33 Division Community Bulletin

UNIT COMMANDER
Staff Inspector Ruth White

A devastating earthquake struck Pakistan this month leaving tens of thousands dead and millions homeless. Police Constables Mansoor Ahmad and Sajeev Nair of 33 Division desperately wanted to help. They reached out to the community and organized a relief effort, requesting donations of tents, blankets, clothes and medical supplies be dropped off at any police station. They also arranged the transportation of the donations to Pearson Airport where these much needed supplies would be sent to Pakistan.

Due to the overwhelming response from corporate donors and the people of Toronto, the warehouse space at Pearson Airport reached its capacity. The results of the relief effort will see 255 boxes containing over 2600 tents and 1700 blankets making its way to Pakistan over the next four weeks.

These officers are to be commended for their efforts and again the people of our City have exemplified the true meaning of community by assisting the Toronto Police Service in this compassionate effort.

Financial support is still needed and contributions can be made to the Pakistan President’s Earthquake Relief Fund at the following institutions:

Royal Bank Transit # 02874003
Account # 105-223-2
Bank of Montreal #3214-1002-807
Habib Canadian Bank #1130-93

ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES
SAFE SCHOOLS/SAFE STREETS

The five-week Traffic Enforcement project concluded on October 10th and was an overall success. 2,700 charges were laid, including arrests that were made in and around the schools, helping to keep our neighbourhoods and our children safe.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

“HAVE YOU BEEN A VICTIM OF A BREAK AND ENTER?”

The Home Security Academy can “help you put the pieces back together.”

The 33 Division Toronto Police Service Home Security Academy is a one evening workshop. This session is designed to help you deal with your emotional reaction and give you a chance to:

Reduce your sense of violation
Understand your reaction
Discuss effective coping methods
Access support services

It will also focus on crime prevention strategies, both for your home and your community.

This FREE workshop is being offered to you or someone you know who has been a victim of a Break and Enter on:

Thursday, November 10th, 2005
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
33 Division, 50 Upjohn Road

Please contact PC Kelly Downie #5535, 33 Division Crime Prevention Officer to confirm your attendance at 416-808-3395.

CRIME PREVENTION TIPS OF THE MONTH
“QUICK TIPS”
Be informed about Charity scams. Never donate money over the telephone, or give out personal information. Carefully look at the charity’s full name and confirm that it is a legitimate charity or organization.
Now that the cold weather is approaching, be wary of people who show up at your door offering special deals on checking your furnace and other fuel burning appliances.
Protect your identity – choose a PIN number that is difficult to obtain; do not write your PIN number down; do not use your birth date, address or phone number as your PIN number; destroy your bank statements and ATM transaction records.

“FAST FACTS”

Did you know that 85% of all child/infant car seats are installed improperly? Have your child’s car seat inspected by a trained technician by calling 33 Division at 416-808-3325 to book an appointment.

It’s a fact that your vehicle’s airbag is among the list of targeted items stolen for their high value. If your airbag is being replaced, make sure it’s installed by a reputable dealer.

Did you know that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities? This is due to the lack of respect for basic road laws. Avoid becoming a victim by obeying the laws of the road and crossing only at designated areas. Be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to vehicles making right-hand turns.

GOOD POLICE WORK OF THE MONTH

On Sunday the 16th of October, 2005 at 6:50 PM, a 17 year old male victim was standing in front of a pizza parlor at 3030 Don Mills Rd East.

At that time, a vehicle carrying six males pulled up in front of the restaurant.

Three males exited the vehicle and approached the victim. One of the males immediately attempted to engage the victim into an argument, while the second male began searching the victim’s pockets. The third male used a video cell phone to record the robbery.

The first male, who was wearing a set of brass knuckles, then punched the victim in the face, causing injuries to the face. The victim managed to run away and call police.

The victim was able to provided Primary Response officers with physical descriptions of the suspects and the vehicle.

About one hour later, plainclothes officers located the suspect vehicle exiting the Sparroways housing complex at Leslie St. & Finch Ave East.

