On Feb. 12, 2014, Walk Toronto hosted a talk by the Chief Planner of the City of Toronto, Jennifer Keesmaat, about walking to school.
We had a good turnout of about 100 people at the University of Toronto Schools (Spadina and Bloor). Among the attendees was Globe and Mail columnist Elizabeth Renzetti, who wrote agreat description of the talk in the paper (the print title was “Cities should worship the ground we walk on,” a sentiment Walk Toronto can certainly get behind).
Also attending were representatives from walk-to-school programs at Metrolinx, Canada Walks, and Toronto Public Health, who talked about their programs with attendees before and after the talk, as well as representatives from Jane’s Walk.
Attendees were encouraged to give a donation to Walk Toronto (to cover costs) that doubled as a vote on the best age for children to start walking to school without an adult. The “10 or under” category was the resounding winner. The vote results were as follows (rounded off):
10 or under: 51%
11: 31%
12: 2%
13+: 15%
Everyone who donated got one of our new Walk Toronto buttons. Those who donated $5 or more received one of our reflective buttons — a little contribution to safe walking at night.
You can listen to a recording of Jennifer Keesmaat’s talk here (mp3).
Event photographs by Lance Gleich
Original post by Dylan Reid
