at that time.
With March Break just a few weeks away, I encourage interested residents to learn more about CampTO here.
City's COVID-19 Dashboard Continues To Be Updated
The City of Toronto maintains an updated dashboard of statistics and reports on COVID-19 numbers in our City, including a case count map. It is easy to review information on the dashboard which outlines what is occurring in our City during the pandemic. The data is updated regularly.
The dashboard can be found at this link.
City & Local Updates
City Council Passes 2022 Budget
On February 17th, City Council passed the 2022 City of Toronto Budget! The 2022 Budget includes a $14.99B Operating & Rate Supported Budget, and a $46.58B ten-year Capital Budget.
The 2022 Budget invests in a number of important priorities and programs that residents have expressed support for. The 2022 Budget will allow us to:
- Invest in public health, including the largest and most successful vaccination campaign in the country
- Add 62 frontline paramedics as part of the Council-approved Toronto Paramedic Services Multi-Year Staffing and Systems Plan
- Accelerate transformational work to deliver affordable and supportive housing
- Invest in transit to keep Toronto moving and equitable – including a TTC fare freeze and a plan to restore TTC service to pre-pandemic levels.
- Support Toronto’s economic recovery with an emphasis on small businesses
- Expand digital services for residents and business
- And much more.
Below, I have provided more information on some of the specific investments in the 2022 Budget to support residents and our City.
Residents can visit this link to learn the basics, and visit this link to see the full details of the City Council Budget Meeting.
The 2022 Budget will hire more by-law enforcement officers for our City's RentSafeTO program. The RentSafeTO program is a bylaw enforcement program that ensures apartment building owners and operators comply with building maintenance standards.
By hiring more officers for RentSafeTO, multi-tenant housing, and noise by-law enforcement, City Council is ensuring tenants and neighborhoods across our City maintain important safety and quality-of-life standards. Residents can visit this link to see the most recent RentSafeTO building evaluation results.
To support people experiencing homelessness in our City, the 2022 Budget will also expedite the delivery of 300 additional housing opportunities for people experiencing homelessness who are currently in the shelter system. This is in addition to the 3000 opportunities committed on our 21/22 – two year plan.
As a part of the 2022 City of Toronto Budget, City Council approved funding for the City's Crisis Response Pilots. The pilots will seek to better support community health, wellness and safety by introducing an alternative model of crisis response that is community-led, person-centred and trauma-informed, with a focus on harm reduction.
The pilots will allow the City to test, evaluate and revise a non-police led crisis response before implementing it at a larger scale, and one of the pilot areas is in our Davenport community. These pilots, alongside with SafeTO, will help ensure the appropriate resources are devoted to assisting persons in crisis.
Residents can also learn more about steps the City of Toronto and Toronto Police are taking to address systemic racism, create alternative community safety and crisis response models, and more here.
To support small businesses, the Budget will create a new small business tax subclass. This will lower property taxes on small business properties, which will help promote their viability and encourage robust main streets.
The 2022 City of Toronto Budget also includes a 15 per cent property tax rate reduction for small businesses. This reduction will help approximately 25,000 small businesses across Toronto.
Business owners can visit this webpage to see more information about supports that are available.
National Housing Supply Summit
Today, I joined with officials from all levels of government, community leaders, and stakeholders from across the country for National Housing Supply Summit. This summit is the result of leadership by the federal government, and I want to thank the federal Minister of Diversity and Housing and Inclusion, Minister Ahmed Hussen, for his leadership on this important file.
This summit brought together municipal, provincial, and federal leaders from across the country to discuss how to improve housing supply and housing affordability in cities, and communities across Canada.
The focus of the summit was building more affordable homes and I was pleased to join with so many others as we work together towards lasting solutions to housing affordability.
As Chair of the City's Planning and Housing Committee I always welcome opportunities to work together with all stakeholders as this is the way we will most effectively implement the solutions we need.
On Tuesday February 22nd, I attended a Public Affairs Association of Canada (PAAC) Ontario panel to discuss the important issue of housing policy.
On Wednesday, February 23rd, I joined an Empire Club of Canada panel to discuss the future of Toronto's waterfront, pictured above. We had an excellent discussion on the immense potential of Toronto's waterfront, and the role that all levels of government can play in helping us build a waterfront that truly works for everyone.
On Thursday, February 24th, I joined the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Toronto panel to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in delivering affordable housing. This panel was an opportunity for participants to learn how the City, the development community, and others, are working together to build more homes.
The Secondary Plan policies that staff will present are the outcome from our Keele-St. Clair Local Area Study which I initiated along with Councillor Nunziata in 2019.
These pathway improvements were initiated by local residents, and will connect to the existing park pathways, entrances, and amenities and will improve accessibility and connectivity throughout the park.
It is through this kind of community feedback and community consultation that we can build complete communities that works for everyone.
Looking forward, the project timeline for these improvements are as follows:
- March to Early Summer 2022: Design Development and hire a construction team
- Late Summer 2022: Construction starts
- Late Fall 2022: Construction complete
More information can be found here.
Community Members Attend 261 Nairn Park Open House
Thank you to residents who joined the virtual open house on the new park that's coming to 261 Nairn Avenue!
The City acquired the property at 261 Nairn Ave in 2021, which was previously a commercial/residential building, and converted it to parkland. The 261 Nairn park proposal was the result of community leadership and community consultation.
This meeting was an opportunity for residents to see the results of this engagement process. Your continued interest and engagement in our community is great to see.
Looking forward, the project timeline for this project is as follows:
- Early Winter to Spring 2022: Hiring of a construction team
- Late Summer 2022: Construction begins
- Late Fall 2022: Construction complete, park opens
More information can be found here.
The City's is conducting a round of public consultations on reducing the use of single-use and takeaway items in Toronto. The objective of the consultation is to gather public feedback on the implementation timing for the Single-Use and Takeaway Item Reduction Strategy, proposed mandatory measures, additional items to be addressed through the Reduction Strategy, and more.
Residents are encouraged to share their feedback through the online survey by March 4th.
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