Trashy litter bins, decrepit transit, cancelled swimming lessons: Toronto, can’t we do better? The stories in the Star series

After more than two years of the pandemic, Toronto seems more vibrant and alive than it has in years. Yet in countless everyday ways, the city also seems to be falling apart — whether it’s street garbage bins broken and overflowing with trash, public transit fallen into disrepair or city programs that are cut because of a lack of funds.

In its series, the Star takes a look at these shortcomings and the reasons for them, and asks: “Can’t we do better?”

Here are stories so far:

Why do so many Toronto litter bins look like garbage?

How a penny-pinching move by city council has resulted in substandard service, leaving trash receptacles overflowing and often broken.

Toronto isn’t paying city planners enough. That’s driving up house prices, some say

A shortage of planners at Toronto city hall means it takes 32 months to get developments approved — the second slowest in the GTA — which is adding to the costs of building.

The city knew more than a decade ago its bike rings were prone to theft. Why are there still thousands on Toronto sidewalks?

The City of Toronto has known for at least 14 years that its original post-and-ring bicycle stands are prone to breakage by any bike thief with a two-by-four. Since then, the plague of bike theft has exploded.

‘It’s actually kind of embarrassing’: Once praised, the King Street transit project seems to have gone off the rails?

Three years after being made permanent, pedestrian protections are in disrepair and traffic rules no longer seem to be enforced.

‘As ugly as ugly can be’: Why are there still temporary barriers around Union Station four years later?

More than four years after they first appeared, concrete barriers remain outside Union Station, with the city repeatedly delaying the installation of a permanent replacement.

Ailing transit, broken housing, crowded shelters: The public services that suffer when Toronto is left to foot the bill

As demand has surged and problems have multiplied, these Toronto public services have become an increasing burden to a city desperate for help.

Toronto artists are being ‘run out of town’ by soaring rents. Should the city step in to help?

The city’s artistic community is struggling as rents for living space, studio space and performance space are rising dramatically even as housing prices tumble.

$1.3 billion for police. A fraction for neighbourhood programs. Why is Toronto still not spending on community safety?

Council approved nearly $1.3 billion in spending on policing, while a new plan for community safety was approved with year-one spending of $12 million.

The ugly side of a budget freeze: dead raccoons left on city streets for days on end

Toronto Animal Services is understaffed and underfunded, and it can mean long delays in requests to deal with sick, injured, or dead animals.

‘If we cared, we could do better’: Why the scramble for city swimming lessons is worse than ever

The fight for a place in one of Toronto’s recreational programs has become even more fierce since the pandemic

Toronto’s property tax rate is one of the lowest in the GTA. Here’s why that’s a problem

We break down how Toronto’s low tax rate measures up against the rest of the province — and what it means for city services.

‘There’s a feeling that the city doesn’t care anymore’: Neighbourhoods, services slipping into ‘decline,’ warns Toronto’s deputy mayor

In this Star exclusive, Denzil Minnan-Wong says he has privately raised concerns about city services with Mayor John Tory and the city manager, with little apparent impact.

Toronto is a city flush with parks. So why aren’t there more public washrooms available?

Toronto, a city of three million, has 48 washrooms in public parks that are open year-round.

Potholes can cause hundreds in damage to your car. So why has Toronto delayed fixing them?

Toronto’s failure to properly maintain its roads — including a $300-million cut to a part of the budget that deals with road repairs, and $41-million worth of paving work deferred to next year — is causing the city’s streets to deteriorate more quickly, experts say.

Toronto is lax about work done by utilities. We all pay for it with poorly patched roads and sidewalks that are dangerous

If there’s one place where Toronto can definitely do better, it’s under our feet and the wheels of our cars. The city puts minimal effort into enforcing standards for temporary utility cut patches, allowing contractors to cut corners.

This Matters podcast: Toronto, the not so good. Can’t we do better?

There are a lot of small things that add up to big quality of life improvements when living in a city, and it’s some of those where it feels like the city is dropping the ball. As municipal elections enter their final week, city columnist Ed Keenan visits This Matters to unpack the “Can’t we do better?” series.

Forget broken elevators. The real problem with the state of TTC repairs may be what you can’t see

But years of funding shortfalls have delayed much-needed repairs and forced Band-Aid fixes, leaving the TTC with a growing mountain of future costs and no indication of who will cover them.