‘We can do better’: John Tory promises improvements to city services after Star series

Toronto’s mayor announced blitzes to tackle common complaints like graffiti, unsightly litter bins, messy construction zones, and problem potholes.

Thestar.com
Oct. 28, 2022
Ben Spurr

Mayor John Tory is promising to make immediate improvements to the “nuts and bolts” of city services, and clean up Toronto’s streets and other public spaces.

At a press conference at city hall on Thursday, Tory announced blitzes to tackle common complaints about graffiti, unsightly litter bins, untidy construction zones and problem potholes.

He also pledged to tackle debris-strewn clothing drop boxes and perform an audit of repair needs at city arenas.

Fresh off his re-election to a third term on Monday, Tory said he wanted to make clear that over the coming council session the city will be focused on providing services at the high level residents expect.

He said that while the state of basic services wasn’t the biggest issue he heard about from voters on the campaign trail, there was a “low undercurrent” of concern about it throughout the election.

“I want to stress my commitment to ensuring that the city provides the best front-line services that it can,” he said.

“We can do better, we must do better, and we will do better.”

Stories in the ‘Can’t we do better?’ series

Tory’s announcement didn’t include any additional funding. He said the intention is for the blitzes to be carried out within existing budgets, but if departments report they’re unable to do so he would make sure more resources are made available.

Any long-term funding increases would have to be approved through the 2023 budget process.

The mayor met with interim city manager Tracey Cook and other senior staff Tuesday to discuss the cleanup efforts. In addition to the blitzes, Tory said he’d asked to receive weekly updates on how the city is doing “across a range of basic services,” and for staff to review litter bin collection schedules.

He also revealed he’s asked for legal advice about the city’s contract with Astral, the company that installs and maintains the city’s on-street garbage receptacles. Many of the roughly 10,000 devices are damaged or prone to overflowing, and while Tory said that about 1,600 of the bins in high density areas have been refurbished, they remain a major source of public complaints.

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The city signed the 20-year Astral contract in 2007 under then-mayor David Miller. Tory said he’s hoping for advice on whether the city can terminate it early, but in the short term he’s also asked city staff to work with the company to make immediate improvements to the receptacles.

“I want us to have better litter bins on our streets as soon as possible,” he said.

He promised to share updates on a previous council request for staff to have park facilities like public washrooms and fountains operational earlier in the season, and keep them open for longer.

Tory’s announcement follows the Star’s “Can’t we do better?” series, which highlighted Torontonians’ frustration at the deteriorating quality of public services.

The articles documented issues like damaged litter bins, crumbling public housing, unfilled potholes, recreation programs failing to keep up with demand, and dead raccoons being left on city streets for days.

The series connected those complaints with successive city administrations’ decision to not invest more in the services residents rely on, and instead focus on keeping property taxes in low.

Toronto has some of the lowest property tax rates in the GTA, and critics say that has denied city government the revenue required to adequately fund public amenities like transit, public parks, snow removal and other programs.

Tory has downplayed any link between shoddy services and budget decisions made over his eight years in power, and instead has mainly attributed the rundown state of streets and public spaces to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the city to take measures like reallocating parks staff to homeless shelters and long term care homes.

“You can’t do things like that and have the whole city turned upside down in the cause of managing the pandemic properly without that having some impact on other areas of government,” he said Thursday.