With Coucillor Gary Crawford
By Gary Crawford
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season! Although we were not able to get together in our usual festive gatherings, I think it’s fair to say that we still found alternative ways to celebrate. This was quite apparent in my first annual Christmas Lights Contest, which was held last month. It was wonderful to see so many of you go to such great lengths to make Scarborough Southwest merry and bright. Thank you to all those who participated and congratulations to the winners!
As we begin the New Year, I’d like to take this opportunity to outline the various ways you can engage with my office, as well as City staff. Some of you may be familiar with the procedures described below, based on past encounters with my office. However, I believe it is important to clarify these procedures, given the changes to City services and programming caused by the ongoing pandemic.
The City oversees the provision of a variety of services through its various departments, including snow removal, solid waste collection and utility services, among other things. Although staff strive to meet or exceed the expectations of the many residents across our great city, on a few occasions these efforts may fall short of City standards. If you would like to report a concern or place a general inquiry, I recommend starting with 311. Through this City run answer line, residents can access non-emergency City services, programs and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Assistance is also offered in more than 180 languages. To contact 311, please dial 3-1-1 or email 311@toronto.ca. An available correspondent will collect your feedback and relay it to the respective department for further action and/or consideration.
If you feel that your concerns were not dealt with in a satisfactory manner, please feel free to contact my office by either telephone (416-392-4052) or email (councillor_crawford@toronto.ca). A member from my staff will be more than happy to look into the feasibility of escalating your request. Although the volume of communications we receive has continued to fluctuate over the course of the pandemic, we typically strive to respond to inquiries in 1-2 business days. I apologize in advance for any potential delays to this estimated response time.
Aside from our primary modes of communication, I sometimes receive messages from residents through my social media accounts (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.). Although I recommend referring to these accounts for up to date information on news and events in the community, they are not ideal forums for reporting concerns. As such, I ask that you reach out to us via telephone or email, to ensure that your concerns receive the prompt and diligent attention we endeavour to provide.
Finally, if you’d like a one stop resource for all things “Ward 20”, I recommend subscribing to my e-newsletter via the following link. Emails are typically sent out on a weekly basis and include a round-up of the week’s most discussed topics, in addition to upcoming events.
As for the pandemic, please continue to abide by the most update public health guidelines. This continues to be an evolving situation and even with the latest vaccination efforts we must continue to take precautionary measures.
As always, please feel free to contact my office to report any concerns you believe we may be able to assist with. We’ll always do our very best to assist you.