Doug Ford has a tunnel vision, TTC cuts the wifi, City Hall posts surplus
The Week at Toronto City Hall for September 30 to October 4, featuring a city finance update, a plan to fix the vacant home tax, and more
Hey there! Wake me up when September ends. Oh wait, that’s next week! There’s a lot going on, so here’s a look at some highlights on the City Hall calendar and what you might have missed this week.— Matt Elliott
What Happened This Week
🛣️ TUNNEL VISION: Premier Doug Ford turned some heads when he announced his plan to build a big tunnel under a large segment of Highway 401. Many of those heads then proceeded to get smashed against desks in frustration.
Because Ford’s idea will likely be challenged by, well, reality. Past highway tunnels have seen costs rise as high as $1 billion per kilometre. That’s too rich even for this free-spending premier. There’s also little evidence to suggest these kinds of projects — which basically amount to building more lanes — result in a sustained reduction in traffic. It’s more likely the extra road capacity will just encourage more driving.
Some have compared it to Boston’s “Big Dig” project to bury Interstate 93, but the key difference is that after all the cost and construction time, Boston at least ended up with an improved cityscape. Ford’s proposal, meanwhile, keeps the 401 and builds another 401 underneath it. (Potentially, we’re told, with some sort of transit component.)
🚇 LOSING SIGNAL: Things got a bit contentious at Tuesday’s TTC Board Meeting. An attempt by Councillor Josh Matlow to find ways to continue offering free subway wifi in 2025 was defeated by a narrow margin, despite the support of TTC chair Councillor Jamaal Myers and a majority of councillors on the board. Three citizen board members who all opposed the motion made the difference.
The Star’s Ben Spurr broke the news earlier this month that the TTC planned to end the in-station “TConnect” wifi program, reporting that board members were sent a briefing note outlining the TTC’s decision to end the service. Reasons cited included a drop in usage and a hefty cost — cited at about $17 million — for Rogers to upgrade the connectivity infrastructure. (Rogers became the TTC’s vendor for public connectivity after they bought out the previous vendor, BAI.)
Matlow’s motion, even after it was revised several times in a bid to find some consensus on the board, was eventually split into three separate recorded votes.
A recommendation to conduct an equity review on the impacts of cutting off free wifi failed 4-5. Despite declining usage as Rogers turns on 5G service across the service, the TTC says it’s still used by about 20,000 people per day
Another recommendation to have interim CEO Greg Percy report in December on any contractual obligations for Rogers to provide wifi and a breakdown of the $17 million Rogers quoted as the amount necessary to continue service failed on the same margin.
The only part of the motion that carried was a direction for a report on a cost-benefit analysis of trying out a free wifi program available on bus/streetcar platforms and station bays.
The citizen board members who voted against Matlow’s motion argued that the cost cited to continue the free wifi program was simply too high. (One board member making those arguments, Julie Osborne, is a former Rogers executive.)
Matlow, for his part, expressed doubt about the quoted cost. “Rogers claims that it’s $17 million, but there’s no evidence to support that. There’s no justification. Part of my motion asks for us to understand why that number is there. I’ve personally heard from industry experts who reached out to me saying that number is wild,” he said.
But not all arguments boiled down to matters of cost or equity. Councillor Stephen Holyday, who opposed all three parts of the motion, indicated he saw free wifi as a potential safety issue.
“If the platforms are supposed to be places where people wait for an approaching vehicle for a few minutes, and we want people to be situationally aware instead of buried in their phones, why are we doing this? Frankly, I’d rather have people paying attention to their surroundings,” Holyday said.
Rogers will turn off the subway wifi on January 1, 2025.
🌳 CRAVEN MORE TIME: Back in July, Councillor Paula Fletcher quietly passed a motion at Council calling for a tweak to City Hall’s rules for garden suites — small houses built in the backyard of existing homes — that would specifically disallow the housing types on one specific street in her ward, Craven Road.
If you’re not familiar with Craven, it’s worth checking out on Google Street View. (Or visiting!) It’s a strange configuration, with houses and a sidewalk on one side and a fence and no sidewalk on the other.
Some residents on the fence side wanted to build garden suites that would front onto Craven. Some residents on the other side of the street were not fans, arguing that building a garden suite fronting onto Craven is more like building a full-on house.
Fletcher sided with the latter, passing a motion directing staff to prepare a zoning bylaw amendment for consideration of the October meeting of Toronto & East York Community Council that would make garden suites backing onto Craven illegal.
The move has not gone over well with residents on nearby Parkmount Road, who would like to build the garden suites, and with the broader coalition of Toronto YIMBY housing advocates, who worry it could set a precedent for other streets to lobby to remove garden suite permissions.
It was looking like this would all come to a head next month, but it’s now looking like it’ll be a while before things are decided. At this week’s Toronto & East York Community Council meeting, Fletcher introduced and passed a new motion calling for staff to conduct a more in-depth review of whether garden suites should be permitted on Craven. The extra work will likely take longer, so Fletcher has also directed staff “to advise interested parties that this matter may not be heard at the October 24 Toronto and East York Community Council meeting.”
To be continued.
AND ALSO:
KingSett Capital’s proposal for a 46-storey building at 214-230 Sherbourne Street was not voted on by Toronto & East York Community Council. Instead, Councillor Chris Moise passed a motion to send it to Council without a recommendation. Anti-poverty advocates still hold out hope that the City can acquire the property and use it for social housing. We’ll see what Council has to say at their next meeting.
The CBC’s Rochelle Raveendran has a very thorough fact check of some of Premier Doug Ford’s recent claims about bike lanes.
