Parking - All Correspondence Compiled

January 18, 2007, from Jutta Mason to Derek Ballantyne, Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Community Housing Corporation

I'm hoping you can help with a parking problem at the TCHC building on 12th Street in Etobicoke.

My 81-year-old mother lives there and my brother or I drive out from downtown every week, to help her out in various ways. There are only 4 public parking spots in front of this high rise and another 4 visitor parking spots in the little parking area beside. Around the corner there are only 5 more spots. All the rest of the streets near that building are marked "no parking." There's pay parking on the Lakeshore, a block and a half away.

Yesterday those few spots near the TCH building were all full and I was in a rush so I had to park beyond the no parking sign. So I got a $30 ticket for helping my old mother.

The strange parking restrictions in this housing area -- there are potentially many other parking spots on the seldom-traveled internal roads of this whole complex -- have been in effect from the time the building opened. The City Councillor at that time said they'd try to address this -- but after more than 10 years, it hasn't changed.

I think this is a legitimate concern of your Housing Company, since your building is for seniors and they depend on visitors for many kinds of help. The parking arrangements discourage social and physical support from visitors. Relatives' time is already very tight and we shouldn't have our visits made harder by inadequate parking.

Could you please tell me how this parking problem can be remedied? Through the City Councillor? The community council? Your office?

January 19, 2007, from Steve Floros, Director, Property Management, TCHC, to Jutta Mason

Your e-mail dated January 18 to Toronto Community Housing CEO, Derek Ballantyne, has been forwarded to my attention for response.

Lerette Manor contains 178 apartment units for seniors. As you have noted, there is very limited surface parking and the compact size of our property does not permit additional spaces to be constructed on the surface.

Lerette Manor has an underground parking garage with approximately 58 spaces and all of the spaces are rented to tenants. As a matter of fact, we have a waiting list of tenants who have requested parking so we do not have an opportunity to create additional visitor parking on this property.

TCHC has a backlog of capital work that is worth many hundreds of millions of dollars for in-suite improvements, mechanical systems and structural repairs. We are struggling with our annual capital repair plan that is inadequate to even repair what we consider urgent work. I hope that you can appreciate that even if we had empty spaces in the underground, we would be hard pressed to spend capital dollars here ahead of the many projects we have identified as urgent work.

Street parking around Lerette Manor is limited and overnight parking is by permit only. TCHC has previously approached city officials to relax street parking restrictions. However, TTC buses use this community as a turn around and the bus turning radius may be preventing changes to street parking.

January 25 2007, From Jutta Mason to Barry Peters, assistant to City Councillor Mark Grimes.

It was good talking to you on the phone. To recap:

It's clear that there are many other potential parking spaces near Lerette Manor, and when I called the City about this about 10 years ago (when Lerette Manor opened), they said they'd try to address this problem. That may have got lost in the shuffle. Now that there are even more housing units in that area, and hopefully even more helpful visitors for the older people, it's time to try again.

Please let me know what Councillor Grimes' office intends to do to start the process. I would like to suggest setting up a site meeting with the transportation person who will be in charge of this issue, just to get the process started with the right information. I would be happy to adjust my schedule to come to that meeting, to tell the transportation investigator about my ten-year experience of the traffic patterns there (including the bus traffic). I think that it would also be good to invite a TCHC staff person, since they have an interest in supporting their tenants.

January 25 2007, from Jutta Mason to Steve Floros, Director, Property Management, TCHC

You will note that I have now started the process of addressing your tenants' shortage of normal on-street (visitor) parking with the councillor's office. Will you be able to attend a site meeting, or is there another staff person i should be contacting?

Also, I'd like to post the ongoing correspondence on behalf of my mother, to keep the residents informed. I note that TCHC's official bulletin board near the elevators at 250 Twelfth Street is kept locked. Is there a community bulletin board where this correspondence can be posted? Whom should I contact to get permission?

January 25 2007, from Heidi Bechmann, resident, Lerette Manor, to Jutta Mason

Here is just a thought that is maybe worth remembering. Namely that there is a great number of people still living in this building who had moved here already in 1993 (like I have), who have "aged on the spot" and who are now much more in need to get help from their children.

January 25, 2007, from Steve Floros, Director, Property Management, TCHC, to Jutta Mason

I can send a staff member when you have convened a meeting. As for the bulletin board, you can check with the superintendent, Alex Lemeza who can help you with access to posting a message.

Jan.25, 2007, from Jutta Mason to Alex Lemeeza, building superintendent, Lerette Manor.

