Mark Shapiro, president of the Toronto Blue Jays, has sent an open letter to city council demanding that Lake Shore Boulevard be closed less frequently.
As part of its ActiveTO initiative, the city has been closing a segment of the road to automobile traffic on a regular basis since the summer of 2020.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, the restrictions, which also occur on numerous other roads, were initially implemented as a strategy to allow people more space for recreational activities.
But they proved so popular that the city opted to keep the program in place, even as the risk posed by the pandemic lessened and public health advice evolved to place less of an emphasis on physical distancing when outdoors.
In a letter sent to the city clerk’s office earlier this week, Shapiro said that he recognizes that “ActiveTO played a crucial role in encouraging people to get outside and moving again, at a time when entertainment options were limited.”
But he said that the closure of Lakeshore Boulevard West this spring has “drastically impacted” the ability of Jays fans to access Rogers Centre and will likely only get worse heading into the summer when “baseball is a main attraction in the city.”
“Many of our fans travel to Rogers Centre from outside of the GTA and taking public transit is not an option. Out-of-town fans are often not aware of ActiveTO and do not know to allocate extra travel time. On the days when ActiveTO has been in effect on Lake Shore, our local fans have experienced significant transit delays because traffic is grinded to a halt on all downtown routes,” he said. “As a sports organization, we support folks getting outside and being active, but Toronto has many options and routes to use, whereas our fans do not.
Source_ The Canadian Press
