Bike lane plan spinning it wheels

Nice thought to have protected bikeways in Toronto, physically separating cyclists from pedestrians and from cars, making it safe for all.

Unfortunately the plan to do them on University Ave., from Richmond St. to Wellesley St. will not work. It does not connect anything to anything. It will just provide politicians like Rocco Rossi a wonderful excuse to say that “we are not a bicycle city,” as it will not increase the number cyclists significantly.

In fact, the purpose of having protected bikeways is to increase the current number of cyclists. It would allow people that are not currently cycling because of fear of cars an opportunity to try it in a safe way. This is especially attractive for children, older adults, as well as inexperienced adults.

Nevertheless in addition of having physical separation on arterials, when roads have speeds for cars of 40 km/h or higher and/or over 5,000 cars per day, you need to connect places of origin to places of destination. You need a minimum grid. Toronto is approximately 20 by 40 kilometres; it would be ideal to have a protected bikeway every 2-3 kilometres so that you would have 8 going East – West and 16 North South.

An initial trial should have at least one route North - South from Eglinton Ave. to Lakeshore Blvd. (along University or Yonge) and another East – West on streets like Richmond St. and Adelaide St. all across the city. Ideally the trial should have three in each direction -- a mini grid which then could expand.

People who are not currently cycling in Toronto will not begin to do so just because you have 1,300 metres of protected facility that does not connect places. The existing cyclists will be the only users, maybe adding a few that are using other roads and will move over to try this one, but they are not additional riders.

 It will not show any significant increase and it will not serve to make the case for protected bikeways in Toronto. Actually it will have the opposite effect.

The only positive aspect is that it will educate people on what a “protected bikeway can look like”, even if it is on the wrong side of the street. It should always be uni-directional, on the left, from slow to fast: sidewalks for pedestrians, protected bikeways, then slow car lanes, then fast cars.

Why is it that Toronto is so timid, so scared of thinking big and acting big?

We have one innovative pedestrian crosswalk at Yonge and Dundas, the “scramble” that allows a time for pedestrians to walk in all directions, and three years later we have two. In similar cities like Christchurch, New Zealand, they try one, it works, and within six months they have all the crossings along that main street as a scramble.

Toronto announces it is bringing public bikes and then the director of transportation announces on CBC that “the system is not proven” and the decision is postponed. He does not realize the places like Copenhagen have had it for 20 years; Paris has 20,400 public bikes for the last two years and Montreal now has its very successful Bixi program.

Finally we were going to get the first protected bikeway. We know that in addition to the bikeway itself, we need connectivity, a grid. We get 1.3 kilometres! Can you imagine cars or transit if they just had 1,300 metres of streets or rails at a time? Where could they go to?

Thinking small, acting smaller.

Let’s keep this in mind as we choose our candidates for Mayor and Council across Ontario. Toronto is already good; let’s elect the right people to make it truly great. Who has the vision, political will and managerial capacity to get things done? Who is not afraid to think big and hopefully to act big? There are some good municipal staff all over the GTA, and they deserve to have the best politicians providing the necessary leadership and support. The community has the obligation to think carefully who to elect and to participate in the process.

About Gil Penelosa

Toronto needs to preserve its history

Robert Kirsic.

How can you know where you are going if you don’t know where you’ve come from?

For far too long Toronto has been quick to pave over the past for the sake of progress. I’m all for progress, but there should be a plan and some rational thought used for the development of the city.

Façades of former buildings are kept strictly for aesthetics on condos, sports arenas, and business towers. The tavern where William Lyon Mackenzie launched his famous rebellion in Upper Canada no longer exists. The buildings that once stood are quickly forgotten once new structures rise in their place.

The City does not do a good enough job at promoting and protecting its history. I recently visited the Toronto Archives and realized how much of a hidden gem it is. The Archives is a great start but it does not go far enough as it is a very small operation that is funded, and controlled, by the City.

I would recommend the City of Toronto create an independent, arms-length, Toronto Historical Society with the intention of securing, protecting, and promoting the city’s history.

A society overseen by a group of historical experts, architects, business leaders and, most importantly, citizens, with a clear purpose, mission, and the ability to raise money, will make it effective and politically neutral.

