December 10 2012

TORONTO POLICE BOARD SPECIAL MEETING BUDGET 2013

Deputation by : Miguel Avila

Dear Board Members: Thank you for allow me to address this board. I am wish to state for the record that no one has pay me to come to this meeting. I am here on my own accord and as a volunteer who loves Toronto and who wants to see a better Toronto Police Services , one of the best services in North America. Today at City Hall , the budget committee is holding public hearings to hear from Torontonians what they think of the cuts to the City Budget. Over 320 deputants are schedule to speak over two (2) days. I was one of them who stated to the Budget Chief that increasing the budget for Housing and Shelter at the tune of $10.00 million dollars make a lot of sense. Why? Because Supporting Housing addresses the need to help the tenant overcome addictions and/ or Mental Illness in a secure environment . Preventing the tenant to default on their rent or recessing into criminal behavior that will lead to imprisonment , the cost of keeping a inmate cost are extremely high , same for hospitalization these cost are reaching astronomical numbers. T.P.S in their vast majority are not trained Social workers or Mental Health experts , increasingly the number of Torontonians with Mental Illness and living in poverty is ever increasing in T.C.H.C buildings. I do support the increase of Nurses and Officers to add to the Mobile Intervention Units to help reduce the risk of losing another member of the Community. Another important fact today revealed at the Budget Committee is the report from the Toronto Real State Board that points out that Toronto Business face a higher increase in Property Taxes and that has led to business to close shop and leave the City of Toronto to other regions where taxes are lower. Remember this taxes help to keep you on the job. A good example, I invite you to drive on the 505 Street Car towards East Toronto and look at the detrimental number of stores that have close their business. Taxes that are not collected to pay your high salaries and benefits The city is recovering from a harsh recession and that is going to take some time before any budget increases. Councillor Chin a member of this board also made remarks last week in connection with the number of Job losses in the City of Toronto .. 320,000 jobs have gone forever to other regions outside Toronto. Here are the links to the T.C.H.C Proactive Steps that are taking place at Danzing Street. http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/1376181-entrepreneur-makes-150-000-donation-to-helpdanzig-street-community/

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/26/danzig-community-benefits-from-tch-repair-initiative

Bad publicity also had damage our T.C.H.C Communities due to an unfortunate event last July month and it should not be a reason to increase the number of Police Officers as Mr Blair wish to see happening today. More Police is not the answer. What we need for starters : better jobs. T.C.H.C is leading the charge to improve the image by conducting Maintenance Blitz to address the maintenance concerns of residents living at Danzing Street. A Toronto businessman has donated $150, 000 towards the mothers and children living on Danzing Street. Mr Akanimo Udofia has pledge to help residents for a
period of three (3) years. That is the way to go, improve the communication and relation with residents living in Priority Neighborhoods. No more REACTIVE policing but rather replacing it with a New Model of Positive Policing - the answer and the solution - to deal with the issues in these neighborhoods riddle with poverty, Mental Illness and other problems. Another concern I must address is the duplicity of Legal Services. The T.P.S Board has an army of lawyers providing Legal Advice to the T.P.S , why not merging the Legal Department with the City Legal Department? That will result in considerable savings. . So far Praises and Praise have come from representatives of the T.P.L.C ( TORONTO POLICE LIASON COMMITTEE) and fear mongering that Front Line officers are going to face the chopping ax. That is not the case, Enough saying it is important that you hear the other side of the coin from yours truly! Wonder if this T.P.L.C could come more often to the Board when we are talking about the G20 Legal Indemnification, the Racial Profiling Carding ongoing debate .. no just showing up to cheer leading for the Chief. Bad business move!!!

Well that concludes my deputation and I hope that Mr. McCormack , The President of the Toronto Police Association is listening in , I take a great deal of offense when he stated last week if he did not get his wishes he would take the City Hostage or take some legal steps.

Yours Truly,

Miguel Avila