City officials are seeking tighter safety rules for development near railroad tracks that carry thousands of cars loaded with dangerous goods through the heart of Toronto.

The planners who mull applications to build hundreds of residential units along the Canadian Pacific rail line, which runs along Dupont St., have little data about what moves along those tracks — that information is secret.

But a recently released consultants’ report recommended a number of safety measures for new developments, such as setbacks, fences and berms to stop or slow a derailed train before it crashed into buildings.

Neither railway companies nor the federal government will divulge information publicly on dangerous goods moved through communities, arguing it would create a security threat.

The front porch of Dennis Cibulka’s Davisville home smells faintly of cat urine, the animals winding their way through piles of stacked boxes.

Clad in hazmat suits, fire officials spent days at the home last November, removing overflowing piles of paper, plastic, clothes and boxes.

It had been boarded up by the city, so full it was deemed a fire hazard. Cibulka was living on the porch.

As the number of boxes grows again, neighbours worry history is repeating itself.

In the Beaches, it already has.

Last week, fire officials, again in hazmat suits, cleared out a home on Beech Ave. In September, they had removed more than 50 cats.This time they removed “excess combustibles,” the garbage and household items filling more than one large disposal bin.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” says Josh Matlow, councillor in Cibulka’s ward.

City of Toronto officials have been called once again to a house on Beech Ave., which last fall was the site of a case of extreme cat hoarding.

The home, described as overrun with cats, garbage and household items, has been a problem for the neighbourhood since last September, when more than 50 cats were removed by the SPCA.

This time, Toronto Fire has obtained a court order from the Ontario Superior Court to investigate the house and remove “excess combustibles.”

“(We’re) bringing out garbage cans or bags of miscellaneous household items which are either in a state of disrepair, unclean, due to the cats, or worn or broken,” said Capt. David Eckerman.

The front of the picturesque house was nearly obscured Monday by white tents and crews in haz-mat suits. Waste was being tossed into a large disposal unit set up outside the house that had already been emptied and replaced at least once.

While off-duty Toronto police officers who moonlight for the city and private organizations are getting a pay hike this year, critics scoff paid-duty policing is unnecessary and a waste of money.

“It’s also giving money to people who are already employed and well-paid,” said Councillor Pam McConnell, a former vice-chair of the Toronto Police Services Board.

“Nobody can tell me why we need police officers standing at the Blue Jays game when they’re looking up at the crowd doing seventh inning stretch and why you couldn’t have ordinary security guards doing that.”

Councillor Josh Matlow concurred, calling it “outrageous.”

“I don’t know any city in North America that allows itself to be hijacked by this,” he said. “When we see an officer standing next to a construction or public works site, it’s frustrating because we all know it’s not needed.”

• Between 2006-11, the population of Ward 22 —59.6 per cent of whom live in apartments of five storeys or more —) is up 8.8 per cent.

• There have been big jumps in the number of families identifying Tagalo, Serbian, Korean and Spanish as their home language.

• Average monthly rent is $1,245.

A Toronto councillor says he will honour a bet made between the city’s top politico and the president of the borough of Brooklyn over a basketball series.

Last month, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford accepted a ‘friendly wager’ issued by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on the outcome of the NBA playoff series between the Raptors and the Nets.

The wager followed a release issued by Adams in response to Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri’s comments ahead of Game 1 of the series when he yelled “F--- Brooklyn” to fans gathered at Maple Leaf Square.