Updates On Ward Issues

Updates On ... Don Mills Road Construction delivered by the Works Dept.

This re-paving project has undergone many delays. Originally scheduled to finish by the end of September, there is still work being done. Recently, City staff were informed that the paving contractor has gone into receivership. City Legal staff are busy working with a bonding company to get clearance to complete this work. In the meantime, Transportation staff are keeping an eye on the site to make sure that it is safe for pedestrians.

Works and Emergency Services staff will be completing all of the concrete work except for the proposed concrete median at Van Horne, and all driveway and boulevard paving before the end of next week. This includes the road widening work in front of the Petro Canada gas station. Surface course asphalt paving will most probably happen in Spring 2005 as the weather is not suitable for now. All raised maintenance holes will be lowered and some of the catch basins will also be lowered where required to facilitate drainage. There will be temporary paving along the edge of the concrete gutter and around the catch basins from Van Horne to Finch and wherever there is a sharp drop in the pavement. The site will be cleaned up and made safe prior to closing down for winter.

Contact:

Samuel Jebakumar, P. Eng - Works & Emergency Services 416-395-6395 / mailto:sjebakum@toronto.ca

Updates On ... Illegal Signs on Public Property

This continues to be a big problem in Ward 33. Please continue to let us know of specific locations so that Municipal Licensing Staff can remove them and properly enforce the bylaws.

Updates On ... Shaughnessy Pathway

City Real Estate Staff are continuing negotiations purchasing necessary easements from area property owners. We hope to have this resolved and the pathway opened up to accommodate residents on Shaughnessy Blvd. sometime in the New Year.

Updates On ... Eucan Litter Bins

Silver recycling boxes (Eucan bins) have replaced the majority of litter bins in Toronto. The bins, designed to reduce litter and increase recycling, have three separate compartments to accept waste, recyclable paper, and containers such as soft drink cans and bottles. Thousands of these bins are in place across the city.

As well as providing people the opportunity to recycle on the go, the bins provide a number of other benefits, including improved aesthetics with a clean stainless steel design and avoided costs to the taxpayer, as all units are provided by Eucan free of charge to the City. The city shares in the revenue from the sale of advertising messages contained on the side panel of each unit.

Ward 33 will be part of the pilot project for the new Eucan litter bins. Works staff, in consultation with our office, has designated 3 spots for the bins. The sites chosen are: Sheppard Avenue East at Brian Drive, Finch Avenue East at Leslie Street, and Don Mills Road at Van Horne Avenue (pending).

Installation should begin in March 2005. We encourage your feedback on this pilot project either to our office or the advertised telephone numbers on the bins.

Updates On ... Zion Schoolhouse Pathway

After much meeting and negotiation, we have approval for four new safely lights on the path leading from Finch Avenue East to Angus Drive. They will be installed in the early spring. In the meantime, Forestry Staff have inspected the area and have pruned the trees back so that it improves the visibility on the path and in the general area.

Updates On ... 33 Divison - Elder Abuse Initiative

Over the past year, officers at 33 Division have seen an increase in this horrendous, often silent crime. With the support of senior staff, they have developed an Elder Abuse Protocol to address this particular issue. In conjunction with the Community Police Liaison Committee at 33 Division and officers at 33 Division, an Elder Abuse Symposium took place on November 2, 2004. Local agencies, health care workers, lawyers, doctors and accountants were all present and our eyes were opened very widely as a case study was presented.

If you are a victim or suspect someone of being a victim of Elder Abuse, we ask you to please report it to either police or call anomymously to the Senior Crime Stoppers Line

33 Police Division: 416-808-3395 / Senior Crime Stoppers: 416-222-8477

Updates On: Garbage Collection Schedule for Christmas Trees

Please note that Christmas trees will be collected the first two weeks of January, on a regular collection day. For example, if a resident's regular collection day is Tuesday, we will pick up the tree on a Tuesday. This information is also outlined in the collection calendars.

Should residents have any additional questions on collection scheduling, please contact the customer service line at 416-338-2010.

Thoughts of the Day

27/12/04 - Today, while the hustle and bustle of Post-Christmas shopping continues, many of our Don Valley East residents are praying for the safety of loved ones in South Asia. The gathering of donations and provisions has begun.

The quickest way to help is to send a donation online to the Red Cross right now. Donate online at www.redcross.ca . If you don't have a credit card you can mail a cheque to :

Canadian Red Cross National Office,

170 Metcalfe St, Ste 300, Ottawa, On, K2P 2P2

Envelope and cheque should be earmarked :

"South East Asia Earthquake and Tidal Wave Relief".

Remember that the Red Cross is still helping all those in the Carribean who are still homeless as a result of the hurricanes last fall. Any and all donations are urgently needed and greatly appreciated.

26/12/04 - I feel it is more important than ever to stop and spend some time with our children. It is especially hard when they are teenagers and young adults but they need us more than ever right now. The violence of recent weeks brings the children under our own roofs sharply into focus. Somehow I'm less inclined to let them go off on their own on Boxing Day.

For those struggling to find a way to spend time with a family of children of varying ages and divergent interested I have two words: Lemony Snicket! Distracted 18 year old, surly 14 year old, exhausted Mom and all agree this movie is a fantastic way to spend two hours. Along with some brilliant characters and action it carries with it a subtle message about the closeness of families.

22/12/04 - Our fellow councillors' offices all tried to tell us it couldn't be done. "You can't have a holiday householder published," They said. "Your staff is too busy. The postman is too busy," They said.

Well we did it. You should be receiving a quick mailer from us this week but our colleagues may have had a point. In our rush to meet the postman's deadline we've shipped it out with a couple of errors. Eagle eyed constituents called today.