The vehicle was followed and pulled over at Yonge St & Finch Ave East, when a sufficient number of officers arrived in the area. Six suspects were arrested and investigated for the robbery.

The brass knuckles were located and seized, along with the cellular phone that had been used to record the attack. When the vehicle was returned to the registered owner, who was the mother of one of the suspects, she advised that the vehicle contained another cellular phone that did not belong to her family.

Police investigated and located the female owner of this cellular phone.

She advised police that her cellular phone had been stolen during a robbery at Hobart Park, Don Mills Rd & Van Horne Ave, earlier in the evening, where she and two friends were robbed by a group of males.

One adult and four young persons were charged accordingly with Robbery, Assault Cause Bodily Harm, Possession of Prohibited Weapon, Obstruct Peace Officer, Possession Under $5,000.00 and Fail to Comply with Recognizance…22 charges in total.

At the time of these robberies, four of the five accused persons were already before the courts, for other charges.

Officers from the following 33 Division units were involved in and contributed to the success of this case; Primary Response Unit - “A” Platoon, Community Response Unit, Street Crime Unit and Major Crime Unit.

TRAFFIC TIP OF THE MONTH

Reducing the number of pedestrian fatalities continues to be a priority of the Toronto Police Service. In spite of previous successes and recognizing the efforts of all front line members, 20 pedestrians have lost their lives this year, representing 48% of the total of all traffic fatalities in Toronto in 2005. The Service will continue to be diligent in the promotion of education and enforcement strategies for pedestrian related offences. Smart Ped "Be Bright at Night" is a combined public awareness and enforcement campaign which will run from Monday, 2005 November 07 until Sunday, 2005 November 13. November is traditionally the month when pedestrians are involved in the most collisions.

Oct.22/05 Business Tax Debate Coming Next Week

Below is a short explanation from the Star of the item coming to Council next week on "Enhancing Toronto's Business Climate". This is a market-savy name for a staff report proposing to alleviate the tax inequities between tax classes within the city and between commercial classes between different cities throughout Ontario.

The report was presented to citizen's in September at an event promoted in this Blog. I was proud to hear that the majority of citizen's in attendance were from Ward 33 but overall numbers were still very small. And the context has changed somewhat as we are finalizing the item as citizen's receive whopping increases in assessment from MPAC. More input from you would be helpful.

The crux of the matter being that since the Property Tax reforms introduced by the former Provincial Government, Toronto Businesses and Multi-Residential dwellings have been paying a disproportionate percentage of the Property tax burden here in the city. Add to that, Toronto businesses, in particular, have been paying a disproportionate amount of the whole Province's education tax burden. This has brought about an exodus by businesses to the 905 district and a virtual stand still in commercial and light industrial start-ups inside our city limits. In Ward 33 we have witnessed it in our own Consumers Road Business Park.

There is nothing unusual about reviewing the structure of the reform at this point. It would be due for review right about now, whether the Provincial government had changed hands or not. The Toronto proposal attempts to get the review process going by moving on those things we have the jurisdiction to do ourselves. While it proposes a modest amount of the redistribution be gathered from the residential ratepayers, it also asks that the current Provincial Government review the education tax distribution throughout the province.

In the original reform, it was argued that Toronto should pay the lion's share of education tax as it had the lion's share of business growth and that 35 to 40% of the funds drawn from this community should be redistributed throughout the Province. Fair enough, but a decade later, the growth is in the 905's but they still pay below-average education portions within their property taxes. Simply put, if you are a business owner in Toronto, you are paying for the operations of a school in Uxbridge even though Uxbridge may be experience growth proportionately well beyond that of Toronto.

The landlord and tenant impacts are pretty well explained by Paul Maloney below. What isn't mentioned is the proposal's plan to apply special relief for small retail operations. This is crucial to our neighbouhood strip malls and small business areas. One only has to look at the struggle of Peanut Plaza to keep businesses leased to understand that over taxing is driving smaller operations under and driving anchor stores in these smaller plazas to close up and consolidate into super-stores that may be much further away from consumers.

