Bold step for candidate

[attach]7599[/attach]It may be early, but one city council candidate out to replace Karen Stintz in Ward 16 is hitting the ground running, already having announced a proposal to deal with pedestrian safety.

Citing 40 pedestrian fatalities in Toronto in 2013 — six of which occurred in midtown — Michael Coll released on March 10 his “Pedestrian Pledge,” which proposes several ideas, including expanding the cycling network, establishing an awareness campaign he calls Fatality-Free Week, and lowering speed limits in a bid to lower the number of pedestrian fatalities on city streets to zero.

“I think that’s what we should strive for,” said Coll, 33, who works in the fire and safety field. “The City of Vancouver has publicly stated that’s what their goal is and it should be our goal as well.

“Each one of these deaths is preventable according to the Ontario Chief Coroner and I think that should be our objective.”

This is the first policy or proposal to be released by any of the five candidates in the Eglinton-Lawrence ward. which is also being contested by J.P. Boutros, former senior advisor to the TTC chair, along with aerospace project manager Christin Carmichael Greb, direct mail business owner Paul Spence and municipal lawyer Adam Tanel.

Stintz vacated the seat and her position as TTC chair so she could mount a mayoralty run in the Oct. 27 municipal election.

Coll says he also wants to act as a spokesperson for pedestrians, as well as re-establish a pedestrian committee financed by the city.

He acknowledges his ideas are likely to draw some criticism, but says he welcomes it.

“I expect constructive criticism,” he said, adding that his campaign will also involve listening to other people’s ideas. “I expect to have a constructive debate regarding each particular proposal and I look forward to that.

“Very few motions go unaltered through city council and I don’t expect this to be any different.”

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