#TOpoli
This is absolutely ridiculous, Toronto has badly needed this line for well over a decade & yet this project never seems to complete.
#Metrolinx #CrosstownLRT #Toronto #Ontario #Canada #topoli #onpoli
Naomi Klein on Heather Reisman: “Heather, if I may: you are not just a CEO. You are a powerful political actor—in this country, in the United States and in Israel. You fund politicians, you found major lobby organizations, you help lead Heseg. For decades, you have never hesitated to intervene to shape the world according to your beliefs.”
https://breachmedia.ca/naomi-klein-calls-on-heather-reisman-drop-charges-indigo-11/
Thankfully the by-election in my City of Toronto ward is today. The endless robocalls from candidates has been ridiculous over the last two weeks. Hopefully they expend as much time and effort removing their election signs as well.
Friendly reminder of two important things happening today:
It's #election day in Ward 20 #ScarboroughSouthwest. Make sure you get out and #vote for a candidate who supports #AffordableHousing and more housing for more neighbours.
Today is the last day to fill out the #BudgetTO survey and make your voice heard for how the city of #Toronto should spend it's money. More info at https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/budget-finances/city-budget/how-to-get-involved-in-the-budget/getting-what-matters-to-you/
Metrolinx social media post, November 30:
Today, at the public session of the Metrolinx Board of Directors meeting, CEO Phil Verster shared details around the status and progress of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project:
“We will announce an opening date for the Eglinton Crosstown three months before opening day. We are not there yet. We are making sure everything is built right and operates correctly and safely.”
🧵
Can't believe that at least two (Kandavel and Shomes) of the #TOpoli #Toronto #Ward20 candidates are anti-bike. Not surprising that they are the ones endorsed by former (gone and good riddance) candidates
Don't know if Ghous is anti-bike, but since her main endorser is Glenn "bike in all weathers" De Baeremaeker, I'd be surprised. Then again, I used to see him bombing along Eglinton East long before bike lanes, so he could lean a tad vehicular
Good morning! For those of you who live in Ward 20 (Scarborough Southwest), today is the day to get out & vote from 10 AM to 8 PM! Let's send Kevin Rupasinghe to City Hall given his support for a safer Danforth-Kingston for all! #BikeTO #WalkTO #TOpoli #VisionZero
To follow yesterday's Finch Wes tLRT site check, I did another one this afternoon along Chesswood to see whether that project can be completed before 2023 is over. Definitely more progress since September per my latest blog post. #BikeTO #BikeTooter #TOpoli #VisionZero http://www.twowheeledpolitics.ca/2023/11/november-2023-chesswood-site-check.html
Since the CEO of Metrolinx promised an Eglinton Crosstown update every two months, and it has now been more than two months with no update, I emailed them to ask.
Their reply, in full:
“Hello Cameron,
Thank you for your email.
At this time, there is no additional update.
Regards,
Nestor
Nestor Arellano
Community Engagement Advisor
Crosstown LRT – Capital Projects Group”
"We find there are approximately 6,800 illegal turns and thru movements at intersections per day on the King Street Transit Priority Corridor, but less than 0.3% are being ticketed by Toronto Police, on average. Thus more than 99.7% of drivers are not being fined for breaking the law on the King Street Transit Priority Corridor." - an analysis from the University of Toronto's School of Cities
Report: https://schoolofcities.github.io/king-street-toronto/traffic-violations
On my way home from work this afternoon, I did a final site check of Metrolinx's Finch West LRT project for 2023 & found a lot of progress was made from a #BikeTO perspective. The details are now up on my blog. #TTC #TOpoli #VisionZero http://www.twowheeledpolitics.ca/2023/11/finch-west-lrt-november-2023-update.html
📣 📣 📣 📣 📣
#Toronto
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If you are able, please head to St Stephen-in-the-Fields for encampment defence.
This is what the city would rather do than to let unhoused people sleep in safety and peace. Shelter workers were literally sending people to this encampment a month ago.
They will undoubtedly also blame the pending death of the tree on the encampment, too.
1/🧵
#HousingForAll #HousingIsAHumanRight #HousingNow #WhoKeepsUsSafe #CommunityDefence
#TorontoActions #AlertaAlertaAntifascista #topoli
Don’t pretend you’re magic. Go get that booster shot.
