Roberto Curto

Every neighbourhood needs to be accommodating more housing, particularly missing middle and gentle density approaches. But as a planner, I’m weary of identical built forms everywhere. Good cities need variety, character and housing choice.

I would say it’s conditional on the premise being true. We cannot demand people leave if suitable alternatives aren’t available. If we provide an appropriate indoor option that meets someone’s needs, I don’t believe an encampment in a shared public space should become permanent.

I understand the planning case for congestion pricing, and Toronto can explore it down the line. But right now, I’d rather focus on improvements people use every day. Better TTC service, faster streetcars and making transit an even better alternative to driving. Give people better choices first.

Deferring maintenance just means a bigger bill later. Toronto should fight for its fair share from other governments, but also take responsibility for maintaining its infrastructure.

Torontonians shouldn't need a detective's license to figure out why a project is late or over budget.

Let police focus on policing. Expanding mental-health, addiction and crisis services means the right professionals can respond to the right situations, while freeing up police resources for public safety.

Keep police properly funded and keeping pace with inflation, while putting new investments into civilian crisis services.

There are legitimate public-safety uses for this technology, but that doesn’t justify creating a permanent database of everyone’s movements. Clear limits on access, retention and data sharing are essential.

A reliable transit system starts with taking care of what we already have. Service improvements are also a priority, but they depend on a system that works.

Our streets should prioritize moving people efficiently, while protecting essential and accessibility needs. We should also be more creative with our streets. This includes pedestrianization in places like Queen, Church and Kensington Market, where sidewalks often leave little room for people.

We need all three, but permission has the broadest citywide impact. We can’t address housing scarcity while large parts of Toronto remain difficult to build apartments in. More than a handful of wards are actually losing population while the city as a whole continues to grow.

Toronto should use its land, funding and municipal tools to dramatically expand affordable and supportive housing through strong partnerships with non-profits, co-ops and other housing providers, while retaining direct public delivery where it makes sense.

Concentrating more growth in a few centres puts pressure on local infrastructure, services and public spaces. The next frontier is gentle density. More multiplexes, townhomes and small apartments in residential neighbourhoods, so more of the city participates in solving our housing shortage.

If a project follows the rules, it shouldn’t take forever to get a permit. I’m also open to reducing unnecessary requirements like parking minimums, but Toronto isn’t in a position to simply give up revenue needed to accommodate growth.

Toronto is pretty good at announcing things. We need to get much better at actually delivering them.

Contracting something out doesn’t magically make it cheaper or better. Toronto’s garbage collection experience is a good example… Keep strong in-house capacity and outsource when it actually makes sense.

But we need to stop treating property taxes as the answer to everything. Toronto needs a real conversation about other ways to raise revenue that don’t keep asking the average resident to pay more.

This doesn’t mean rushing into congestion pricing. I’d rather explore targeted options, like a commercial parking levy, before falling back on broad tax increases on residents. Let’s also be willing to look at new revenue models and have that conversation.

Before asking residents for more, we should prioritize maintaining what we already have. That doesn’t mean stop building new things. We should be smarter about what’s built and explore new ways to fund new projects. Money towards other public realm improvements.

Work with Queen’s Park when it benefits Toronto, absolutely, but don’t be afraid to stand up for our city. For too long, Toronto has quietly pushed back, conceded or compromised one priority for another. We need greater authority, new revenue tools and be prepared to go it alone when needed.

I am cautious about strong-mayor powers and would rather build support at Council. But housing is where I see the strongest case for using them. I’d also use administrative authority where needed to bring more ambitious, creative thinking into City Hall.

Toronto is growing, but the basics need to keep up. Better transit, streets, parks and infrastructure are what make that growth actually work for people.

The test is pretty simple: does Toronto feel better than it did four years ago? Better streets and public spaces, more life, more fun, fewer “why on earth did we do that?” moments. A city that feels functional, a city that feels worth it.

Finish and strengthen what we have, especially while the Province continues to interfere with bike lanes. I don’t want Toronto spending money on infrastructure that could just be ripped up.

Protect the right to protest, but have clear rules so essential access and services aren’t disrupted.

Make it easier and faster for people to actually deal with the City.. Permits, licences, payments and service requests shouldn’t be a headache.

Look for administrative inefficiencies and poor value contracts first, without weakening frontline services or the city’s in house capacity.

Better streets, transportation and infrastructure help businesses thrive, but so do faster approvals, less unnecessary red tape and actually listening to businesses about what they need.

Make Toronto a city where people actually want to live, work and invest. We should also target sectors where Toronto has an advantage and work with other governments on major opportunities.

Toronto should try modular construction, and other ways to build faster and more efficiently. But efficiency shouldn’t mean sacrificing good design or building the same thing everywhere. Workforce training and recognizing international credentials matter too, with senior governments leading

Let’s create better streets, parks and public spaces, and then bring them to life with markets, patios, events and cultural programming. The two should go hand in hand.

We’ve lost too many great Toronto spaces only to see an empty storefront or another chain replace them. There’s no one-tool solution: we need easier rules for nightlife and culture, plus ideas like 24-hour subway service on weekends so people can stay out and actually get home easily.

If they’re here, we need to know how they’re affecting congestion, safety and our streets. Toronto has bigger transportation issues to tackle first. Autonomous taxis don’t need to be a priority right now.