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.
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.