[Amare]

Absolutely fantastic news I love it. She should take the rest of the dinosaur age thinking group with her along with her as well.

Good riddance, Sayonara, Au Revoir, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

[ShonTron]

Nah, Barbara Gray was one of the better ones, particularly pro-pedestrian and cyclist compared to predecessors. We can of course keep doing better (and there are a lot of dinosaurs both on council and in the civic service), but we did get some major bike and pedestrian improvements in the last decade, at least until Doug Ford decided that his buddies and donors were more important.

 

[txlseries4]

Absolutely fantastic news I love it. She should take the rest of the dinosaur age thinking group with her along with her as well.

Good riddance, Sayonara, Au Revoir, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I don't get this take. What did she do that makes her retirement good news? Toronto is much safer for pedestrians and cyclists since she joined the city. One of the first articles about her in 2016, linked within the article I posted, is titled "New transportation boss says car is no longer king", with the subheading "Toronto’s queen of the road, freshly arrived from Seattle, seen as ally to cyclists, urbanists".

At committees she frequently gives defends complete streets or measures favouring pedestrians or cyclists, her or colleagues do site visits when there is a road fatality, and at Council this month she came prepared and defended the speed camera program.

Sue-Ann Levy even wrote a piece in 2019 about Gray, titled "The war on the car road show, courtesy of Seattle"

There are clearly old ways of thinking within Transportation Services and it's a systemic issue, but thinking she could have rooted it all out -- or someone new will -- seems naive. But it seems to me the bigger obstacle are the car serving councillors who get in the way of progressive policies, often with the final say.

 

[Richard White]

But it seems to me the bigger obstacle are the car serving councillors who get in the way of progressive policies, often with the final say.

Paula Fletcher is a prime example.

She nixed the expansion of Broadview Stations loop to save 2 or 3 parking spots.

 

[Northern Light]

Nah, Barbara Gray was one of the better ones, particularly pro-pedestrian and cyclist compared to predecessors. We can of course keep doing better (and there are a lot of dinosaurs both on council and in the civic service), but we did get some major bike and pedestrian improvements in the last decade, at least until Doug Ford decided that his buddies and donors were more important.

I think I will split the difference between your take, and @Amare 's

Barbara was a decent person, if you met/dealt w/her. She was indeed pro cycling and broadly supportive of that unit, to her credit.

In fairness to her, she also faced budgetary challenges; and the Gardiner project soaked up a large chunk of the department's budget for years.
That said, there is a lot of dead weight in that department and many services did degrade over the years for a slew of reasons from budget to contract oversight etc.
She could have been better at ousting some folks and demanding more of others and providing the requisite training/supervision to get that extra out of them.

While I appreciate that Councillor's are a material part of the problem, she's been unable to check the 'a traffic light for everyone' crowd, which has eaten up millions that could have delivered other needed projects.

For reasons that go beyond Barbara, the City has been unwilling to bar certain under performing contractors from bidding on projects, and procurement........seems to give same a free pass.......but I digress.

There is also a tendency to take far too long to deliver projects, I don't even mean the construction schedule (though that too), but rather designs being done so early relative to construction they have to be re-done as so much has changed by the time the project is queued up. Again, there's a lot going on there and she certainly doesn't wear all of it, maybe even most.

But 'the buck stops somewhere' and that is her chair.

*****

Whether her retirement is good or bad will depend entirely on who her replacement ends up being and any resulting staff shuffle.

When Barbara came in, several senior staff exited. That's normal by the way, when new top people come in, particularly from the outside, they often to try to bring someone with them, and to reshape their department leadership to their liking.

There are several people in that department worthy of elevation; and more than a few whose best before date is long passed.

 

[DSCToronto]

Absolutely fantastic news I love it. She should take the rest of the dinosaur age thinking group with her along with her as well.

Good riddance, Sayonara, Au Revoir, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I think you are talking about someone else - Barbara Grey is FAR from a fossil and has been a great supporter of Civic Improvements.

As @Northern Light says "There are several people in that department worthy of elevation; and more than a few whose best before date is long passed." Her departure will, one hopes get rid of the deadwood and promote the worthy!

 

[Amare]

I think you are talking about someone else - Barbara Grey is FAR from a fossil and has been a great supporter of Civic Improvements.

As @Northern Light says "There are several people in that department worthy of elevation; and more than a few whose best before date is long passed." Her departure will, one hopes get rid of the deadwood and promote the worthy!

