Jennifer Keesmaat

President and CEO, Collecdev-Markee Developments. Former Chief Planner, Toronto. Distinguished Visitor in Planning Emeritus, University of Toronto. Optimist.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Love to see it. When I was Chief Planner I had a picture of my once 86 year old grandmother blissfully cycling to visit friends (in Holland, of course). It was a source of inspiration for what might be possible in our city. So your note is a full circle moment for me. Thanks for sharing.

[Toronto Susan @TorontoSusan]

@jen_keesmaat @TorontoStar I’m so grateful for your planning of lanes in Toronto. Here’s my 84 year old father utilizing active transit every day. Traffic is moving well for the increase in density. Bike lanes are a 6-60 essential mode of healthcare and transport.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

It doesn't get better than this: books + bar + awesome new 'hood. Congratulations Robin and Tom!

Come join us at Book Bar in Mirvish Village!

https://t.co/1M1rGysD5m

[Eric Lombardi (EricForOLP.ca) 🇨🇦🚀 @EricDLombardi]

Yesterday, I was in London visiting local Liberals. I wish I could say I enjoyed the day, but I didn’t. Not at all.

I’m going to say it bluntly.

The situation in downtown London is a total catastrophe.

I live downtown east in Toronto. My family is in Hamilton. I’ve travelled to a lot of cities in the province.

The plight of Ontarian’s suffering from severe addictions and homelessness has become a huge problem everywhere.

Two years ago, when I last visited London, I thought it was getting rough. Just like so many of our urban centers under the Ford era’s provincial decline.

But downtown London now?

DYSTOPIA.

I feel completely disgusted by what we’ve allowed to happen. It is totally immoral.

It should be treated as a provincial and national emergency.

And by the way, downtown London is otherwise GORGEOUS. Even if half the storefronts are closed.

One of the regional MPPs, @RobFlackEML, is Minister of Housing and Municipal affairs.

How can you let this happen to your city?

How can we turn such a blind eye to the suffering?

How do you tolerate the billions of dollars your government spends on scandalous priorities as this gets ignored?

How can London possibly attract better jobs, people, and employers when its downtown is like this?

- - -

It also made me realize that my plans on this file are not enough.

Money for supportive and transitional housing, secure rehab and mental health facilities, ODSP benefits, etc may be sufficient to stop more people from ending up on the street.

But there are an estimated 2,300 people homeless in London. Many need shelter, treatment, medium-to-long term care.

The new HART Hub has 60 beds.

It’s inadequate by an order of magnitude.

I met with a local shelter providing detox and transitional housing services (who is being shut down later this year, no less).

Even when they form people (involuntary entry into hospital/ward to prevent violence or self harm), they are usually out in 24hrs.

It’s not the hospitals fault… they don’t have the space.

There is no space for people who voluntarily want rehab.

Or those who don’t want it voluntarily.

Police move people around blocks. There is nowhere for them to go.

I left feeling sick and daunted. We have failed so many people.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

simple truth

[Melina 🇨🇦🍁🇯🇲🌺 @BellaDonna925]

@jen_keesmaat I don't think this needs townhalls or surveys or analysis. This is something neither Toronto nor the province as a whole wants or can afford. It just should not be done.

[Daniel Dale @ddale8]

Great day for a World Cup

[Devin Heroux @Devin_Heroux]

Canada’s March to the Match continues to work its way through the Toronto streets toward the stadiums.

Beautiful scenes as fans chant and cheer and high five fans who are lining the streets.

It’s going to be electric inside the stadium today.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

no

[Great Grey Owl @greatgreyowls]

@jen_keesmaat I don't have a degree in urban planning.

Is it normal to build parking garages on some of the most valuable land in the biggest city in the country with the best lake views?

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

I am a signatory to this letter.

Open, fully informed and unbiased public hearings are required, supported by due diligence and meaningful analysis.

The public cannot be expected to provide informed feedback when neither the proposal nor its impacts have been properly presented.

Forgive us for being suspicious, but all we have so far is a process the Province deliberately rushed into place to cut Torontonians out, and a federal consultation process built around a survey that reflects neither the complexity of the issue nor the information needed to properly evaluate it.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

$200 million on a parking garage on Toronto’s waterfront will not age well. Just like funnelling cars into the core has not aged well.

By the early 2030s, Exhibition Place will have one of the best transit connections in the country, with subway service to downtown, the east end, links into the entire GO rail network, and the waterfront streetcar network.

It’s designed to be a major hub.

Scotiabank Arena is a regional destination on GO Transit, and revellers arrive by walking, cycling and taking transit. They get to the Rogers Centre the same way. The only reason this works is because our streets on game days are a sea of people, rather than a sea of cars.

That’s not an accident. It’s the result of good urban planning.

So why are we spending a small fortune to create a traffic mess at Exhibition Place, when the overwhelming majority of people will still arrive by transit?

