Comrade Miller's Party Cancelled-Only 19 Accepted Invitation...

David Miller's more out of touch than ever: Levy

By SUE-ANN LEVY, Toronto Sun

Clearly David Miller doesn’t really care about his good friend’s fortunes in Toronto’s mayoralty race.

Kiss Of Death

F^%kfinger

Mayoral Race

Vital signs goodGood-news report forms delicious subtext to David Miller?s endorsement of Joe Pantalone

By Michael Hollett

Further proof – besides looking out the window – that Toronto is not the anarchic, chaotic, tire-fires-in-the-street Gomorrah that mayoralty candidates Rob Ford and George Smitherman would have us believe came this week with the release of the Toronto Community Foundation’s Vital Signs report.

>> More

Thank Voter Apathy...

How much more will Toronto’s budget cost you?: Granatstein

By Rob Granatstein, Editor

Take a look at what you pay the city, and how much that will change this year under the city’s proposed budget. It might be enough to make you want to throw up or vote for change.

Cleaning The Garbage At Silly Hall Will Be Harder Than Off Our Streets

Make no mistake - union won, handily

Our mayor was played for a fool, and we're the ones left holding the bag

By SUE-ANN LEVY

Today, I provide the tale of a battle between two men, both of whom have strong ties to the CUPE locals.

One, Hizzoner David Miller -- his face red and sweaty and his voice often escalating into a high-pitched whine -- looked anything but a "strong mayor" yesterday.

Using words like "astonishingly strong," and "a model for other cities," he desperately tried to sell a deal with the devil -- his 30,000 friends with CUPE Locals 416 and 79.

BULLIED INTO SUBMISSION

With the tacit compliance of his six-figure city manager -- in my view bullied into submission -- he trotted out a set of ridiculous numbers to back contentions that there would be "massive savings" from his contract deal, which after a day-long debate narrowly passed council 21-17.

There were claims that over the next five years the city's sick leave liability would decrease by $140 million -- once the sick bank provision is grand-parented and buyouts are taken by some employees. But, after several requests for clarification, I was left wanting for more details on how those figures were reached.

No councillor bothered to point out that the city would have trouble forking out all this money considering the city's sick leave reserve fund (for all union employees) has a mere $64 million left in it and an unfunded liability of $186 million. The mayor made it seem like the reserve fund was chock full of cash.

"We should be going to the citizens of Toronto and saying it's an excellent deal," he declared, suggesting after the council vote that the public didn't understand the deal.

Meanwhile the other man in my tale, CUPE 416 president Mark Ferguson, sat quietly in council's public gallery -- his face conveying no emotion as councillors duked it out.

And why should the Aurora resident worry?

He and his CUPE national brothers and sisters outfoxed Miller from the get-go. The union won -- handily.

The mayor's heart was never really in a strike -- having made it obvious from the day he got elected in 2003 that he owed his allegiances to his CUPE brethren.

From early on in the strike, Miller sent out signals to the union that he wasn't really prepared to take a hard line either when he refused to seek injunctions to stop union thugs from forcing residents to wait up to three hours to drop off their garbage at dump sites and transfer stations.

But when Ferguson imposed his 48-hour ultimatum, threatening to walk away from the table if no deal was reached, I could have predicted Miller would cave.

I knew the mayor would not be able to stomach a lengthy strike or the thought of CUPE 416 stepping up their aggressive tactics at picket lines.

As the details slowly trickled out about how much the mayor sold Toronto taxpayers down the river, the only thing that emerged as "astonishingly strong" was the CUPE union's continued stranglehold over this city.

"I don't share that assessment at all," Ferguson said when asked whether he got the better of the mayor during the strike. "I don't think anyone wins after a 39-day strike."

The terms of the contract say otherwise. It wasn't enough that all current CUPE employees get to keep their generous sick bank or that they got a 6% pay hike over three years.

RICH DEAL

But the deal is so rich that union members won't have to worry in the slightest about any contracting out of their services or losing a day's worth of sick leave, vacation and seniority credits during their 39 days off the job.

There's no doubt in my mind that Ferguson played Miller for a fool.

