My Toronto Star column: Toronto city hall’s strategy to collect the vacant home tax was flawed from the start — too bureaucratic and too prone to errors.

There were — and are — other options. It’s time for another look at a system based on utility bills. thestar.com/opinion/contri…

My Toronto Star column: Toronto’s got a dangerous dog problem, and I’m not sure how city hall’s plan for $500K public education campaign is supposed to fix it.

Governments should try spending less on communicating problems, and more on solving them.

thestar.com/opinion/contri…

Check your inbox: it’s @cityhallwatcher #273!

It’s time for LOBBYIST WATCH for March 2024, featuring CUPE’s concerns about the Gardiner upload and blue bin switch, Therme’s water supply, Jim Karygiannis’ China trip to see some big drones, and more!

toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/chw273

Adding that Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines, while not on the sunshine list for technical reasons, is by far the highest municipally paid public servant in Canada at $1.4M in 2022; was expected to get a 3% hike last year which would put him at $1.44M

Here’s a quick table of today’s sunshine list data for the City of Toronto and its agencies and boards.

TTC CEO Rick Leary has top salary by far, taking home $562,326 + benefits in 2023.

Click through for top 100: datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ax3RU/1/

My Toronto Star column: it’s fair to be concerned about the sky-high rate of fare evasion on the TTC, but we should also be concerned about the potential for the TTC to launch an aggressive, heavy-handed response.

First, try better customer service.

thestar.com/opinion/contri…

Check your inbox: it’s City Hall Watcher #272!

This week: Another council meeting is in the books. I look at decisions re: FIFA, dangerous dogs, noisy cars, and swapping parking for housing. Includes a look at revenue data from hundreds of parking lots.

toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/chw272

The March Council meeting is over, but the work continues. I’ve got a special FREE issue of City Hall Watcher out now looking at the issues on tap for next week, including booze in parks, the not-triumphant return of measles, parking business woes and more toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/booze-in-par…