Saving Affordable Grocers in Davisville

Both of our local neighbourhood grocers that closed last year, Fruit Baskets and Fresh Buy Market, are returning to the neighbourhood and will continue serving the affordable fruit and veggies that so many of us rely on.

When notified of the upcoming demolition, my office and I immediately reached out to the business owners directly to offer our support. We contacted nearby property owners to identify new space opportunities and advocating to ensure that these businesses were able to remain.

We are grateful to everyone who worked together to ensure that these businesses were able to find nearby retail space in the neighbourhood - and in both cases - to secure even larger space, which allows more people to access more affordable food.

Streetscape Improvements Coming to Oakwood Village

I am happy to announce that City Council has approved my motion to invest in beautiful streetscape and public realm improvements in the Oakwood Village BIA. A portion of the funding will go towards custom branding and pole wraps in the BIA catchment area. The majority will support enhancing additional streetscape and public realm projects at the Oakwood and Vaughan intersection, including improvements to the island with the palm tree. This initiative will help beautify the Oakwood-Vaughan neighbourhood and help strengthen the Oakwood Village BIA as a vibrant and welcoming destination to dine and shop.

Planning for a Safer Merton Street

I am pleased to announce that Council has approved my motion to move forward with a plan for streetscape improvements along Merton Street, between Yonge Street and Mount Pleasant Road. Residents have raised concerns about narrow sidewalks, limited sightlines, unsafe mid-block crossings, and a need for better wayfinding, all made worse by concentrated construction activity in the area. Transportation Services will consult with the Merton Street community and report back in 2027 with improvements that can be delivered through quick-build installations, capital projects, and future development applications.

City Charter – Empowering Toronto’s Future

Toronto is Canada's largest city, yet it lacks the autonomy to govern its own municipal affairs without constant overreach from Doug Ford’s provincial government. I have been advocating for a City Charter - a legal framework that would give Toronto the authority to make its own decisions on critical issues like housing, transit, and budgeting without constant provincial interference. This is a necessary one for strengthening democracy, transparency, and accountability. While a Charter requires provincial cooperation, laying the groundwork now will help build the case for a more empowered and responsive city government. That’s why I moved a motion in Council to start the work on a new arrangement with senior levels of government that ensures we have the independence necessary for 21st century cities to thrive and achieve results for residents.

This working group has now reported back with recommendations for a public participation process on Charter stewardship. You can read the full report here.

Pedestrian Safety Improvements at Yonge and Eglinton

With an average of 4,500 pedestrians per hour, Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue is one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the City.

This week, I successfully moved a motion to install a pedestrian priority phase at Yonge and Eglinton, commonly referred to as a pedestrian scramble.

The motion also introduces a pedestrian scramble at Roehampton, Orchard View Blvd and Yonge. This is an offset intersection which residents have pointed to time and time again as a clear hazard.

The introduction of these scrambles will be coordinated with retiming of the traffic lights along that entire section of Yonge, ensuring that this change doesn’t delay drivers along Yonge or Eglinton. 

I am also addressing pedestrian safety concerns along Roehampton Avenue and Broadway Avenue with additional signage to support the current functioning of the roadways, as well as a plan to comprehensively review the one-way designations once construction diminishes.

With the long-awaited opening of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, the Yonge and Eglinton corridor needs to be re-imagined to better serve the tens of thousands of pedestrians who navigate these crossings on a daily basis.
 

This initiative reflects the reality that anyone in this neighbourhood already knows: Yonge and Eglinton is just as busy as downtown Toronto. It’s time we see similar investments from the City in our pedestrian safety and convenience.

Making Streetcar Stops Safer

Your commute should be safe from start to finish. But more than 140 people have been hit while boarding or exiting a streetcar in the last 10 years. That’s why I’ve been working to use every tool available to make sure that cars stop when the streetcar stops.

Last year, I brought forward a motion at the TTC Board to launch a pilot that uses cameras to detect illegal passing – leveraging technology to enhance enforcement and public safety. We’re moving forward with it. Toronto deserves a transit system that is affordable, reliable – and, most importantly, which gets you home safely at the end of the day.

Protecting Our Waterfront and the Future of Billy Bishop Airport

The Federal Government has now announced that they will not be supporting Doug Ford's plan to introduce jets at Billy Bishop Airport. They made important commitments: they will not pursue any plans that infringe on public spaces such as Little Norway Park or Hanlan’s Point Beach, result in elevated noise, have significant environmental impacts, or hinder Toronto’s ability to build much-needed new housing such as in planned neighbourhoods like Ookwemin Minising.

This is an important win that belongs to you.

However, while we celebrate this win, we must also read Ottawa’s letter with sober eyes. It wasn’t an announcement that an expansion will never happen - it was meant to set the grounds for a conversation. We must prepare for what’s next.