“As Toronto Public Health takes its final step in winding down its #COVID19 emergency response, our fixed-site vaccination clinics will permanently close after December 13.”
Learn more: https://toronto.ca/immunization
Edward Keenan in the Star, a good column with a somewhat hyperbolic headline:
Doug Ford’s $9-billion lifeline helped save Olivia Chow’s mayoralty
Right now, the Ontario Liberal Party is voting for a new leader.
It is using the same system the Tories did that picked Doug Ford, where each riding will be given the same weight regardless of population.
This can be called "one-member-one-vote" if you are a liar, but to be fair the more truthful "one-member-a-fraction-of-a-vote (if you live in a city)" is quite a mouthful.
It seems clear to me Ontario Place was always a lost cause *for the Mayor's office*.
Province can legislate anything they want, including "you can't sue us", so City powerless. (Scaring away architects and non-city-entities going to court worthwhile, though!)
So if in 6 months the City would have even less power regarding Ontario Place, the trees would be gone and the giant pit dug... by Doug... then using the chip quickly before it disappeared was probably a smart move.
Uploading Gardiner = kills the idea of teardown? I'm not sure.
In the short term yes. But now instead of 26 Toronto council members deciding to blow the road budget, next time it will be non-Toronto MPPs (99/124) with different priorities.
I don't think Gardiner East removal was really possible for Mayor Chow this term, given how far along things had gone and budget pressures - basically there wouldn't be enough $ saved to die on this hill.
Maybe this has set up a future change.
@MaritStiles: Toronto needed a new deal and @MayorOliviaChow got it done because that's what #NewDemocrats do!
Now its time for new deals to be made for municipalities across the province who are struggling under this government's cuts.
Ontario to upload DVP, Gardiner costs in new deal with Toronto | CityNews Toronto https://bit.ly/46Cp4Cq #topoli #OliviaChow #DVP #Gardiner #Toronto #DougFord #Uploading #OntarioPlace #onpoli @ontariogreens @onpoli
Terms of the New Deal Between Ontario and Toronto
https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/1003887/terms-of-the-new-deal-between-ontario-and-toronto
Transit items:
- Eglinton an Finch LRT operations, amount is unspecified
- One-time Subway and Transit Safety, Recovery and Sustainable Operations Fund
- Funding for 55 new subway trains for the TTC’s Line 2
Live announcement. Ford currently making thanks. City gets $1.2 billion. $7.6 B in capital relief by taking over DVP & Gardiner. More housing, more than 73,000 new homes by 2025. More funding for Building Faster Fund. City cedes control of its portion of Ontario Place. Beckoning for federal government to step in with more support.
Mayor Chow makes comments. History of underfunding for TO. Thanks premier for stepping up. Needs feds to step up too.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/chow-ford-announcement-monday-1.7040823
Deal announcement between province and Toronto:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/chow-ford-announcement-monday-1.7040823
"Ford government is set to upload the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway from the City of Toronto ...after agreeing to a new financial deal with the cash-strapped municipality.
...
Sources suggest increased funding for transit is also part of the deal. Money will be included for transit recovery and new subway cars, along with the funds for Toronto run to the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs."
https://globalnews.ca/news/10116918/ontario-toronto-new-deal-doug-ford-olivia-chow/
"Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser has handed Toronto an eight point to-do list that he wants addressed in exchange for $500 million in federal housing funding — a list Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says she welcomes."
"Chow says the city is ready to move forward on those measures."
You can read the full letter at the bottom of this story:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/toronto-housing-accelerator-fund-conditions-1.7038873
📣 📣 📣 📣 📣
#TORONTO
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If you are in the vicinity of St Stephen-in-the-Fields on College street, please go stand in solidarity with your unhoused neighbours.
You are needed NOW.
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*Edit above; original post follows.
Goddamned motherfucking pigs and City waited until people left for the day AFTER DARK to raze a fucking encampment.
Jesus Christ.
These heartless fiends need to be fired for a start.
