ACTION ALERT – Sign & Share Toronto’s Open Streets Petition!

Happy Friday, everybody! If you live in Toronto, I need your help!

Further to last month’s blog post calling for an open streets campaign – which got subsequently picked up by CBC – the petition calling on Mayor Olivia Chow and City Council to bring back open streets programs to Toronto by 2026 has just been launched this morning. You can sign the petition here which I encourage you to please share widely with your fellow Torontonians. I also encourage you to e-mail Mayor Chow (mayor_chow@toronto.ca) and your city councillor to show your support if you haven’t already done so.

It’s Time for an Open Streets Campaign

WHOSE STREETS? OUR STREETS!

Remember when the City of Toronto closed parts of Bloor and Yonge for Open Streets TO for walking, cycling, and other forms of physical activity? Or the hugely popular ActiveTO weekend closures on Lake Shore West during the COVID-19 pandemic? One thing that has long frustrated me is how despite their popularity, these open street programs didn’t happen at all in 2023 or 2024, while there has been nothing but radio silence on this topic for this year. While Bill 212 and next week's court challenge may have sucked up a lot of the cycling community's oxygen as of late, It’s time to break the silence and get organized on this open streets issue!

The last Open Streets TO event held on August 21, 2022

Keeping the 2022 Election Momentum Going

While John Tory’s re-election as Mayor was widely expected during last month’s municipal election, there were still some positive changes. Amber Morley defeated five-term councillor Mark Grimes in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, while the unfortunate death of Councillor Cynthia Lai (RIP) lead to Jamaal Myers getting elected in Scarborough North. On the road safety front, 12 candidates who signed onto the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition’s road safety calls to action were elected, while mayoral candidate Gil Penalosa presented lots of good policy platforms covering various sectors.

To help keep the 2022 election momentum going, I will discuss five of Penalosa’s policy platforms which road safety advocates are encouraged to keep fighting for.

The Gardiner Expressway ramps east of the Don Valley Parkway were removed last year

RANT – Death of ActiveTO Lake Shore West

For those of you who don’t remember, Toronto stubbornly refused to provide space for people who walk or bike in March and April 2020 when virtually every other major Canadian city was doing so to allow for physical distancing early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite dragging their feet in creating ActiveTO two years ago which ended up being highly popular, Toronto City Council accepted staff recommendations to scrap ActiveTO on Lake Shore West – the program’s crown jewel – except for a limited number of occasions. It seems old habits really die hard here in Caronto and there is too much eagerness to return to the status quo with people returning to the offices post-pandemic.

Audit Ride Around Parkdale-High Park

About ten people from Parkdale High Park Bikes took part in an audit ride on Sunday along with Nicholas from Councillor Ana Bailao’s office. The aim was to inspect the recently installed Bloor bike lane extension and other neighbourhood hotspots such as Brock-Florence, Seaforth, Macdonnell, and the Lansdowne-College-Dundas triangle. Fellow blogger Jun wrote his take here.

Bloor Loves Bikes - September 2015 Update

Since Spring 2015, Cycle Toronto's advocates, Bells on Bloor, and various resident associations have been working on a campaign called "Bloor Loves Bikes." This is the latest in a series or campaigns for bike lanes on Bloor Street over the past twenty five years, which also lead to similar campaigns on Danforth Avenue (a.k.a. Danforth Loves Bikes) and eventually, Yonge Street. Given recent developments, this post will discuss what has been accomplished so far, what can be applied to other campaigns, and how you can help make bike lanes on Bloor a reality.

Opening Toronto's Streets

On November 16, 2013, I attended an Open Streets Summit at Ryerson University which was hosted by Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. The summit featured two guest speakers – Gil Penalosa (Executive Director of 8-80 Cities) and Dani Simons (Creator of Summer Streets) – both of whom discussed open streets initiatives in Bogota, Colombia and New York City respectively. The summit concluded with a 30-45 minute panel discussion featuring Curt Harnett (Chef de mission for the Pan Am Games), Dr. McKeown (Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health), and Jacqueline White (Toronto’s Director of Transportation).

Ciclovia in Bogota (Colombia) - Via Streetfilms