Observations from around the city (in most cases, Toronto)
Observing The City
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Just a note -- this is not a knock on public transit and I believe it should have even more investment. Both are far better bang for your city's buck than investing in infrastructure for private vehicles.
Working on an archive project for my past council coverage and some of these old quotes from Councillor Brad Bradford are wild in retrospect. This was April 2022! Not that long ago!
The most shocking thing to Canadians about this pedestrianization project would be the timeline. 4 years from pop-up pilot to complete road redesign. What happens when you don’t “consult” to-death over a decade. Opposers carried a coffin through the space to signify the death of the area. Ignore.
Portland and Wellington, Toronto, Canada. June 2026, Colourized.
Streets are for people.
Of course he has disabled comments as he can't have people calling him out on this egregious lie.
Brad Bradford continues to campaign against things that *he* supported under Tory's mayoralty, before Chow stepped foot into office. This time its the world cup deal that Tory negotiated and signed. Brad happily supported Tory in this awful deal at the time.
Journalists need to respond to Bradford with this every time he tells this lie during the campaign. Total community safety indicators have decreased every year since Chow’s election. Also, homicides are at lowest point since mid-70s and lowest per capita since the 50s.
There were over 46k Bike Share rides in Toronto yesterday, more than the average ridership of the Queen streetcar. The cost to the city to operate that streetcar was over $50k/day in 2015. Bike share costs the city $8k/day. 6x as cost efficient. Smart cities invest in cycling.
Seriously, the solution to "crowd management" is pedestrianization more often, in more places, and for longer. Instead, transportation services just used "risks associated with high attendance" as a reason to not support Church St. pedestrianization. There is so much rot at city hall.
Observing The City
Matt Elliott
Observing The City
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Observing The City
Video
Church Street, Toronto, Canada. June 2026, Colourized.
Data collected during the trial found more people were walking and cycling in the area. The street became a destination in its own right rather than simply a through route. Terraces replaced approximately 30 parked cars, while visitors lingered longer in what had become a more welcoming environment.
Every time my city has a street festival, there are complaints the next day about how crowded it was. And instead of recognizing this as a city's overwhelming demand for more festivals and pedestrianization, the powers-that-be treat it as an excuse to offer fewer festivals due to crowding risks
Also: crime is not at an all-time high. What are we even doing here.
