Update on Addressing the Roots of Youth Violence: I am pleased to announce that, after nearly a year since I first moved a motion at Council to create this strategy, the final report to address the roots of youth violence, titled the Toronto Youth Equity Strategy, was supported unanimously by my colleagues at Council in February [...]

In November 2012, I requested that the City of Toronto news release boilerplate -- the standard text that follows each official City news release -- be revised to remove the inappropriately ideological partisan, and politically aspirational (rather than factual) content which purported to speak for City Council without the authority to do so.   The [...]

Toronto residents are privileged to live at the centre of a vital agricultural sector that provides us with a diverse basket of goods including the fresh food in our farmers markets, many staples in our supermarkets, and wines in the LCBO. The agricultural sector also supports a large number of workers in Toronto in the [...]

In the spirit of the new City of Toronto Seniors Strategy -- a proactive, holistic and inclusive initiative that seeks to create a truly accessible, respectful and age-friendly Toronto -- I've prepared Toronto's first age-friendly guide to help connect older adults with local businesses that provide age-friendly services including deliveries, discounts and many other accommodations. [...]

YWCA 1st Stop Woodlawn houses a 56 bed emergency shelter for single homeless women as well as 72 units of permanent housing for single women, creating a mixed community of women in various stages of their lives. YWCA 1st Stop Shelter's main purpose is to provide emergency shelter services and supports to homeless women and [...]

After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from local residents, I brought forward a motion that passed at Council to install a concrete outdoor ping pong table at June Rowlands (Davisville) Park. Similar tables have been installed in parks throughout various neighbourhoods in the City including High Park and North Scarborough and have been well received.   [...]

At the beginning of the application review process for a new condo, local residents are generally confronted with on-site, billboard, print and other advertising depicting a building that will be "coming soon" with no mention of a municipal approval process, opportunity for citizen input or that the rendering can be altered. This misleading advertising suppresses [...]

In June 2013, my colleagues passed a motion to improve traffic signal synchronization at City Council. I am pleased that the Mayor and the Chair of Public Works made this a priority in response to my letter of September 2011.   Traffic congestion is a significant problem for Toronto's motorists, public transit users and cyclists. [...]

A new casino was proposed for Toronto in 2012 and our community was deeply engaged in the issue. Thank you to so many of you for writing to me with your feedback and concerns.   I read your thoughtful letters and took the time to review and study research documents from both Canada and abroad [...]

For years various Toronto City Councils have periodically affirmed and re-affirmed our commitment to increase the per capita arts and culture funding to $25, with unfortunately little action to date. As a result, the City of Toronto has now fallen drastically behind other major North American cities in its funding for the arts, with an investment [...]