First Year on Council with Councillor Amber Morley

A year ago today, Toronto City Council experienced a big turnover with nine new councillors taking office which helped make City Council more progressive overall. Only one of these councillors – Amber Morley – was successful in defeating the incumbent and is now Deputy Mayor for Etobicoke. I spoke with Amber on Monday, November 6 to discuss her first year in office, the Bloor bike lanes, and other issues facing her community and city.

Councillor Amber Morley's swearing in photo (via Amber Morley)

One Step Backwards With Kensington Market

This week saw some good news with the approval of the Bloor West Complete Street Extension to Six Points. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Kensington Market. The City of Toronto announced that the Toronto & East York Community Council would be debating the Kensington Safe Streets project at their June 22, 2023 meeting. Upon reviewing the final report, it amounts to nothing short of a betrayal to those Torontonians who had been calling for a car-free market for years (if not decades). Let’s recap what was previously proposed and what has been recommended in the final report.

All graphics used in this post are from the City of Toronto

2023 Bloor Recap (+ A Site Check)

This week saw two debates related to Bloor Street; those being Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) on Monday and today’s General Committee in Mississauga. Toronto’s IEC approved their motion – which will now go to City Council on Wednesday, June 14 – while Mississauga’s General Committee offered a silver lining despite the motion being deferred. Let’s review what happened at both meetings, as well as a site visit I did on my way home from the IEC meeting on Monday.

Albert Koehl getting ready to speak at Monday's Infrastructure & Environment Committee meeting

Site Check Along College

Happy Easter, everybody!

On the week of March 6, the City of Toronto started construction on College Street to upgrade the existing bike lanes. Raised cycle tracks are called for from Manning to Spadina Avenues, while at grade cycle tracks using parking curbs will be used from Spadina Avenue to Avenue Road. Since I had errands to do in the area yesterday, I decided to check on the progress done so far.

Rendering of College Street upgrades (via City of Toronto)

RANT – Tory’s Weak Vision Zero Leadership

While Wednesday saw great news for Yonge4All and other road safety advocates in Toronto with the Midtown Yonge Complete Street Pilot being made permanent by a 22 to 4 vote, there is another disappointment which dampened the celebratory mood and deserves a rant. Despite the overwhelming positive staff report, an unanimous vote at IEC, and over 8500 signatures for the Yonge4All petition, Mayor John Tory threw all of that under the bus by supporting Councillor Jon Burnside’s motion to extend the pilot. A move which proves he is a coward when it comes to road safety, as well as contradicts his own earlier push to shorten the staff recommended extension from July 2023 to January 2023.

Mayor John Tory showing a printout of the so-called "landlocked streets" (via YouTube)

Parkside Design Options Coming to IEC

Seven months ago, Valdemar and Fatima Avila were killed while in their car at Parkside Drive and Spring Road; an intersection which is a short walk from my (soon to be former) home and one Helen and I pass by often to walk our dog Mozzie. Parkside Drive is a significant safety hazard with three fatalities and eleven people seriously injured since 2008 per the City of Toronto’s Vision Zero Mapping Tool. Since the Parkside Drive Safety Measures motion was passed at City Council in November 2021 despite resident objections over adding Green P parking, the speed limit has been reduced to 40 km/h and a speed camera has been implemented. Now, an interim report for the High Park Movement Strategy (Motion IE30.16) is headed to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee on Wednesday, May 25 which includes several design options for Parkside Drive.

Speed Camera Installed on Parkside Drive (via Michelle Dow in Safe Parkside Facebook group)

Parkside Motion Coming to City Council

In response to last month's fatal collision on Parkside Drive, about 150 residents took part in a peaceful protest on Tuesday, October 26 while Councillor Gord Perks has introduced Motion MM37.1 regarding safety measures proposed on that street. While the motion does include some of the items requested by the Safe Parkside group, there are serious concerns with Item 1F which calls for the addition of Green P parking on the west side of Parkside.

Given this motion will be debated at next week's City Council meeting, please e-mail Toronto City Council (councilmeeting@toronto.ca), as well as copy Mayor Tory and your city councillor calling on them to remove Item 1F from the motion and instead push for expediting the redesign of Parkside Drive through the High Park Movement Strategy. Below is the e-mail I sent, though I encourage you to customize it to emphasize why a safer Parkside Drive is important to you.