The Infrastructure & Environment Committee approved the updated Congestion Management Strategy, including a construction congestion levy. It will still need to be approved by Council. The debate came with some interesting deputations from construction industry advocates, who suggested one solution could be for City Hall to shift more of their procurement to late fall or early winter, instead of the current convention of awarding tenders in the spring or summer.
Previously, in City Hall Watcher
For paid subscribers of City Hall Watcher, this week’s issue has:
A look at a decade’s worth of police-issued traffic tickets, via a few charts.
A detailed look at all the items on this week’s City Hall agenda, including the traffic congestion strategy, new subway trains, EV chargers, a beanstalk growing through a subway station, and more.
Next week:
A look at some intriguing bike ridership numbers, plus the island airport debate prepares for takeoff.
Subscribe today for ad-free access to weekly subscriber-exclusive issues.
Monday, September 30
It’s the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. No meetings scheduled.
Tuesday, October 1
🗄️ The Executive Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.AIRPORT DELAYS: A report on extending the runway safety areas at Billy Bishop Island Airport will also be on the agenda, but it was unavailable at press time. I’ll have a look at the report in Monday’s issue.
SURPLUS GOODS: There are several reports about City finances up for consideration: on the operating budget, the capital budget, and reserve funds.
There’s more good news than bad.
City Hall is running a $247 million surplus through the first six months of 2024. That’s projected to come down to $138 million at year-end, but it’s still a healthy cushion.
[CORRECTION. Updated Sept 29, 2024 — the below paragraph and accompanying chart were corrected to note the TTC contribution to the surplus is not entirely due to increased fare revenue. There are also other factors. Thanks to Steve Munro for the eagle-eyed correction. — Matt Elliott]
The driving factors of that surplus are notable, though. It’s driven by the TTC receiving more revenue than expected due to a surge of “leisure trips” and reduced spending due to factors like staff vacancies, a delayed software roll-out, and lower diesel prices. It’s also driven by savings from the Shelter & Support Services department attributed to “reduced costs for the temporary hotel program, driven by negotiated longer-term contracts.”
On the more negative side, the Toronto Police continue to project a deficit of $22 million. They blame increased overtime pay.
The Municipal Land Transfer Tax is now projected to come in about $20 million under budget, delivering about $880 million instead of the expected $900 million. Blame interest rates.
VACANT STARE: After a truly disastrous experience this year, City staff have unveiled a slate of measures designed to improve the collection of the vacant home tax in 2025.
Despite the many challenges with collection, the tax has quickly become an important part of the budget. There are between 8,700 and 10,200 empty homes in the City. They paid about $50.6 million via the vacant home tax this year. Council has already increased the tax rate, from 1% to 3%, which should drive significantly more revenue from those very-empty-nesters. (Or it will convince them to sell or rent their home. City Hall is good with that choice too.)
The refined process will still require a manual declaration from every homeowner in the City, but staff are recommending some process changes:
The deadline for declarations will be extended to the end of April. Bills won’t be issued until June 1. This should give staff more time to review bills before they’re sent out the door.
There will be two direct mail reminders about the need to declare vacancy status. One of the biggest problems with the process this year was that the only notice given to homeowners was a sheet included in the property tax bill.
There will now be a QR code in mailings to take homeowners directly to the declaration website. There will also be a dedicated phone line to take declarations, and the ability to declare in-person at City Hall or special drop-in sessions.
Email confirmation and a receipt will be available to prove you’ve made a declaration.
The downside is that it will increase the administrative costs of the program. The new Customer Care Team and Communication Strategy will nearly double the overhead costs of the program, from $3.2 million this year to $5.8 million in the coming collection cycle.
AND ALSO:
The cost of the new charging infrastructure needed for the coming (eventually) Toronto Island Ferries has been confirmed at $42.5 million.
It could be curtains for the dream of a new St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. City CFO Stephen Conforti is recommending axing the project to design and build a brand new facility, citing the “continued financial risk of the project coupled with its poor rating within the Capital Prioritization Framework.” The budget for a new facility was estimated at $421 million. Conforti recommends that Council instead speed up repairs to spruce up the existing theatre, estimated to cost up to $80 million over the next decade.
Mayor Olivia Chow has written a letter outlining her commitment to a universal school food program. She says she’ll share an update with the committee next week on her work to make it a reality. A federal government pledge to spend $1 billion on a national school food program will be part of the recipe.
Wednesday, October 2
🐫 The Toronto Zoo Board of Management meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.SCIENCE CENTRE GOES DOWN, ZOO STEPS UP: The Toronto Zoo has a report on its forthcoming 2025 budget. They’ll request an increase of just $900,000 to their City subsidy. Overall expenditures will grow by $8.5 million, offset mainly by an increase in revenues.
Of the planned spending increases, $3.7 million relates to science programs. That’s necessary, the zoo says, because of the closure of the Ontario Science Centre:
These funds are vital for addressing critical gaps in science literacy and education across all age groups resulting from the temporary closure of the Ontario Science Centre, as well as the growing need for skills development for youth from equity seeking communities.
🏆 The Bid Award Panel meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.CONTRACT AWARD OF THE WEEK: $6.4 million to renovate two floors at Metro Hall.
Thursday, October 3
It’s Rosh Hashanah. No meetings scheduled.
Friday, October 4
Rosh Hashanah continues.No meetings scheduled.
The Week After Next
City Council meets starting on Wednesday, October 9.
The Far-Flung Future
The by-election to fill the vacancy in Ward 15 is on Monday, November 4.
Feedback? Tip? Email Matt Elliott. For advertising inquiries, email Sean Hansel.
To me, wi-fi in TTCstations was never that exciting. In the trains, YES!