The Toronto Archives, sites like Fort York and the EX, need to belong under one protective umbrella. They need to be used as a conduit to promote and attract tourists and, more importantly, locals into taking an interest in the history of Toronto.

The society’s mission shouldn’t be narrowed to only buildings and artifacts. Many great people over the last 300 years have contributed to Toronto and they should not be forgotten.

Currently, people who have made considerable contributions to the city only have small alleyways, streets or parks named after them.

Is this how we want to remember these people? Their contributions deserve greater recognition. These efforts should also be coordinated and not become what they currently are - one-off photo-ops and events only to be forgotten the next day. The society can work with individual neighbourhoods to help promote the people that made them great.

Cities like Paris, London and New York are great historical cities that seem to be able to save their collective past. Toronto should be able to do the same.

What makes something special, and worth keeping, are the memories (good or bad) attached to a particular building, neighbourhood or person.

By not taking the steps to save these memories, we lose out on educating future residents on the way Toronto was. Remembering how Toronto was is important in learning what Toronto will become in the future.

About Robert Kirsic

Panhandling licence an attack on the poor

I knew that it would only be a matter of time before a ridiculous notion was neatly tucked between eloquent words and antiquated conservative rhetoric.

Okay, let me get this straight. I’m walking down Queen St. West, taking in the fashion, the art, the food and the beautiful sunshine. Suddenly I see a non-threatening individual holding out a cup, soliciting change from passersby. I look for their licence. They don’t have one. I report them to the police, who pick them up, hold them overnight and fine them for not having a licence.

The panhandler is now in the system for not having a panhandler’s licence. However, now they have this fine to repay. So it’s back to Queen Street they go, where they hold out a cup. Then, as luck would have it Mr. Bordonali sees this individual, asks for their panhandler’s licence and alas a downward cycle impoverishment begins.

What kind of city are we when we start licensing the poor? Are we also going to do credit checks on Ontario Works applicants to ensure that they’ve exhausted every possible avenue for income?

How about we ensure that the disabled do a physical with a city-approved doctor to confirm that they are, in fact, disabled and worthy of ODSP? Or better yet, let’s do language tests for non-English-speaking newcomers who need use settlement services? And if nobody makes the grade, we should charge them for fraud. If I could find an eloquent way to say this I would, but this idea is stupid. It’s also offensively primitive. We’re missing the root causes of this whole issue: the widening gap between rich and poor.

Toronto is heralded as powerful centre for commerce. It’s true that we are enviously regarded as the economic engine of Canada. However, this is also a city where youth unemployment is more than twenty percent and the number of people claiming employment insurance skyrocketed from 22,000 to more than 42,000. In true, survival of the fittest fashion, panhandlers seem to be taking matters into their own hands.

People don’t panhandle for the perks. Contrary to conservative belief, there is no real upside to being poor. Tempting as it is to believe, the many, many, many perks that come with sitting on the concrete all day, holding out a cup with hopes that someone will drop a toonie, rather than the pennies, nickels and dimes that many of us prefer to leave, don’t add up to very much.

And more importantly, what would it take to implement something like this?

I will assume that there will be no more surprise surpluses or bailouts any time soon, which means no new revenue streams. So this program would probably be paid out of tax dollars. So what is the cost to taxpayers?

I suppose there needs to be administrative staff monitoring the panhandler master list and the licences. There also needs to be someone responsible for issuing and collecting fines and maybe even some staff to co-ordinate information sessions on “how to get a panhandlers licence." Sounds like a typical municipal program, except for one thing: an assumption of compliance.

Do we really think that panhandlers will be falling over themselves to comply with licensing requirements? Chances are they won't, and then what? What happens to non-compliant panhandlers? Will they be fined, or worse, detained? To do so would put further strain and result in nothing productive. In Ontario it costs upwards of $140 every day to detain someone and $25 per day for alternative measures like probation. This doesn’t include the cost of policing the streets to find the insolent culprits who managed to dodge the first warning. Is this where we really want our tax dollars to go?

I have an idea: stop poor bashing. Licensing the poor won’t make this city socially or financially rich. Long term commitments in what this city really needs (i.e. housing, childcare) is where we need to shift our focus.

