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Deputy Mayor Malik asks how the upload impacts the city's work to improve the area under the Gardiner, like the Bentway. City Manager says the legal agreements are still being worked out. "The province is taking over the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway, and that's it — not the stuff underneath."

Councillor Pasternak asks if there's anything in the agreement that prevents the province from applying tolls on the Gardiner/DVP. City Manager says no, but notes Ford gov has been very anti-toll. Johnson also confirms names of the highways won't change -- they won't be redesignated some 400-number

Councillor Ainslie points out that yesterday the city got $1.5 billion from the province through the Development Charge Reduction Program, and today they're confirming $4B+ through New Deal. "What's next?" he asks Chow. "Wait for it. There's still one more Council [meeting]," Chow says, laughing.

Malik moves to negotiate a framework that'll protect the city's ability to continue to work on improving the area under the Gardiner after the upload process completes.

Malik's motion CARRIES via show of hands. The framework for completing the Gardiner/DVP upload is APPROVED by Toronto Council, 23-1. These highways will officially be Doug Ford's problem, starting fall 2027.

Up now: Toronto Hydro's annual report. As part of their submission, they've outlined the work they're doing to try to make it easier to get new multiplexes connected to the power grid. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...

Surprise Data Centre motion! Councillor Dianne Saxe has a motion for council to endorse the C40 Global Urban Centres Data Pact and "set a vision for data centres" in Toronto that are sustainable.

Saxe says data centres come with "many issues" but "they're also essential — data sovereignty is critically important." "We need to have data centres be good grid citizens — they need to be good public citizens," she says.

Councillor Shelley Carroll, in questioning, wonders why the city can't just wait for a coming report on data centre impacts. She's also concerned about endorsing a pact that she has not had a chance to read. Council opts to delay consideration of this item to give councillors time to ponder.

Mayor Olivia Chow rises to note the Ambassador from Slovenia is here today. "It's Slovenia Day!" she says. He gets applause. Former councillor Joe Mihevc is here too. He gets applause as well, but less.

Back to the Hydro item: Nunziata rules Saxe's data centre motion out of order, since it's not related to the annual report on the agenda.

Mayor Olivia Chow moves a motion to protect public ownership of Toronto Hydro, amending the shareholder direction so the agency can't pursue the sale of equity shares to raise money.

Chow's motion to protect public ownership of Toronto Hydro CARRIES 21-1.

Up now: an update on the city's Vision Zero Road Safety program. A supplementary report confirms that speeding has increased significantly since the province banned speed cameras. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...

Councillor Ainslie points out a lot of the flexiposts installed in his ward for Vision Zero have been broken for a long time. He asks staff if they have enough resources. Staff say it's not practical for them to patrol all 5,800 km of Toronto streets, so they rely on 311 requests to flag issues.

Councillor Colle recalls that Premier Ford promised money to install roundabouts. Has the province given the city any money for roundabouts? No, say staff. Colle continues: Could speed bumps be installed to replace speed cameras? No, staff say, because they can't put bumps on arterial roads.

With speeding up following the end of speed cameras, Colle asks staff if they've asked the cops to increase patrols. "They help as much as they can," staff say. "But they have a huge remit — and they have lots of different priorities."

As a visual aid, here's what my tracking of data from the city's digital "Watch your Speed" signs shows about speeding near former speed camera sites.

Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin appears to be asking questions about road safety and crossing guards while driving.

On that surreal note, Council breaks for lunch. Back at 2 p.m. to deal with 65 items left on the agenda.

LMAO!! Written by Rachel Chernos Lin leasidelife.com/safer-sidewa...

Council is back. Councillor Lily Cheng announces she's launching a "Pigeon Impact Photo Contest." "We are calling on all members of Willowdale and maybe beyond to join the Pooparazi and share your best pigeon impact photo so that we can discourage people from feeding the pigeons."

Time for member motions. These will generally need two-thirds support to make the agenda. Many will pass immediately with no debate. I'll note the notable ones.

Councillor Vince Crisanti's motion to look at ways to do a better job of cutting the grass on city property is added to the agenda and CARRIES via show of hands. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...