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Josh in the Community
My Staff and I are here to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have about your neighbourhood and/or your home. We’re working every day to make our community safer while improving Midtown’s parks, main streets, and the many valued services we rely on including recreation, childcare, and waste collection. I hope to see you out in our community soon!
Josh at City Hall
On your behalf, I am advocating for a more thoughtful, creative, and responsible approach to policy issues at City Hall. I take very seriously the responsibility to make informed decisions that are based on evidence, community consultation, and the merits of arguments – rather than partisanship. I will continue representing our community at Council meetings on transit, tenant concerns, childcare, green space, and other issues that matter most to Midtown residents. Or, you can reach us by phone at 416 392-7906.
Current News Updates
Toronto Star: Struggling UPX could work as part of SmartTrack, city report speculates
A draft report says the Union-Pearson airport express line could address some objectives of Mayor John Tory’s commuter plan.
October 14, 2015
Jennifer Pagliaro
Toronto Star
Passenger disembark from the Union Pearson Express train on its first day of operation in June. Photo: STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR
Toronto Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack train network has the potential to absorb the fledgling Union Pearson Express (UPX), according to a draft city staff report viewed by the Star.
“While there is a need to consider the ridership ramp-up period and viability of a new transit operation over a period of time, there is a possibility that the business model for this (UPX) service may need to be modified at a future date,” says a draft version of a staff report on SmartTrack.
“There may also be a future opportunity to address some of the objectives that a SmartTrack service between Union Station and Pearson airport might afford. City staff are monitoring this situation and are prepared to work closely with Metrolinx in the event that options arise to adjust the current UPX business model,” the draft version said.
CBC News: Old City Hall: staff to study city museum option
Vote means any move to turn historic building into a retail space are on hold for now.
October 5, 2015
CBC News
A city committee is looking at possible future uses for Toronto's Old City Hall. The building is currently being used as a court house but the lease with the province expires in 2021. (Tony Hisgett/Wikimedia Commons)
Those who feared Toronto's Old City Hall would become a new city mall in five years can breathe a sigh of relief.
The city's Government Management Committee voted Monday to study the feasibility of turning the historic building into a city museum, before examining any other options for future tenants.
The building, which opened in 1899, is currently in use as a courthouse by the government of Ontario, but that lease will expire at the end of 2021.
Toronto Sun: Council orders signs removed for City Hall windows
October 2, 2015
Don Peat
Toronto Sun
Rob Ford signs displayed in his office windows at Toronto City Hall Friday, October 2, 2015. (Stan Behal/Toronto Sun)
City Hall staff were ordered by council Friday to remove all signs from the exterior windows “immediately.”
The request, put forward by Councillor Josh Matlow, was a less-than-subtle bid to get rid of the two giant “Rob Ford Councillor” signs that have been displayed in the Etobicoke councillor’s office window for months.
Ford’s window is prime real estate — it looks out over Nathan Phillips Square and is just above the front doors to City Hall.
Toronto Star: Forest Hill residents win first round in fight over trees
Property owner who wanted to build a two-storey house on Chaplin Cres. that would mean cutting at least 14 mature trees says he’ll appeal to the OMB.
September 24, 2015
Betsy Powell
Toronto Star
The ravine property at 256 Chaplin Cres. includes numerous mature trees that would have to be chopped down with a large home is built there. Photo: RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR
The Toronto and East York committee of adjustment has refused a property owner’s request for variances to build a large home on a ravine lot in Forest Hill.
Some 22 residents, and the city’s forestry department, had objected to the plan because of the loss of trees and canopy coverage.
“We’re elated,” said Lucianna Ciccocioppo, a neighbour who led opposition to the project at 256 Chaplin Cres. “We look forward to seeing the revisions of the plans.”
Post City: Are stacked townhomes the new condo in Toronto real estate?
September 3, 2015
Angela Hennessy
Post City
Stacked townhouses, Weybourne and Lawrence
If you can’t build it, stack it. Or that’s what a land developer might plan to do.
With very little truly available space left in the city, developers continue to find new ways to build up within small spaces in Toronto. Enter the stacked townhome: the latest trend in real estate in the Greater Toronto Area, which has entered many neighbourhoods across the city.
Several more are slated for Midtown.
On the surface, stacked townhomes appear to work with a variety of problems that include zoning restrictions on height and density that prevent large condos from being constructed, while creating new property within highly sought-after city space. But they also create concern amongst residents and local councillors who say they are not an appropriate solution for all avenues and can ruin the integrity of the neighbourhood where single-family dwellings have long been the norm.
South Bayview Bulldog: Who will help give Davisville Village a Hub — and a heart?
August 15, 2015
South Bayview Bulldog
John Hiddema, Stephanie Rickard Chadda and Chris Trussell have a dream. They’re among many residents of Davisville Village who want to see the Ward 22 community with a modern place for recreation, health care and social services. Things like a swimming pool, advice to the elderly and immigrant families, daycare and play areas can easily be imagined in such a place. It would be a community social centre open to everyone, regardless of address, and a heart for Davisville. They call this dream the Midtown Hub and John, Stephanie and Chris have identified a nearly-one acre parcel of land on the southwest corner of the crumbling Davisville Public School property at 43 Millwood Rd.