We will need a real plan for the future of Billy Bishop Airport and our waterfront. We are asking Doug Ford to stop throwing around bombastic promises and hyperbolic insults - and to stop trying to divide people. We need him to come to the table with the City, the Federal Government, and the Toronto Port Authority to have an adult conversation about our priorities and our options. 

Toronto is ready to do the work, and I will continue to work with you to realize a vision that supports economic development while ensuring the protection of a successful, healthy and vibrant waterfront.

A Community Vision for the Future of the Ontario Science Centre

Two years ago, the Ford government abruptly shuttered the Ontario Science Centre, claiming the roof was at risk of imminently collapsing. This past winter, it withstood the biggest single-day snowfall in Toronto's history.
 
The Province is now moving forward with a plan to build a smaller $1.4 billion Science Centre at Ontario Place. Nothing about that plan requires the former OSC site at 770 Don Mills Road to sit empty. The building should be reopened and reimagined to serve a growing community in Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park, along with our entire city and region.

That's why I, working with Save Ontario's Science Centre, Moriyama Teshima Architects, and local Councillor Jon Burnside, held consultations directly in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park, and with people across Toronto, to hear their vision for the future of the site. Participants identified clear priorities: continued public use, learning and discovery, access to the ravine and green space, the architectural significance of the building, and community and cultural programming.

I am happy to share that this week, Council received our report presenting that community vision and recommended next steps toward reopening. Council also adopted my motion requesting the City Manager to convene a meeting with representatives of the Province, Infrastructure Ontario, the Government of Canada, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, CreateTO, and community stakeholders to collaboratively determine a sustainable future use for the site that ensures public benefit and access.

The message from residents is clear. The use of the site may change, but its public purpose should endure.

Please read our report here.

---

Bringing Vital Improvements to Davisville Avenue

Council has approved Phase 1 of the Improving Davisville project, endorsing much needed beautification and safety improvements along Davisville Ave. Many of the safety measures approved at City Council—including raised medians at the pedestrian crossings, curb extensions at Pailton Crescent and Acacia Rd, and traffic calming features at Mount Pleasant—have been requested by the community for years. I’m pleased to see these long-awaited measures progress.
 
Also approved at City Council was my motion requesting that City staff report back in early 2027 on additional Phase 2 recommendations to address the Davisville Ave curb lanes. Dangerous driving in these lanes has contributed to many of the serious collisions that have occurred along the corridor in recent years. I will continue to pressure the City to ensure a plan is brought forward to improve the safety of the curb lanes through features such as bump-outs, parking amendments, and bikeways.

Oriole Parkway Revitalization

Through the heart of our Chaplin Estates neighbourhood in midtown, Oriole Parkway is a residential street that had awful crumbling bump-outs and a median that was full of broken concrete, dead plants and weeds.

Great cities care about urban design- and that’s what I want for Toronto. So I consulted with the community, worked with city staff, moved motions at Council, and we got results.

I’m proud that we have now vastly improved Oriole Parkway- beautifully designed with a green median, tree-lined and completely repaved and a commitment to maintain it.

Toronto's Colour-Coded RentSafe Signs Are Finally Here

As of June 15, apartment buildings in Toronto are required to display colour-coded RentSafe signs at their entrances, backed by stronger financial penalties and remedial action if landlords don't maintain safe and healthy homes.
 
Modelled after the city's DineSafe program, the signs display green, yellow, or red based on a building's RentSafeTO evaluation score. Green means satisfactory (85-100%), yellow means the building needs improvement (70-84%), and red means it needs significant improvement (0-69%). This gives prospective renters vital information and holds the worst landlords to account.
 
The policy is the result of motions that I've moved at City Council and years of advocacy alongside tenant organizations including ACORN, the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations, and the Toronto Tenant Union. I'm proud we finally got it done.
 
Signs have been mailed to all landlords in the RentSafeTO program. City staff will take an escalating enforcement approach for any landlord that doesn't comply. Tenants who notice a missing or incorrect sign at their building should call 311.

Moving Forward with Pedestrianized Streets in Toronto

Toronto is getting more pedestrian streets! Thank you to my colleagues and everyone across the city who signed our petition. I'm happy to share that my motion was approved at City Council. We’re moving forward on creating fun and vibrant pedestrian streets in Toronto by next summer.
 
Pedestrian streets have been proven to deliver significant benefits for local businesses and residents' quality of life. They have been done successfully in cities around the world including Paris and Copenhagen, and as close to home as Montreal and Vancouver.
 
Transportation Services has been working on a Pedestrian Streets Policy since at least early 2025, but the initiative was quietly shelved. That's why my motion asked City staff to move forward with creating a proper program, which identifies the right streets, gets the model right, and reports back on the resources needed to make it a success.
 
I'm requesting that we have pedestrian streets where they will work best, considering congestion, public safety, and responsible management.

My hope for Toronto is that we do things well and thoughtfully, but that we join other world-class cities in getting this done.
 
Please see this article for more information.