About Tonika Morgan

Pedestrians are the city's orphans

We can call it the “baby stroller effect”; when a mom pushing a stroller was killed by a car, it made the front page of all papers; much time in TV news was focused on it and everyone became concerned. Now pedestrian deaths are back on the forgotten pile.

Political candidates in the GTA, to both municipal council and for mayor, do not seem to have this on their minds, even though it affects everyone, young and old, rich and poor, urban or suburban -- all. What are they proposing to do about it? It is not about talking “war on cars,” it is about doing, creating cities for people.

We seem to justify pedestrians killed as a normal part of everyday city life in the 21st century; we blame it on the fact that he or she was “talking on the cellphone” or “listening to the i-Pod” or “probably jaywalking” or just “not paying attention.”

This common attitude might lower our concern and anxiety, but it is wrong. None of those actions justify getting killed! It is people like us, like our children and parents, our neighbours and friends, who are killed while they walk to their normal activities.

Everyday a Canadian is killed while walking (average last five years, StatsCan). Last year a pedestrian was injured by a car in Toronto every six hours (TO Police). There are more than twice as many pedestrians killed in Ontario as there are homicides by firearm.

Walking can and should be made safe for ALL. Period.

Walking is a mode of transportation. Even in the wealthiest and most sprawling neighbourhoods in the GTA more than one in three people do not drive: everyone under 17, 30 per cent of the over 60, and 15 per cent of the rest. In areas less affluent and/or denser, it can go above 75 per cent.

What are our political candidates saying about this? Who is the “champion of the pedestrians”? Who is willing to propose a one-line policy on the first day at work that “in this municipality pedestrians are first”? It would send a clear message to all stakeholders, municipal staff, developers, citizens, that everything that takes place in our communities should have pedestrians as a priority.

From the point of view of vulnerability according to modes of transportation, pedestrians are first, then cyclists, then transit users, and then car drivers and passengers. From the age point of view, children and older adults are most vulnerable, they are also the least likely to drive, which is why we need to create great cities for all (8-80 Cities).

But walking is not just about transportation; creating a great walkable community results in other benefits as a bonus: vibrant cities, healthier communities, great public places and happier residents.

Make sure that your politician makes a commitment to do whatever is necessary to make walking a normal part of everyday life, and to make it SAFE for ALL.

About Gil Penalosa

Should we license panhandlers?

On a recent visit to downtown Toronto I was surprised by the number of panhandlers who greeted me on almost every street corner. While none of these panhandlers were threatening or aggressive, I must admit that I was cautious as I passed them.

I am accustomed to panhandlers, as I spend a lot of my time downtown meeting with clients and politicians, but this experience made me stop and think about our City and our future. If I was a little leery walking by panhandlers, I am sure that I am not alone. I can only imagine what our tourists experience on a daily basis as they visit the many great destinations in the downtown core.

Before I go any further, I want to make the distinction between panhandling and homelessness. Homeless advocates constantly try to blur the lines between panhandlers and the homeless, but the reality is that not all panhandlers are homeless, and not all homeless are panhandlers.

Homelessness is a serious and complex problem that requires a multi-pronged approach to resolve. Governments have an obligation to assist the homeless population in our City, to provide sustainable housing opportunities and resources to protect one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. But this issue is for a future blog.

The Safe Streets Act, which was enacted in 1999 regulates panhandling in Ontario, but does not go far enough to preventing panhandling. Just because a panhandler is not aggressive or threatening, it does not mean that they should be permitted to impede or even block a person’s use of the public sidewalk.

If panhandling were prohibited in the downtown core, it would require additional resources and job skills training in order to provide people with a viable alternative. Now that would be money well spent.

I have an idea!

If we cannot ban panhandling in the downtown core, why not regulate it like they do with hot dog vendors, or community groups who use city parks?

Under this new regulation, Professional Panhandlers would be required to apply for an annual permit in order to provide their “service” on City sidewalks. They would be given a designated spot on a sidewalk of their choice, and also be required to review and adhere to the Safe Streets Act. They could even carry around a special badge that makes them an official City of Toronto Panhandler.

This idea may sound a little outrageous, but so is the status quo.

