Three of our city’s top experts chose the concept of complete streets as the No. 1 Big Idea in a recent feature.

Designing complete streets means meeting the needs of all users — motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, those moving fast or slow, young and old, business owners, local residents.

This progressive urban initiative is believed to improve safety, increase urban activity, boost local business, and above all, it is touted as a step in creating a better quality of life for residents. St. George St. in the Annex, College St. in Little Italy, and Augusta Ave. in Kensington Market are examples of complete streets in Toronto.

Complete streets become zones in which people want to spend more time — vehicles move slower with bike lanes but more efficiently with a revision of on-street parking strategies. There is pushback to this significant undertaking: trading car lanes and street parking for bike lanes and wider sidewalks may be desired by some but loathed by others.

We wanted to know if our mayoral candidates would support the creation of more complete streets in the city.

Question: Would you support the designing and implementing of complete streets?

Olivia Chow

Position: Yes

I support the Eglinton Connects project. It’s disappointing that after reversing himself twice, Mr. Tory has returned to opposing it — another example of a similar Ford-Tory approach. We’ve got to stop pitting ways people get around against each other. We can build better streets for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and TTC passengers.

John Tory

Position: No position

I am open to elements of this but we need to ensure our streets reflect the needs of the local communities, be it adding separated bike lanes or parking. However, in a city with a traffic crisis I am generally not in favour of shutting down lanes of traffic.

Doug Ford

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The Star did not receive a response this week from Ford’s campaign.

As part of the Star’s yearlong Big Ideas project, each week we present Toronto’s leading mayoral candidates with a Big Idea that has ignited discussion across the city. Complete streets resonated with Torontonians, as it was voted into the Top 20 Big Ideas, down from 1,000 submissions. We recently unveiled the Top 10 Big Ideas. These ideas will be debated by the mayoral candidates at an event Oct. 20.

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