Tuning in to Budget Committee just in time to hear budget chief Shelley Carroll say, "The barrage of questions going to staff that are not specifically budget-related are challenging." I see things are going well
Discussion
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"Just put up your physical hand. Physical hands are all we're working with today." #NoContexxt
Carroll wants everyone to understand that housing capital projects getting deferred isn't necessarily the City's fault. "There's a focus of some of our colleagues on capital deferrals but often there are other reasons why deferrals are happening or being smoothed out to other years.
"Or they're making stuff up. That too. I'll say that right into the microphone. Okay, I think that's it for Housing Secretariat…"
want to keep watching but must get other work done and also nap
Budget Committee is back, hearing from more City divisions!
Today's game: listening/watching until someone mentions "leveraging AI"
- Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/5lyvRANck-s
- Agenda & documents: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2026.BU11.1
Cheng mentions "naturalized areas" in parks with "weeds taller than toddlers."
Moise asks Paramedic Services about whether they have seen an uptick in overdose calls since the closure of supervised consumption sites. Division head Bikram Chawla (I believe) says they haven't. Anecdotally, this belies what I heard recently from a Parkdale Community Health Centre employee, which is that overdoses are spiking. Then again, people may be trying to avoid calling 911 because of the risk of discrimination and arrest (paramedics routinely ask police to accompany them on overdose calls).
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Toronto Shelter & Support Services says [one-time/time-limited] funding for the Encampment Office will be ending in March of this year.
Moise asks about the operational impacts of the changes to the encampment protocol approved late last year to prioritize removing encampments within 50 metres of "children's amenities"; TSSS say they've removed 48 since.