About Dan Bordonali

Budget for an active Toronto

I am one of those people that anxiously awaits the always entertaining federal and provincial budget announcements every year from Ottawa. I hope for the best, expect the worst and keep my fingers crossed that maybe this will be the day that they wake up and realize what will actually make this country and our cities a better place. 

I have to admit, though, I am constantly amused by the number of complaints upon complaints from every single person that wants their needs to be met, their programs to be flooded with resources and their lives to be bettered. I find it ironic that it becomes a battle between provinces and a clash between people and certain groups that are all out for "me."

To be honest, I am not going to sit here and say that I haven't thought of my needs over others and preach to all of you to be more altruistic. But I will say that on the whole I think we all need to commit to think about what's best for all of us: WE all owe it to each other to make this a better place to live.

Realistically, it all ends up with the privileged few politicians that hold the fate of our city in their hands. The last few years it has become increasingly more apparent that Toronto has one of the largest municipal infrastructure deficits across the nation. This has been a weight that we have been struggling under for years and it shows. 

In November 2009, the city declared that more than half of its capital budget for 2010 will be going towards the maintenance and expansion of the TTC. Actually, transportation is eating up about 70 per cent of the entire budget over the next 10 years, putting aside $11.7 billion.

To put it into perspective, Toronto is already running a $382 million debt and balancing the books calls for, you guessed it, higher taxes and service cuts. But hey, we're going to have some new streetcars out of it. This is a classic case of when all else fails, just cut programs. It seems to be the easiest thing for our government, so they can say they're helping our city by getting us out of debt, when in fact hundreds of thousands of people are going to suffer for it. 

Last year 39 public pools were closed leaving 700,000 kids, students, athletes and adults with nowhere to go for physical activity. With not only childhood, but adult obesity on the rise and health care costs going through the roof, we are cutting after-school programs and increasing the time our citizens can opt for the couch over getting active. You'll be hard pressed to find modern, up-to-date community centres in areas that are desperate for that kind of facility. The access to get active is lacking.

The connection between sport, physical activity and health is a no-brainer. We know this, our politicians know this. By investing in real, quality programming through schools, community centres and local recreational groups, there is the great potential to reach the lives of thousands of Torontonians. Healthcare costs would decrease, albeit not over night, but the development of a city that prides itself on being active is a long-term solution that would dramatically help these costs over time. 

Cutting services and programs is just a means to look good on paper, but off the page is an uglier picture that even a smoother road or faster streetcar can't fix. 

About Alexandra Orlando

Food for thought

Okay Toronto, so Canadian spuds are duds. No surprise there. After all, we are at war with the ailments of the world (bird flu, mad cow et al.) and using our culinary arsenal of “good fat” (thanks Omega 3), immunity building boosters (yes, I mean ginger) and memory building wonder foods (blueberries anyone?) to demolish the enemy. French fries only slowed us down. It was dead weight that found itself wrapped snugly around our mid-sections, taunting our hearts and arteries to concede defeat.

Nope, French fries are not our friends. But what about couscous? Or oxtail? Or pho?

Where am I going with this? I’m talking about Toronto as the covert culinary Canaan of Canada. Translation: Toronto as the city that takes its unique position as a potential food mecca for granted.

Toronto, we are a city that prides itself on diversity (albeit superficial, sometimes). This diversity is often reflected in the endless options to satiate the stomach and the soul. Craving Greek food? Hit the Danforth. Looking for some good jerk chicken? That’s Eglinton West. Good Pho? St. Clair and Old Weston Road. And that isn’t including the suburban gems in places like Etobicoke (i.e. Anatolia), Scarborough (Johnny’s), North York ( Pepper’s) etc.

With so much choice, it’s a wonder how anyone goes hungry around here. And yet every month more than 85,000 people visit food banks like Daily Bread Food Bank to get their daily bread.

Food is a right and we are a city of plenty. We just have the distribution of plenty a bit skewed. The gap between rich and poor is exacerbated by the gap between the hungry and well-nourished.

With a little bit of innovation, ambition and creativity, that can change. Organizations like Evergreen and Food Share are creating ways (via the Brick Works and the Good Food Box, respectively) that completely reconfigure people’s relationship to the ways food is made, distributed and eaten. As cliche as it sounds, the food movement is pretty revolutionary because the beneficiaries include everyone.

