Free Compost tomorrow

Attention all gardeners and green thumbs,
Free compost available tomorrow morning......

10:00AM till its gone - Bellbury Park (Van Horne & Seneca Hill Drive)

11:00AM till its gone - Pleasantview Community Centre (near Van Horne Park)

Please bring your own supplies (shovels, bags, gloves etc.)

Stay Cool With Help From the City

It was a hot one in Nathan Philips Square today at the Father's Day Stop The Violence Walk-a-thon. It was terrific to see the Toronto Water Event Truck at the end of our walk. Lots of cool running 'Toronto Pure' on tap.
Yesterday was even more blistering at our own Toronto Police Services Division 33 Open House. Our community officers kept cool while providing lots of fun activities for the kids by engaging in a few water fights!

Here are more suggestions for Heat Waves from City Staff:

Toronto's splash pads, wading pools, outdoor pools and beaches are opening soon.

Splash pads are now open across the city, and will stay open until September 17.
Wading pools will open by July 1, some as early as June 26. Hours of operation vary throughout the summer months.
Check your Fun Guide for specific pool info. Leisure swimming programs are free for all.
Toronto’s 10 lifeguarded beaches are now open. To ensure a beach is open for swimming, call the City’s Beach Water Quality Hotline at 416-392-7161 or visit www.toronto.ca/beach.


For up-to-date information about splash pads, wading pools and outdoor pools, including hours of operation, visit www.toronto.ca/parks or call the pool hotline at 416.338.POOL(7665).

Cooling Centres will open shortly in your nearest Civic Centre. Stay tuned to the radio for locations of Cooling Centres or call Councillor Carroll's office at 416-392-4038. Remember that extreme heat is most dangerous to the elderly. If you know a senior neighbour without access to air conditioning, they may appreciate it if you could run them an errand or give them a lift to the store. They need to stay quiet and well shaded in the face of extreme heat.

Councillor Compensation

Today we held the public meeting on the issue of Councillor Compensation, the input to be forwarded to the Outside Blue Ribbon Panel and the final results to be voted on by Council at the end of the month.

With no deputants present to speak to us, we moved to support the recommendation of Budget Chief, David Soknacki and Deputy Mayor Sandra Bussin.

They recommended that the salaries of Council members in all major cities in Canada and the 905 regions be reviewed at the beginning of each new term of office. Toronto would then set its Councillor salaries at the 75th percentile of all these cities.

This does mean a raise for Toronto Councillors but it effectively insures that we will never be the highest paid in the country unless all other cites gave themselves a decrease. I do not expect the Cities of Mississauga and Vaughan will vote to decrease their salaries. You may still contact us to give input on this issue. The final vote is still a number of weeks away. Feel free to email me on the matter at councillor_carroll@toronto.ca

In the meantime, I have taken my role quite seriously and will continue to give between 50 and 60 hours a week to the position.

Police Officers Returning to Intersection

Staff will continue their review of the Leslie/Sheppard construction zone on Monday. In the meantime, I monitored the intersection at rush hour last night and again from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and decided that action must be taken for the weekend. Many thanks to all of the residents who contacted me as I hadn't been through the intersection since last week.

Since it is the weekend, I made an urgent request to the office of Mayor Miller and his staff have called for a police officer to be back at the interesection today. Last night,I witnessed two near-misses and then, when I came down the hill from the hospital bridge and entered the intersection, I was very nearly rear-ended myself. I became extremely concerned about our Sheppard Ave Saturday Shopping Rush Hour. The Rush Hour that lasts all day!

Checking Into Leslie/Sheppard Intersection

An earlier blog brought some email feedback. We hear from residents that the police officer directing traffic is now gone from the construction zone and that incidents are happening with regularity. Ward 33 staff are investigating today and we will have answers shortly.

Do Not Feed The Birds!

Yesterday we opened Toronto's 10 Beaches to Lifeguard Duty. Four of the Beaches, Cherry Beach, Ward's Island, Hanlan's Point and Woodbine Beach, are designated swimmable by international Standards.

However, water quality staff continue to face an uphill battle even at the swimming beaches against birds and waterfowl. When these delicate creatures are fed a steady diet of PEOPLE FOOD they dump high quantities of fecal matter into the water system. This raises the ecoli readings to unsafe levels.

This year staff are launching a campaign for our beaches and for our water system in general, asking that Torontonians please stop feeding the birds. Enjoy the birds, but please don't feed them.

Events at the TTC

The recent surprise work stoppage and the resignation of chief executive, Rick Ducharme have some asking basic questions about how the Transit Commission works. Many have heard me comment quite a bit on the TTC at Budget time. Here's how it works.

The TTC is an arms-length Commission that operates separately from the City of Toronto as a corporate entity. It does not report directly to Council except at Budget time when it must present its Budget to Budget Committee and Policy & Finance Committee in order for us to decide on the level of subsidy we will provide the TTC from the property tax pot.

City Council appoints 9 Councillors to act as Commissioners of the TTC. They preside over the operation and management of the TTC. They are not there in an advisory capacity. They direct staff, and ensure that the residents of Toronto are provided with public transit. They are the ultimate civilian oversight over the TTC. If service is threatened, they are accountable,over and above the Chief of Staff.

It is important to remember that current tensions have nothing to do with any wage settlement or wage contract coming due. The issues up for discussion should be discussed and resolved. The Chair and his Commissioners have a responsibility to uphold when city-wide service is threatened, especially when solvable issues are not getting solved.