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I am in the cavernous Council Chamber at York Region (11 June 2015) expecting a debate on super fast broadband. Instead, I find two deputations of Italian Canadians complaining vociferously about traffic infiltration in their neighbourhood in Vaughan. They are arguing about the solution and the rest of us look on, bemused. We are intruding on a family quarrel.

I learn about the neighbourhood’s Italian demographics. Every second person has a surname ending with a vowel (not unlike York Regional Council itself).

Vaughan Mayor, Maurizio Bevilacqua, jocularly tells one of the deputants, Anthony Francescucci, he shouldn’t anglicize his name just to help the Chair, the struggling Wayne Emmerson, get his tongue round it. He should stick with the authentic Italian pronunciation. This produces approving smiles from Francescucci's deputation.

Emmerson is now calling people to the lectern using their first names, finding it easier.

One group wants to ban peak hours rat-running by the clever device of placing turning restrictions at key entry and exit points. New traffic signs would order no left turns into the residential area. Another group from a different part of the same neighbourhood argues this “solution” would create another set of problems and would impact adversely on them.

I hear about the volume of traffic on some residential streets increasing exponentially over recent years. One vehicle whizzes by every 12 seconds. And they are travelling at the speed of light.

Emmerson, completely at ease in his role as the home spun philosopher, tells us people nowadays don’t get up early enough to take their kids to school and end up rushing.

Ahhh! So that's it.

After much argument and counter-argument a truce of sorts emerges. The Regional Transportation people say that stopping people from using some roads will have a displacement effect, transferring the problem elsewhere. Another study is needed!

They promise to look further at the issue of traffic infiltration into residential neighbourhoods and report back. Honours are even and this is enough to satisfy everyone.

I hope the findings will be as relevant to Newmarket as they are to the West Downs community in Vaughan.

We have huge and growing traffic infiltration problems of our own.

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Details

At York Region’s Committee of the Whole (11 June)

The Region’s Chief Planner, Valerie Shuttleworth, takes us through the paper “Affordable Housing Measuring and Monitoring Guidelines”.

But first, her colleague, Rick Farrell, prepares the ground with some arresting statistics.

A new single detached home in York Region now costs on average $890,804.

Twelve months ago, that very same house sold for $799,000.

And between 2004 – 2014 the average resale house price rose by 90% yet average hourly wage rates rose by 21%.

I hear that the average condo rent in 2014 was $1,564 which Farrell describes quaintly as:

“a very substantial debt for those who are challenged with income.”

Now Shuttleworth is calling for more powers from the Province to tackle the housing crisis. She says the Region is using all the powers currently available from the Province and

“We haven’t even made a dent.”

She wants  inclusionary zoning.

Newmarket’s John Taylor is thinking outside the box. What about secondary suites? What about promoting ownership where homeowners have a rental income stream via a secondary suite?

Now he asks if the Region’s housing policy is achieving what we want to achieve. (Manifestly not.)  He says the Region’s policies could end up creating a lot of one bedroom condos.

“That’s helpful but it is not a solution”.

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Details

York Region is a bit like a giant news factory, churning out, month after month, interesting morsels of information. I am surprised more stuff isn’t picked up by the local press. The Committee of the Whole meetings are not streamed or put out on YouTube and, bizarrely, full Council meetings are only audio streamed. Weird or what?

Anyway, I learned a few things at York Region’s Committee of the Whole (11 June)….

It is time for the Annual Traffic Safety Report and the Region’s road and traffic chief, Brian Titherington takes us through the grizzly roll call of accidents.

  • One collision every 63 minutes
  • One pedestrian hit every two days
  • One cyclist hit every 4 days
  • One person injured in a vehicle every 4 hours
  • One death every 17 days

I learn that of the top ten high collision intersections in York Region, Yonge and Green Lane is third from the top. Between 2012 and 2014 there were 164 collisions compared with Weston Road and Rutherford (187 collisions) and Highway 7 and Weston Road, the Regional black spot, with 199 collisions.

Personally, I would throw the book at bad drivers. Driving over the speed limit should be as socially unacceptable as blowing cigarette smoke into someone’s face.

And yet it is tolerated.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been on the 400 series of highways with someone tailgating me or switching lanes at speed without signaling.

Most collisions (24%) happen as a result of driving too close to the car in front.

We need brake lights that shout: Back Off!

And dashboard and rear view cameras, with automatic taping, standard for all new vehicles. The technology is there and it is easy. Why not?

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Details

In a piece in this week’s Era, Chris Simon writes:

It’s a meeting intended to help Newmarket and its residents learn from the past and prepare for future development.

The long-discussed Glenway “lessons learned” meeting will take place at the Seniors’ Meeting Place, 474 Davis Dr., June 23. This “structured session” is an opportunity for residents, town staff and council members to review the key issues related to the processing of the Marianneville Developments (Glenway) application, including last year’s Ontario Municipal Board decision.