This constant squeeze on small neighbourhood retail, directly contradicts the vision of both the City and the Province to invest in transit and pedestrian thoroughfares to make Toronto less car reliant. The final debate will take place in Council this week. It will no doubt be designated a timed item when we go through the agenda at 9:30 on Wednesday morning as session opens on Rogers Cable 10. After you read the article below, you can let me know what you think at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca.

Commercial break means $10 hike for homeowners
PAUL MOLONEYCITY HALL BUREAU

The owner of an average-value home in Toronto will have to pay an extra $10 a year in property taxes in a move the city says will help the economy.
By charging homeowners a bit more, the city can give commercial properties a break, in the hope of encouraging employers to stay rather than flee to lower-tax locations in the 905 suburbs.
The idea is to help turn around a trend that has seen the 905 pick up 800,000 jobs from 1991-2001, while Toronto lost 100,000 jobs.
It's reached the point where more Torontonians commute to jobs in Vaughan than the other way around, economic development manager Karen Thorne-Stone told a joint meeting of the policy and finance and economic development committees.
Over the past 10 years, only 13 of 91 new office buildings in the region have gone up in Toronto, Thorne-Stone said. High commercial taxes have been identified as a problem by city council as far back as 2000, but this is the first time any action has been taken.
"Speak to the people who do commercial realty in this city; they'll tell you it's a real issue," Mayor David Miller said.
"I think residents understand, and will understand, that if we don't take these actions and the employment base in Toronto doesn't grow, the tax burden on them in the future will be even more significant."
The tax rate charged on commercial properties is currently about 3.8 times the residential rate.
Under changes endorsed by the committees yesterday, the commercial rate will drop over 15 years to 2.5 times the residential rate.
Put another way, commercial classes (including highrise apartments) now pay 60 per cent of the $3 billion the city raises annually in property taxes, while the residential class (single-family homes and condos) pays 40 per cent.
When the shift is completed in 15 years, commercial will pay 45 per cent of the total and residential 55 per cent. The change is expected to be ratified by city council at its meeting next week.
Under the plan, the taxes on highrise apartments will drop about 2 per cent annually, or about $48 on an apartment renting for $1,000 a month. Currently, owners of highrise apartments pay 3.7 times the tax rate that homeowners pay.
That translates into about $200 on a $1,000-a-month apartment.
The high apartment rate has been a long-time complaint of both landlords and tenants.
"We are pleased that your staff has recognized the historic tax discrimination against tenants in the city," said Brad Butt, executive director of the Greater Toronto Apartment Association, representing landlords.
There is no good reason for rental apartments to be charged a higher rate than detached homes or condos, said Dan McIntyre, program co-ordinator for the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations.
"In the 23 years I've been a tenant advocate, I've been challenging people to give me an argument why tenants should pay more taxes than homeowners," McIntyre said. "I haven't heard one yet. I'm still waiting."
Under provincial law, tenants must be notified when property taxes drop 2.5 per cent or more in a year.
The committees urged the provincial government to amend the Tenant Protection Act to ensure that all property-tax reductions are passed on to tenants.

Oct 20/05 Rooming Houses

Last night we held the information night on Rooming Houses at Pleasant View Junior High. The meeting was very well attended and very thorough presentations were made by staff.

I had staff record the questions and answers. They will be typed onto the Blog early next week for those who could not attend. In the meantime, I can provide you with the main points.

There is no such thing as a legal Rooming House in North York. The bylaw concerning Rooming Houses is not harmonized throughout the city. This means you may not apply to run a Rooming House within the boundaries of the former North York.

So what is a Rooming House? Any dwelling where the owner and a lodger, or several lodgers, share access to parts of the home and the owner collects a fee. This is not legal.

