Joe Mihevc

Former TO Councillor. YorkU Prof. Passions: all things urban with a social justice and transformation lens: public health, mobility, anti-poverty

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

The bivalent booster dose provides protection against the highly contagious Omicron variants. It's now available to residents 18+ (or 12+ with a weak immune system).

➡️Book now at https://t.co/u71ptgFrqv or find a mobile clinic near you: https://t.co/nFtoBSRyOt

[Sola 🇨🇦 @SolaTheAnalyst]

Love her or not, here is the record Mayor Olivia Chow has built heading into the upcoming elections:

1. Handed DVP & Gardiner to Ontario (saved Toronto $1.9B)

2. Deployed 100+ traffic agents, cutting intersection blocking by 96%

3. Upgraded Toronto’s credit rating to AA+ for the first time in 23 years

4. Froze TTC fares 3 years in a row & kept Scarborough Busway on track

5. Cut 911 call wait times from nearly a minute down to seconds

6. Passed strict local rules targeting bad-faith renovictions

7. Expanded year-round park washrooms & 7-day library service to all 100 branches

8. Reduced visible homeless encampments by 70%

Debate the policies all you want, but these are the numbers on the board.

[Dan Moulton @DanMoulton]

Liberals don’t have a clear candidate in Toronto’s upcoming municipal election. In today’s @TorontoStar, I’ve argued Liberals should rally to @oliviachow as the only progressive on the ballot.

https://t.co/5WTC5lXoHq

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

Thanks Mayor Chow and Councillor Bravo for hanging out and visiting the neighbourhoods and businesses along St Clair. It is time to embrace our local community #StClairStrong

[Mayor Olivia Chow 🇨🇦 @MayorOliviaChow]

The death of Police Constable Marco Pinizzotto is heartbreaking news for our city.

There are no words that can ease the pain for the officer’s family, loved ones, and colleagues across the service. This grief is shared across the entire city.

Police officers go to work every day knowing the risks, putting themselves in harm’s way to protect others, and today is a devastating reminder of that sacrifice. 

We also recognize the toll moments like this take on all first responders who continue to show up for us, even in the hardest of circumstances.

We are grateful for all who serve and continue to stand with those who keep our communities safe. We honour their courage, sacrifice and dedication.

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

I just signed a @theactionnet letter: Petition. Sign here: https://t.co/HlgAGMMzib

[Avi Lewis @avilewis]

Cuba is out of fuel, strangled by the US fuel chokehold.

People are dying, systems are breaking down.

This is collective punishment against a people who have done absolutely nothing except live their lives under hard conditions imposed by the US blockade for decades.

It’s a blatant violation of international law, a crime in progress.

Canadians are connected to Cuba: we’ve been welcomed, had great holidays, heard incredible music, done business and made friends.

We need to help Cuba right now, even if it bothers Trump: Canada should send immediate humanitarian fuel aid, in as much quantity as we can quickly assemble.

And we should be speaking out loudly on the international stage: US military action against Cuba is absolutely unacceptable!

It’s time for the countries of the world to rally and stop this impunity before it takes another sovereign country into chaos.

We have to come to Cuba's aid. What's happening is too cruel, too horrible.

[TTC Media Relations 📰🚌🚋🚈 @TTCNewsroom]

#TTC is deeply saddened to learn that former City Councillor and TTC Board Chair Howard Moscoe passed away this morning. Our thoughts are with Mr. Moscoe’s family as they mourn his passing. He was 86.

Mr. Moscoe served as Commissioner, Vice-Chair, and Chair during his 14 years of service on the Commission. He served on the TTC Board from 1992 to 2006. He was TTC Chair from 1998 to 2000 and from 2003 to 2006.

Mr. Moscoe was a prominent and long-serving Councillor for Eglinton-Lawrence and a fierce advocate for transit system accessibility and for securing sustainable funding for the TTC.

Mr. Moscoe took the helm at the TTC during a very challenging and complex year for the new amalgamated City of Toronto.

