City defers decision on private garbage pickup

Toronto’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee has voted to defer a decision on private garbage pickup, prolonging the debate until late next year.

A staff report released last week advised the city against privatizing garbage east of Yonge Street. Curbside collection west of Yonge is already privatized.

On Tuesday, committee chair Jaye Robinson told 680 NEWS she believes the report is flawed.

“They’ve made a lot of assumptions .. and they haven’t really taken it out to the private sector,” Robinson said.

Robinson said that city staff did not conduct any “market sounding,” meaning consultations with the private sector. She also said there were no requests for proposals (RFPs).

“We had an independent body review this, Ernst & Young … and they indicate we really won’t know if there is an opportunity to save money unless we actually do market sounding. That step wasn’t taken.”

Mayor John Tory promised to contract out garbage pickup east of Yonge Street if he got elected.

“It’s appalling,” Coun. Rob Ford told reporters on Tuesday.

“You have a mayor that campaigned on it … in every debate said, ‘I’m going to privatize garbage’ … he’s lying to the public,” Ford said.

Ford said Tory was “afraid” to stand up to the unions.

The committee is looking at a number of other issues on Tuesday.

Parking fines

Parking fines could be going up in the city.

Toronto city staff prepared a report for the committee suggesting that the “no parking” fine rise from $40 to $50.

The fine for stopping on a sidewalk, meanwhile, could increase from $60 to $150 dollars, while the penalty for stopping in a no stopping zone would also increase from $60 to $150.

The report, which will be discussed later on Tuesday, suggests that the increase could result in more than $5.5 million in additional revenue. That is, of course, unless drivers change their behaviour.

Even if the committee approves the report, the fines would still have to pass through city council.

Bike lanes

Meanwhile, the committee is also considering adding nearly 41 kilometres of new bike lanes in the next 10 years.

Toronto currently has an 856-kilometre bike network, with 558.4 kilometres of on-street lanes and 297.4 off-road trails. Toronto is already adding more bike lanes to the downtown core.

Garbage

Coun. Stephen Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre) is planning to ask the committee to request a staff report about changes to existing garbage pick-up. He would like to see it on just one side of the street.

Gardiner Expressway

City staff have revealed three options for the ‘hybrid’ Gardiner Expressway, which would replace the existing highway from Jarvis Street East to the Don Valley Parkway.

One version has “tighter” ramps, meaning the off-ramp would be closer to the highway itself. The second option moves the Cherry Street portion of the Expressway further north with changes to existing speed limits. The third version is similar to the second, but would include rail bridge widening.