The only possibility of cars coming back to King St. is if Doug Ford defeats John Tory in the mayor’s race to be decided Oct. 22.
Even if Ford wins, it wouldn’t be a lock because he’d have to convince enough members of city council to go along with him.
Tory, whom Ford calls the “King of Congestion,” made his position clear Tuesday.
No matter the outcome of the ongoing, year-long pilot project effectively removing cars from King through forced turns to make the streetcars go (a little) faster, the street is not going back to the way it was while he’s mayor.
Rather, the experiment will be fine-tuned to address the drop in local business, particularly for restaurants.
By requiring motorists to turn off King at regular intervals, clearing the way for streetcars, council has driven away many customers of local businesses who came by car.
Tory announced a public space competition and a Winterlicious-style food event to reanimate King.
This is typical of what happens with government-mandated “pilot projects”.
The politicians who initiated them double down on their support as time goes on.
That’s why the King St. project will be declared a success and made permanent — if Tory wins — just as the Bloor St. bike lane pilot project was declared a success and made permanent.
The city and TTC will offer plenty of data to back up their claim this project is a success.
Of course, when the people who initiated the experiment are invested in its success and control who assesses it and how they do it, it’s unsurprising when the assessment is positive.
In the real world, the city will adjust to no (or few) cars on King — if Tory wins — because it has to and whether doing it was a smart or dumb idea will be debated for years.
More interesting is that the King St. project is the opening salvo in an election race featuring, so far, two major candidates with different visions of Toronto — Tory and Ford.
They reflect the downtown-suburban divide which has always been part of city politics — the downtown one focused on grand ideas for improving city life, the suburban one on delivering efficient services.
Voters will decide which they prefer on Oct. 22.