Spacing‘s managing editor Dale Duncan writes a weekly column for Eye Weekly focused on City Hall. Each week we’ll post her columns on the Spacing Wire.
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A Registry only a bureaucrat could love
Listening to our new executive committee* debate the lobbyist registry was a little like sitting through a seminar class — everyone wants marks for participation, but not all of them have finished the reading. Howard Moscoe insists labour unions will have to register, while Michael Walker says he’s appalled that they won’t. Shelley Carroll says the new bylaw is a fine piece of work, but Gloria Lindsay Luby says she’s so confused that she’s afraid to talk to anyone. Norm Kelly argues the new rules represent overkill; Giorgio Mammoliti thinks they’re not broad enough.
The only thing everyone agrees on is that the public should know who’s lobbying whom. So what’s with all the confusion? “To be honest,†says councillor Adam Giambrone, “a lot of councillors don’t do their reading.†The whiz kid (who, no matter what the Toronto Star tells you, does not look like Matt Damon) says he spends between 15 to 20 hours a week reading each and every item on his meeting agendas. As chair of the Bellamy Report implementation committee, he was also responsible for helping to write the registry.
He clears up what he says are misconceptions: unions do have to register, unless they represent city employees (employees should be free to talk to their employers, the argument goes). The responsibility for the registry lies not on councillors, but on the folks doing the lobbying (if they don’t sign in, they’ll receive a hefty fine). And, no, average residents do not have to register (you want a parking pad or permission to cut down a tree? Lobby away!).
Not good enough, say councillor Michael Walker and others who argue that unions of city employees should be included. Our 65,000 employees, who receive $4 billion in salaries and benefits, have a lot to gain from influencing councillors, Walker says, and we should know whose ears they’ve got. Counters Giambrone: “You can safely assume that unions are talking to their employers all the time — you should take it for granted that they are talking to us.â€
If council actually passes the proposed registry in February (a slightly different version was voted down last year), it’ll be reviewed again in six months, meaning there’ll be opportunity to attempt to fix any holes. This is the first municipal registry of its kind in Ontario.
*It’s so new that when I asked where the meeting was being held, the two women at the Access Toronto desk inside the front doors of City Hall told me the committee didn’t exist.
Bring on the bike lanes
Community councils now have the power to approve bike lanes (unless they somehow conflict with city bylaws). That’s good news for Toronto and East York, whose bike-friendly councillors will be able to outvote cyclists’ public enemy No. 1 on council: Case Ootes. And if any community council should attempt to shoot a bike lane down? If it’s consistent with the goals of Toronto’s bike plan (you know, the one that it’ll take 80 years to fulfill if the city keeps going at its current rate?), the executive committee says it should go to the entire council for approval.
3 comments
It’s great to see much talk of bike lane construction recently. I believe that the bike way network will be the true measure of David Miller this term. It’s part of his green agenda and it doesn’t cost much. All it takes is political will/persuasion, and this is the mayor’s job.
Notably, despite much recent talk of bike lanes at council, the city’s cycling committee seems to have disappeared. Hamish, what becomes of us?
I’m a bit concerned that its up to the community councils to create bike lanes now. Yes that’s great for central Toronto since Case will be useless, yet it means that bike lane expansion in Etobicoke and Scarborough will be practically non-existent, which are the parts of the city that needs transit alternatives the most.
Dave – recommendations on bike lanes come from staff.
As I understand it, lanes that would have been approved at the CC level under the old system will continue to be approved, and those that wouldn’t have still won’t. The difference is that now an approval can’t be overturned by Council as a whole.
Basically this change means Case Ootes and Rob ford will no longer be able to kill bike lanes and speed humps outside their respective wards; and any bike lanes killed at CC could still be restored by Council if the lanes are intended as part of the Bike Plan (which they pretty much all are, so it’s just a matter of how seriously they take that).
It’s a small step but likely to be a net gain overall. We’ll see.