How does this differ from a second suite? In North York, a homeowner can obtain a license to rent out a portion of their home, providing separate access for a tenant, and pay enhanced property taxes based on providing the second suite. Important to note, the homeowner can have a lease with a tenant and that tenant can share the rent with roommates, as long as they meet occupancy maximums and no more.

Any suspected Rooming House can be reported. MLS, Toronto Police and Fire Services are all constrained by certain laws and statutes so the process of entering to investigate and closing one down is slow but not impossible. My office will provide information on reporting. The main thing to remember is that MLS staff, Division 33 Police and and Toronto Fire Service personnel present at the meeting all stressed the same point, "Let us deal with it." No one wants you to end up in a war with any neighbours.

You don't ever need to snoop inside a house. My office wants to hear if you have a chronic concern about improper garbage set-out, chronic littering on the property, excessive weeds and tall grass on a front lawn, excessive vehicles or illegal parking whether on street or inappropriate on property such as parked on grass and of course inadherance with the noise bylaw. These are crucial complaints for us to forward on to staff who are trying to tackle a wave of illegal Rooming Houses. And it goes without saying that these problems must be kept in check at any time to maintain a neighbourhood we can all be proud of.

Peter Constantinou from Seneca College was also present at the meeting and spoke to residents. He learned a great deal about community issues and promised further work. In the short term, he agreed to meet with my office and resolve the issue of the housing section of the Seneca College website. I asked before the residents present if Mr. Constantinou would endeavour to change the procedure at Seneca College Housing Office to require that any person listing student housing on the Seneca College Website first be required to provide proof of license to operate a second suite. This would have major impact. I'll report back after my office has met with the college.

Sargeant Fraser and Police Constable Downey from Division 33 gave a great presention and gave residents all the assurance they need that Division 33 is watching this situation very closely, especially as it has increased so dramatically in the past two years since the College expanded. Constable Downey will deal directly with any concerns as your Community Safety Officer.

Oct. 20th What's Up with Buchan Court

Ward 33 residents and particularly those in the Sheppard/Leslie area will be wondering, "What's up with the development at 25 Buchan Court." The matter was up for it's final consideration on Tuesday at North Community Council.

Good news and Bad news. The Bad news is we don't have an answer for you yet. The good news is I was able to ask for a deferral of the matter for one month with good reason. A long list of resdients came to speak to the application. Councillors appeared to be impacted by them. Staff did not have answers to all of the questions' raised by residents so there was good reason for me to defer the decision.

We have an extra month to deliberate and my fellow councillors appear to be hearing residents loud and clear. Well done Sheppard/Leslie residents! The item will be handled as a continuation, which means that when Community Council meets again on November 15th those who have already spoken to the councillors cannot speak again, but new deputants can apply to speak. Please call my office for more details at 416-392-4038

BIG BARGAINS FROM CITY HALL !?!?

See below for info on the Big Auction. It's that time again.

October 14, 2005

It's "Sold to the highest bidder!" at the City of Toronto Public Auction on Saturday, October 22 at the Queen Elizabeth Exhibit Hall, Exhibition Place.
Bidding starts at 9:30 a.m., however interested buyers can have a preview of the articles up for grabs beginning at 8 a.m. Vehicles go on sale at 10:30 a.m.
Big-ticket items and motorized equipment can be held with a deposit of $300 payable by cash, debit card, certified cheque, Master Card or Visa (a two per cent premium will be added to all purchases if paying by credit card), with the balance payable prior to pick-up. Purchases can be picked up after the auction on Saturday, October 22, Sunday, October 23 or Monday, October 24 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. All purchases must be picked up by 5 p.m. on Monday, October 24.
This giant, semi-annual auction offers the public a great opportunity to pick up some real bargains. Items to go on the block include office equipment, cars, trucks, and lawn equipment.
Organized by the City of Toronto's Purchasing and Materials Management Division, the auction earns money for the municipal government and finds new homes for hundreds of goods no longer needed by the City of Toronto.
For more information, call M. Wilson & Co. at 1-888-205-3331 or visit the auction Web site at www.mwilson.com.
Advance access for media is Thursday, October 20 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Queen Elizabeth Exhibit Hall, Exhibition Place.