As you know, my mother is one of the tenants in the building you superintend. I see that Steve Floros already copied you on our e-mails. Could you let me know where I can post ongoing updates as the parking issue progresses?

Jan.29, 2007, from Alex Lemeeza, building superintendent, Lerette Manor, to Jutta Mason

Good day, Please feel free to post your updates at three available bulletin boards: mail rm. area - main lobby (black felt)- recreation rm.

Feb.7 2007, from Jutta Mason to Barry Peters, assistant to City Councillor Mark Grimes

You may recall that I spoke to you on January 25, about the inadequate parking on 12th Street near Lerette Manor, where my mother lives. Since then, my brother and I have taken some measurements of possible on-street parking places. We calculate that there are between 20 and 30 parking spaces that can be added within a block. All of these spaces would most likely be taken by visitors or by people who live there, since the area is remote from shopping.

Our calculation is based on one-side street parking. In central Toronto, where I live, every residential street (with or without a bus route) has extensive on-street parking, all of it licensed by permit overnight.

According to our measurements, the streets in the area of Lerette Manor are 28 feet wide and have almost no on-street parking. For comparison, Gladstone Avenue, a two-way street near my house, is 24.5 feet wide, and has parking all along one side.

I note also that none of the streets near Lerette Manor are a bus "turn-around" as someone has suggested.

So I would now request the following:

1. a copy of the code relating to street parking as it has been applied to the area near Lerette Manor, with an explanation of how it differs from the code that applies to central Toronto

2. a date for a site visit with a planning staff person and yourself, to be attended also by a TCHC staff person and by any Lerette Manor resident or their family member who wishes to attend

3. A timeline for addressing this concern, including a date for discussion at community council of there are blocks.

I look forward to your response. Hopefully the councillor's office can help to fix this problem very soon. The building superintendent of Lerette Manor has pointed out three public bulletin boards on the main floor, and I will try to make sure that all correspondence relating to this issue is posted there.

No response, so on Feb.19, while at City Hall for a meeting, Jutta asked to see Councillor Grimes' assistant. They spoke for a few minutes. Jutta asked him to confirm in an e-mail what he had said to her, and he said he'd do it right away.

Feb.19 2007, from Jutta Mason to Barry Peters, assistant to City Councillor Mark Grimes

Nice to talk to you out in the hallway at City Hall today. When I got home, I didn't find an e-mail from you, so I'm re-sending my question, to be clear.

Please write me a quick note just repeating what you told me --

1. that you're working on scheduling a site meeting

2. that it will hopefully be within the next two weeks, and

3. that Councillor Grimes may try to be present as well.

I would like to put up some progress reports on the bulletin boards at Lerette Manor, and an e-mail from the Councillor's office would be a help.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, with tape measures in hand and copies of the code, on 12th Street very soon. I'm sure this can be resolved so that visitors and relatives of the people who live on those streets have less trouble finding a nearby parking space.

Feb.23 2007, from Barry Peters, assistant to City Councillor Mark Grimes, to Jutta Mason

I just want to get a few more pieces of information and some confirmations before the Councillor will commit to putting up notices just yet. I want to hear back from Transportation Staff first just to see what exactly this process will entail and how long it will take. It is my intention to organize a meeting with all the players, including having Councillor Grimes present, but I just want to get the history and possible future action first. I spoke with Transportation today and they are going to have an answer for me first thing next week - at which point I will contact you, of course.

This has been a problem for about 10 years or so as you have mentioned and so it's not going to hurt to wait a couple of more days.....well, at least I hope not!

March 1, 2007, from Jutta Mason to Barry Peters, assistant to City Councillor Mark Grimes

You will note that my initial phone call to you was on January 25, and I see that you called Transportation on Feb.23. You said you would contact me "first thing next week," i.e. four days ago, but I have had no further news from you. You said it wouldn't hurt for this issue to wait a few more days, but on Tuesday when I went to get my mother for a doctor's appointment, all five parking spots were taken again. And if I get another ticket tomorrow -- yes, it will hurt.

Please set a date for a site meeting now, and forward me the street parking code information that I asked for on February 7. This problem is very inexpensive to resolve. With meters it can generate regular parking income for the city, and the friends/relatives of the 178+ seniors who live there will no longer get $30 tickets when they visit. As it stands now, the people who visit other residents of this development are also stuck, and as you see in my web site photos, even the construction workers at the new apartments have no way to avoid a ticket. A bad situation.