Sure she may have very well been pro-pedestrian and cyclist compared to predecessors, my biggest gripe with TTS under her leadership was the lack of any push for implementation of true Transit signal priority. Nearly a decade under her watch, and asides from some quasi-timing implementations, we still have left-turning vehicles taking priority over streetcars.

 

[Northern Light]

Becky Katz, the former head of the Cycling and Pedestrian Unit and current Operation Manager shares some positive thoughts on her departing boss:

 

[Northern Light]

The expansion of Sunday service to all branches +33 along with expansion hours at those branches that had Sunday service from 1:30-5pm to Noon-5pm kicks in this Sunday.

‘When people need them most’: Every Toronto library now open Sundays as part of citywide access push

Toronto Public Library (TPL) will open all 100 of its branches on Sundays starting Oct. 19, marking the first time every neighbourhood in the city will have weekend access at their local branch.

www.cp24.com

We've been talking about the Mayor needing to have something to show for the tax hike. Well, here we go, this, plus the Line 2 service improvements we just got, and the November Line 1 increases are the first big moves in that direction.

Expect a couple of more items through the budget process.

For Cyclists, many improvements are just in time for winter.......but they will be ready for election year in the spring. Port Union Rd, Scarborough Golf Club Rd, Esplanade, Harbord/Hoskin all are finished or soon to. ...

(most of the above pre-dates her mayoralty but I digress. )

All going well, she gets to ribbon cut the Crosstown, Finch, the Lower Don Trail ....( LOL), the remaining chunk of the Portlands Park system, and maybe, the Keating bridge too.

 

[PurplePinky]

Majority of Torontonians think city is headed in the wrong direction

Six in 10 Torontonians say the city is headed in the wrong direction, with a similar majority placing the blame at the feet of Olivia Chow.

toronto.citynews.ca

 

[Northern Light]

Majority of Torontonians think city is headed in the wrong direction

Six in 10 Torontonians say the city is headed in the wrong direction, with a similar majority placing the blame at the feet of Olivia Chow.

toronto.citynews.ca

That same poll shows Chow as the current leader/favourite to be (re) elected.

Its a very mixed bag offer.

That many are not content is a known.

Of the issues raised, lets look at whether or not the Mayor could tangibly address these in the next few months:

Affordability and the cost of living:

There's not much the Mayor can do to affect the price of anything offered by the private sector; but she can propose Fare Capping for the TTC which would be a modest help, while I favour reducing recreation user fees, I think its probably
a low priority/vote winner in the current circumstances.

Home ownership (34 per cent),

Realistically, there's nothing the Mayor can do on this one that will be felt before next fall.

Gridlock (29 per cent)

This the Mayor can tackle, and several things are in motion.

- Wrap up as much road construction as possible, as quickly as possible and limit most major work on roads/streetcar tracks next year. (already the plan)

- Implement the RapidTO improvements for Bathurst and Dufferin

- Deliver the next round of TTC service enhancements in November, and implement some solid improvements in early spring '26.

- She would benefit from the opening of the Crosstown and Finch....should either ever happen..... sigh.

- She would benefit from further GO enhancements if they are delivered by early '26, the key is visible/felt changes, with likely targets being 30M off-peak on the inner portion of Stouffville, 15M off-peak on portions of Lakeshore, in more periods, additional service to Niagara in time for the summer season, (4 trips daily, 5 trips each way on weekends)

- One suggestion from the Board of Trade addressing the Gardiner off-ramp, Habour Street looks solid and should be looked at for rapid implementation, if feasible.

- One unknown.....what's next for 'One Fare'. I know further reductions and harmonizations were being contemplated at one point. Not sure if any of those are moving forward when the agreement renews in March.

Crime (29 per cent)

- Crime is actually down substantially year over year. But people's perceptions lag reality. Part of that is that shoplifting and porch piracy remain high, and the issue of visible mental illness and addiction remains very visible to many.

- There isn't a lot the Mayor can do here, as most of the tools are provincial and federal.

- That said, she can, through the Police Services Board encourage greater attention to high priority areas.

- She can, and should direct Transit Fare Enforcement to be more assertive.

Homelessness (21 per cent)

-- Again, the Mayor's tools here are limited, but options she does have some control over:

a) Clearing of encampments, she's getting very little grief when City staff/police do this now, it gets almost no negative attention, but does garner positive response in many areas. Stepping this up a bit and finding some money for follow-up to prevent quick re-establishment of encampments is probably a winner.

b) In relation to the above, you have to have somewhere to send people. I think the City should probably look at renting some (additional) apartments at fair market value for refugee families in the shelter system, and then use the resulting space to ensure there is room for everyone, near-term, off-street. Additionally, though not strictly the City's responsibility, they should work w/UHN or CAMH or other partners and consider private placement for residential addiction services for problematic, frequent fliers. That could be a huge help for those in need, be a longer term money saver, and a six month placement takes people off the street for 1/2 of the next year.

