Year: 1915
Summary: Encourages citizens to vote to determine how their tax dollars are spent. Charts city services vs. cost per family in dollars and days of work.
Year: 1980
Summary: Addresses the issue of school closures, reviewing the decision-making process and providing a case study of The School Board of Etobicoke.
Year: 1959
Summary: Describes changes to school funding with the new Metro arrangements.
Year: 1982
Summary: Examines the phenomenon of bachelorettes (furnished, one-room rental units) and consequences for housing in Toronto.
Year: 1937
Summary: Queries as to the wisdom of converting the Exhibition grounds into a horse-race track. Suggests that affecting economies in city services could be of greater benefit to city revenue.
Year: 1981
Summary: Examines increased contracting of municipal services to the private sector. Recommends that a number of factors, not just cost-savings, must be taken into account.
Year: 1962
Summary: Discusses whether Metro should make capital grants for hospital construction, or the province accept greater responsibility for coordinating and financing hospital construction.
Year: 1973
Summary: Scan of existing public libraries' systems in Toronto area and suggestions for moving forward without harming the research-encouraging tier of the public library.
Year: 1938
Summary: Details a trend in decreasing home ownership in the city of Toronto owing to the decrease in the size of the average family, an increase in the older population, an increase in income insecurity, and an increase in municipal taxation. Suburban growth may also be a contributing factor. The study concludes that the decrease in home ownership may be a result of the conditions created by the depression.
Year: 1914
Summary: The City Council should create a Fire Prevention Commission to establish rules and regulations upon the subject of fire prevention. There is too much division of authority in the matter of inspecting fire escapes, hence the need for a single commission.
Summary: Reviews advantages and disadvantages of workplace day care as an option to meet increasing demand.
Year: 1920
Summary: Details of modern athletic structures/stadiums in North American cities (e.g. Cambridge, Philadelphia, New York), and discussion of logistics of building a municipal stadium in Toronto.
Year: 1975
Summary: Assesses the quality of Metro Toronto's fire departments to determine whether amalgamation would be the most effective way to provide the best level of service.
Year: 1918
Summary: A proposal calling for a federation of community workers into a more streamlined, centralized body to facilitate more efficiency in philanthropy and the development of a professionalized body of community service workers.
Year: 1955
Summary: Describes the history of emergency housing in Toronto, and need for better provisions.
Year: 1968
Summary: A brief submitted to the Task Force on Housing and Urban Development outlining overlooked areas of discussion in the task forces' proceedings - including reduced tax assessments for farms, the impact of municipalities withdrawing from subdivision servicing on housing costs, and the hidden costs of "satellite cities" on existing metropolitan centers
Year: 1928
Summary: Gives an overview of police services in three British cities. This information is meant to assist City Council and the Board of Control in their consideration of the upcoming Police Estimates.
Year: 1929
Summary: Outines different policy tools for addressing road safety and traffic fatalities, addressing pros and cons of each. Some proposals include compulsory liability insurance, the establishment of a state fund for those injured in auto accidents, and refusing to register a motorists who has outstanding judgements against them, or who has been responsible for any traffic fatality.
Year: 1971
Summary: Describes the importance of learning from past rehabilitation projects of low-income housing.
Summary: A survey of the physical conditions of Toronto schools and an account of the conditions of school facilities and supplies. The Bureau of Municipal Research, with the participation of the Board of Education make suggestions for future school sites, and recommend modernizing and fireproofing existing schools.
Year: 1976
Summary: Review of studies that have been done about the police, the police budget process, the role of the police and the need for more provision of information about its actions.
Summary: Gives an overview of police services in several Canadian cities. This information is meant to assist City Council and the Board of Control in their consideration of the upcoming Police Estimates. Notes how police expenditures in Toronto have increased relative to population and general taxation.
Summary: Presents a tentative scheme for central control of labor supply, unemployment, and immigration, with suggestions for: administration, legislation, fees and costs, methods and procedures, and interdepartmental co-operation.
Summary: A survey of "educational waste" - the strain on school social and financial resources attributed to children with intellectual disabilities, children who start school at a later age, and children who do not complete their education
Summary: Lists essential qualifications for the head of a Fire Department, based on merit and administrative skills.
Summary: Outlines the efficacy of "safety-responsibility" legislation passed by the Connecticut Commission of Motor Vehicles. Concludes these efforts to increase vehicle safety are worthy of more study.
Year: 1954
Summary: Engages the public in ensuring the development of the green belt.
Year: 1939
Summary: The Bureau notes that the cost of direct unemployment payments will challenge the city's budget through 1950 - and argues that it must be restructured and the responsibilities distributed more equitably between the three levels of government.
Year: 1916
Summary: This document draws upon reports from the Medical Inspection Department of the Board of Education, and suggests Improving health conditions and health education in the schools. Some suggestions including the building of "open air schools" and being aware of ill-venthilated cloak-rooms as a source of contagion. The difficulties of trying to teach children who come to school hungry are also highlighted.
Summary: Discusses the structure of care in housing for the elderly and challenges this housing faces.