Still that's not at all surprising when you consider the mayor's skewed loyalties.

Councillor Michael Thompson put it best in describing Miller's bizarre behaviour during the strike:

"The mayor was merely a cheerleader, not a leader."

---

YAY OR NAY

HOW CITY COUNCILLORS VOTED

The count, 21 to 17, was the same as Toronto city council voted to ratify both contracts.

HERE'S HOW THEY VOTED FOR THE CONTRACT WITH LOCAL 416:

THE YES VOTE: Maria Augimeri; Sandra Bussin; Shelley Carroll; Raymond Cho; Janet Davis; Glenn De Baeremaeker; Frank Di Giorgio; Paula Fletcher; Adam Giambrone; Mark Grimes; Suzan Hall; A.A. Heaps; Doug Holyday; Pam McConnell; Joe Mihevc; David Miller; Joe Pantalone; Gord Perks; Anthony Perruzza; Bill Saundercook; Adam Vaughan.

THE NO VOTE: Paul Ainslie; Brian Ashton; Mike Del Grande; Mike Feldman: Rob Ford; Cliff Jenkins; Norm Kelly; Chin Lee; Peter Milczyn; Denzil Minnan-Wong; Ron Moeser; Frances Nunziata; Case Ootes; John Parker; Karen Stintz; Michael Thompson; Michael Walker.

HERE'S HOW THEY VOTED FOR THE CONTRACT WITH LOCAL 79:

THE YES VOTE: Maria Augimeri; Sandra Bussin; Shelley Carroll; Raymond Cho; Janet Davis; Glenn De Baeremaeker; Frank Di Giorgio; Paula Fletcher; Adam Giambrone; Mark Grimes; Suzan Hall; A.A. Heaps; Doug Holyday; Pam McConnell; Joe Mihevc; David Miller; Joe Pantalone; Gord Perks; Anthony Perruzza; Bill Saundercook; Adam Vaughan.

THE NO VOTE: Paul Ainslie; Brian Ashton; Mike Del Grande; Mike Feldman: Rob Ford; Cliff Jenkins; Norm Kelly; Chin Lee; Denzil Minnan-Wong; Ron Moeser; Frances Nunziata; Case Ootes; John Parker; David Shiner; Karen Stintz; Michael Thompson; Michael Walker.

ABSENT

Giorgio Mammoliti, Gloria Lindsay-Luby, Cesar Palacio, John Filion, Howard Moscoe and Kyle Rae.

The Hidden Victims.......

City Hall

Walking a fine line

Is the mayor standing up for social assistance recipients or just scoring against the union?

By Mike Smith

If any of us think one month of coping with excess garbage and no community programs is difficult, we might try living our whole lives in constant emergency.

>> More

Just Some Of The Facts Maam.......

Unions' sick days are making us ill

By PETER WORTHINGTON

An oddity of Toronto's month-long (and counting) garbage strike is that it's making people more aware of how privileged unionized public employees are.

Not only do those on the taxpayers' payroll get more benefits and perks than similar workers in the private sector, they're the only ones who dare go on strike for "more" in the midst of the worst recession in recent memory, where just staying afloat is an achievement.

The garbage strike will not last forever. When it's over, the strikers will still get more than others in the job market, even if all their demands aren't met. Mayor David Miller's offer of a 7.2% salary boost over four years is more than fair.

The sticking point with most who labour in the private sector is bankable sick leave -- 18 days per year, up to 130 days of which union members eventually get as cash when they retire, if they haven't been sick. That's a ludicrous perk that verges on the obscene.

Sick days are a benefit, but should not be a financial bonus. They are a form of insurance that protect against loss of income for sickness.

Fine. That's reasonable and humane. But getting a cash benefit from unused sick days is akin to taking out insurance and then, when your house doesn't burn down, expecting to get the insurance premiums back as an entitlement.

So far, the city has not asked the province to intervene and Premier Dalton McGuinty has been sensible to stay out of the fray. No fool he. The trouble with an arbitrator being appointed to negotiate a binding settlement, is that the bankable sick days would likely be retained, which should be unacceptable.

