Toronto election 2022: How will the mayoral frontrunners help persons with disabilities?
Posted October 6, 2022 6:20 pm.
Last Updated October 6, 2022 6:43 pm.
With the Toronto election less than three weeks away, advocates for persons with disabilities want to ensure issues affecting them and the community are front of mind for city council candidates.
“There is no excuse for Ontario, for Toronto to lag decades behind. We didn’t just invent people with disabilities last week,” David Lepofsky, the chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Alliance and a visiting professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, said.
CityNews recently met with Lepofsky on Roselawn Avenue in Toronto’s Forest Hill area to look at an example of his advocacy efforts to get the municipality to address a myriad of obstacles.
In mid-June, he was walking on the sidewalk on the south side near Latimer Avenue when he hit his head on a traffic sign that was leaning on an angle over the sidewalk at head level.
“When I, as a totally blind person, walk, my cane follows the shoreline, the edge of the sidewalk and the beginning of the grass – that’s how I navigate. Well, that took me right into this (sign),” Lepofsky said.
“Either the City installed it this way in the first place, which is outrageous, or it somehow got knocked over sideways and it should have been fixed.”
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He said he quickly called the City of Toronto’s 311 line and spoke with a friendly person. Lepofsky received an email receipt saying it was classified as an “investigate temporary condition sign” issue. However, he later learned the issue would be resolved within three months.
“I said this is a safety issue, a health and safety issue, and that didn’t change anything. Well, it’s been more than three months and nothing’s changed. It’s still here and it’s still dangerous,” he said on Wednesday.
CityNews took Lepofsky’s concern to City of Toronto staff Wednesday afternoon to ask why the matter wouldn’t be prioritized given it’s a safety issue and why it wasn’t fixed in the three-and-a-half months since it was first reported.
“The repair to the service request will be made within the next 24 hours,” a municipal spokesperson told CityNews in an email Thursday afternoon.
“David’s request was filed under the incorrect service type which is why the repair was delayed to be resolved. We will be providing relevant coaching to the staff who processed this request.”
As Lepofsky noted, barriers are easy to find in Toronto.
“This isn’t the only such protrusion. There should never be something sticking out at head level on a sidewalk in the path of travel. It’s dangerous for people who are blind. It’s dangerous for people who are looking at their phone texting … it’s inexcusable,” he said.
On Yonge Street beside the CF Toronto Eaton Centre, a TTC project closed part of the sidewalk and road on the west side. A sign can be seen telling residents to turn right to navigate around the obstruction, but if someone misses that sign or can’t see it they will end up walking some distance before ending up at a dead-end fence.
On Queen Street West, CityNews found part four bolts sticking out of a concrete section of sidewalk marked with some spray paint.
Outside Union Station, a bunch of debris can be seen stored on the side of the sidewalk out front.
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CityNews contacted Gil Penalosa and John Tory to ask what they would do to ensure the City of Toronto makes required accessibility improvements before the 2025 deadlines under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
“In a Toronto for everyone, people with disabilities are going to be a top priority,” Toronto mayoral candidate Gil Penalosa said in an interview with CityNews on Thursday, adding he’d like to expedite the needed work before the deadline.
“I think we should have been taking care of people with disabilities a long time ago and I think we have failed, we have failed.
“If I don’t have a disability and I get up and I fall and I break my leg, tomorrow I’m going to be in a wheelchair. So anybody can be at any one time, so we need to give this a top priority.”
Penalosa also reacted to the general issue of delays in getting matters reported through 311 fixed.
“Why does it take two hours to move the post if it’s blocking cars but it takes over three months if it’s blocking pedestrians? It’s because pedestrians don’t matter in the existing city, have not mattered in the last eight years,” he said.
“That’s why who you elect as mayor is important.”
Highlights of Penalosa’s policy proposals include:
- Widen and build sidewalks, extend traffic signal timing to help pedestrians
- Improve TTC response during escalator, elevator outages by having customer service staff at the standby along with improved signage when it happens
- More lighting over sidewalks
- Prioritize pedestrian access in construction zones
- Reduce speed limits on neighbourhood streets
- Limit length of curb cut ramps to create flat sidewalks
Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory’s campaign pointed to his record versus a list of platform commitments.
“The mayor is committed to making the city liveable and accessible for all Torontonians, particularly those with disabilities,” Jenessa Crognali, the director of communications for the John Tory Re-Election Campaign, said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“He is a strong advocate for accessibility in Toronto and has a track record of advancing positive change. That’s why he has committed to ensuring all public facing City divisions are AODA compliant by 2025. Under the mayor’s leadership, Citystaff have already undertaken work to make sure the timeline is met.
“Further, the mayor championed accessibility guidelines by leading City Council in adopting the Toronto Accessibility Design Guidelines that work towards making Toronto a barrier-free community. ”
She also pointed to the TTC’s plan to make all subway stations accessible by 2025 and the HousingTO goal of “creating 18,000 supportive housing units by 2030 for those who need it most, including people with physical and developmental disabilities.”