Let’s become a city that uses our culinary diversity to attract tourists and mobilize residents.

What's the benefit, you ask? A focus on food also means a focus on health, particularly as it relates to what we consume.

This kind of attention to food consumption also wonderfully lends itself to food production, that is the environmental conditions and the technology used.

The element that makes this approach unique is that it's about introducing international foods into our everyday lives. Doing this would require a bit of education. Imagine health studies classes in grade schools, middle schools and high schools across this city that included culinary diversity.

Nationally, we would build bridges with other provinces that are interested in bringing our international approach to their own cities. We could work with the farming industry, the food and beverage industry, the tourism and hospitality industry, the education sector and even the manufacturing sector. Internationally, we could import and export food, materials and culinary expertise to fuel the economy.

Let's accept that steak and potatoes is the culinary diversity of yesteryear. Variety is the spice of Toronto life and it's something that we should use to differentiate ourselves from the rest.

In all honesty, the folks at Tourism Toronto should stop marketing Toronto as an amazingly beautiful city. Not when we have to compete with beautiful cobblestone streets, historic (i.e. 200 year old) architecture, exotic tropical plants or Vancouver. Instead, let’s focus on the beautiful people in this city and the food that they bring from their countries of origin.

While that is happening, we need to encourage food innovation through projects like community gardens and work with organizations like Foodshare, AfriCan Food basket and others to create neighbourhoods of nourished people. What about a communal bake oven in a few parks across the city, like the one at Dufferin Grove Park?

We could even add an enterprising element to this, by selling our yields and baked goods to whomever. Whomever could include anyone attending Winterlicious, Summerlicious, Nuit Blanche, Caribana and the many other events that attract locals and tourists alike. I can’t help but feel like the possibilities are endless

Please don’t mistake this effort for a one-time, annual event. This is not about a self-congratulatory food festival. Nor is this a solution to the disaster that is A La Cart. This is about making food part of our everyday Canadian existence and inviting others to join us for the feast. Equally as important is that we can do this in a way that makes food accessible through simple innovations like community gardens, local sourcing and even making our Canada food guide more, um, inclusive. Add that to Adam Zendel's idea of retail in our neighbourhoods and voila, Nirvana.

Can our next mayor use this as one of many strategies to make Toronto a city of the 21st century? If we can’t see the immense potential of Toronto’s culinary diversity and use it to establish our city as the livable, innovative and memorable place we want it to me, then we are definitely out to lunch.

About Tonika Morgan

Toronto: The city lost In translation

Tonika Morgan.

After reading a number of these posts, it's clear that there is a feeling that Toronto has fallen off the world-class city radar. When did that happen? I'd say somewhere between June 26, 1976 and now.

Think I’m being extreme? OK, Let's try a little experiment; list five words that you think Torontonians would use to describe their city. Now think of five words that people outside of Toronto, would use. Now what about the international community? Now compare your list. Besides "diversity" and “CN Tower” are there any other words that show up on all three lists? Probably not.

Last week, while on vacation in the U.K., I attended a media event with a friend. We struck up a conversation with two journalists, one of which had never been to Toronto. Like most conversations between individuals who live in different cities, the question “What’s your city like?” came up.

I thought about it for a while and said, “Oh, it’s fantastic, we have such a great mix of people and ... the CN Tower is pretty interesting.”

At that moment I realized that I just sheepishly hid behind the CN Tower to describe my “fantastic” city. That's it? "fantastic", "great mix" and "pretty interesting"? If I did that, I wondered how many others have done the same hoping that, if nothing else, this one architectural wonder will help us breeze through conversations with a semblance of confidence.

While Montreal mesmerized the world with the Expo of 1967, Toronto was preparing to enter the realm of global innovation. Opening on June 26, 1976, the CN Tower was built in just over three years and became known as the quintessential symbol of Toronto by people worldwide. In fact, according to my grandmother, the arrival of the world’s tallest free standing tower changed our postcards, the construction, retail, travel and hospitality industry. All this while serving its original purpose as a communications hub for the emerging local television and radio industries.