UPDATE 2021/11/05 - Since my e-mail was sent to City Council, a suggestion was brought up in the Safe Parkside group to have the motion referred to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee in order to allow for the public to comment and depute on the item. A 2/3 majority is needed to waive the referral for this item at City Council, so at least nine councillors (out of 26 including the Mayor) would need to oppose waiving the referral for this to happen. (Thanks David W)

Stopping Toronto's Kindermoord (Child Murder)

Toronto city council will be debating REimagining Yonge tomorrow and the latest turn of events has left me outraged. Mayor John Tory – along with the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) – have gone against staff which recommended the “Transform Yonge” option reducing Yonge Street in North York from six lanes to four while adding protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and an improved public realm. Instead, he is calling for bike lanes to be moved to Beecroft Road which would cost an additional $20 million and do nothing to improve the safety of Yonge Street which people will still use regardless of transportation mode. His main reason – of course – is his foolish refusal to accept anything that would make traffic congestion worse. A repeat of the Gardiner East fiasco?

Making Toronto Politics More Accessible

While politics is supposed to be a two way street where both citizens and elected officials need to engage each other, the process can get as stuck as on the Don Valley Parkway at times! I was reminded by this fact while deputing at City Hall this past Thursday about cycling safety in construction zones. Before then, I only made one deputation on the municipal budget and it was because it was an evening session. Unfortunately, most committees at Toronto City Hall are structured so that making live deputations require taking the day off work. It is a shame this activity tends to be catered more towards experts and advocacy group directors because live deputations offer a greater impact than written submissions, allow councillors to ask you questions and get to know you better, and allow you to network with other concerned citizens.

Don Valley Parkway during the July 2013 flood

Tear Down Gardiner East!

To follow up on the quest to revitalize Toronto’s waterfront, one obstacle prevents this process from reaching its full potential; that being the Gardiner Expressway. Over the past couple of years, there have been reports of falling concrete including one as recently as March; indicating the sixty year old expressway is nearing the end of its lifespan.[1] On June 9 – 10, City Council will have to decide between one of two options for the portion of the Gardiner east of Jarvis Street. Either that portion gets removed and replaced with an at-grade boulevard, or it is replaced with a so-called “hybrid” option which changes access ramps compared to the status quo.

2013 Ride for Heart on the Gardiner Expressway

Many Paths to Solving Climate Change

With US President Barack Obama’s recent veto of the Keystone XL project and the Harper government’s continued rejection of environmental action, it became necessary for Canada’s provinces and municipalities to step in. The City of Toronto is one such municipality, which held its inaugural meeting of the Subcommittee on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation on Monday, March 2 at City Hall’s council chamber. Hundreds of residents attended the meeting, which was chaired by Councillor Gord Perks. The subcommittee’s mandate lasts until December 31, 2016 and is tasked with identifying actions needed to achieve an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The focus of this meeting was to establish the action plan’s terms and references as per this agenda item and associated presentation.

Why the Electoral System Matters

One issue that is getting considerable media attention as of late is the electoral system, which is the way people vote. At all three levels of government in Canada, the current electoral system is called first past the post, in which the candidate with the most votes wins the position he/she is running for. While simplicity may be the primary advantage of the current system, there are many drawbacks.

Observations from the Council Chamber

On Monday, January 27, I entered Toronto City Hall’s Council Chamber for the first time ever in order to attend a consultation regarding Porter Plans. For those not familiar what this is, Porter Airlines is currently seeking to extend the runway at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport by 200 metres in each direction in order to accommodate the Bombardier CS100 jet aircraft. The Tripartite Agreement governing Billy Bishop Airport – signed by the City of Toronto, the Toronto Port Authority (the airport’s managing body), and Transport Canada – currently does not allow jet aircraft to fly there. As one of the three signatories, Toronto city council would have to approve the amendment of this agreement in order for Porter Plans to proceed, along with subsequent approval by Transport Canada. The latest city staff report on Porter Plans can be found at http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-64318.pdf.

Making Government Budgets Better

By the end of January, the City of Toronto will finish this year’s budget process. It is one of the most important government processes, but also one of the least understood. To reflect on the budget process and how to improve it, I interviewed Alex Mazer, co-founder of Better Budget TO and councillor candidate for Ward 18 (http://www.alexmazer.ca).