Under Mr. Moscoe’s first term as Chair, the TTC broke ground on the new Queens Quay streetcar line that would connect Union Station with Exhibition Place; began construction on the Sheppard Subway, as well as started building the new Transit Control Centre at Hillcrest Complex.

During his second term as Chair, Mr. Moscoe helped steer the TTC through the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis and North America’s largest electricity blackout affecting 50 million people across the North Eastern Seaboard, both of which caused significant declines in ridership.

Under his tenure, the TTC introduced its Ridership Growth Strategy in 2003, a blueprint for transit investment for the decade that followed, which saw the system grow ridership to more than half a billion riders annually.

“It was a wild and exciting ride,” Mr. Moscoe said at his official TTC farewell at City Hall in 2007. “We were building a transit system together and we were doing it for the people of Toronto.”

On behalf of all TTC employees, we extend our condolences to Mr. Moscoe’s family and friends during this difficult time.

All flags across TTC properties are lowered to half-mast in Mr. Moscoe’s honour.

[Mayor Olivia Chow 🇨🇦 @MayorOliviaChow]

It is with sadness that I am letting the community know of the death of Howard Moscoe – my former Councillor colleague for many years, and friend to many people in the Toronto area and beyond.

Howard was born on November 28, 1939. His working life started as a high school art teacher in the former North York where he became the President of the North York Teachers’ Federation and a governor of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation. His art background later fed a very successful election sign business. As a member of the New Democratic Party, he ran three times to become the MPP in the riding of Wilson Heights.

Howard had a long and illustrious 31-year career as an Alderman, Metro Councillor and City Councillor starting in 1978 and ending with retirement in 2010 representing the western half of the Eglinton-Lawrence riding. Some key moments in his early political career include:

- Promoting a municipal housing corporation in North York to support rent geared to income housing

- In the 1980s, attending rallies against the apartheid regime in South Africa and supporting human rights efforts in Nigeria

- Being an early supporter of LGBTQ issues in the early 1990s at the TTC when the community sought ad space on TTC vehicles

With municipal amalgamation in 1997, Howard became the first amalgamated City of Toronto Chair of the TTC. Building a vibrant public transit infrastructure and promoting ridership growth were his key passion. He read virtually every City Council and TTC report and had an encyclopaedic memory of their content that he brought to Council and TTC meetings. He was particularly keen in his advocacy for the Wheeltrans community and taxi drivers. An example of his creative thinking was demanding condo developers to include in their sales agreement a free Metropass for the first year of residency. An example of his tenacity was the purchase of the new subway vehicles built in Thunder Bay now serving Line 1. Howard was an early and strong supporter of the move to upload the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway to the province.

His Councillor colleagues will remember him as a tenacious fighter for social justice, whether it was people living with disabilities, tenants, people without homes, transit users, and so many equity-deserving communities. He never attacked people personally but would debate urban policy with great enthusiasm, and frequent humour. And yes, he was mischievous from time to time to the delight of friend and to the fury of foe, all of which made for entertaining media. At the root of all his pranks, clever strategies and tactics, he had a lifelong commitment to struggle for a fair, just and equitable Toronto. He did it all in a “larger than life” manner which made him a complete pleasure to work with on Council.

Howard’s contribution to a better Toronto has been enormous. The memory of Howard Moscoe is a blessing to us all. Rest in Peace, dear colleague and friend.

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

I had the pleasure of working with Howard from 1997 to 2010. He was smart, humorous, committed to a better Toronto, a prankster, and an overall delight. Rest in peace Howard. The memory of you is a blessing to you.

[Mayor Olivia Chow 🇨🇦 @MayorOliviaChow]

It is with sadness that I am letting the community know of the death of Howard Moscoe – my former Councillor colleague for many years, and friend to many people in the Toronto area and beyond.

