Latest news with #JoshMatlow
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Toronto City Council votes to establish colour-coded ratings for apartment buildings
Toronto City Council has voted in favour of establishing a colour-coded system for apartment buildings in the hopes that it will hold landlords accountable and compel them to keep their building clean, safe and well-maintained. The motion put forward by Coun. Josh Matlow will see the system integrated into the city's RentSafeTO program, which ensures building owners and operators meet maintenance standards. The colour-coded system is modelled after the city's DineSafe program and would see green, yellow or red signs posted near the entrance of the building. Red is for serious health and safety violations, yellow for minor infractions and green means the building is in good repair. 'There are going to be signs rolling out over the next year in large, multi-residential buildings, where, if a landlord is doing a good job and they care about their tenants' well-being, they get a green sign. That's wonderful. They're doing a good job,' Matlow said. 'But if you're a landlord who only sees your tenants as a source of revenue, rather than people whose homes should be healthy and safe, yes, you're going to get a red sign.' He added that if the landlord won't make the fixes, the city will come in and do them and charge the landlord after. A similar motion failed under former mayor John Tory in 2020 as landlords claimed that the signs would stigmatize tenants. But Matlow and other councillors argued that the system will provide tenants and prospective renters critical information. 'They've got rats, they've got bedbugs, appliances that aren't working, mould that has been left there for years by Toronto's worst landlords,' Matlow said. 'Now, we do have very good landlords in this city, but what we're going to do is have RentSafe colour-coded signs.' The motion was backed by tenant advocate groups. In his motion, Matlow stated that the current RentSafe system provides little incentive for landlords to make timely repairs. 'There are buildings receiving scores of 70-80 per cent despite having cockroaches, mould, or appliances that don't work. This is confusing and even infuriating for many tenants. It says that either the city doesn't know what's happening in their building or, worse, doesn't care,' the motion read. Staff are directed to report back to council in 2026 on the program implementation plan. With files from Jermaine Wilson
Global News
17-07-2025
- Business
- Global News
Opening Eglinton Crosstown LRT by September will be ‘a reach,' outgoing TTC boss says
The outgoing head of Toronto's transit agency is casting doubt over the tentative September opening date for the years-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT. At a Toronto Transit Commission meeting Thursday, outgoing CEO Greg Percy said it would be 'a reach' to open the new transit line by September. 'We're looking still at this fall to get something happening,' he said in response to questions from Coun. Josh Matlow. 'I think September's a reach but this fall is plausible and certainly by year-end. There's lots and lots of stuff going on that we need to fix to open safely.' A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation said September remained the target for the project. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'As our CEO Michael Lindsay has said, we are making major progress on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. All civil infrastructure for the project is now complete, operator driver training is now complete and in June we formally transferred operations of the line to the TTC's command centre at Hillcrest,' Metrolinx said in a statement. Story continues below advertisement 'We are currently relentlessly stress testing the system to ensure it is safe and reliable on the day it opens.' The Eglinton Crosstown LRT has been without an opening date for years as it has encountered construction issues, software problems and legal battles involving the consortium building it. Phil Verster, the former CEO of provincial transit agency Metrolinx, previously said the public would be given a three-month heads-up that the line was due to open. 'It's an enormous stretch to have it open by September,' Toronto Coun. Dianne Saxe said on Thursday. 'There are several testing phases that are meant to take place…. I haven't seen any sign they're within 90 days of being able to open and we haven't got the notice they promised.' It's unclear if that is still Metrolinx's plan. It has not been mentioned in recent statements. To meet September, it would need to have been made in June. 'As we have said, we are targeting September for substantial completion,' the agency said in its statement. As recently as early June, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he believed the project was on track to open in September. Roughly one month ago, the TTC took control of trains on the line as final tests stepped up towards opening day.
