Councillor Josh Matlow Newsletter
- Hillcrest Village BIA
- Sep 1, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: May 1
In This E-Newsletter:
Taking Action to Protect Tenants' Health and Safety
Several years ago, I moved a motion which led to the creation of RentSafe, a property standards enforcement program focused on keeping tenants’ homes safe and healthy.
Since then, we've fought to give RentSafe more teeth, including advocating for colour coded signs modelled after the Dinesafe program. We also called for the consistent use of remedial action – where the city goes and does repairs if a landlord is negligent, and then adds the bill to their property tax bill.
I am grateful that the Mayor and Council have supported out efforts. Beginning this June, landlords will finally be required to display a colour-coded sign (Green, Yellow, or Red) at building entrances and disclose their ratings to tenants.
City staff are now finally moving forward with a more robust and transparent framework to guide when they will use remedial action.
There are still ways the program can be improved, which is why I moved a motion to explore broadening the scope of the program, to strengthen the use of in-unit inspections, and a request that information be provided directly to tenants doors instead of only posted in common areas.
Making Our Parks More Fun and Vibrant with More Food Options
Last year, I moved a motion requesting city parks staff to develop a plan to bring more food and beverage options into many of our parks.
In many cities across the world, you can go to a park to meet up with friends and grab a coffee or snack, but in Toronto, the food options are limited. That needs to change.
I’m happy to see a plan move forward which will allow more opportunities for vending in parks, and a review of the city’s contracts with long-term providers in existing spaces to prioritize more local and diverse options in parks where it makes sense. Obviously, garbage, recycling and access to public bathrooms will be considered as part of the strategy.
I also moved a motion requesting that parks staff create a Park Kiosk pilot in Toronto - St. Paul's. Modelled after kiosks in many great global parks, such as Bryant Park in New York, I want food kiosk to become vibrant, community-oriented spaces that encourage people to gather and enjoy our parks together.
Fighting For a Safe and Reliable TTC
The first weeks of April saw several major service disruptions on the TTC, including hydraulic fluid leaks and major signal failures that led to prolonged subway shutdowns.
This had major impacts for Torontonians trying to get to work, school, or appointments on time. These delays are unacceptable and cannot become normalized. Transit needs to be fast and reliable. Right now, transit riders use the TTC with the expectation that their daily commute will be impacted by a delay. Torontonians deserves better.
Infrastructure failures are the second largest cause of service disruptions, often due to aging infrastructure and delayed capital investments over many years. The TTC urgently needs to identify any required capital investments to the TTC’s assets and infrastructure which will reduce the frequency of delays caused by infrastructure failures such as hydraulic fluid leaks.
That’s why I moved a motion at the TTC Board requesting an urgent action plan to address infrastructure-related disruptions. The status quo of daily delays impacting customers cannot continue any longer.
Click below to listen to my remarks at the TTC Board Meeting:
Moving Towards a More Beautiful City
I introduced the Towards a Beautiful City initiative in 2024 because I believe that Toronto can do better than rising to the height of mediocrity. Like our own homes, we want our city to be clean, comfortable, and beautiful – a place we can enjoy, and which we can be proud of when people come to visit.
The City has taken an important step in advancing this initiative. An extensive inter-divisional report was brough to Council which identified significant opportunities to promote design excellence in our public spaces and landmark buildings, introduce new procurement changes to elevate design outcomes, minimize the impact of construction, and improve the maintenance of our public realm.
Additionally, I worked with staff to introduce new measures to improve service standards for maintaining public garbage bins. While the contract with Astral media for these bins continues until next year, it’s already the City’s responsibility to address any overflow, which happens all too often. Solid Waste Management has committed to increase litter bin monitoring with real time information to litter crews, accelerate the implementation of bin sensor technology, and improve route optimization.
I appreciate that Council and City staff have embraced this opportunity to work towards a more beautiful city.
FIFA Fan Fest
The World Cup is coming to Toronto in June, and while we look forward to welcoming the world for this celebration, we also want to ensure that this is a great experience for Torontonians.
The most significant free event hosted by the City during the World Cup is going to be the Fast Fest, which is intended to host up to 20,000 people per day to watch matches live. So when a plan was brought before Executive Committee to charge $10 per ticket to Fan Fest, I fought to stop it in it's tracks.
Toronto residents have spent more than $180 million on the World Cup, yet with the high cost of tickets, most Torontonians won’t be able to attend the matches in person. That’s why it’s so important that there be free events that people can attend to be part of the celebrations.
I’m happy to confirm that we've been able to ensure that general admission tickets will continue to be free.
I am still concerned about how the initial recommendation to charge for access to Fan Fest was made, and disappointed that 3,900 tickets will be set aside for “premium access” to what was promoted to the public as a completely free event. This question will need to be part of a review of how the World Cup was managed.
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