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Post your ideas for a better Toronto.

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Glen

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Spun off from another thread...

Post your idea's to make Toronto better. From putting this city on a sustainable fiscal path to any other improvements. Please try to include information on how things will be paid for. Suggesting a major expansion to Toronto's subway system without offering details on how to fund it does not do any good.

From my post in another thread (new additions are in bold)

Cost savings (some would require Provincial approval):

- Move all traffic related enforcement from police to bylaw enforcement.

- End the fair wage program.

- Require that TTC construction be contracted out.

- Contract out TTC station management.

- Modify Transit city to have a shared track, with passing sections.

- Ensure that all infrastructure programs are co-ordinated so that redundancies are eliminated. (eg. replacing water mains on a newly paved street)

- Have specified garbage pick up areas between houses. So if one house places its garbage for pick up at the right side, the neighbouring house on the left would place theirs on the left, Being side by side would eliminate the number of stops needed for collection.

Taxation and revenue:

I would completely revamp the current system. To be replaced with the following:

A single class of property, no more beggar they neighbour polices.

A minimum tax of $1,500 for the first $250,000 of assessment value.

A yearly parking tax of $500 per spot.

A Drive Through tax (city supplied meter) of $.25 per transaction.

The balance of property tax revenue would be generated from a single tax rate, applied equally to the assessed values over $250,000.

Have a single LTT rate for all properties.

End tax cancellations for seniors and change to a deferral.

Move to have TTC fares paid by distance.

Niceties

Potted palm trees on the beach, with a contained water area that could be cleaned and heated.

Seasonal bike lanes and pedestrian areas via lane closures on certain streets (Queen St. comes to mind).

Consider making the TTC free after 7:30 pm (excluding routes that cross city borders)

Graffiti cleanup.
 
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Glen said:
A yearly parking tax of $500 per spot.

A Drive Through tax (city supplied meter) of $.25 per transaction.

Move to have TTC fares paid by distance.

Seasonal bike lanes and pedestrian areas via lane closures on certain streets (Queen St. comes to mind).
Click to expand...

Credit where credit is due - I like these.

Especially the drive through tax - do other cities do this? Is it possible for Toronto to do this now, a way of circumventing "sales tax"?
 
UserNameToronto said:
Credit where credit is due - I like these.

Especially the drive through tax - do other cities do this? Is it possible for Toronto to do this now, a way of circumventing "sales tax"?
Click to expand...

I don't know if other cities have a drive through tax. I can't imagine that it would be any more difficult to implement here in Toronto than the .$05 plastic bag charge. Other than the revenue would go to the city. Vehicle counters can be had for less than $1,000. So the capital costs to the city would be recuperated in less than a year.
 
I would like to see property taxes revamped from their current market value assesment to a "sprawl tax". Essentially, the more the neighbourhood sprawls, the more tax one pays. Hopefully this will remove the current imbalance that has young families being priced out of the downtown core. Although this should be province wide, to stop people from leaving Toronto altogether for the 905.
 
Making the TTC free after 7:30 is pretty ridiculous ... there are tons of trips made after that time. How would the TTC possibly recoup the costs.

Maybe free after 12 or 1, but really what's the point anyway? What are we trying to encourage / discourage here.

100% yes to the business tax reforms.
 
* Faux Tax on new Cheddingtonista construction.

* Facade District in the Portlands.

* Good Design Flying Squads with 1-800 Hotline, empowered to issue red cards requiring instant compliance. Funded by yearly parking tax of $500 per spot.

* Flush Left all driveways and space them out equally, for ease of garbage collection.

* Contract out mismangagement to the private sector, who do it better.

* Co-ordinate everything, everywhere, all the time, through centralized planning.

* Free Willy. Funded by Drive Through tax (city supplied meter) of $.25 per transaction
 
Glen said:
I don't know if other cities have a drive through tax. I can't imagine that it would be any more difficult to implement here in Toronto than the .$05 plastic bag charge. Other than the revenue would go to the city. Vehicle counters can be had for less than $1,000. So the capital costs to the city would be recuperated in less than a year.
Click to expand...

How would you monitor every road in Toronto to enforce this?
 
question

...snip
* Contract out mismangagement to the private sector, who do it better.
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Does that mean the private sector does mismanagement better, as shown with Nortel, Enron, the Big 3 Car companies, etc., or does it mean that they can collect garbage and things more cheaply, because they usually don't pay union wages?
 
Create a city growth plan, in conjunction with the other municipalities. Subsidize new high density developments for the plan through tax breaks and possibly construction subsidies. This would be paid for by a higher property tax, hopefully done in conjunction with the other regions, making the size of your lot a larger part of life.

With a plan, a combination of higher taxes on sprawlier houses and subsidies for higher density should allow the city (or me, or whatever,) to easily intensify certain areas, avenues, and give an incentive to redevelop other areas in low-mid rise condos/apartments and townhouses. The city should be making sure what the purpose of the area is to be, some sort of style for it, and how it will work with other developments and businesses.
Imagine having a medium density neighborhood with a cozy, one way main street flanked by italian-style apartments, with dense townhouses at the outskirts? Or a glass and concrete neighborhood housing mid-rise condos with rooftop parks and terraced gardens? Or how bout redeveloping Eglinton West with large anchor condo blocks, with mid rise condos string between them as housing demand increases? It'd be pretty cool, if you ask me :rolleyes:

Oh, and gut Transit City, relocate the funds to more logical transit, and work with Metrolinx to implement an intelligent congestion charge to pay for new transit and better Go service. Oh wait sorry, that's too obvious :rolleyes:
 
One idea that I would like to implement would be an Eyesore Tax on the many commercial buildings in the city which have fallen into disrepair. On Yonge street for example this would include just about every building on the street. The tax would get progressively higher each year that the building is left in disrepair. The money raised by this tax would go 100% towards providing grants to these building owners to be used toward restoring the buildings to their original condition. An example of the kind of restorations I would like to see are the Superior Restaurant and 3 Brewers Brasserie on Yonge Street. Using a carrot and stick approach we could in time bring about a huge improvement in the street level appearance of our city.
 
taal said:
Making the TTC free after 7:30 is pretty ridiculous ... there are tons of trips made after that time. How would the TTC possibly recoup the costs.

Maybe free after 12 or 1, but really what's the point anyway? What are we trying to encourage / discourage here.
Click to expand...

I say make TTC fares $1 after 7:30. It might actually bring in enough new riders to be of financial benefit.
 
Glen said:
I don't know if other cities have a drive through tax. I can't imagine that it would be any more difficult to implement here in Toronto than the .$05 plastic bag charge.
Click to expand...
That $0.05 plastic bag charge is silly, as my local grocery and shops now just offer paper bags. They're both single-use, throw away or toss into the recycle bins, but somehow paper is better?
 
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