Whatever agreement is eventually thrashed out, these bankable sick days have to go. But they won't. That's the problem. They may be adjusted, diluted or fiddled with, but Miller seems too unionized to do what is right and scrap them.

What the mayor should do, of course, is catch up with Etobicoke's common sense decision in 1995 and contract out garbage collection to the private sector. Led by then-mayor Doug Holyday, Etobicoke anticipated problems if there was a garbage strike, and by contracting disposal to the private sector, saved something like $1 million a year.

Holyday's and Etobicoke council's wisdom is envied by Toronto today, but Miller lacks the resolve to advocate a similar decision.

Some think Miller is acting tough at the moment. Phooey. He's a puff ball. He may be annoyed at the grief his ungrateful pals at CUPE locals 79 and 416 are causing him, but he'd never risk permanently affronting them.

A mayor who would remove one traffic lane out of Jarvis St. for bicycles, thus ensuring future traffic bottlenecks during morning and evening rush hours, cannot be trusted to be sensible. He's steadily wrecking this city through causes he supports -- from prejudice against the convenient Island airport to excessive pay raises to councillors.

When it comes to pensions, holidays, job security, non-contributory benefits, shorter working hours, guaranteed pay raises -- politicians and public service unions are more equal than other citizens.

It is one of the reasons why Torontonians see little difference between a grasping union and a grasping mayor, who hasn't stood up for the city and its people the way he should, and how many had hoped he would.

Maybe all this will be remembered during the next municipal election in 2010.

One Of Miller's First Acts As Mayor......

....aided by his left wing stooges on council was to cancel the private hauler contract in the old city of York.

Toronto's surrounding municipalities that contract out garbage collection pay less than Toronto for the service and avoid strikes.

'A shame' city didn't go private

By DON PEAT

The prospect of establishing a temporary dump at Exhibition Place is just one more reason city politicians should have held their noses and contracted out trash pickup ages ago, one councillor says.

GIGO Update

It's getting harder every day.
Leave it to David Miller. Trying to tippy-toe on the spiked fence, not trying to take a side. He says this, but he does that. He doesn't want to go to City Hall and cross the picket line. But he talks about holding a meeting there in the next few weeks, which when he says that, he means maybe. He just wants to stay away from those pickets. But you know what, he CAN go to City Laugh. Because other
NorthWestTory

No winners in CUPE's stinky strike

By SUN MEDIA

Summer in Toronto is too short to blow it on a strike.

Let George do it

By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA

Strikes sure make strange bedfellows.

Miller not missing links

By BRYN WEESE AND DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA

Teed-off yet?

Dumpster offers a little relief

By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA

When it comes to having a dumpster, it's about location, location, location.

Ex a dumping ground?

By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA

Let's go to the Ex ... and take two bags of trash?

Hotel wants you ... and your garbage

By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA

Hey kids, don't forget to pack your garbage!

MSM Assessment

City Hall

No heroes here

While mayor’s public strike offer was tacky, union flunks PR school

By Mike Smith

Though the piles of our own offal have been mounting for weeks, it wasn’t until the city went public with a wage offer that the strike began to feel dirty.

>> More

End the strike, Internet
Solution to the strike should be crowdsourced
By Joshua Errett

Fans of openness in government could put their hands together last week for Mayor David Miller, who on Friday posted on its website the city’s offer to unions in the ongoing strike.

Now fans of crowdsourcedness – the practice of inviting unpaid Internet users to find solutions – should push Miller to place all negotiations online and let the public solve the strike.

...more

Striking Out

BY Edward Keenan June 24, 2009 14:06

No pain for the City. No gain for the workers. Can we call the whole thing off?

The most maddening thing about the strike by Toronto municipal workers that began Monday morning is not the patent absurdity of the workers’ claims that they are treated “unfairly” by the city.

Make no mistake, though, such claims are absurd: employees of the city of Toronto typically earn much, much more than the market value of their work. According to government statistics, the average security guard in Toronto earns $12 per hour, while a “Security Reception Officer” with the city earns $23.90 per hour. “ Light Duty Cleaners” out in the private sector have an average wage of $11.90 per hour while their counterparts on the city payroll make $21.30 per hour. Cooks for the city make more than double their market value at $25.02 per hour. One could go on all day.

