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"Hey DT, it's JT!" This greeting, with which Mayor John Tory introduces himself in the widely mocked #DTadvice video recently released by the City, is only one of many features of the goofily earnest promotional tool that has garnered a public eye roll from many Toronto citizens. Tory appears on-screen with several City Councillors including Norm Kelly, Joe Cressy, Kristyn Wong-Tam, Pam McConnell, former Mayor Barbara Hall, and Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat.
In light of the the public shellacking that some of those involved in the production have received, a second, tongue-in-cheek video has emerged, done in the vein of the reading of 'mean tweets' that thanks to Jimmy Kimmel has become a staple of popular culture over the past few years. Instead of retreating away from the original production, the follow-up video, embedded below, features many of the same City Councillors, along with city planner Oren Tamir, reading—and in many cases laughing along with—the disparaging twitter commentary that came of their best efforts to promote the city.
While on its own a potentially charming effort on behalf of those involved, the real message of the video is to inform those interested that the original message of TOcore—to promote public input with an aim towards improving the future planning efforts in the works for Downtown Toronto (DT)—is still very much at the forefront of the Toronto City Planning Department. Centred around a public outreach initiative called Share Your Downtown Story, TOcore has come up with an intriguing online utility with which the public are encouraged to engage.
To this end, the City has created a series of TOcore Avatars, fictional Toronto residents with a range of demographic diversity, hailing from all corners of the city, with which visitors to the site are expected to relate. Whether one identifies more with Fernanda, a Humber College student living in Etobicoke who spends her weekends exploring Kensington Market, or with Charles, married with a young daughter, living in Midtown, with a steady job as a Regional Branch Manager for a bank, visitors to the site are welcome to read through the profiles, find some common ground, and share their own stories about life in DT.
The avatars were created by using an analysis of demographic data, the background stories generated via an amalgam of the many various ways in which Torontonians experience the city, including patterns of life, work, and play. It is the aim of TOcore to use these avatars as a means by which to connect to the public, and to garner feedback which can then be applied to future planning decisions in the core. From schools, to transit, to parks, jobs, and housing, the mandate of TOcore is to gather as much data as possible in an effort to make 'DT' as good as can be. Promoting the 'DT' moniker as an easy way to connect on social media, TOcore has created #DTadvice as the preferred method of catching their attention via tweets—hopefully more friendly than mean—to be directed to the official handle, @CityPlanTO.
What is your vision for DT? Check out the TOcore and TOcore Avatar websites to Have Your Say and Share Your Downtown Story. Also, as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
