Group takes on Sidewalk Labs
#Blocksidewalk aims to prevent plans for waterfront initiative from proceeding
A new group has formed to “actively try to stop” Sidewalk Labs from developing a high-tech neighbourhood on Toronto’s eastern waterfront.
Calling itself the #Blocksidewalk Campaign, the members have launched a website and online petition aimed at preventing the Manhattan-based urban innovation firm from moving ahead with its controversial proposal.
The citizens group of about 30 Torontonians hail from a variety of backgrounds including the high-tech sector; among them are entrepreneurs, housing and homelessness advocates, environmentalists, as well as academics and researchers.
There have always been critics of the Sidewalk Labs project, but this marks the first time a group has formed to actively prevent the project from going forward.
“What we’re hoping to achieve is a reset. To put Torontonians back in the driver’s seat when it comes to decisions about our city and our future, instead of the Sidewalk Toronto version where we’re driven around by autonomous vehicles in a corporate research experiment,” Melissa Goldstein, a community activist specializing in affordable housing and homelessness issues, said Monday in email to the Star.
“We want these important decisions on the future of the city to be made through fair, democratic, inclusive, transparent and accountable processes led by Torontonians.
“Not in secret, in back rooms, behind closed doors and without public input. We want to lead instead of being constantly misled,” Goldstein added.
“Everything about this project has been overwhelmingly opaque,” Goldstein said.
“It’s been impossible to get clear answers about even the most basic things about this project, and after 16 months of trying, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re pretty much fed up.”
Of significant concern is the request for proposals (RFP) that Waterfront Toronto issued in March 2017 for an innovation and funding partner for the “Quayside development opportunity.”
Sidewalk Labs won the bid and the firm is currently working on a master plan for a datadriven, mostly residential neighbourhood on a 12-acre parcel near the corner of Parliament St. and Queens Quay, a proposal Waterfront Toronto must approve, along with other levels of government including the city. Nasm a Ahmed, another #Blocksidewalk member and director of the Digital Justice Lab, a Toronto non-profit advocating for justice and equity in the digital world, called on the RFP to be scrapped and a new one launched.
“Torontonians were not asked what they wanted for the waterfront,” Ahmed said in an interview.
We should have been consulted, she said.
Added Goldstein: “It was their (Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto’s) vision for Quayside and the Port Lands that informed that RFP, not ours.”
Broad concerns about the Sidewalk Labs project initially centred primarily on the privacy and security of data pertaining to residents who will live in the neighbourhood and people who will pass through the area.
But a new controversy arose recently after a Star story revealed Sidewalk wants to expand its vision beyond Quayside and into 350 acres of prop- erty in the Port Lands.
The #Blocksidewalk group says it decided to take action after the story broke.
The story also reported that Sidewalk wants to invest upfront in new neighbourhoods, infrastructure and an LRT line in the Port Lands and be paid back later through a share of the property taxes, development charges and increased value of city land in the area, funds that normally go to the city.
This all came as a surprise to many, including the general public and politicians in Ottawa, the province and Toronto.
But at a federal ethics standing committee hearing last week, a senior leader for Waterfront Toronto said that it was known all along that Sidewalk was considering “scaling” beyond the Quayside pilot project.
Language in the RFP refer- ences this possibility, and Sidewalk’s response to the RFP mentions several times the idea of deploying “at scale” beyond Quayside across the eastern waterfront — facts Ahmed says a lot of people in Toronto didn’t know.
Responding to #Blocksidewalk’s comments about the lack of public input in the process, Waterfront Toronto spokesperson Andrew Tumilty said the corporation has “has always placed enormous importance on the value of public consultations as we seek to revitalize Toronto’s waterfront.”
“We strive to hear from a diverse range of opinions, from across Toronto’s communities, in all of the work we have done,” he said.
“Public consultation is at the bedrock of our culture and our vision for Toronto.”
He added that Waterfront Toronto will continue to seek that as the project goes along.
Tumilty went on to say it’s “important for Waterfront Toronto’s reputation as a trusted development partner, and the city of Toronto’s reputation for welcoming innovation, that Sidewalk Labs have the opportunity to produce a completed proposal before any next steps are considered.”
Sidewalk Labs spokesperson Keerthana Rang said the proposal being worked on will accelerate transit along the waterfront and bring more affordable housing and new manufacturing jobs to the area.
“This is the result of extensive planning work and discussions with more than 18,000 Toron- tonians over the last year. Robust public debate and discussion will only make these ideas better and we look forward to continuing to consult with Torontonians across the city to get this right,” she said. The #Blocksidewalk members are the latest in a string of groups and individuals weighing in on Sidewalk’s “smart city” proposal. Already there: The Digital Strategy Advisory Panel (DSAP), a panel of tech, data and privacy experts that is providing advice to Waterfront Toronto on Sidewalk’s proposal, in terms of privacy, data control and management
Sidewalk Labs’ data governance advisory working group, whose members give the firm guidance on privacy issues and data concerns
An advisory council of Canadian urban thinkers and executives giving input to Sidewalk Labs behind the scenes
A residents reference panel, made up of randomly selected Torontonians advising Sidewalk
The Toronto Open Smart Cities Forum, a self-directed group with ties to neither Waterfront Toronto or Sidewalk, consisting of people with expertise in areas such as law, tech, data and housing. This group was formed to provide input into the community engagement process surrounding the Sidewalk project. Waterfront Toronto also holds “civic labs” — forums where any member of the public can attend and provide input into the Sidewalk project.