March 3, 2007, from Barry Peters, assistant to City Councillor Mark Grimes to Jutta Mason

I have contacted City staff as I had previously advised you. They are conducting an investigation to review the site and all possible angles and an onsite meeting unprepared is not the best idea. Once they provide our office with their findings and possible solutions, we will arrange an onsite meeting with the Tenant representative of Lerette Manor, as well as any TCHC staff that need to be there.

This issue, as you have clearly stated in previous conversations, has been going on for over 10 years and a solution isn't just as simple as installing meters. This is a bus route, it is already a congested area of traffic, there is parking available on Lake Shore Blvd. W., and proper locations of additional parking need to be planned appropriately and properly.

I am in regular contact with Transportation Services and as I receive updates, I will let you know.

March 4 2007, from Jutta Mason to the ETCC e-mail address on the City website

hello -- could you please let me know the Etobicoke Community Council meeting schedule for the next 4 months? (It's not readily available on the city web site.)

Do they have a particular time when they address parking concerns?

Are all the meetings public?

Do they accept deputations?

March 5 2007 Update

An information officer at Access Toronto (416 338-0338) suggested calling the Ward 6 Roads supervisor, Mark Hargot, at 416 394-8453. Jutta called and briefly explained the problem on his voice mail. He called back and explained some of the concerns, including possible loss of revenue for the Toronto Parking Authority on Lakeshore Blvd. He also said that he would be checking into the code that requires a certain number of visitor street-parking spaces per number of residents. Apparently he is not yet familiar with the details of that code.

He said he has been in touch with the Councillor's office about this issue and they plan to set up a meeting with the tenant rep and the councillor's office at some time in the future. Jutta asked that she be included in the meeting, and Mr.Hargot seemed unclear about whether that would be possible, but said that when they set a date she could be notified.

Access Toronto also connected Jutta with the office of John Niedra, Director of Transportation Services for Etobicoke and East York, jniedra@toronto.ca. His assistant then gave Jutta three more names: Al Smithies, Manager of Traffic Planning and Right of Way, asmithie@toronto.ca; Don Pardoe, Supervisor of Right of Way Management, dwpardoe@toronto.ca; and Karen Kirk, Parking Coordinator, klkirk@toronto.ca.

Jutta also asked Access Toronto whether there is an agency or office within the City which is directly concerned with policy affecting seniors -- such as whether their visitors are discouraged from coming because of lack of legal parking near their buildings. However there doesn't seem to be such a listing on the Access Toronto data base.

March 6, 2007 From Brad Bartlett, Committee Secretary of the Etobicoke

York Community Council, to Jutta Mason

The 2007 schedule for all Committees/Community Councils of City Council are on the City's website, under schedules.

The link is below:

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/schedule.htm#monthly-schedules

Also, please be advised that the Etobicoke York Community Council, considers a parking matter once a staff report has been written on the matter and submitted to the Community Council.

The meetings are open to the public.

Deputations (Speakers) are permitted as long as they relate to the staff report.

Please refer to the City's website for the Agenda of the Etobicoke York Community Council.

March 6 2007, from Jutta Mason to Al Smithies, Manager of Traffic Planning and Right of Way, Etobicoke and York

I am writing to you about the need for more on-street parking on 12th Street in Etobicoke.

My mother, Heidi Bechmann, who is 81, lives in a TCHC seniors' building called Lerette Manor, on 12th Street. There are 178 apartment units in the building, and three visitor parking (plus two handicapped) spaces on the property. Within this area there are also many townhouses plus an artists' co-op plus the recent addition of another 10-story building.

In the whole big area there are only about 11 legal street-parking spaces, causing hardship (and parking tickets) for visitors like myself.

Could you let me know if the City has any standards about the number of street-parking spaces needed for visitors, per number of residents? I have been told a number of confusing things by various people:

1. that I will need to gather a petition of names for your department to consider the parking shortage

2. that the pay-parking more than a block away on Lakeshore Blvd. provides the City with income and must not be upstaged by street parking closer to Lerette Manor

3. that the area is a "congested area of traffic" (??)

4. that the bus route which goes past Lerette Manor means only the existing 5 street-parking spaces can be there, although the street is very wide

The streets in that area are wide and empty, the number of units have been drastically increased, and there are seniors who depend on good visitor access from their families -- is the supply of visitor street-parking the responsibility of your department, without the need for Councillor intervention or petitions?

Content last modified on March 09, 2007, at 12:16 AM EST