Specifically, the focus will be on how the Glenway case can be applied to future development in town. A third party, independent facilitator, who will be tasked with summarizing the session and related recommendations, will lead the discussion.

It runs from 7 to 9 p.m. The town is asking participants to register in advance by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or calling 905-895-5193.

It makes sense to register but I am sure people won’t be turned away at the door if they arrive unannounced.

Elsewhere… I emailed the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer, Bob Shelton, on 4 June 2015 with seven questions I would like to see answered before the meeting on 23 June. I shall post the answers on shrinkslessorsquare.ca as soon as I get them.

The lessons learned meeting is not, of course, about the OMB though I am sure it will be touched on.

The Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister, Ted McMeekin, told MPPs on 21 April 2015 (the first day of the second reading debate on Bill 73 - Smart Growth for Our Communities Act):

Now, I know there are questions about the Ontario Municipal Board itself and whether we’re planning to change its role. It’s another important piece of our puzzle. The Ontario Municipal Board’s operations, practices and procedures were not part of this first-stage review. To really complete our puzzle, however, I will work with my colleague the Attorney General in a review of the OMB’s scope and effectiveness. In the end, Speaker, we all want to see planning disputes resolved, wherever possible, locally.

Whatever comes out of the lessons learned meeting on 23 June, Glenway will remain an important case study in the context of the forthcoming review of the OMB.

The Mayor will ensure this is so. Before last year’s municipal election, Van Bynen told the Newmarket Free Press:

“Given our recent experience with the OMB, one of my priorities is to work with neighbouring municipalities, our MPP and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to influence the Province to reform the OMB so that our community plans will be respected.”

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Details

Only 8% (or 21) out of 277 new housing units completed and sold in Newmarket last year were deemed “affordable” according to a report going to York Region’s Committee of the Whole this week (11 June 2015).

The affordability threshold in York Region is $443,874 but there are local thresholds that vary with different patterns of income distribution across the Region’s nine municipalities.

In Newmarket, the affordability threshold is $429,715 compared to Aurora’s eye-watering $502,516.

Last year, 279 new housing units were completed in Aurora with 131 (47%) deemed “affordable”.

The Regional measure of affordability for home ownership is calculated by looking at the household incomes for each decile or every 10% of the spread of income distribution. The affordability threshold is currently $443,874 which means that only households with a total income of $112,835 or more (the top 40% of earners) would be able to afford a home costing $443,874. Across the Region, this means that 60% of households cannot afford “affordable” housing – though it varies by municipality.

Here is what households on the income shown can afford to buy:

Household income      Maximum affordable housing

$94,575                       $372,044

$77,276                       $303,990

$60,404                       $237,620

$44,146                       $173,663

$27,036                       $106,355

The report says:

“Ownership units account for 90% of the affordable units and are found throughout the Region. However, over three quarters of the affordable ownership units are one and two bedroom condominiums.”

This poses a real problem for larger families. And the condos where people live may be far from where they work.

In Newmarket last year, 71 new rental units came on the market and all were deemed affordable using the region wide rental affordability threshold of $1,270 per month. Only 4 new rental units came on the market in Aurora and none in East Gwillimbury.

The report shows a crisis in rental housing. “Private purpose built rental units account for only 0.3% of the affordable units and are found in 1 local municipality.”

A few days ago, Money Sense magazine ranked Newmarket as the best place to live in York Region and the 23rd in the whole of Canada out of 209 communities listed.

That is, of course, if you can afford to live here.

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Canada Post and Community Mailboxes

Like many people in Newmarket, I shall be losing my home mail delivery and I am not looking forward to it. It is a degradation of service, pure and simple.

The postal workers provide a good service. Besides delivering mail they help keep neighbourhoods safe. They are an extra pair of eyes and ears. They note when mail isn’t taken indoors. They get to know their patch.

Canada Post says getting rid of door-to-door delivery to 100,000 homes and 10,000 business will save them between $400 - $500 million annually. Five million Canadians will be affected. 

Canada Post says it will allow them to shrink their workforce by 6,000 – 8,000 people.

So, with all this in mind, I was interested to hear Tom Mulcair make a “solemn pledge” to stop the community mailbox programme in its tracks if the NDP is elected to Government in October. He will have to come up with a costed and itemized manifesto or people will dismiss this as an airy promise, quickly made and soon forgotten.

This is what he told a meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities at the weekend

It’s also no wonder the Conservative plan to impose community mailboxes is facing vigorous municipal opposition as it would negatively affecting millions of Canadians in your cities and towns.

The NDP has made a solemn commitment:

We will restore door-to-door mail delivery to all those who have lost this service under the Conservative government.

According to the Toronto Star, Mulcair:

“received hearty applause from several hundred convention goers when he said an NDP Government would restore door-to-door mail service for all those who have lost it under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Government."

We shall see.

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