#Toronto #topoli #HousingForAll #HousingIsAHumanRight #HousingNow #WhoKeepsUsSafe #CommunityDefence
#TorontoActions #AlertaAlertaAntifascista
This month has three important consultations #BikeTO & #WalkTO advocates need to get involved with; those being the 2025-27 Bike Plan, Micromobility Strategy & 2024 Budget. My blog post discusses the consultations & ideas on what to advocate for. #BikeTooter #TOpoli http://www.twowheeledpolitics.ca/2023/11/2025-27-bike-plan-and-other-important.html
TVO is back! Strong and independent reporting from across Ontario at https://www.tvo.org/
Follow @jm_mcgrath, and hopefully others too in future!
#Ontario #ONPoli #Canada #CDNPoli #Toronto #TOPoli #Ottawa #OttPoli #ThunderBay #Sudbury #Waterloo #Niagara #Hamilton #Windsor #LondonOntario #NorthBay #Barrie #OwenSound #Sarnia #SaultSteMarie #Mississauga #Brampton #Markham #Vaughan #GTA #Kitchener #Burlington #RichmondHill #Oshawa #StCatherines #Guelph #Cambridge #Kingston #Brantford #Pickering
Thanks MPP Joel Harden for introducing Bill 40 (Moving Ontarians Safely Act) at Queen's Park today. While the matter will be voted on Monday, I wrote about today's happenings at Queen's Park on my blog. If you live in a Progressive Conservative riding in Ontario, please contact your MPP tomorrow or during the weekend urging them to pass this bill! #BikeTO #BikeTooter #WalkTO #TOpoli #ONpoli #VisionZero http://www.twowheeledpolitics.ca/2023/11/bill-40-at-queens-park.html
You know Toronto is beyond broken when more than one in ten people are relying on food banks per a recent Daily Bread report. The Ford government needs to address this emergency NOW by doubling ODSP & set a $20/hr minimum wage. #TOpoli #ONpoli https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/one-in-10-torontonians-rely-on-food-banks-says-frightening-new-daily-bread-report/article_3f4d5971-6a1a-5b85-a864-c3be7ef39b95.html
While safety data may be lacking, Toronto should consider following Montréal by banning right turns on red to improve safety for #BikeTO & #WalkTO. #TOpoli #VisionZero https://www.thestar.com/politics/cities-look-to-copy-montreals-ban-of-right-turns-on-red-but-safety-data-lacking/article_385fa2a7-e29f-5ccc-aa36-d81cfbeb67d5.html
The Toronto Police are an embarrassment.
Toronto police haven’t bothered to enforce traffic restrictions on King Street for several years, delaying thousands of commuters daily on the busiest surface transit route in all of Canada and the USA. But on Wednesday they actually gave a ticket to a King Street streetcar at rush hour.
#Toronto #TOPoli #TTC #Transit #PublicTransit #KingStreetPilot #KingStreetTransitway
@GraphicMatt @rad This is such a good change! And ditto on trying to bring in truck side guards! There's so much good news in this whole thread. #topoli
If you bike on Bloor, please note the westbound #BikeTO lanes from Avenue to Spadina will be closed starting on November 8 for westbound cycle track & road reconstruction. This phase is proceeding ahead of the planned Spring 2024 date. #TOpoli #VisionZero https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bloor-street-construction-closure-1.7016328
From The Biking Lawyer: Sometimes you just have to grab your bike & put rubber to pavement to demonstrate the overwhelming support for safe infrastructure. This Sunday, cyclists from the GTA will take to the new Bloor Bike Lanes en masse! Please spread the word! #BikeTO #BikeTooter #TOpoli #VisionZero https://www.facebook.com/events/1085098272537872
🏕⛺️🏕⛺️
In a horrifying turn of events, the City of Toronto🎪 is referring people who are seeking shelter space to encampments.
⛺️ 🏕 ⛺️ 🏕
We have 2 confirmations from St Stephen-in-the-Fields and Clarence Square.