There is a portion of a sentence in the article named, "Barnraising It Isn't" that is pretty much the most important part. It describes the size and scope of the most recent development application in our ward. The project proposed in Parkway Forest asks for an addition of 3500 new units of housing to the neighborhood and would require the demolition of 332 existing rental units. One of the new buildings proposed would be 48 storeys high and three others would be 42 storeys. Community meetings on this application will be getting underway in February and we hope that residents all over Ward 33 will get involved. Keep updated by visiting this blog.

We are constructing a complete Development Update section for the Blog. It should be up before the stores are out of marked down Christmas Wrap!

Also, the householder mentions the Zoo New Years countdown. The missing word is KIDS! You won't find a better way to celebrate New Years Twice. At 6:00 p.m. the doors open with reduced admission and free parking. Your children tear around a brightly lit Toronto Zoo with noisemakers and clowns and tons of fun. Then we all meet back in the main square for a "Kids Countdown" at 9:00 p.m. The best part is at 9:01 when families make a mad dash for their cars. They drive very happy and VERY SLEEPY little ones home to their beds and by 10:00 p.m. Moms and Dads can be back on track with the grown up part of ringing in 2005.

21/12/04 - There is an update delivered by the Works Dept. today in the 'Don Mills Road Construction' section.

20/12/04 - My long, slow crawl through the TTC Budget continues today. In a meeting with TTC senior staff, the City's Financial analyst and A small focus group of councillors, we crept, line by line, through the operating side of this massive budget.

The previous Provincial Government withdrew funding of operation of the TTC, leaving it the only major urban transit system maintained by a combination of property tax dollars and the farebox. Most of the big announcements you have heard over the last few years regarding the TTC are dedicated to the Capital side of the TTC Budget.

The difficulty in receiving great infusions into the purchase of Kyoto compliant buses or construction of rights of way, is that the lack adequate operating dollars to run them day to day continues. The gas tax credit scheduled to come to Toronto begins to correct this but it is being phased in very gradually.

My role, as a Budget Committee member is to be able to say, as we continue to negotiate this with the Province and the Feds, "I've scrutinized this budget thoroughly, my City staff have scrutinized it, I'm confident we are only negotiating necessities."

19/12/04 - One job of a city councillor is to make sure that federal and provincial governments are aware of the needs of Toronto residents. Happily, it's also my role to let them know when I think they are on the right track.

I represent City Council on the Toronto Food Policy Council. Today, the Council voted to communicate its support to the Province for their efforts to save the Greenbelt around Toronto from further urban sprawl.

The Council points out that this land around Toronto is the best food-growing land in all of Canada. We need to keep this farmland because it's widely expected that in the very near future high prices for oil and scarcity of water will mean we have to feed ourselves from our own region. Imports of many foods so common we take them for granted will become prohibitively expensive. To have an affordable variety of foods, we must hang on to foodlands.

The Toronto Food Policy Brief also calls on the Province to help farmers outside Toronto to grow more of the foods that people new to Canada need to eat. In Ward 33 Don Valley East, we have people from every corner of the world. Many of their favourite foods from home could be grown easily and affordably right here in the Southern Ontario Greenbelt adding to the good health and enjoyment of people who are homesick for their favourite foods.

If you agree, be sure to let our Don Valley East M.P.P. Hon. David Caplan, Minister of Infrastructure know. To receive a copy of the brief send us an email at http://www.councillor_carroll@toronto.ca with the subject title "Food Policy Brief".

18/12/04 - This afternoon my Executive Assistant, Bob Spencer and two of our student staff persons, Janey Coles and Coralie D'Souza met with Robert Kerr and Kaarin Taipale from ICLEI, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, and Councillor Raymond Cho with regards to sustainable development in the City of Toronto. Councillor Cho, being the chairperson of the Toronto Zoo Management Board, discussed the importance of environmental sustainability in Toronto and how the Toronto Zoo is exploring partnerships with other organizations vital to this movement within Canada. ICLEI, with its strong ties in the international movement towards sustainable development in City Planning, will be a crucial endorsement for Toronto. For more information on ICLEI, go visit http://www.iclei.org/

Making the Grade

The North York Mirror recently published its annual Toronto City Council Report Card. Councillor Carroll's grade below.

Shelley Carroll, Ward 33 Don Valley East - Grade: B+

The former Toronto District School Board trustee was off to an impressive start. Miller appointed her to two high profile committees - the administration committee and the budget advisory committee.

Locally, she's had massive development thrown at her along the Sheppard corridor, and handled it with aplomb, balancing community and developer needs, but taking her marching orders from constituents.

In debate, she has shown a real acumen for bridging the needs of her sub-urban constituents with those of downtown residents. She's among council's most promising newcomers.

Contact our office

Councillor Shelley Carroll
Ward 33 Don Valley East

Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Suite A14
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 2N2

Phone: 416-392-4038
Fax: 416-392-4101
Email: mailto:councillor_carroll@toronto.ca

Check out the City of Toronto Official Website for more information on Shelley Carroll:

http://www.toronto.ca/councillors/carroll1.htm

Staff Team:

Robert Spencer, Executive Assistant, 416-392-4037
mailto:rspence3@toronto.ca

Collette Lennie, Constituency Assistant, 416-392-4038
mailto:clennie@toronto.ca

Jenny Chan, Constituency Assistant, 416-392-4038
mailto:jchan22@toronto.ca

Coralie D'Souza, Special Project Assistant
416-392-4038

Jesse Calvert, Special Project Assistant
416-392-4038

Janey Coles, Special Project Assistant
416-392-4038