My name...

I watch a lot of TV, I am a mother who has 2 beautiful daughters who are my main concern daily and because of such I understand a great deal of caring about their safety.

Everyday I hear about how unsafe the Internet is, how everyone can be found and how dangerous this world is we live in. I try and keep my personal matters (address, locations, pictures and personal information) from making it to my blogs and try and not post images of my family on any free sites that aren't protected so that people other than my friend and family can see.

But how does one do this while running for a political seat? How do I keep myself anonymous while I am trying to get my name out there, it almost is redundant!!!

How do I do this, how do I get this childhood dream that never let up, to plough ahead and get a political seat I feel very strongly about while no longer being the no named girl next door? I believe I battled with this demon in high school, I fought the shyness, the ambiguity, the non-existence that I had as a child. I made sure you knew who I was, you knew I was coming and well you never forgot I was there.

But I am no longer that teenager walking through the hall of her high school of 2 thousand kids, I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister and a cousin. I don't want to bring anyone else into this fold of me running for politics, I don't want to endanger or make anyone uncomfortable.

Thankfully my husband is very excited and supportive about my decision, my daughter's don't solely have my name and my family small enough to bare with me. Sometimes too small and easily found... but I put my name out there. I do it, because it has to be done... I am nervous and well learning to thicken my skin in the process. I have had to introduce myself at meetings, I am letting them know I am coming... so I guess city of Toronto, I am Angie Tingas, and I am running for city council for Ward 30!

Harmonizing not so harmonious!

Today I sat in a very intricate meeting, but excitingly different meeting with different people from the ward with varying opinions. I was attending the Harmonized Zoning By-law meeting... long winded title with really a lot of political talk.

 

My issues with this plan and the zoners who are coming together with this plan is the control of personal property space. They will be able to decide how much of your front yard is use for certain items and how much of the back. Terms being tossed around such as hard soil and soft soil on your property... you will be limited to how much patio stone to parking pad, sheds and so on you will be adding to your outdoor space. These wording decisions will continue with what you will have to what you might plan on adding. I am not against the the idea of getting more green spaces on properties and creating a guideline to which to follow, I do have an issue with the wording of seperating the front yard from the backyard.

 

The uniqueness and the characteristic of your home especially your exterior which is something that is your first selling feature and the curb appeal of your  home is something I think that should be left to the owner under supervision. Never will a parking pad be offered to any home in my ward in the front of the house, you couldn`t attain the size of minimal parking spot while the back of your home could be green as possible.

 

Commercial property takes a big blow, perse... under this new by-law any new buildings but on any larger Avenues you would have to build a 3 storey property either for simply commercial usage or combination commercial/residential space. And all new properties will have to be built around 3 ft. from the sidewalk/city line.

 

While this by-law is mostly grossly important to those in the construction/building industries, these by-laws are important for current home owners who might want to change and update their home. Differences being peaks of houses will no longer vary, your neighbour and you both can`t surpass a 10.5 m height.

Zoning by-laws take a severe stab at the big box stores, under no circumstance will there be any zones to permit such a store in the greater Toronto, or amalgamated Toronto. Not sure how I feel about this... I can see the positive and the negatives to this complaint.

Some more interesting bits that I learned are such....

• There will be no business or schools that are allowed to be used in residential homes
•  There will be no permitted Drive-thru in the city of Toronto.
• Limiting your house to a certain width so if you wanted more square footage you could only go up
• 50% soft soil restrictions on all forms of yards
• No more basement sloping driveway with garage.
• Place of worships and schools could not open up in commercial zones and take up commercial property.

My only concern about all the changes that are being offered is that if you wanted to open a school or place of worship... if you wanted to expand your home or build a one story home becuase you couldn`t walk up stairs, you would have to pay to have a designated area rezoned for your needs. Meaning specific case to case basis would perhaps have to pay for the city to simply rezone the property.

Please feel free to take a look at various different opinions out there, please share your opinions with me... this is your city and these are laws that affect those who buy, own and renovate city residents and commercial properties... I am interested in how this might affect some of you.

Real Estate Article
EyeWeekly`s point of view
Information the City is providing

Being Independent!

I had discussed on many occasions with friends of mine about finally going into city council and in all our conversation being affiliated to a party was never something that was talked about.

After researching fellow city councilor members that sit in city council currently I was shocked and appalled by the numbers of councilors that are backed or affiliated to a political party. In my opinion a good 90% are so.

After a ton of thought and a fact that while my views can sometimes be labeled, I cannot be! I live in the most party affiliated ward in Toronto. You read correctly, my ward is a political platform... a stepping stone to a political career where the majority of city councilors use it to make gains on their personal careers.

Because of such my ward falls in the fold... I believe the many councilors who have graced us, one being the in/famous Jack Layton who went on to run for the NDP party federally, and is now the leader of that party. I don't have any political opinion at this point, but I think city councilors should breath and sleep care about their neighbourhood, should be more concerned about the people who live in their neighbourhood. They just be independent of political party agenda and should be fighting the council for things that affect the ward not the party that pays for their running purposes.

This is my stance on Independence... this is my reason for staying that way in this political running campaign I am about to put myself through. I am independent of thought, my actions are independent... every vote and decision I plan to make as your newly voted city councilor member will be in the best interest of a neighbourhood I am ridiculously proud to call my own. I know nothing more and truly don't have interest in doing so, I am proud of my ward 30 and proud to be running independently in the upcoming city election. Hope you'll join my independent movement and change the game of the political parties who just see our ward as a stepping stone and not a community with needs and great people.

