Tech expert resigns from panel on Sidewalk Toronto
STEM advocate said she doesn’t want to see a U.S. company control the project’s data
A member of an expert panel guiding Waterfront Toronto on Sidewalk Labs’ “smart city” proposal has resigned in large part because she wants to see the city, rather than a private company, control potentially valuable data linked to the project.
On Thursday, tech entrepreneur Saa- dia Muzaffar became the second member to recently resign from the advisory panel, formed in late April to assist Waterfront Toronto with how best to deal with data privacy issues, digital systems, as well as ethical and safety issues around the use of technology in its Sidewalk Toronto plan — a partnership with Manhattan-based Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation firm and sister company of Google.
Muzaffar, a founder of TechGirls Canada, a hub promoting women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), resigned her position on the panel amid her concerns that financial benefits stemming from the project will all go to a U.S. company — Sidewalk Labs — rather than local innovators or the general public.
In her resignation letter, she blasted Waterfront Toronto, a corporation representing the city, province and federal governments, for showing “apathy and an utter lack of leadership” on the Sidewalk Toronto project.
“The most recent public roundtable in August displayed a blatant disregard for resident concerns about data and digital infrastructure,” she said in her letter. Muzaffar said she wants to see the data around Sidewalk Toronto end up in the hands of the City of Toronto.
The plan, which calls for a city of the future featuring data-driven technology to improve the life of residents, has already garnered some controversy over privacy concerns and who will control the data and the “digital infrastructure” generated from the project.
“There is nothing innovative about city-building that disenfranchises its residents in insidious ways and robs
A few weeks ago, Nunziata’s brother, John, a lawyer and former three-term Liberal MP and later Independent for York South-Weston, posted controversial comments on the Facebook page of the Black Creek Alliance, a pro-environment community group in the area.
Padovani is a member of the group, which identifies as nonpartisan, and John Nunziata accused the group of “clearly being a front” for Padovani. He charged that the group is “contravening election laws” with its Facebook page and needs to register as a “third party.”
In his post, John Nunziata said a “formal complaint will be filed and a prosecution will follow” against Padovani and the administrators of the Facebook page. He added that “a civil action will also be launched for slander and defamation.”
In an interview, Padovani said the group has done nothing wrong. She said she views John’s post as an attempt to “threaten and intimidate” her and the group’s members.
In an interview, Frances Nunziata distanced herself from her brother’s Facebook remarks, saying she wasn’t told in advance that he’d be posting them, he doesn’t speak for her and there will be no legal action.
John Nunziata told the Star no legal action will be happening and that his post was meant as a “caution” because he found some of the comments on the Facebook page were “nasty, slanderous and defamatory” toward his sister. The offending comments have since been taken down, and John Nunziata said they didn’t represent the entire organization.
In a separate incident, Frances Nunziata is distancing herself from a comment by white nationalist Faith Goldy, whom Nunziata said she doesn’t even know.
Padovani is criticizing Nunziata after Goldy, a mayoral candidate, recently tweeted: “Toronto is blessed to have the Nunziata family fighting for more than politics, but actual principles the people hold.”
A social worker whose platform includes concerns about affordability, poverty and declining services in Ward 5, Padovani said Goldy’s tweet and seeming endorsement of the Nunziata family is out of bounds, given the diverse makeup of the ward. She said Frances Nunziata needs to disavow any connection to Goldy.
Nunziata told the Star when she first learned of the tweet that she had no idea who Goldy is. “I don’t know Faith Goldy, and I don’t want to know her,” Nunziata said.
Squabbles aside, Ward 5 — bounded by Highway 401 to the north; GO Transit tracks to the east; Humber River to the west; and CP rail tracks to the south — faces myriad issues. Among them are serious flooding problems faced by homes in the Black Creek and Humber Blvd. area, crime and youth unemployment challenges near streets like Jane and Weston Rd., and the expected development boom that will accompany the completion in a few years of the TTC’s Mount Dennis stop on the Eglinton Crosstown transit line.
The stop, located near Eglinton Ave. W. and Weston Rd., will be the western terminal station for the Eglinton Crosstown and serve as a massive transit hub. There are plans for the station to include a TTC bus stop, a link to the GO Transit Kitchener line and a UP Express stop.
Laura Alderson, co-ordinator of the Mount Dennis BIA, said as a result, developers are buying up land in the area to build on, anticipating the number of people that will be drawn there.
Alderson added that building housing in the area — “whether it be midrise or highrise, purpose-built rental, condos or affordable housing” — makes sense from a number of perspectives.”
She added: “The new councillor will need to be able to work well with the local community, city planning department and developers to arrive at a consensus on what’s best for the area.”
The area looks a bit desolate, with a lot of abandoned businesses. Both Nunziata and Di Giorgio say they want to see the area rejuvenated.
Both are also calling for more support for community groups that help youths in the ward, some of whom are gravitating to gang activity and crime.
The incumbents also want to see more jobs created for youth.
“We need to deal with issues that are driving people to feel they’re not part of the opportunities other people are getting,” Di Giorgio said in an interview. York South—Weston candidates: Keaton Austin, Deeqa Barre, Joey Carapinha, Frank Di Giorgio (councillor), Fred Fosu, Harpreet Gulri, Frances Nunziata (councillor), Cedric Ogilvie, Lekan Olawoye, Chiara Padovani and Luis Portillo.