Howard was born on November 28, 1939. His working life started as a high school art teacher in the former North York where he became the President of the North York Teachers’ Federation and a governor of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation. His art background later fed a very successful election sign business. As a member of the New Democratic Party, he ran three times to become the MPP in the riding of Wilson Heights.

Howard had a long and illustrious 31-year career as an Alderman, Metro Councillor and City Councillor starting in 1978 and ending with retirement in 2010 representing the western half of the Eglinton-Lawrence riding. Some key moments in his early political career include:

- Promoting a municipal housing corporation in North York to support rent geared to income housing

- In the 1980s, attending rallies against the apartheid regime in South Africa and supporting human rights efforts in Nigeria

- Being an early supporter of LGBTQ issues in the early 1990s at the TTC when the community sought ad space on TTC vehicles

With municipal amalgamation in 1997, Howard became the first amalgamated City of Toronto Chair of the TTC. Building a vibrant public transit infrastructure and promoting ridership growth were his key passion. He read virtually every City Council and TTC report and had an encyclopaedic memory of their content that he brought to Council and TTC meetings. He was particularly keen in his advocacy for the Wheeltrans community and taxi drivers. An example of his creative thinking was demanding condo developers to include in their sales agreement a free Metropass for the first year of residency. An example of his tenacity was the purchase of the new subway vehicles built in Thunder Bay now serving Line 1. Howard was an early and strong supporter of the move to upload the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway to the province.

His Councillor colleagues will remember him as a tenacious fighter for social justice, whether it was people living with disabilities, tenants, people without homes, transit users, and so many equity-deserving communities. He never attacked people personally but would debate urban policy with great enthusiasm, and frequent humour. And yes, he was mischievous from time to time to the delight of friend and to the fury of foe, all of which made for entertaining media. At the root of all his pranks, clever strategies and tactics, he had a lifelong commitment to struggle for a fair, just and equitable Toronto. He did it all in a “larger than life” manner which made him a complete pleasure to work with on Council.

Howard’s contribution to a better Toronto has been enormous. The memory of Howard Moscoe is a blessing to us all. Rest in Peace, dear colleague and friend.

[Diana Chan McNally @DianaCMcNally]

BIG news out of Kitchener-Waterloo: the Ontario Superior Court has ruled that homelessness is an analogous ground for discrimination under s.15 of the Charter. This is a BIG step toward recognizing homeless people as an equity-seeking group under the law. Governments take note!

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

Mark Carney could do the right thing and make a hero out of 23 MPs at the same time https://t.co/lwrYT7ecL0 via @torontostar

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

https://t.co/maKK0j3ers

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

https://t.co/bK25vgz4rZ

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

The recent cuts to heathcare for refugees is not fair and reasonable. They need to be reversed: https://t.co/bK25vgz4rZ

[Luke Savage @LukewSavage]

“This (law) is the most significant rollback of refugee rights in Canada in over a decade,” said Adam Sadinsky of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers."

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

From today's Toronto Star: "The only two countries in the world where EV sales didn’t rise? Canada and the United States." This is shameful for Canada.

[640 Toronto @am640]

Former Toronto Councillor Joe Mihevc (@joemihevc) tells @gregbradyx the first ride of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was a fantastic, smooth, and on time trip

🔊HEAR MORE: https://t.co/KXqZhD8HJl

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

Now that the Eglinton LRRT is running, it is great to see the TTC getting it right. Congrats all!:
https://t.co/jcudYmu9mI

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

I was also on the first Bloor Danforth train with my dad who worked at the TTC as a mechanic… also a warm memory

[Fern Winter 🇺🇦🇨🇦 @FernMandel]

@joemihevc I remember riding the Bloor Danforth line, maybe first day, maybe not. Got off at the end of the line west route. It was Keele station. Seemed so far for a downtown kid.

[Joe Mihevc @joemihevc]

The cold of the day was a match for the warmth of the opening!

[Kristos @Kristos416]

@joemihevc What was it like standing outside waiting for the fancy streetcar in Scarborough Joe? Are the shelters heated or no?