Rooming House Meeting - Wed, Oct 19, 2005

Councillor Shelley Carroll's office has received calls from concerned citizens regarding rooming houses that are operating in Ward 33.

To address these concerns, Councillor Carroll is holding a community meeting on:

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Pleasantview J.H.S., Cafeteria - 175 Brian Drive

City of Toronto staff will be in attendance to provide information and answer any questions residents may have about rooming houses. If you are unable to attend this meeting and would like to be put on our mailing list for any follow up, please call 416-392-4038.

Final Report - 25 Buchan Court

The final report for 25 Buchan Court is available online at City of Toronto website. Please click the link below to view the full report. The item is scheduled to be discussed on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 2:30 or thereafter at North York Civic Centre. The item is listed as Item #29 in the report.

http://w3.toronto.ca/legdocs/2005/agendas/committees/ny/ny051018/agenda.pdf

Update - Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program

We have had a number of inquiries asking what the Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program reimburses homeowners for, and here are some points to help clarify the subsidy program:

Does the program reimburse homeowners for flood damages?
No, the Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program does not reimburse residents for any flood-related damages.

Can homeowners be reimbursed for damages?
Homeowners should call their insurance agency, the City can't answer questions related to a residents insurance policy.

How much is the subsidy?
Residents may receive a subsidy, up to a maximum of $3,200.

What is the subsidy for?
This is not a cash for flood-related damages. The subsidy is for the installation of flood-prevention devices such as: a back-water valve, a sump pump, downspout disconnection or pipe severance and capping.

What are the eligibility requirements?
Homeowner's are eligible in one of two ways: First, if they reported the basement flooding to the City, either to Toronto Water staff, or to their Councillor. Or, secondly, they may also be eligible if they can provide proof they advised their insurance company of the basement flooding in a timely manner.

Is there a deadline for this subsidy program?
Program applications and approval are available on a first-come, first served basis up until February 1, 2006.

For information about the Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program or questions about the different flood prevention devices, please call 416-338-8888 and speak to a Toronto Water staff. The information is also available on the City's website at http://www.toronto.ca/water

Shana Tova

To all of our constituents celebrating Rosh Hashana, Happy New Year from Councillor Shelley Carroll and staff.

Notice of Public Meeting - 25 Buchan Court

DATE: Tuesday, October 18, 2005
TIME: 2:30 p.m., or as soon as possible thereafter
PLACE: North York Civic Centre, Council Chambers, 5100 Yonge Street

Applicant: Cityzen Development Group

PROPOSAL

The applications propose to amend the Official Plan and Zoning By-law for the property at 25 Buchan Court to permit two apartment buildings, 16 and 10 storeys in height and 18 and 12 storeys in height, with 650 apartment units and 46 townhouses and a gross Floor Space Index of 1.8.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A copy of the proposed Official Plan Amendment and supporting background information are available between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, at the North York Civic Centre, First Floor, Urban Development Services Information Counter.

Detailed information regarding the proposal may be obtained by contacting Cathie Ferguson, Senior Planner at (416) 395-7117, or by e-mail at cfergus@toronto.ca.

PURPOSE OF PUBLIC MEETING

You are invited to attend the public meeting to make your views known regarding the proposal. To assist in scheduling, if you wish to address the North York Community Council, please notify the City Clerk, attention: Francine Adamo, Administrator, North York Community Council, at (416) 395-0480, by no later than October 17, 2005.

If you wish to submit written comments, please forward them to the City Clerk, attention: Francine Adamo, Administrator, North York Community Council, at the address set out in this notice or by Fax: (416) 395-7337 or by e-mail to nycc@toronto.ca.

North York Community Council will review the proposal and any other material placed before it, in order to make recommendations on the applications. These recommendations will then be forwarded to Toronto City Council for its consideration.