....more

(after getting the facts scroll down to (COMMENTS)

Warning To Comrade Miller.....

Toronto Public Employees

June 23rd, 2009

If Toronto city employees have enough time and money to run around town sealing off garbage cans because they’re having a strike, they’re already overpaid and underworked. Given the time, money and effort it took these squaling whores to do this, they could have collected the damn trash.

BTW, the ad on the bin is for Toronto childcare. Which is also shut down this week because of the strike. How precious.

Get your festering asses back to work. You can live with short-term disability (which still pays for your malingering) instead of your 18 unqualified sick days per year.

My trash will be hand delivered to Mayor Miller’s front lawn in Bloor West (what is the exact address) at the first sign of vermin.

Posted by: Right Girl

City Is Run Be "Residents" Below Bloor Street

Time for some ingenuity

Keep city running -- like Windsor -- and show unions what we're made of

By JOE WARMINGTON

Do we really need a person to administer cat licences? It's amazing how much power and control our city has given these unions.

Just check out what happened yesterday on Day 1 of the CUPE inside and outside workers strike.

The annual Pride Parade flag raising at Nathan Phillips Square was cancelled. Raising a flag up a pole in Toronto, it seems, is considered highly skilled, unionized work.

Or were some people afraid to cross the picket line, which was the real reason for the cancellation?

It was hard to get a straight answer out of City Hall, where many councillors' offices were not open to handle constituent calls. They probably won't be returning their pay, though.

Meanwhile, the stupidity of not putting up the flag didn't stop organizers, who adjusted and simply raised it at the non-union 519 Church St. office instead.

Turns out they could live without that so-called service.

You might see more of this kind of creativity -- as people remind this out-of-touch administration who actually is in charge!

You are -- albeit, with the lunacy of this week, you'd never know it.

Consider the insanity and nastiness of this. If you have a wedding planned this week and were hoping for pictures with a city park as a backdrop, your permit is now cancelled.

And if you want to go swimming, play tennis, softball or golf, forget it. If your children are enrolled in a city daycare program, tough luck.

But people will survive. And maybe will start asking whether we really need any of these taxpayer-funded services?

If anything comes out of this strike, perhaps it'll be that the pampered public sector employee, as well as those weak elected politicians who supervise them, will be reminded they're here for us and not us here for them.

Of course, many still say stopping garbage collection gives the union the hammer. Don't be so sure.

Perhaps those putting the boots to the taxpayer misread the temperature in the real world, where people don't have jobs for life, guaranteed pensions, more than 500 bankable sick days over a career, regular wage increases and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. jobs.

It takes a lot of nerve during a worldwide recession for anybody to play hardball on collecting sick-day benefits or demanding hefty increases.

Yes, there are many hard-working union members, but Councillor Doug Holyday thinks the public is fed up with the rest of them.

"It's like they (unions) are not living in the real world."

'SICK PAY ISSUE'

Meanwhile, Etobicoke is still enjoying garbage and recycling services because of private contracts agreed to prior to amalgamation.

"We dealt with this sick pay issue 13 years ago," says Holyday, who was Etobicoke's mayor. "And by contracting out the garbage collection we saved more than $1 million a year."

Common sense. Could it come to Toronto? Holyday says there are areas to trim.

In Windsor, a similar strike hasn't resulted in a crumbling city, says resident Ian Phillips.

"People here have been diligently taking care of their own trash" to a city-run free public transfer station and everything else is "business as usual" with "grassroots groups" looking after the parks and businesses "stealthily trucking away the downtown core's garbage."

Windsor seems to be getting by. How about Toronto?

We can certainly clean up our own parks, find volunteers to supervise kids while they swim, or play softball or tennis without the permission of any union and let people take their wedding pictures for free.

Whose side am I on in this labour dispute? The taxpayers!

Run that message up the city's flag pole -- with or without a unionized worker supervising.

JOE.WARMINGTON@SUNMEDIA.CA

It Is Too Soon To Have "OUR CHAMPION" Ride In On His White Steed....

