Dear Ward 24 Residents,
Over the Christmas Holidays I took “Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company” from the Toronto Public Library. Chapter VI started with these words: As E.E. Sheppard once observed: “Always towards the end of the year people start to think about municipal reform, a readjustment of the Ward system, fewer alderman, more eminent men in Council.” But nothing ever seemed to happen. (I figured Doug Ford must have read the same chapter which lounging in a public library in Etobicoke!)
I think it’s pretty safe to assume there was absolutely no one in Toronto City Hall who saw this one coming down the tracks…..
Toronto City Council in one swiftly moved piece of Provincial government legislation went from 44 Councillors to 24 Councillors. There were no public meetings, no online consultations….but a Provincial led by Premier Doug Ford who wanted it done.
The City of Toronto had just completed a pretty extensive three years consultations of our residents which saw a general consensus there needed to be more City Councillors not fewer. The plan was to increase our numbers 47 with the average population to be about 65.000 people. (This number is actually derived from amalgamation documents in 1997 courtesy of Mike Harris when the current Toronto was formed)
We can save the topic of Doug Ford disagreeing politically with his politic mentor Mike Harris for another day…..for another blog posting….
Suffice to say there were no public meetings, no extensive consultations which I was ever invited to gauge my feelings.
My new Ward becomes Ward 24 Scarborough – Guildwood. The population swelled from roughly 62,000 to about 118,000 people. It also now mirrors the same named provincial and federal ridings. Five Neighbour Improvement Areas from three: Kingston/Galloway/Orton the (KGO), Morningside, Eglinton, Scarborough Village, Eglinton East. I had one small community centre, now three….. (Also a topic for another posting)
And most importantly for the coffee loving residents in Ward 24 I have opportunity to have 12 different Tim Horton locations to now get my caffeine fix!
All my Best,
Paul