Join the movement... I am always looking for volunteers in the community or anyone with any political running information. Please feel free to email me. Thank you!

Looking for counsel...

I have never ran for anything politically in my city or even in my neighbourhood. I can't begin to explain that I have no clue how it works.

I am of course in great need to find someone or somebodies to counsel me, do you know, does running for city council needs a team of helpers. What am I looking for in terms of campaign funds, what does it take a campaign manager, volunteers and so on.

Everyone one of my friends and associates have offered to help in some aspect of their time for various things, such as canvasing the neighbourhoods and being someone I can speak to for various subjects as schooling and general city involvement.

So in case you know anyone who might be of good use, please send them my way... but I don't want them to give me my platforms... those are for me to be passionate about, for me to push for, for me to see the change!!!

My first community meeting...

I attended my first city community meeting last Thursday... which to me was a great experience in personal involvement.

When I was fairly younger and in my school days, especially during my time in high school I was very active in my school's community, a social convener for a year at my school, an advocate for things I felt were not right that I watched around me, a peer councilor from the first year I entered school. I guess I enjoyed the feeling of being involved, thought it was something you just did while you were a teen... but much to my knowledge it is something I was craving, needing to do get involved.

So I attended my first save the pool meeting in my district, my poor district has been marred with a 30% of intended pool closures by 2010. What a disturbing thought, that in this day and age of high rising numbers of childhood obesity taking away a physical activity from our kids. Worst as well, city run decisions, city sponsored TDSB and pools which we pay money towards and somehow no one is allowed to use them.

There were a few speeches made by Peter Tabuns, the Ontario MP for our ward, our current city councilor for ward 30 Paula Fletcher, and the District school board Mrs. Dandy were also in attendance. Everyone shared their opinions but not much offered as from the political side of the matter, most was left to the school, it's parental student council and other save the pools groups to try and save the pool.

I must add the initiative to save the pool from the parents, the community was great and nice to see a community pull together to foster ideas and come up with ways to save this part of the school... which I realised is something difficult to prove that the swimming pool is also a classroom.

One of the reasons I feel like I identify myself in this cause is because I believe swimming is a right of passage... my parents never taught me to swim, I learnt from a family member on vacation to Greece. My school never offered swimming lessons to us students, it was not a part of our curriculum... when I got into the pool in high school I had no proper training and my swimming style is very self taught. But I never feel more at peace when I am swimming away.., and I feel that children should have that right to experience here in Toronto.

So my first community meeting a success, I was filmed for CTV news, but the tape did not get picked up as the precedent was to put on an American Balloon Boy story instead... but my involvement reminded me how much I love to get involved and partake.

Reading minutes...

Today, I spent the day reading minutes recorded for the meeting that deal with Community Council decisions. Not the most entertaining part of the job, but far more interesting as to where they might prohibit you from making a right turn on a red or if you own property what kind of amendments you are allowed to impose on someone putting up a poster/billboard on their property.

Reading material aside, I was trying to read up on information that might be of use to me when this week's meeting about draining a school pool in the neighbourhood comes up. I haven't heard or scene anything more ridiculous than a city and it's school board wanting to close all the pools in the city.

I have had a gamut of ideas of what the pools could be used for, why they should be kept open and how Obesity being one of the biggest epidemics in children's health taking away a physical activity is absurd.

I will post more about this on Friday, the meeting is on Thursday and I will attend with notes and things I propose to read off to the school and it's trustees. Time is now, to take back our city from ridiculousness and redirect our community and our city folk into a prosperous and useful society.

Happening in the Ward this month...

From time to time I will share events that are happening in and around my ward and even in my city...

• This month is Community Environment Days, every ward in the city will be holding it's own event held by it's own councilor. Ours here in Ward 30 will be held in Riverdale Park East- on October 17, 2009 (it was postponed from scheduled date of July 1st).

This is a great event to get rid of waste and items that could be reused or salvaged to avoid landfills. Various items you can bring are old computers, paints, medicines, pencils, plates and motor-powered items for your lawn.

For more details please take a look at the city's description of the event, http://www.toronto.ca/environment_days/

• Also this month is the Solar Neighborhoods Workshop. This event is for all those who have thought about making their home a Greener environment by introducing Solar power to their home and eliminating Gas and Electricity usage in their home.

Being held at: Danforth-Coxwell Library, 1675 Danforth Ave.Toronto, ON Danforth and Coxwell Ave Map to this event from 6:30-8pm. This workshop can lead to getting an extra $1000 off incentive to making your home a greener place.

For more details please follow the link http://www.solarneighbourhoods.ca/incentives.php

Running for 30...

2010 here in the city of Toronto is when the next municipal elections will be held. I live in Ward 30, held by Paula Fletcher.

I have lived in Ward 30 for all of my life a large 28 years. Not only do I live in my neighbourhood that I am a fan of, I love my ward. There are many fun locations in my ward and some of my most favorite spots in Toronto. Seconds away from me is the Danforth a social hub with food and cafés that go for 2 subway blocks. And my most favorite spot for me personally is Cherry beach... a quiet and serene beach with swans and ducks.

Why running for 30... well in 2010 I will also turn 30, my ward is 30. So please join me and follow along as I take you through the ups and downs of being a mom who is running for her local city hall.

Tx. Angie