Despite ‘immature’ squabbles, council OK’s small biz in neighbourhoods

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Parti Kandavel ate this with ice cream.

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In a conversation that put on full display the division of downtown Toronto into suburbs, the southwest Scarborough city councilor accused his colleagues of “rage-baiting” and ignoring legitimate concerns about a zoning reform proposal that could allow retail to push deeper into inner-city neighbourhoods, including potentially bars and bakeries.

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The motion passed 23-2 on Thursday afternoon, with councilors Stephen Holiday and Nithan Shan opposed. Yakov Pasternak was absent.

The concept was presented to the city council a year ago, but was turned away. Most of the issues raised at the time—such as the fact that the city cannot operate a candy store or bar outside of a location deemed suitable for retail—still apply to this proposal. accepted by the council.

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During the debate, Mayor Olivia Chow and her allies on the council, including Chris Moyse, waxed nostalgic about the old corner store and kids bringing change to buy ice cream on summer evenings. While many suburban residents wanted their streets eliminated, “the entire Toronto and East York community,” Chow said, favors retail in the interiors of neighborhoods.

“What we're doing now is cutting down on red tape,” Chow said.

She said there were about 2,100 convenience stores in Toronto in 1989, but the total today is about two-thirds that number.

“If we don't do this, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to open a local corner store,” she said.

Kandavel objected to what he saw as a lack of “intellectual curiosity” about the shortcomings of the concept.

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“The rage-baiting is really sickening,” he said. “The idea or insinuation that we're against kids getting ice cream in the neighborhood and older people getting cappuccinos is alarming. The insinuation that some of us are fist-dragging suburbanites trying to fight kids and older people, I think that's really immature and doesn't reflect the complexity, the nature of this chamber and our city.”

“There is also the possibility that unscrupulous persons will use this as a cover to force people out of their homes. This (lack of) recognition has not given confidence that this could be a reality,” he added.

While Diane Sachs of Rosedale University praised local shopping as a way to make neighborhoods more walkable, Kandavel disagreed that she views car ownership as a luxury.

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Suburban families “don't have the privilege of white-collar jobs downtown. They have to commute to factories in Rexdale and north Scarborough,” he said.

Moyse rose to object to what he saw as the labeling of all his constituents in Cabbagetown as “white collar.” Candavel did not react to this – instead he exploded after something was said off-camera by Gord Perks, who, as chairman of the planning and housing committee, was a strong supporter of the proposal.

—Are you the speaker, Perks? – Kandavel shouted.

This was enough for current Speaker Frances Nunziata to interrupt them all and call the council for lunch early.

The proposal would allow small businesses in residential areas that City Hall calls “main streets,” on corner lots of so-called “public streets,” and near parks, schools or existing storefronts in neighborhoods.

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While the idea passed easily, many suburban council members expressed concern. Lily Cheng called it “somewhat controversial.” Michael Thompson suggested there may not have been “sufficient consultation”.

“These are quite dramatic rules that we are considering today,” Pasternak said.

Ultimately, all of the councilors' work on changing the proposal was largely spent trying to include or exclude certain streets.

Perks told council members that they should vote against Holiday and Shan's proposals, an apparent retaliation against their constituents for the positions their representatives took. Holiday and Shan's proposals to eliminate certain streets in their districts both failed.

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“All of us here have been working hard together to try to find a path forward that we all contribute to,” Perks said. “Some members didn't want to be part of this path forward, but still want us to get the streets out of their neighborhoods, and I think if you can't get the job done by working together, you won't get the benefit of the job. To me, it's that simple.”

Holiday yelled at him about it.

“In other words, this is not a rationale for planning, but because they were part of the process with you,” he said.

“No, that is not my intention,” replied Perks, “and I am sorry if I misspoke or led you to the wrong conclusion.”

He later denied the change Kandavel sought that Thompson had talked about, saying he had missed his chance. He apologized soon after, saying that Kandavel had been working on his process but that it had proven to be a “really difficult puzzle” to put together.

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While patios are not part of the final plan, council has done nothing to address the fact that liquor and cannabis licensing is handled by the province, not the city, and any location approved for use as a store could potentially be sold. The council is simply asking the provincial government to change the laws, and bureaucrats have told council members that discussions are ongoing.

Survey conducted Coalition of Toronto Residents' Associations suggests the idea could be very unpopular with voters. While Holiday said the group “did not consult with the city,” Sachs and Alejandra Bravo complained about apparent “misinformation” in the survey.

Nicole Tatage from the Beaconsfield Village Residents' Association was one of those who worked on the study. She defended it as transparent and said that while the patio issue was raised here, it came to light while it was still part of the field.

She was inspired by this community resistance to the plan it may have helped spare some Toronto streets from the new system.

“What ended up happening was very political and not planning-based,” she said, adding: “It wasn’t just about the corner store.”

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