When we invest in transit, people take transit. When we invest in parking, we get more traffic.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

I am a signatory to this letter.

Open, fully informed and unbiased public hearings are required, supported by due diligence and meaningful analysis.

The public cannot be expected to provide informed feedback when neither the proposal nor its impacts have been properly presented.

Forgive us for being suspicious, but all we have so far is a process the Province deliberately rushed into place to cut Torontonians out, and a federal consultation process built around a survey that reflects neither the complexity of the issue nor the information needed to properly evaluate it.

[Tom Parkin @TomPark1n]

Margaret Atwood, Bob Rae, Hayley Wickenheiser pen open letter asking Mark Carney to cancel island airport expansion https://t.co/0RGSrkHCpi

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

$200 million on a parking garage on Toronto’s waterfront will not age well. Just like funnelling cars into the core has not aged well.

By the early 2030s, Exhibition Place will have one of the best transit connections in the country, with subway service to downtown, the east end, links into the entire GO rail network, and the waterfront streetcar network.

It’s designed to be a major hub.

Scotiabank Arena is a regional destination on GO Transit, and revellers arrive by walking, cycling and taking transit. They get to the Rogers Centre the same way. The only reason this works is because our streets on game days are a sea of people, rather than a sea of cars.

That’s not an accident. It’s the result of good urban planning.

So why are we spending a small fortune to create a traffic mess at Exhibition Place, when the overwhelming majority of people will still arrive by transit?

When we invest in transit, people take transit. When we invest in parking, we get more traffic.

[Laura Stone @l_stone]

NEW: Ontario announces it has awarded a $198 million contract to design and build new parking structure at Ontario Place, to Canadian company Pomerleau Inc. after procurement process. Says it will include 3,500 parking spots, 680 EV charging stations and bicycle parking. #onpoli

[Gil Meslin @g_meslin]

This is 💯 correct. Floating claims of ‘economic growth’ or ‘better connections’ without evidence, and in the absence of details that allow consideration of cost and benefit, is worse than empty consultation - it is deceptive practice, leading respondents to a desired outcome.

[Raghu Venugopal MD @raghu_venugopal]

I wish ER patients languishing in hallways and chairs had more lobbyists at Queen's Park than the largest bank in the United States with $4 trillion in assets.

[Emily Spanton @whatdoesntkillu]

@jen_keesmaat They sued Porter and got $130M from them in 2023... a few months later, they started lobbying.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Good question, should the people of Ontario bail J P Morgan out?

[Rosemary Salonen @RosemarySalonen]

@jen_keesmaat @fordnation is willing to put an American firm over the people of Toronto. Are we, the people of Ontario, going to bail out JPMorgan for their bad investment @OntarioPCParty, @MarkJCarney, @juliedabrusin, @liberal_party

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

J P Morgan does a bad deal in 2015.

A decade later, their lobbyists have found an audience in our Premier. So aware is he that Toronto residents do not want a dramatically expanded waterfront airport, one that would undo billions of dollars of investment in restoring fragile urban habitats in The Port Lands and erode the walkable, vibrant urban neighbourhoods we have spent decades building, that he has chosen to force through legislation to seize control and override local decision-making.

When is this jig up?

Now that we know, we know.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Social infrastructure can and should be beautiful.

[Philip Oldfield @SustainableTall]

Looks like a boutique Parisian hotel?

This is actually a recently built temporary shelter for women fleeing domestic violence in Paris.

By Atelier du Pont - a thread 🧵

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

J P Morgan does a bad deal in 2015.

A decade later, their lobbyists have found an audience in our Premier. So aware is he that Toronto residents do not want a dramatically expanded waterfront airport, one that would undo billions of dollars of investment in restoring fragile urban habitats in The Port Lands and erode the walkable, vibrant urban neighbourhoods we have spent decades building, that he has chosen to force through legislation to seize control and override local decision-making.

When is this jig up?

Now that we know, we know.

[Mark Evans @markevans]

The root of the Billy Bishop Airport expansion plan is that Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners (aka JP Morgan) wildly overpaid Porter ($750M) in 2015.

Without an expansion, Nieuport likely has no way to recoup its investment.

It's about the $$$$
https://t.co/sT0PMdUIjJ

[Rob Oliphant @Rob_Oliphant]

Simply put: there are too many unknowns to make an informed decision on an expansion of Billy Bishop.

Before considering expansion, we will need a clear, evidence-based business case; comprehensive consultations with the people of Toronto; and guaranteed protection of the surrounding environment.

With declining ridership at Billy Bishop, expanding Toronto Pearson through Pearson LIFT makes more sense than the current Billy Bishop proposal.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Happy commuters

[Rodney @_ChanFace]

University Avenue bustling with cyclists this morning

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Did Ontario just get snookered into a $5 billion airport expansion that no one wants for the benefit of a handful of American investors?

The plot thickens.

(You have to admit, it was odd how this popped back onto the agenda, out of the blue).

https://t.co/2AKblAwOu4