Quiet construction? It doesn’t work that way
Some downtown elites put on quite a show on Wednesday after Mayor John Tory announced a new roadwork policy: utility companies won’t be able to block downtown traffic to perform routine maintenance during the day. The rule applies from Lake Shore north to Dundas, and from Bathurst east to Jarvis.
This might strike many readers as delicious common sense. There are 24 hours in a day during which one can work down a manhole on telephone and electrical systems and … you know, whatever else goes on down manholes. ( I’m a downtown elite, how the hell would I know?) Unless it’s an emergency, daytime is a ridiculous time to do it. Every day, the population of the downtown core basically triples. About 40 per cent of those people arrive and depart by public transit, including on streetcars and buses, and everything else should be getting the hell out of their way.
It did not strike several left- leaning councillors as common sense, however. On Twitter, Coun. Joe Cressy declared himself “dumbfounded,” calling the Mayor’s “unilateral” decision “totally and completely unacceptable.”
“Cars driving through our neighbourhoods do not deserve more respect that the hundreds of thousands of people living in them,” Cressy said in a statement.
“Moving traffic should not be prioritized over the quality of life for residents living in our downtown,” Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam echoed.
Then Cressy went wide, riffing on the “getting Toronto moving” sign that adorns Tory’s lectern when he makes transit and trafficrelated announcements: “getting Toronto moving by spending $ 3.4 billion on a one-stop subway that serves fewer people AND mandating overnight construction to make life less livable for downtown residents.”
That’s not one of Tory’s mortal enemies t alking. Cressy often allies with the mayor, notably on the King Street pilot project and safe injection sites. But the very idea of nighttime construction in a booming part of a booming city had him spitting fire. ( He has since spoken to Tory, who promises to address his and others’ concerns.)
Coun. Gord Perks complains that Tory “governs by press release” — which is to say that councillors weren’t consulted. The mayor’s office protests that Tory said he’d do this months ago, and that the city’s noise bylaw would apply to all work performed — i. e., contractors couldn’t just turn on the jackhammers and let them rip. Perks argues Tory only announced months ago that he would “consult” on the matter, and then never did with local councillors. And as for noise, Cressy argues that if the loudest work now can’t happen during the day, staff will have little choice but to permit it at night.
“The inevitable outcome of the policy is that utilities will be receiving city permits to dig and jackhammer all over downtown neighbourhoods between 7 p. m. and 7 a.m.,” he says.
I feel like everyone has dropped the ball a bit here. Councillors in affected areas were notified of the new policy weeks ago, making Wednesday’s outrage look a tad contrived. The idea that Tory, seeking reelection, would unleash plagues of jackhammers upon downtown residents in the middle of the night does not survive much rational scrutiny. But Tory clearly shouldn’t have left people to jump to their own worst conclusions — because in Toronto, and es- pecially downtown, and especially with respect to him, they always will.
When Tory says he wants to “get Toronto moving,” many progressives in this city can only hear one thing: “get Toronto motorists moving.” Sometimes you would think there was no such thing as surface public transit at all. If anything, some guy down a manhole screws up a bus or streetcar commute more than it does a car commute — and it can screw up a downtown resident’s commute just as much as it can someone from Ajax or Oakville.
Obviously, all but the most cacophonous work should routinely be done at night — and when timelines demand it, the noisiest work should go on 24/ 7 as well. Toronto is serious business. But Torontonians remain deeply conflicted about their city’s roaring success, desiring ever more of it and yet seemingly unable to contemplate the sorts of things that of necessity come with it: no more cheap parking; constantly changing neighbourhoods; rapid, intense densification; and, yes, a lot of construction noise.
I don’t live right downtown but, believe me, I know about living with construction noise. And I’m resigned to it. I chose to live very near the beating heart of a G7 economy — of course it’s going to be noisy. Many cheaper and quieter options are available, and plenty of people would love to take my place. A lot of people, families included, would love to live in the middle of a big, important city like Toronto. But it’s not for everyone, and it never will be.