Toronto election 2010

Who’s running for mayor and council
Hot races to watch for city election
By Kris Scheuer
(For update, click here.)

The Toronto election is a hot one and it’s only day two of the campaign. I will be updating the who’s who of candidates throughout the 10-month race. You can check for yourself on the city’s election site.
Candidates started registering Jan. 4 and already some fascinating decisions are being made.
Race for mayor
As of Jan. 12 sixteen mayoral candidates have registered including councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and Liberal strategist Rocco Rossi. The eight others so far are: Rocco Achampong, Douglas Campbell, Stephen Feek, Monowar Hossain, John Letonja, Colin Magee, Baquie Ghazi, Mark State and Sarah Thomson.
Ange Maniccia was registered on day one, but withdrew.

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Candidates for Toronto Election 2010

First day to register and dozens sign up early
Some incumbents back again and challengers line up
By Kris Scheuer
(See update here.)

Today, Toronto’s municipal election race officially started with candidates filing nomination papers at city hall.
FAMILIAR FACES
So far, some incumbents have made it clear they want to be re-elected including: councillors Janet Davis (Ward 31), Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38), Mike Del Grande (Ward 39), Paula Fletcher (Ward 30), Adrian Heaps (Ward 35) Norm Kelly (Ward 40), Joe Mihevc (Ward 21), John Parker (Ward 26), Gord Perks (Ward 14), Bill Saundercook (Ward 13), Cesar Palacio (Ward 17) and so far none of them have any challengers.
HOT RACES

Toronto highrises get organic waste collection

City rolls our green bins in multi-unit buildings over 18 months

By Kris Scheuer
(Originally written for Town Crier Nov. 13/08)
North Yorker Anne-Marie Ambert’s green conscience was eating away at her every time the condo-dweller threw food scraps in the trash.
So Ambert advocated for her building, near Yonge St. and Empress Ave., to be one of 30 test sites for city’s new highrise organic waste collection system.
As a result of having green bin pick-up since 2006, residents here reduced their waste output from five to seven industrial size garbage containers a week down to two, said Ambert, president of the condo board at The Boulevard.
The program was considered such a success here, Mayor David Miller chose this site to launch organic waste collection for all Toronto highrises.
“You have led the way in helping us find out how to do this,” Miller said Nov. 12. “People want to recycle but need tools to make it convenient and part of their daily lives.”
Over the next year and a half, the city will roll out the green bin program in 300 buildings each month until all 4,500 multi-unit residential buildings are on board. This is expected to divert an additional 30,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill, according to city stats.

Anne-Marie Ambert demonstrates how green bin
works in her condo. Photo by Kris Scheuer.

Toronto eyes recyclable coffee cups

City mulls plan to require coffee shops to provide a paper lid for disposable cups
By Kris Scheuer
Originally published Nov.13.08

The city’s shining a spotlight on the disposable coffee cup you’re holding and the estimated 365 million of them Torontonians throwaway each year. City staff is grappling with how to divert that cup from landfill and who should pay to make the hot drink cups and lids compatible with the existing blue bin. A recent city hall report recommended a mandatory 20-cent discount for people who bring their own mug to a coffee shop for their java fix. It also gave retailers such as Tim Hortons and Starbucks until the end of next year to ditch the plastic lid and develop a paper alternative to top their paper coffee cups.  These proposals unleashed a heated nine-hour debate the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on Nov. 12. After all that, councillors voted to defer a decision until next April (since extended to fall/09). So now what?