 

[evandyk]

Homelessness (21 per cent)

-- Again, the Mayor's tools here are limited, but options she does have some control over:

a) Clearing of encampments, she's getting very little grief when City staff/police do this now, it gets almost no negative attention, but does garner positive response in many areas. Stepping this up a bit and finding some money for follow-up to prevent quick re-establishment of encampments is probably a winner.

b) In relation to the above, you have to have somewhere to send people. I think the City should probably look at renting some (additional) apartments at fair market value for refugee families in the shelter system, and then use the resulting space to ensure there is room for everyone, near-term, off-street. Additionally, though not strictly the City's responsibility, they should work w/UHN or CAMH or other partners and consider private placement for residential addiction services for problematic, frequent fliers. That could be a huge help for those in need, be a longer term money saver, and a six month placement takes people off the street for 1/2 of the next year.

I don't see how any councillor benefits by tolerating large-scale encampments in parks these days. Like it or not, the people who vote in municipal elections are probably 90% in favour of using parks for the families that live around the parks rather than as encampments. Alejandra Bravo is pretty popular as a city councillor in Davenport, but the Dufferin Grove encampment issue over the last year and a half will cost her thousands of votes (including possibly mine, depending on who else is running).

Coming up with some solution, which will necessarily involve working with the federal and provincial governments, to find housing for refugees that is not in our emergency shelter system, would probably go a long way to addressing the type of visible homelessness in the city that drives voting choices.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

b) In relation to the above, you have to have somewhere to send people. I think the City should probably look at renting some (additional) apartments at fair market value for refugee families in the shelter system, and then use the resulting space to ensure there is room for everyone, near-term, off-street. Additionally, though not strictly the City's responsibility, they should work w/UHN or CAMH or other partners and consider private placement for residential addiction services for problematic, frequent fliers. That could be a huge help for those in need, be a longer term money saver, and a six month placement takes people off the street for 1/2 of the next year.

There is no quicker way to lose votes than this - can you imagine the city renting market housing for refugees (which is frankly a Federal responsibility) to free up space at shelters for locals (and nevermind the social housing waitlist)? Just what is wrong with that image?

AoD

 

[Northern Light]

There is no quicker way to lose votes than this - can you imagine the city renting market housing for refugees (which is frankly a Federal responsibility) to free up space at shelters for locals? Just what is wrong with that image?

AoD

Disagree, the key identifier here was refugee families. Little kids, one or both parents often employed, they can seamlessly fit into regular apartment communities.

Where single (typically men) residents of shelters are more likely to be conspicuous and have health or behavior issues that will draw negative attention.

The object here is to make the visible issue, less visible from a political perspective.

That means getting people off the streets//out of parks; but we're not going to open more than a relative handful of new affordable housing units in the next six months. The City is also letting its hotel leases lapse, in some cases because owners want the rooms back, in other cases, because the price for those rooms can exceed $6,000 per month; where you could get 2 families into proper apartments for the same sum.

We're not talking about renting 30 units in a 100 unit building; we're talking about taking up vacant units in small numbers in a few dozen properties that allow you to move a few hundred families (2,000 people) out of the shelter system. You can then use that space to address people in Parks / On the street.

If you think there's a better option between now and Summer '26, I'm all ears.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Disagree, the key identifier here was refugee families. Little kids, one or both parents often employed, they can seemlessly fit into regular apartment communities.

Where single (typically men) residents of shelters are more likely to be conspicuous and have health or behavior issues that will draw negative attention.

The object here is to make the visible issue, less visible from a political perspective.

That means getting people off the streets//out of parks; but we're not going to open more than a relative handful of new affordable housing units in the next six months. The City is also letting its hotel leases lapse, in some cases because owners want the rooms back, in other cases, because the price for those rooms can exceed $6,000 per month; where you could get 2 families into proper apartments for the same sum.

We're not talking about renting 30 units in a 100 unit building; we're talking about taking up vacant units in small numbers in a a few dozen properties that allow you to move a few hundred families (2,000 people) out of the shelter system. You can then use that space to address people in Parks / On the street.

If you think there's a better option between now and Summer '26, I'm all ears.

Sorry, when there is a large number of underhoused locals and people on housing waitlists, those should be the focus of the city. I am against a single of the city's dime being spend on what the Feds should be responsible for.

AoD