BY SHELLEY CARROLL As you begin to spend more time out in the sunlight, every resident becomes our "eyes on the street." You notice more when you are outside, like neglected properties or broken infrastructure. You discuss more with your neighbours in the summer months. So the whole DVN Team are receiving calls about the kinds of things that need attention in any big city. But this is really anything but a normal summer. The global pandemic continues to affect every aspect of our city's operations. Every service we normally provide has to be analyzed and prioritized according to pandemic constraints, which is why you may not be receiving the same level of service you are used to.
Earlier this week, Mayor Tory warned that, without a bailout from the provincial and federal government, we may have no choice but to make significant cuts to several city services, which could include transit and libraries. This is because the City is still losing close to $65 million a week due to increased costs and reduced revenue. City staff are preparing a report for our next Council meeting that will detail which services could be on the chopping block. I'll update you here when we receive that report.
CALL TO ACTION: LET YOUR MPP AND MP KNOW TORONTO NEEDS THEIR HELP!
While the Mayor is having daily conversations with our provincial and federal counterparts about receiving help for Toronto, we have yet to receive any relief. I have been speaking regularly with our Don Valley North MP, Han Dong, who has been vocal with his colleagues about giving Toronto the support we need, but your voice makes his argument stronger. So, consider sending a message to our local MP and MPP with your concerns. Here is their contact information and a suggested email template: MP Han Dong Han.Dong@parl.gc.ca 416-443-0623 MPP Vincent Ke vincent.keco@pc.ola.org 416-494-8778 Subject: Toronto needs your support Dear MP Dong and MPP Ke, The City of Toronto is still losing $65 million a week due to the impact of COVID-19. Without immediate relief from our federal and provincial partners like yourselves, the City is going to have no choice but to dramatically reduce services and increase taxes — none of which we can afford during this pandemic. As the economic backbone of Ontario and Canada, I am asking for your support and advocacy on this matter. Sincerely, [Your name] [Address and postal code]
Impacted services In the meantime, services essential to the healthy and smooth operation of our city are open wherever possible. Where things are cancelled, such as some City-run recreation programs, it's because of a direct impact of COVID-19. There is an important tab on the City of Toronto website that can help you get a sense of what is fully operational (lots of things are now) and what is not, titled COVID-19: Changes to City Services.
Enforcement staff are slowly working to get back to normal levels of adherence with City bylaws. But for the time being, the focus is on deploying bylaw officers to calls related to health and safety. Any time you see news reports of a dangerously crowded beach or encampment, you can bet bylaw officers are on their way over. In turn, this means calls to investigate tall grass and weeds and illegal dumping is lower on the priority list, and it will take longer than usual for officers to address these types of complaints. That said, I still want you to call in each and every concern to my office or to 311. We log each resident complaint or concern and can make sure it is addressed once more services resume. Service vs enforcement City functions are a balance of delivering services and enforcing rules. For example, we manage services such as garbage, water, childcare and transportation. We then enforce rules such as noise, pet waste and construction bylaws, property standards, business licenses and more. People are feeling a little sensitive about being asked to follow rules these days, especially new ones such as mask wearing in public. Funny thing is, new rules should never come as a surprise. Cities begin creating bylaws for the common good pretty much as soon as they exist.
As soon as Toronto switched from an agricultural region to a harbour town, there were rules about having livestock in your home because houses started to be built quite close together. Farm animals could be noisy, smelly and breed disease — and the animals themselves were also unhealthy and unhappy roaming busy streets. A bylaw moving them out of the centre of town was best for all. In frontier times, there always comes a moment when people realize we needs bylaws. As a city begins to grow, you can’t have a large, poorly-built barn suddenly falling over on neighbouring buildings. As business leaders cluster and a main street takes shape, the local government makes its first stab at economic development by creating a bylaw prohibiting homes and churches being built beside the central saloon. Present day And so it goes. Local governments make new rules to keep the community strong, healthy and attractive to live in for all. New bylaws are created whenever innovations make them necessary. Pesticides made pretty lawns but they got more powerful and carcinogenic until a pesticide bylaw was required to reduce harm.
Smoking anywhere you please was fine for a century until science confirmed that second-hand smoke was a danger to others. One by one, cities all over the world created anti-smoking bylaws for public areas. Toronto's tree canopy was found to be gravely lacking, with the city literally heating up after generations of dense growth and a few devastating insect infestations. Enter the infamous Tree protection bylaw. The newest bylaw of them all? You guessed it: wearing a mask in enclosed public spaces. Just like the science behind second-hand smoke, new science showing a reduction in COVID-19 transmission when masks are widely worn by the general population has brought about this new bylaw.
So, please don't challenge bus drivers or shopkeepers about the bylaw. They're your fellow human beings and they need you to wear the mask. For all you know, they might be on their way to visit their elderly mother, and you could preserve that mother's health by complying.
A favour
On behalf of the whole team, I ask for your understanding. As we follow up on every call on a same-day basis, we do come up against some postponements and backlogs from the long pandemic lockdown. We will keep open files on your concerns until we get resolutions.
On the plus side, it's now safer to get out and enjoy our beautiful city a bit. It’s getting better every day. You can even grab an ice cream on a hot summer night. Just keep a distance of two metres from your fellow ice cream fans — after all, you can't eat ice cream with a mask on.