Is Toronto falling into disrepair? The city says it's in 'good shape,' but some residents disagree
CBC
Walk, drive or cycle through Toronto on any given day and you're bound to come across examples of public infrastructure or amenities not working as they should.
Construction debris littered across a sidewalk. A pothole-filled road. A broken garbage bin stuffed to the brim. A drinking fountain that doesn't spout water. A locked washroom in a public park. A bike lane that abruptly ends.
A city spokesperson says these are mostly isolated, temporary issues that quickly get fixed and that Toronto is generally in "very good shape." But for some residents, it feels like the place they call home is falling into a state of disrepair.
"You walk ... in New York City years ago and it was disgusting. Now we are looking the same way," Alistair Francois told CBC Toronto in an interview outside city hall last week.
"We used to be the city that people admired worldwide; now we're not."
The issue of how public spaces are maintained top of mind for many Toronto voters heading to the polls for the Oct. 24 municipal election.
The belief that Toronto isn't living up to its reputation as a world-class city is shared by James McLeod and Tom Ruhig, creators of a satirical public art project launched earlier this month that provocatively calls attention to what they see as the city's "urban decay."
The Austerity TO project features a series of plaques styled like those seen in art galleries placed in various locations around the city. Residents can see them on a broken water fountain with its plumbing removed outside city hall, a sidewalk garbage bin covered by a black tarp on Danforth Avenue and a curb on Dundas Street West where part of the sidewalk's been replaced with sloppily poured asphalt.
A website includes longer descriptions that critique the state of infrastructure and other public amenities in Toronto, as well as other issues such as the treatment of the unhoused, single-family zoning, as well as dangerous roads and bike lanes.
The website describes John Tory, who is running for a third term as mayor, as a "bold, world-class artist" using Toronto as his canvas and "ultra-low taxes, municipal bureaucracy and political stagnation" as his artistic tools.
McLeod, a communications professional and former journalist, and Ruhig, a design student, blame Tory for keeping property taxes low and leaving the city strapped for cash during his eight years in power.
"The bottom line is that for more than a decade, Toronto has had rock bottom low taxes and everything else followed from that," said McLeod.
"It does feel like the city is coming apart at the seams."
"There are real people being hurt by the lack of funding, the lack of care that's being taken to deliver things to the residents of the City of Toronto," added Ruhig.
