Yonge Love Meet-Up Panel, Photo Credit: Dominic Ali
Interest in the future of Toronto’s streets is growing, a fact demonstrated by two panel talks that took place at the end of February.
Yonge Love, a meet-up hosted by the Ryerson City Building Institute, brought together business leaders, a developer, Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat, Councillor Wong-Tam and others to discuss the future of Toronto’s main street as an environmental assessment on the topic gets underway. In a fast-paced conversation moderated by Steve Paikin from The Agenda, the panelists proposed a “big, bold and beautiful” Yonge Street, reserved for pedestrians. TCAT Director Nancy Smith Lea raised the question of safety in an otherwise economically-driven discussion, and challenged the panelists to consider all vulnerable road users, including cyclists.
At Toronto For Everyone, the farewell party for Honest Ed’s, Nancy took part in a panel that looked back, as well as forward to discuss Bloor Street’s bike lanes. She, together with Cycle Toronto, Bells on Bloor, Toronto Transportation Services and Councillor Cressy, considered the long history of plans that have identified Bloor as a priority route and the status current pilot project. A blog from Dandyhorse captured some of the highlights of the discussion.
The Bloor bike lanes are one of the most heavily scrutinized and studied pieces of cycling infrastructure to date, and TCAT, along with the University of Toronto, will be submitting a report to the City in the fall, evaluating potential economic impacts.