You may remember a couple of summers ago, when the City was RAZING encampments and beating the shit out of anyone standing in their way, and then we went to 14 Division to wait for our jailed friends to be released, so they pepper-sprayed us,
... or perhaps you have fond memories of the SEVENTEEN DAYS they imprisoned an Indigenous man in his tiny house (the last remaining one in the City, because THEY DESTROYED THE REST OF THEM) and then when that didn't work, the cops kidnapped him and drove him to Trenton in the middle of the night while we sat outside 52 Division until 4am...
oh wait, no, those are MY "fond memories".
Apparently, it's just bygones now, and the City will just point you to a park, no tent, no sleeping bag, and let people who already have precariously little take care of you.
In sub-zero weather.
That's where we are with capitalism.
#Toronto #ToPoli
#HousingForAll #HousingIsAHumanRight #HousingNow
Ontario Power Generation wants to build a large new gas plant (265 megawatts) in Halton Hills. This new gas plant could produce as much air pollution as 250,000 cars each year. This will lead to more illnesses (e.g., asthma attacks, heart and lung diseases) for GTA residents and more climate damage everywhere.
Please urge Mayor Lawlor and Halton Hills Council to vote against more polluting gas power: https://www.cleanairalliance.org/halton-say-no/
I intend to have something very positive to say about New Bike Week on Monday.
(We have a new family bike, and it’s fabulous!)
But today, alas, I must instead say that a malicious delivery driver chose to drive their van through me this afternoon, and I’ll spend many hours over the coming weeks and months trying to find some justice for that.
“A few Saturdays ago, Toronto realtor James Milonas had a showing near University Avenue and Wellington Street West. The map on his phone showed the 1.5 kilometre trip would take 40 minutes by car from his home near Spadina Avenue and King Street West.
He walked instead. It took 12 minutes.”
Yes. That is what is supposed to happen. It’s him, hi, he’s the congestion it’s him.
Last Wednesday, I had a chance to speak with @mbonsma about her passion for data, advocacy with @bikeottawa, and her current postdoctoral research on cycling stress levels in Toronto. The interview is now up on my blog. #BikeTO #ottbike #BikeTooter #TOpoli #VisionZero http://www.twowheeledpolitics.ca/2023/10/data-science-with-madeleine-bonsma.html
Since submitting that letter, City Council approved increasing some parking fines from $30 to $75 since the old fine was less than the daily maximum rate in some areas. Still a lot less than the $425 fine for #TTC fare evasion. #BikeTO #WalkTO #TOpoli https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.GG6.25
Got a letter published in the Toronto Star calling for fine equity between parking & #TTC fare evasion, considerably higher permit parking fees to match off street lots, and higher permit fees for SUV's & pickups. #BikeTO #WalkTO #TOpoli https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/harris-created-most-of-the-problems-ontario-faces-today-letters/article_fe1b89df-0ef2-5705-acb0-c05f8e1f32ae.html
Toronto Council meets today! It's their firstregular meeting since July, so there's lots on the agenda. Mayor Olivia Chow has set the tripling of the vacant home tax as her first key matter, so that'll be up first.
Here's the stream. I will provide live thoughts and live analysis and live jokes in a very long thread, right here. #topoli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4PCfVJnQvs
Toronto has taken some good steps with parking such as eliminating parking minimums & removing the $5/hr cap for TPA lots. However, the upcoming parking consultations must also consider hiking permit parking fees & charging more for SUV's/pickups. #TOpoli https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/toronto-s-cheap-and-ample-parking-has-been-good-for-business-here-s-why-that/article_f8eaa4b3-a61e-516c-884d-36c997dae39e.html
A review of how the TTC is approaching the challenges of riders experiencing homelessness, by @nev in @thelocal:
https://thelocal.to/ttc-jamaal-myers-olivia-chow-shelters-shuttles-homeless/
It's unacceptable that a high-throughput transit corridor can be shut down for that long without appropriate mitigation.
Buses full of people should not end up stuck behind a row of single-occupant cars, or blocked by one asshole with a pickup truck who doesn't know how to park. #toronto #ttc #topoli
When I look at the mess in Ottawa and the Metrolinx Toronto debacle I am reminded of being involved in large multi-vendor IT projects before I retired; instead of brainstorming solutions, all the players would spend all their time and energy making sure they wouldn't take the blame, and would look for ways to score political points. Nothing ever changes. #CDNPoli #Topoli #onpoli