Calling Out Excessive Pedestrian Street Policing

All right, folks! We need to talk about the excessive policing in this city! Especially when it comes to pedestrian streets, open streets, and other street events.

Back in late June, the Toronto Star and other media outlets published reports stating that the Church Street Pedestrianization Pilot costs more than tripled to $500,000; about $300,000 of which was used for policing and security costs. If that didn’t sound bad enough, the Toronto Police Service originally requested $3 million for a 24/7 police presence there!

East Don Trail and Pedestrian Streets at City Council

Next week’s city council meeting has two member motions proposed which the cycling community ought to pay attention to. The first is a proposed land exchange at Donalda Club for a future expansion of the East Don Trail and the second seeks to create a pedestrian streets program for Toronto. Let’s dive in to see what they have to offer.

The original East Don Trail ends at Milne Hollow Park

yongeTOmorrow Recap (+ 2026 Earth Day Roundup)

Last night, I got to check out the yongeTOmorrow public consultation before the presentation started. With today marking Earth Day, I though I would mark the occasion by not just recapping that particular consultation, but also highlighting a couple of other initiatives aimed at making our streets safer and more inviting for people instead of cars.

Memorial Ride for Samuel Willetts

On July 31, 2025, 28-year-old Samuel Willetts – an aspiring cinematographer – died from a crash which happened two weeks prior at Church and Gerrard Streets. Unlike past cyclist deaths, this one didn’t get reported in the media until at least a week later, while the memorial ride wasn’t held until today to accommodate out-of-town family members. Dozens of cyclists gathered at Bloor and Spadina to start the ride.