CTV News
17-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘September is a reach': Still no firm timeline for opening of Eglinton Crosstown LRT
"Out of Service" signs are shown on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto on Friday, May 5, 2023. The possibility that the long awaited Eglinton Crosstown LRT will open this September is now being considered 'a reach' by the TTC's former interim CEO. Greg Percy made the comments during a Toronto Transit Commission board meeting on Thursday in response to a question from Toronto-St. Paul's Coun. Josh Matlow. 'Is there any prospect of a full handover by September, or is there a legitimate concern that (Metrolinx) may fail to provide us a line that is ready to operationalize by September?,' Matlow asked. 'I think September is a reach,' Percy responded. 'But, this fall is plausible, and certainly by year end. There's lots and lots of stuff going on that we need to fix to open safely, and that's what we're focused on.' In April, Matlow told CP24 that he believed the LRT would open by September, and Premier Doug Ford echoed those statements in June. However, Metrolinx has only ever said it was a 'possibility.' Percy added that the decision on opening the line falls with Metrolinx, who must hand it over to the TTC for final testing once ready. 'It's still a Metrolinx decision,' said Percy. 'There's a number of us that are deeply involved in this and to push it over the line we're working intimately closely with Metrolinx. We're looking at still this fall to get something happening.' 'We are collaborating with the same priorities of safety and customer experience, and we won't open until it is satisfying both.' In a statement to CP24, the TTC says, 'Our CEO Mandeep Lali and Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay spoke last week and are committed to working together to open Line 5 as soon as it is ready for safe and reliable operations.' 'We have several phases of testing and commissioning to complete in advance of that, as has been previously outlined. The province will ultimately announce the opening date.' Construction on the Crosstown LRT began in 2011 and the nearly-$13 billion line was originally expected to be complete by 2020.
CBC
17-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
Bad news, commuters: the Eglinton Crosstown LRT may be delayed again
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT opening date may be delayed again. At Thursday's TTC board meeting, Coun. Josh Matlow asked outgoing TTC interim CEO Greg Percy if the long-delayed light rail transit line would be ready to open this September. "We're looking at still this fall to get something happening," answered Percy. "I think September is a reach, but this fall is plausible and certainly by year-end." Ontario Premier Doug Ford said last month that the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line was on track to open this September. The 25-stop line was initially set to open in 2020, but a series of technical problems and associated cost overruns have plagued the project and repeatedly delayed its completion. Construction on the line began in 2011. TTC took control from Metrolinx on the Eglinton Crosstown last month. Metrolix CEO Michael Lindsay said at the time that the system and vehicles were being "relentlessly" stress tested. Percy said Thursday that the decision on the opening date still falls with Metrolinx. He said safety and customer experience are key issues, and that the TTC won't open it until "it is satisfying both." After serving as TTC's interim CEO for almost a year, Percy will be replaced by the transit agency's new CEO, Mandeep Lali. On Tuesday, Lali told CBC Radio's Metro Morning that his first priority after assuming the role earlier this month is to increase reliability for the transit agency. He called the position a "once in a lifetime opportunity in terms of what's happening here in Toronto." Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT.
CBC
09-07-2025
- General
- CBC
Red, yellow, green: why this Toronto group wants a new system for rating landlords
A group of Toronto councillors and tenants is pushing to implement a colour-coded system for tracking buildings in disrepair in the hopes of improving living conditions and holding both landlords and the city accountable. The group, which is made up of councillors Josh Matlow and Chris Moise, and includes advocacy groups and local tenants associations across the city, is hoping to piggyback off the success of Toronto's DineSafe signage, which sees restaurants put up a green sign for a pass, a yellow sign for a conditional pass, and a red sign for an order to close. The signage program was supposed to be part of RentSafe a few years ago but was killed by council in 2020, after some councillors argued that red signs would stigmatize tenants. But the group is putting it back on the table by saying in a statement Wednesday that tenants overwhelmingly feel that "mold and cockroaches are stigmatizing, not a sign." RentSafe is a city program made to ensure rental buildings comply with maintenance standards. Matlow says a change to the existing program is seriously needed. He says it's not working due to a percentage-based system that gives high ratings to buildings that barely meet minimum requirements, adding that the city should raise its expectations. "We have far too many landlords who allow their buildings to remain with pests, sometimes without running water, in really deplorable conditions with very few consequences," Matlow told CBC Radio's Metro Morning Wednesday.
