News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
A Message to Our Readers
 10K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
EarthCam Time-Lapse Documents Rafael Viñoly-Designed New Stanford Hospital Construction
 42K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
Resort Town
 5.9K     0 

There are lots of sidewalks on major streets that are close to impassable or have a thick layer of sand-like snow a week after the storm. Levy fines on businesses and homes that haven't shoveled (where applicable). And get city plows onto sidewalks as needed.

I'm calling out: Jones (Queen to Danforth), Pape (Danforth to Mortimer), and Broadview (Mortimer to Queen) from my run today.

Rant over
 
Note to Mayor, have a "Snow Windrow" removal map for the 2025-2026 year. One that also shows the pedestrian crossovers, intersection corners, and transit stops that had or are being removed of their snow windrows.

Oh wait. That involves spending money on pedestrians. The suburban councillors and NIMBYs will say "no".
1740330629282.png
 
Admiral Beez said:
My property taxes are up 20% since Chow become mayor and we can’t even clear the snow in a timely fashion.
Click to expand...

While there are other factors, the biggest is the terrible snow removal contracts the City signed in 2021 under then Mayor Tory, which run through 2029.

Aside from using many new/unproven players who promised to cut costs............... the penalties for not complying with service standards were reduced up to 95%.

Add to that, the City's own fleet of top tier equipment, like the giant snow melters used to get rid of snowbanks has dwindled from 5 to 2 since the Miller era.

Richard White said:
Perhaps we need to request a staff report and/or study on why this is the case.
Click to expand...

Oh there's a report coming.........probably 2 actually.........and I wouldn't rule out 3.
 
Admiral Beez said:
My property taxes are up 20% since Chow become mayor and we can’t even clear the snow in a timely fashion.
Click to expand...
The City finances were a TOTAL mess due to Mayors Ford & Tory refusing to raise taxes. Clearing snow is important but so are MANY other things. Toronto taxes are still lower than in many places.
 
I have to say, I've been impressed with the snow clearing in Mississauga. Pretty excellent job clearing sidewalks after the first couple days.
 
DSCToronto said:
Toronto taxes are still lower than in many places.
Click to expand...
I'll actually be glad (somewhat) when Toronto's taxes are higher than most places, since this old tome of an excuse for municipal incompetence and neglect will no longer be trotted out. What will future mayors and city managers tell us when they're presumably rolling in revenue but still can't clear the snow, keep vagrants and junkies out of our parks, can't maintain the infrastructure, keep a clean and tidy public realm, or run the TTC without delays and failures, or reduce congestion?
 
I hadn't seen this before, and it's undated, so I'm not sure when it came out (though it has up-to-date data) but it has some nice graphics and a good tax calculator at the bottom.

www.thestar.com

Toronto’s property taxes are going up. Here’s how much you could end up paying — and how that compares to Mississauga, Hamilton and other Ontario cities

Use the Star’s interactive tool to see how Toronto’s 6.9 per cent proposed hike measures up — and see how much you could end up paying.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

1740496240699.png


Put together by some pretty knowledgeable people.
 
evandyk said:
I hadn't seen this before, and it's undated, so I'm not sure when it came out (though it has up-to-date data) but it has some nice graphics and a good tax calculator at the bottom.

www.thestar.com

Toronto’s property taxes are going up. Here’s how much you could end up paying — and how that compares to Mississauga, Hamilton and other Ontario cities

Use the Star’s interactive tool to see how Toronto’s 6.9 per cent proposed hike measures up — and see how much you could end up paying.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

View attachment 632970

Put together by some pretty knowledgeable people.
Click to expand...

Here's some food for thought.

Suppose we bumped that number above for Toronto to the same as Mississauga. An extra ~$1,800 per year Still leaves us roughly in the middle of the pack.

If you applied that to every residential unit in Toronto (includes rental and condo, and for simplicity sake, I'm apply the number equally though obviously many units will be worth more and some less.

It would add 2.25 Billion to the City's annual budget.

If you applied the same idea exclusively to single-family homes, which are 39% of the total. Its still an extra 877M per year.

***

What could that look like in the real world?

Let me split the difference of the 2 numbers above at 1.5B

We'll allocate 1/2 to infrastructure - over 10 years, that's 15B.

That would build you the WELRT, fully funded, deliver platform edge doors throughout the subway, and leave you some leftover for better routine maintanence.

The remain 1/2, at 750M a year....could:

Eliminate Recreation User Fees entirely, and boost spots by 15%

Implement a 40-fare monthly cap for TTC fares, with a 3-hour fare window.

And boost TTC service a whopping 10% with some change to spare.
 
I think the article does fail to mention that Toronto is the only city with a municipal land transfer tax, which brings in a billion dollars a year and is paid by homeowners in Toronto. But I'm in favour of an additional $1800/year for those things.
 
Councillor Saxe, who often brings forward good ideas, has proposed a motion to the Infrastructure Committee that could, if implemented, return us to the patchwork quilt version of snow clearing we had here until a couple of years ago.

IE19.12 - Corporate Landowners Should Have to Clear their Sidewalks Again​

Consideration Type: ACTION
Wards: All

Origin​

(February 25, 2025) Letter from Councillor Dianne Saxe

Recommendations​

Councillor Dianne Saxe recommends that the Infrastructure and Environment Committee:

1. Direct the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with the Executive Director, Municipal Licencing and Standards, to report back to Infrastructure and Environment Committee in the third quarter of 2025 with a detailed plan to restore the responsibility of corporate property owners to promptly clear snow and ice from sidewalks abutting their property."
SEE: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.IE19.12


Though I certainly agree that the clearing of snow after the recent snowfalls was poorly handled by the City, the answer is not to return to the piecemeal and ridiculous rules of a few years ago. In the past, one passed a building who had shoveled a narrow path by hand , one who had (only) salted, one who had a tractor to push a wide path through the snow and one who had done nothing. Having sidewalks plowed in a UNIFORM way is essential for mobility and this means the City should do it. Just because the City contractors seemed unable to perform adequately this winter is no reason to return to the old way of doing things. It did not work!

The answer to poor snow clearing is for City staff to properly supervise the snow removal contractors and for there to be significant penalties imposed for poor (or non-existent) snow clearing.
 
They should add a "snow removal levy" to corporate property taxes, then use that money to do it. They could calculate it by the cm of snow!
 
evandyk said:
They should add a "snow removal levy" to corporate property taxes, then use that money to do it. They could calculate it by the cm of snow!
Click to expand...

We should probably have a land-tax per foot of frontage in addition to property taxes set at something like $2/month/per-foot. The city has many costs, snow clearing is one of them, which correlate to the width of the lot rather than the number of residents.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top