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Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto

67 years-old and rocking this outfit.

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John Tory would have worn a suit to Caribanna.
 
About 5 years ago, (John Tory's) City installed huge gates on Bayview to stop vehicles if the road was flooding. During the flood last month they were not closed and many vehicles got caught. I asked the Mayor two questions and got the following.

"Please see the response prepared by Transportation staff to your inquire below:

Was the Lower Don automated gate system used to support the closure of the DVP during the flood?

No, when a call was placed to the RESCU Operations Centre to remotely close the gates there was a cellular communications problem due to the extreme intense rain impacting the link.

There is a backup procedure in place whereby the Electrical Maintenance Contractor can be called in as an emergency call to locally flip the switch to close the gates. However, as Road Operations staff were already present, staff made the immediate decision to allow them to simply proceed with barrel deployments to close the gate.

The gates were closed in a timely manner, and it alleviated the immediate pressure from the EMC that was receiving many service calls all at the same time due to the flooding impacts on traffic signals around the City.

What measures are being taken to ensure that this doesn’t happen in the future?

Staff recognize the imperative need for Road Operations staff to also be trained in terms of how to manually close the gates in parallel with EMC staff.

In addition, a backup communication system will be designed to ensure that there are redundant paths of communication to the field equipment if there is an issue with cellular communications again."
 
August 6, 2024

City of Toronto enhancing community recreation centres with fresh paint, public Wi-Fi and additional features

Today, Mayor Olivia Chow announced a new City of Toronto initiative that will help refresh 30 community recreation centres across the city by updating interior elements that includes repairing and repainting walls, ceilings and structural features by the end of next year. The refresh will also include modern and welcoming lobby furniture, charging stations and access to public Wi-Fi at 126 Community Recreation Centres by the end of this year.

Several factors were considered when selecting sites including the current condition of the centre, geographic distribution across the city and consideration for equity-deserving neighbourhoods."

One hopes this refresh may include repairing/replacing the air conditioning at the St Lawrence CRC - where it has been broken for well over a year!
 
DSC said:
About 5 years ago, (John Tory's) City installed huge gates on Bayview to stop vehicles if the road was flooding. During the flood last month they were not closed and many vehicles got caught. I asked the Mayor two questions and got the following.

"Please see the response prepared by Transportation staff to your inquire below:

Was the Lower Don automated gate system used to support the closure of the DVP during the flood?

No, when a call was placed to the RESCU Operations Centre to remotely close the gates there was a cellular communications problem due to the extreme intense rain impacting the link.

There is a backup procedure in place whereby the Electrical Maintenance Contractor can be called in as an emergency call to locally flip the switch to close the gates. However, as Road Operations staff were already present, staff made the immediate decision to allow them to simply proceed with barrel deployments to close the gate.

The gates were closed in a timely manner, and it alleviated the immediate pressure from the EMC that was receiving many service calls all at the same time due to the flooding impacts on traffic signals around the City.

What measures are being taken to ensure that this doesn’t happen in the future?

Staff recognize the imperative need for Road Operations staff to also be trained in terms of how to manually close the gates in parallel with EMC staff.

In addition, a backup communication system will be designed to ensure that there are redundant paths of communication to the field equipment if there is an issue with cellular communications again."
Click to expand...
You mean, the exact conditions in which it will be needed (heavy rain) are when the communication link would fail? Bravo.
 
afransen said:
You mean, the exact conditions in which it will be needed (heavy rain) are when the communication link would fail? Bravo.
Click to expand...
I'm no expert here, but I am surprised that "extreme intense rain" (whatever that double-adjective is supposed to mean) blocks "cellular communications". Is that a thing? It doesn't seem like it should be a thing.

Also, why isn't the "RESCU Operations Centre" empowered to remotely close the gates on their own? Why does someone (Who?) need to first authorise them to do what is obviously needed?

Are we treating this like nukes in a movie? Does Olivia Chow have to crack open a security encryption card and read back a 25-digit authorisation code to the staff who then do a read back to verify it really is her, and then she says "You are ordered to... close the gates. And may God save us all." while dramatic music plays over a montage of screaming drivers trying to get on the highway as the gates close?
 
Last edited:
Jonny5 said:
I'm no expert here, but I am surprised that "extreme intense rain" (whatever that double-adjective is supposed to mean) blocks "cellular communications". Is that a thing? It doesn't seem like it should be a thing.
Click to expand...

Apparently yes it does. Missing that in normal use is understandable; missing it when you are basically designing a system that is intended to operate in extreme weather is another - it suggests that whoever is designing emergency responses doesn't understand the vulnerability of their system, and that's a tad more disturbing.

AoD
 
Jonny5 said:
I'm no expert here, but I am surprised that "extreme intense rain" (whatever that double-adjective is supposed to mean) blocks "cellular communications". Is that a thing? It doesn't seem like it should be a thing.

Also, why isn't the "RESCU Operations Centre" empowered to remotely close the gates on their own? Why does someone (Who?) need to first authorise them to do what is obviously needed?

Are we treating this like nukes in a movie? Does Olivia Chow have to crack open a security encryption card and read back a 25-digit authorisation code to the staff who then do a read back to verify it really is her, and then she says "You are ordered to... close the gates. And may God save us all." while dramatic music plays over a montage of screaming drivers trying to get on the highway as the gates close?
Click to expand...
Yes, rain can affect cellular service and is why there are often lots of false fire alarms during or just after heavy rain. That is why many insurance companies for larger buildings (and their fire protection companies) insist that phones linked to fire alarm monitoring services use a 'land line' for that phone. As noted below, what is quite worrying is that the City contractor seemed not to take this into account with the 'gates' - or that the City did not insist on it. I would bet there are other vital links that have the same vulnerability.
 
In regards to the flood gates not being lower......city staff promised they will Try Harder next time.

Another example of lack of accountability from whoever the City Manager is.
 
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