WATCH ABOVE: Larger fines and tougher towing regulations are on the agenda for city council in the new year – but Josh Matlow’s not waiting that long. Mark McAllister reports.
TORONTO – A midtown Toronto city councillor is hoping the city will take on illegally parked cars during the upcoming city council session.
Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22) tweeted a photo Thursday of a Tim Hortons delivery truck parked in a curb lane near the intersection of Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue during rush hour.
“Every single day here at Yonge and St. Clair and around the city we see, in these cases, delivery trucks, or somebody just running in for coffee, putting their blinkers on and clogging up an entire lane in the middle of rush hour,” Matlow said during an interview Friday. “That’s got to stop.”
There are two things the city should do, he thinks: pay more attention to illegally parked vehicles on major streets rather than ticketing an illegally parked car on a quiet side street and make it more difficult for developers to block lanes of traffic.
WATCH: Councillor Josh Matlow confronts driver who left truck idling in curbside lane.
Matlow tabled a motion in council asking for those measures prior to the election and it will go through committee during the next term.
“It might be convenient for the developers but it poses an inconvenience for everyone else in the city trying to get to work and trying to get to work on time. Cities like London and New York and many other cities have prohibited it, developers should be working on their own property.”
And he’s likely got the backing of mayor-elect John Tory who campaigned on preventing developers and delivery trucks from taking up lanes of traffic.
There are rules prohibiting people from taking up a lane – but they’re not regularly enforced. The fine for parking in No Stopping Zones during rush hour was recently increased from $60 to $150 and Matlow says he’d like to see it hiked to $500 or even $1000.
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