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/