No progress on major issues in city labour talks

City, union must live in the real world By SUN MEDIA

Normally as the hours tick down to a strike by public sector workers, the media warn the unions to be reasonable.

But in Toronto -- facing a strike by 24,000 inside and outside workers Sunday at midnight, the most immediate impact being no garbage collection -- these warnings need to be directed equally at Toronto council.

And especially at Mayor David Miller, who has twice won office with the help of the unions with which the city is negotiating.

In the last city workers' strike in 2002, Miller, then a councillor, refused to cross picket lines and was more sympathetic to the workers than management, led by then mayor Mel Lastman.

Now Miller is in charge.

Using powers granted him under the City of Toronto Act passed by the province, Miller -- beyond raising property taxes well above his promised level of inflation -- has not only significantly increased fees, but imposed new charges on vehicle licence renewal and a new land-transfer tax.

Miller must remember he's management now and his duty is to all taxpayers.

His job is not to be at the negotiating table. Miller should stay away when the union inevitably demands he swoop in to get a deal done.

It's not to have city staff negotiate a contract that makes the unions happy.

Taxpayers can't afford in a recession to keep paying for benefits like a sick leave plan that workers cash in for extra pay upon retirement.

A start at reining in those costs has to be made.

City workers should look around at municipalities across North America, who are laying off employees, and at the carnage in the private sector.

Strike now and the public may well say: "Stay out until hell freezes over."

With a little common sense on both sides, there's a deal to be had here.

They could start by dispensing with the artificial strike "deadline" of midnight Sunday.

In the real world, the deadline is whenever labour and management say it is.

In this economic climate, both sides would be wise to stay in the room until they have a deal.

Much at stake in city labour talks

Jun. 18, 2009 Much remains unresolved as Toronto and its unionized workers enter the final...

The 45% Should Be Voting For ABM......

Are you prepared to deal with a strike by inside and outside City of Toronto workers?
Yes	18%
No	45%
Undecided	5%
It won't affect me	32%
This is not a scientific poll
See Results ......who is strongly supported by city unions.

When Will Comrade Miller Allow Non-Union Companies To Bid On City Contracts?

Cities take the lead TheStar.com - Opinion - Cities take the lead

June 08, 2009

Canada's municipalities have sent an important message to Ottawa and the provincial governments that it is time to get serious in trade talks with the United States.

At its annual meeting on the weekend, the Federation of Canadian Muncipalities voted for a resolution calling for a reciprocal boycott of American products in municipal procurement decisions.

The boycott would be in retaliation for decisions by U.S. cities and states to favour American producers over foreign ones in purchasing of everything from transit vehicles to water pipes.

The resolution is non-binding: Canada's municipalities may choose not to follow it. Indeed, Toronto Mayor David Miller has already declared he will ignore it on the ground that it is "not appropriate to make threats." That is a curious statement from a mayor who used to boast about tilting toward Canadian manufacturers in awarding contracts.

The facts are these: American cities and states are already discriminating against our manufacturers in their purchases. They are doing so in line with Washington's "Buy America" laws, which require federal funds to be spent only on American products. This is perfectly legal under the NAFTA trade agreement.

To date, Ottawa and the provinces have responded with little more than hand-wringing. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called on the provinces to join him in a timid appeal to Washington to exempt Canada from Buy America laws. In a conference call last week, the premiers appeared to go along with him.

The municipalities have shown the way to a tougher response. Over to you, Prime. Minister and premiers.

Ignatieff talks tough on protectionism at FCM
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff warned American legislators Sunday their 'Buy American' strategy courts a trade backlash from Canadian municipalities.

Right Wing Councilors DID Want A Freeze On Union Wages

Wage freeze or burn

Miller’s slap at non-union workers doesn’t mean he’s in labour’s pocket

Mike Smith

“Socialists have become conservative, the conservatives have become socialist,” quipped Mike Del Grande after the Wednesday, April 29, council meeting, where David Miller won his vote to freeze non-union civic workers’ wages.

Well, not quite. But there was a lot of ideological weirdness about the way Miller’s right-wing opponents suddenly championed employee rights to a pay packet increase in fiscal hard times.

