Toronto A Great City BUT

T.O.'s vital signs great, but ...

Oct. 6, 2006. 06:12 AM

ROYSON JAMES

Toronto is dragging around a big but. No, not butt. BUT.Y'know, everything is great here, but ... On the one hand ... on the other.That's the distinct feeling left from the findings of this year's Vital Signs, the annual report card on Toronto's economic, social, environmental, cultural and everyday performance.The city scores well on the educational level of its workforce, boasting levels surpassing the rest of the country. But it is the educational prowess of new immigrants that powers this. About four in 10 immigrants arriving in the 1990s had at least one university degree; that's almost double the Canadian average of 22 per cent.Toronto remains the destination of choice for new immigrants to Canada, but support for their integration here is so inadequate, many are gone within a couple years.The report's findings bear examining, if only to chronicle our progress or lack of it.However, what catches the attention is the strong language in the accompanying letter from the president and chair of the Toronto Community Foundation, the organization that sponsors the annual checkup.Anne Swarbrick and Martin Connell displayed a certain impatience with the slow march of progress in the city — a theme that has been repeated in many quarters recently.For example, we know we won't approach our waste diversion targets without massive changes in waste management in highrise apartments. Yet, city council delays and equivocates. But Swarbrick-Connell takes a swipe at citizens as well."Perhaps it's too little shared vision. Perhaps it's fear of change. We criticize bold new plans for the city as too costly. We criticize support for excellence as inequitable. We resist change despite dramatically changing conditions. We encourage innovation, but reject new ideas that don't fit our existing practices."Our public school population has been shrinking since the '70s, yet we fight against school closures ... We recognize the dangers in idle youth, but don't hire young workers. Hanging on to the way we've always done things has prevented us from providing for the future. It's like driving on the Don Valley Parkway — with one foot on the brake all the time."To further underscore the dichotomy that wrestles in the city's soul, here's the good and the bad, as reported by Vital Signs. First the bad news:

There's a "weakening of the core economic foundations of the city." Net long-term debt jumped another $300 million to $2 billion in 2005, almost double the 1998 level.

Business costs in the Toronto region are lower than competitors in North America and Europe. But once in the Toronto region, Toronto's tax rates are higher than surrounding municipalities. (Conversely, residential rates are lower).

Smog days stood at 48 last year, more than double the 2001 number and the highest since the province started issuing the alerts in 1993.

While nine in 10 Toronto elementary schools have students for whom English is a second language, only 43 per cent of the schools have an ESL teacher. This unmet need has almost tripled since 1999.

The number of children waiting for subsidized child care almost doubled between 2004 and this year. Estimates show seven in 10 children under age 10 have no access to such care.

Violent crime jumped nearly five per cent; murders reached 79, the highest total in 10 years.

Some 43 per cent of children in the GTA live in Toronto. But 62 per cent of the poor ones call Toronto home.

GTA food bank use has skyrocketed to 894,017 people per year from half a million in 1995. Of this number, 731,737 are using city of Toronto food banks.But there are also good trends:

Rates of drug use are lower in Toronto than anywhere else in the province. Toronto high school kids were least likely to smoke or drink or use illicit drugs (except heroin), compared to the provincial average.

Two-thirds of the city's workforce have post-secondary education, higher than the 905, province and Canada. Enrolment at Ryerson, York, U of T and Ontario College of Art spiked 21 per cent since 2000.

Toronto public library circulation, at 30.6 million books, CDs and videos loaned out over 40 languages, remains the highest in North America.

Toronto led the country with twice as many artists (21,000) as second-place Montreal.

A higher percentage (26%) of Toronto tax filers donated to charities in 2004.

Toronto enhanced its reputation as Tolerant City when it opened the door to same-sex marriages in 2003. Last year alone, 901 such marriage licences were issued for a total of 3,249 since 2003.

Property crime fell 3.3 per cent in 2005.

The number of bus routes with buses that are accessible to wheelchairs increased to 83, up from 46 the previous year.A mixed bag, for sure. Good, but certainly not great.

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Royson James usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email: rjames @ thestar.ca