Today, millions of tourists flock to this city just to catch a glimpse of this engineering feat and will describe their amazement in a way that, even if you had to translate it in 500 languages, told everyone that the CN Tower in Toronto is pretty damn spectacular.

But how do they talk about Toronto, the home of this amazing tower? More importantly, how do we talk about Toronto?

Let me say this, I was born in 1982 and grew up in a time where the CN Tower was cool, but my friends and I would rather watch Jem and the Rockers, Thundercats or play a video game. By the time I was old enough to realize how amazing the tower actually is, it was so passe. Nobody ever really told me the story of the CN Tower and what it did for this city. This leads me to my next point.

Words have a profound impact on how we narrate our stories. It shapes our actions, reactions and interactions. This is why our kids get the "good words" first (i.e. please, thank you, pretty, happy, etc.) and the "bad words" later (use your imagination). It flavours many things, among them the international conversation about world-class cities. Most importantly it gives local residents a unified voice to talk about who we are, where we’re going and who we collectively aspire to become. The right words can change how the entire province, country and world see us.

Have any of our candidates thought about this? I hope so because while the CN Tower is truly phenomenal, we will never become a world class city of today by talking about the one tower we built 36 years ago.

Politicians can talk circles around us when it comes to their election platforms, but how do you think they'd react if we said, "Mr. or Mrs. Candidate, without the political jargon, give us five words that our city can be proud of."

About Tonika Morgan

Recipe for a healthy city

Marit Stiles.

Okay, Toronto, what makes a city livable?

When I moved to Toronto 15 years ago, from a place steeped in its own tremendous and unique culture, but somewhat lacking in diversity, I moved to Sesame Street. Okay, perhaps not literally, but I distinctly remember thinking that Toronto was as different and colourful and exciting to me then as Sesame Street had been to my 5-year-old self, living in Long Pond, Newfoundland.

From my first walk through Kensington Market, to the school playgrounds near our west-end, downtown apartment, teeming with children, to the squash and beans growing in our neighbours’ front garden and the delicious smell of sardines grilling in the backyards: Sesame Street.

I still love my little corner of Toronto. And that’s what makes it bearable to reside in the belly of the sprawling beast that is this city. My neighbourhood is more than a street, it’s a community. Here’s a recipe for why it works:

1. Take one down-in-the-dump park. Add a parent with enough passion and drive to take back that park and form a community of “friends” to embrace it.That park has to be a place where the teenagers playing hockey or basketball can be at home alongside the moms with their organic coffee and the Somali soccer players. Throw in some city staff with the vision to allow that community’s creativity to flourish, instead of stifling it.

2. Add a library, reconfigured and redesigned. No longer a stodgy dark place used by a few, but a bright, functional, inspiring space that makes room for everyone and redefines the library as a centrepiece in the community.

3. Throw in easy access to the TTC, particularly the subway, and you can get to your job in less than 20 minutes at rush hour. A little squished maybe, but you get there.

4. Provide healthy, preferably locally grown food. Start with an organic farmers’ market, add good, healthy food in local shops and restaurants, a small vegetable plot in your own backyard, and a Friday night community supper in the park.

5. Whisk this together with a handful of community schools, principals that live in the neighbourhood they serve, and an alternative option or two within the public system. And don't forget working families will need affordable, quality childcare.

6. And finally, dust liberally with people who, with this infrastructure to support them, throw their homes open to each other. Because it’s the people that live on my street that make my neighbourhood a great place to be.

It’s the fact that – even if your car window is occasionally smashed – your children can play on the sidewalk with their friends every evening.

We look out for each other. We have a cup of flour if you need one, and provide back up childcare in a pinch. We are so lucky this way.

But Toronto is not Sesame Street.

And there's no cookie cutter approach to making the City work. The ingredients may vary from East York to Etobicoke, but the basic recipe remains. We need the supports and services that allow streets to become neighbourhoods, and neighbourhoods to become communities, and we need a city council that allows community creativity to flourish.

Over the coming days and months, I'm looking forward to hearing more about YOUR recipes for a livable city.... my fellow bloggers and people of Toronto. And I'll tell you what questions I'm going to be asking the candidates that make their way to my doorstep.

About Marit Stiles