It was especially vexing considering that last fall the mayor conceded to his foes’ complaints and established a Fiscal Review Panel that called for “restraint on wages.”

Of the whole pack, only Denzil Minnan-Wong, in approving the wage freeze and saying it should go deeper, remained consistent.

And so an opportunity arose to once again accuse Miller of being in the pocket of the unions and, somehow, the NDP. After all, it wasn’t their wage demands he was trying to curb.

“Wouldn’t you think it would be perceived that there’s some inequality,” asked Rob Ford, “that you might be favouring the unionized employees?”

“I’m sorry, Councillor – I don’t think any rational person could infer that from this action,” said Miller.

And with people like Ford leading the charge, an equally rational inference never needed to be aired: that the freeze for the non-unionized was not a gift to the unions, but a shot across their bow.

If you’re looking for a way to understand what Miller was doing here, consider this: it’s been council policy for years to set non-union raises at union rates, after labour negotiations are complete.

To change now suggests that council lefties may doing a bit of public bargaining, attempting to lower overall wage expectations in the midst of negotiations with CUPE locals 79 and 416. As recent Miller convert Norm Kelly said, “I sincerely hope [city unions] will take a look at the restraint that has been displayed by... non-unionized staff.”

Comment: Anyone who thinks city unions will show restrainst during the next round of negotiations needs to get their head out of their ass.

Speaking to me afterward, Adam Vaughan said there was good reason to freeze these particular wages. “Upper middle management – you want to talk about people who frustrate initiatives, who give the city a do-nothing reputation?” he said. “It’s those folks who stop funding from trickling down [to front-line staff]. And they’re getting a merit bonus?”

Vaughan made an (ultimately defeated) attempt to exempt those non-union employees in the lower pay grades. These are analysts, upper clerks and the like making $35,000 to $60,000, according to city figures, about 400 out of a total of 3,900 non-union workers.

And many, according to Vaughan, are women in a sort of “gender ghetto” among clerical staff.

Many upper managers, meanwhile, make $110,000 or more. Not exactly prime objects of sympathy in a deepening recession. And whenever cuts have been made at City Hall recently, it’s been in administrative staff, which makes them, at the city, the least protected workers. Is this a worrying precedent?

Vaughan says wage freezes are much preferable to layoffs. Full employment, not raises, should be the goal of council and, now, the unions. That, he says, is “the new economic reality.”

But the phrase “the new economic reality” is getting annoying. The right wing says the actions of the private sector must now start to set the standard for the public. The right wing, of course, has always said that, only now more people are listening. Problem is, their war against Miller trumps everything – and so fiscal conservatives find themselves trying to zap a wage freeze.

news@nowtoronto.com

They Couldn't Cycle, Walk, Take Public Transit....

.....but that is a mute point. Leafs, like many others, will eventually move to the city above Toronto.

National Post editorial board: Goodbye, Montreal Canadiens. Hello Vaughan Ontarians

