It's been a busy couple of weeks at city hall. But I took particular notice of a recent move by Councillor Adam Vaughan, calling on the city to introduce or reconsider its stance on backyard studios. As part of his move, he invited Hy Rosenberg from BlueSky MOD (a company that manufactures them) to give a presentation on the topic.

Bluesky offers an ecological approach to the backyard studio debate. The company's current model is powered by "off-the-grid" and other eco-friendly technologies, such as solar panels and composting toilets. It's also manufactured from predominantly local and recycled materials. The pre-fabricated structure was originally designed for rural environments, but recently the company has been attracting attention from city enthusiasts - like Councillor Vaughan.

The City of Toronto is increasingly using the web as a means to keep Torontonians 'in the loop' concerning its activities. As part of this initiative, the city recently launched its Development Application Status website. The site allows the public to view detailed information on all of the city's development projects dating back to January 1, 2006.

Representatives from CUPE 3902 and the University of Toronto reached a tentative settlement after two weeks of negotiations. Members of CUPE 3902 representing sessionals, TAs, and other contract staff will meet today to decide whether to ratify the tentative settlement or reject it and push the bargaining team back to the table.

As the City Council begins goes into its second day of meetings tomorrow, Councillor Michael Walker is introducing a motion to alter the city's 2009 property assessments.

He's calling on the city to do three things:

1) Delete 2009 property assessments that are based on January 1st, 2008 values

2)Reissue 2009 property assessments based on 2005 values, factoring in the current rate of inflation.

3) Review the Current Value Assessment system administered by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), with attention to fairness, transparency, accountability and predictability for property owners in Ontario as compared to other property assessment systems employed by domestic and international governments.

As both the commercial and real estate industry continue to get battered by the ongoing economic downturn, a number of analysts and economists are setting their sights on LEED certified buildings. And now, the city is joining in.

A motion by Councillor Cesar Palacio, Ward 17, is calling on the city to promote LEED certified buildings. In the motion, Palacio says, "Toronto does not have the authority to compel developers to comply with the LEED standard, but does have the ability to offer very valuable incentives to do so."

While the strike up at York University continues to grab all the headlines, there's another dispute taking place at the University of Toronto. Before Christmas break, members from CUPE 3902, representing TAs and Course Instructors, voted in favour of a strike mandate--authorizing the union's officials to call for a strike should talks with the University break down. Conciliation talks between officials from U of T and union leaders began this week and are expected to last until the end of the month.