It’s Time for an Open Streets Campaign

WHOSE STREETS? OUR STREETS!

Remember when the City of Toronto closed parts of Bloor and Yonge for Open Streets TO for walking, cycling, and other forms of physical activity? Or the hugely popular ActiveTO weekend closures on Lake Shore West during the COVID-19 pandemic? One thing that has long frustrated me is how despite their popularity, these open street programs didn’t happen at all in 2023 or 2024, while there has been nothing but radio silence on this topic for this year. While Bill 212 and next week's court challenge may have sucked up a lot of the cycling community's oxygen as of late, It’s time to break the silence and get organized on this open streets issue!

The last Open Streets TO event held on August 21, 2022

If you didn’t attend Open Streets TO or ActiveTO – or maybe don’t know what open streets is – I’ll give you a brief explainer. The idea of open streets was first popularized in Bogota (Colombia) in the 1990’s under the name “Ciclovia” which happens every Sunday and closes over 120 kilometres of roads to cars so that people can exercise. The program has since been exported all around the world while Toronto launched Open Streets TO in 2014. Open Streets TO closed off parts of Bloor and Yonge two Sundays per year with one year seeing the program cross the Don River onto Danforth Avenue. To address the need to give people space (a.k.a. physical distancing) to exercise during the pandemic, the City of Toronto introduced ActiveTO on Lake Shore West, Lake Shore East, and Bayview.

ActiveTO on Lake Shore West in 2020

Unfortunately, ActiveTO was scrapped in June 2022 which was motivated in part from a letter from Toronto Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro – which was ghost written by ex-councillor Mark Grimes – and increased traffic as pandemic restrictions eased. Due to funding cuts, Open Streets TO had only one Sunday event in 2022 and nothing has been held ever since.

While there have been some campaigns such as Cycle Toronto’s “Safe and Active Streets for All” which included providing regular and recurring car-free spaces as one of ten priority asks, there has not been much follow through since the 2022 Toronto Election or the 2023 mayoral by-election. That specific ask was endorsed by Mayor Olivia Chow and the following 14 councillors:

• Amber Morley (Ward 3)
• Gord Perks (Ward 4)
• Frances Nunziata (Ward 5)
• Anthony Perruzza (Ward 7)
• Mike Colle (Ward 8)
• Alejandra Bravo (Ward 9)
• Ausma Malik (Ward 10)
• Dianne Saxe (Ward 11)
• Josh Matlow (Ward 12)
• Chris Moise (Ward 13)
• Paula Fletcher (Ward 14)
• Brad Bradford (Ward 19)
• Jamaal Myers (Ward 23)
• Paul Ainslie (Ward 24)

Safe and Active Streets for All 2023 Mayoral By-Election Scorecard - Via Cycle Toronto

Even with a majority in favour at City Council, we cannot count on them to bring back open streets on their own. Instead, it’s worth quoting Desmond Cole’s column from The Grind on April 15, 2024.

“We shouldn’t expect Mayor Olivia Chow to deliver big progressive changes. It’s going to take networks of grassroots groups pushing together to stop city council from doing the bidding of Toronto’s corporate class.”

In the case of open streets, the only way we can bring this program back – and expand it beyond Open Streets TO’s two Sundays per year – is when we organize to demand it ourselves! Since nobody has come forward to organize something with a dedicated focus on open streets, I felt it was necessary to kickstart the conversation with this post and find out who else out there is willing to step up.

As a start, I encourage you (and other open streets supporters) to e-mail Mayor Olivia Chow (mayor_chow@toronto.ca), your city councillor, and councilmeeting@toronto.ca calling on them to bring back Open Streets TO, ActiveTO, or a suitable successor for both programs as soon as possible! If your councillor pledged to support open streets, it’s a good idea to thank for their prior support. I also encourage you to share photos of past Open Streets TO or ActiveTO memories using hashtags like #OpenStreetsTO and #ActiveTO on social platforms such as Bluesky, (what was) Twitter, and Instagram; as well as suggest ways to organize.

#ActivismTO rally on Lake Shore West in October 2022

Do we need to organize a Lake Shore takeover as was done with #ActivismTO in October 2022 or another street activation? Do we need to launch a petition and/or an open letter signed by diverse community groups? Do we need to start up a Facebook group to help with organizing? Is there an existing organization which can commit to mobilizing for open streets? Are there other effective ways to engage our neighbours and the public? Let’s hear every memory and idea you can think of! 😊

In the event Toronto does not hold an Open Streets event this year, nearby Hamilton will be holding it for two Sundays this year. These will be from 10 AM to 4 PM on June 22 and September 28.