Posted: April 25, 2009, 9:00 AM by NP Editor

Another Major F&%kup By Comrade Miller & Cabal

Blue bins have to go big or go (back into) home
April 23, 2009
Royson James
Toronto's garbage rules seem made to be broken, er, altered, adjusted, tweaked. Exuberant recyclers who "feed blue" to the point of overflowing the blue bin say they're being punished for doing what the city encouraged them to do.
Toronto's sanitary workers are infuriating homeowners by refusing to pick up paper, plastics and cardboard bundled beside the blue bins – just as City Hall suggested.
The goal of diverting 70 per cent of city waste by 2010 hasn't changed; the collection rules have, says waste czar and Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker. And he is counting on resilient residents to help out the city. Again.
Nothing seems to deter Torontonians from diverting waste. They dutifully separate fish bone from fish wrap, aluminum foil from aluminum pie plates, plastic film from plastic bottles. They separate paper from glass and plastics, only to comingle them when the rules change. De Baeremaeker figures a citizenry with such a high garbage IQ can navigate the latest change.
"We're hoping this is a tweaking of the system," he said yesterday. "We are annoying people with the best of intentions."
When the new waste pickup system was implemented, City Hall said if you had a medium-sized blue bin but found yourself with recyclables more suited to a large bin, no problem. Bundle the overflow and it'd be collected. This didn't square with the automated system the city promoted as essential, but city councillors must know what they are doing. Right?
That was then. Now, the city is about to go with a fully automated pickup and is concerned that delays to manually handle overflow recyclables can add 10 per cent more time to the one-person crew's collection schedule. Some $5 million is at stake, city-wide.
"Get a bigger bin" is the new message. If you already have the largest blue bin, try adding a second one, De Baeremaeker offers, gingerly. And if you don't have the space? Well, only then will the garbage police let efficiency take a hit.
Some downtown neighbourhoods, and selected enclaves elsewhere, currently have manual pickup because of limited storage space for bins, large or small.
And those too-small green bins? Get another, for now. Larger ones are coming in 2011 when green bin collection also goes automated.
De Baeremaeker asks for patience as the city embraces a revolution in waste management.
With the fully automated pickup, drivers don't need to leave the trucks any more – if you position the bins at the curb just right. (That's the next battle. Testy drivers will start leaving behind bins not positioned correctly, ones out by a few inches. Imagine that challenge during snow pileups.)
Have extra recyclables? Store it until the next pickup. Or supersize your bin. (The blue bins and green bins are free. The cost of garbage bins increases with the size). And if you have the largest bin and no storage space, then you can put the overflow by the bin.
Let's see how long it is before the trucks leave behind overflow loads beside the largest blue bin. Expect more complaints.
De Baeremaeker: "It's a brave new world. There's a learning curve. We're not trying to be harsh and mean-spirited ... Some people were very angry and upset when we introduced bins in first place. Now, people settled down. They are thinking, `Now that I have touched the beast and rolled it out to the sidewalk, the beast isn't that bad after all.'"
If only it would live by the rules.

Wrong Address. They Want City of TORONTO

Where weird is an understatement!

Let's Start By Leftists Admitting Their Incompotence

The solution to Toronto's urban angst: Share the mediocrity
Posted: April 09, 2009, 3:00 PM by NP Editor
The centre of the Canadian universe has been badly stung by a Board of Trade study suggesting Toronto is turning into a bedroom community surrounded by a more vibrant and successful suburban region.
"The city's a nice place to live but it's being eclipsed by economic powerhouses in the 905," the Toronto Star, the hometown paper, lamented.
"Cities that were once out suburbs are now growing employment areas as more businesses have pulled up stakes in the downtown core for cheaper real estate."
Oh dear. World-class Toronto eclipsed by sprawling, mall-stuffed Mississauga, which has been run for three decades by Mayor-for-life Hazel McCallion, who just turned 88 and plans to seek another term? We can't have that.
Click here to read more...

You Get What Deserve

Two cities, one economy
Apr. 09, 2009
Sharp differences in character and economic direction between Toronto and its...

Hazard A Guess Why?

Toronto a suburb? It's begun
by Vanessa Lu
Apr 8, 2009 (12)
Toronto is at risk of becoming a bedroom community for the booming 905 regions, warns a new report by the Toronto Board of Trade.


Toronto Board of Trade: Welcome to Toronto the mediocre
Posted: April 07, 2009, 5:50 PM by NP Editor Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland
How attractive is Toronto?Just about as attractive as any sleepy suburb -- Vancouver’s Maple Ridge, for example, or Airdrie, outside Calgary, or maybe Montreal’s Laval.According to a study by the Toronto Board of Trade, the city is fast joining the ranks of bedroom communities -- a slumbering, underachieving residential community surrounded by a semi-circle of more vibrant satellite cities. A great place to live, but not much on the job front.Its economic results are “lacklustre”. Its GDP growth placed 18 out of 21 cities measured; disposable income growth came in 12 out of 13; productivity growth rated a ‘D’.“The economic picture that emerges shows the Toronto [census area] as a metropolitan region challenged by mediocrity,” the report says. Overall, the city receives a ‘C’ grade, and would have ranked lower if not for its cultural attractions.
Click here to read more...