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Activists decry input on street furniture
JEFF GRAY
Activists concerned about Toronto's sweeping "street furniture" plan say the public is being denied a chance to comment on the proposed designs for new benches, garbage bins and transit shelters.
The city this week made public designs from the three firms bidding on a 20-year contract to install and maintain thousands of new fixtures -- at no cost to the city -- in exchange for the right to sell advertising on them. The municipal government would get a cut of the expected ad revenue.
Jonathan Goldsbie of the Toronto Public Space Committee -- an activist group that has opposed the plans as an "ad-driven privatization scheme" -- is critical of the fact that there is no formal mechanism to collect feedback from citizens on the bidders' designs. Instead, a committee of design experts and city bureaucrats will recommend a winner next month.
"They haven't been interested in what the public thinks of this at any stage, really," said Mr. Goldsbie, an undergraduate anthropology student at the University of Toronto. ". . . It was all a foregone conclusion at first. If anything, they're at least being honest now about the fact that they don't care what we think."
He points to a paragraph in the original request for proposals sent out to interested firms, which states: "Important notice: Public feedback to renderings will not be used in the evaluation of proposals. The sole intent is to . . . provide context for the eventual recommendations of the Selection Committee."
Andy Koropeski, director of the city's transportation department, said the city extensively consulted with citizens, activists and industry groups as it came up with the furniture plan.
"A strict set of criteria were put into the [request for proposals], and the proposals are being evaluated against those criteria, not just opinion," he said. He said the city's website has provision for people to comment. In fact, it offers only an e-mail address from which people can request "more information."
Mr. Koropeski also said concerned citizens could speak on the issue when the bureaucracy's recommendation is forwarded to Mayor David Miller's executive committee on April 30. Or they could contact their councillor, he said. The public may also get a chance to suggest improvements to the designs, he added.