In public spaces, sledgehammer solutions fail us
When the “Do Your Part. Stay Apart” signs appeared in Toronto parks with three geese being the recommended distance, it was a relief from the punishing tone and actions the city of Toronto has taken since COVID-19 came to town. The geese represent trust and permission, not punishment.
When Charles Dickens visited Toronto in 1842, he generally liked the place, but in writing back to a friend in England he said, “the wild and rabid Toryism of Toronto is, I speak seriously, appalling.” No contemporary pun intended, by Dickens or myself, the Toryism he wrote of was a fidelity to the status quo, social order and resistance to reform or change.
It remains a pervasive force in Toronto on both the left and right today, though COVID-19 has amplified it so more people are noticing. Six weeks in, Toronto is glaringly out of step with other cities. San Francisco, Oakland, New York, Vancouver, Windsor, Winnipeg and other North American cities, never mind the European ones, have moved to give pedestrians and cyclists more space on emptier roads. Next door, Mississauga and Brampton have also taken unused road space and reserved it for self-propelled transportation.
The “CurbTO” program, launched this week, gives some room for pedestrians (and, of course, parking) at just 10 locations in a huge city. Short patches in front of stores with no connectivity while other cities went big and fast with their plans.
At this week’s virtual council meeting, an omnibus motion included a request for more space for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit riders in future recovery planning — a good step, but talk and action in Toronto are often very different things.
Toronto is strangely exceptional, but the Toryism is strong and deep here. The 400 acres of High Park have been entirely closed, fenced in, barricaded and monitored by cops in idling police cars to keep cherry blossom crowds away. It doesn’t matter that the blossoms only exist in a tiny part of the park: a sledgehammer solution is the Toronto way. So is the despicable city snitch line that appeals to the worst instincts of citizens, just as the pervasive punishing tone coaxes out some inner authoritarians.
A few weeks back, Mayor John Tory sent a letter to Chief Mark Saunders asking if the police might ramp up park enforcement. Remember he was asking, not telling, as politicians can’t direct police themselves. Within hours, though, the chief held a news conference in High Park to announce increased park enforcement.
There were some people flouting the law and gathering in groups despite health authority pleas, so some enforcement was, and still is, needed, but the absence of this kind of response elsewhere is telling. During the last years of nearrecord breaking pedestrian and cycling deaths and injury, and a police force that was found to have given up on traffic enforcement though saying otherwise — an unresolved scandal — the mayor did not muster a similar letter to police.
Nor has there been a similar ask for police enforcement now to crack down on drivers speeding and blowing lights and stop signs in the less crowded COVID streets. The civic priorities are clear here: Punish people in public space, but go gentle on the drivers.
With the lone exception of Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam, there has been no public advocate on Toronto city council for giving road space to pedestrians and cyclists. Other councillors gave excuses, one being there aren’t enough resources, but a glance at the massive effort going into the instantaneous barricading and policing of High Park proves this is not true.
Another reason is that Toronto’s medical officer of health isn’t supportive of opening up space. Nobody wants to undermine Dr. Eileen de Villa during this time, and that’s good: She is a great leader.
But there absolutely is room for councillors to ask questions of decisions and advocate for other solutions here, as in other cities.
These aren’t reckless calls to “end the lockdown,” but rather to help people in this city, who live in very different circumstances, safe access to the outdoors so they can better stay true to quarantine rules for the long haul. Closing public space also drives gatherings underground, where they can’t be broken up.
There’s already considerable opinion among public health experts in Toronto that opening more public space is good, and British Columbia’s top health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has gone so far as to encourage her province to go outdoors but maintain distance.
Toronto’s Toryism doesn’t allow for this kind of positive thinking or action, even with progressives who have traditionally seen public health as a place they can make change under a conservative mayor, but don’t want to be seen as questioning the medical officer of health’s office, even gently and constructively.
The willy-nilly approach is frustrating. With CurbTO, the city, as many councillors have tweeted, is now taking suggestions on where these tiny sidewalk expansions should happen next, which is in direct contrast to the “sticking-toscience” excuses. If you want science, an organization called Ratio.City has used city data to map the narrow widths of city sidewalks, as did Star columnist Matt Elliott.
The science and data are there, but the political will is not.
Public health is doing exhaustive work right now, as are other city staff, some of whom have been reassigned into longterm-care homes and shelters, efforts that can’t be forgotten. One Toronto employee who is making sure facilities are intact while shut down told me she lowered the flag at one location three times in recent weeks, for the Vimy and van attack anniversaries, and for the Nova Scotia shootings.
We are in good hands, and the city is being taken care of, but the mayor and city council have failed the people of this city in its Dickensian approach to public space, with the barest effort given to ensuring those three geese can fit in between us. Demand more now. Toronto is not unique.