User:Vincentvanstopp/sandbox

Sidewalk Toronto

Sidewalk Toronto is a waterfront redevelopment project by Alphabet Inc’s Sidewalk Labs and the tri-governmental agency Waterfront Toronto. The project aims to develop Quayside as the first climate positive and smart city neighbourhood in North America. Infrastructure and technology for the project is divided into four main pillars: innovative sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity. Sidewalk Toronto has been heavily criticised by privacy experts and activists due to Sidewalk Labs’s connection to Google LLC and controversy surrounding its sister company's business model of selling personal information to advertisers.

History

Waterfront Toronto was formed in 2001 by The Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto to lead the revitalization of 2,200 acres along Toronto’s waterfront.

On March 17, 2017, Waterfront Toronto issued a request for proposals (RFP) for an innovation and funding partner for a new 12 acre neighbourhood on Toronto’s eastern waterfront called Quayside.

Bidders included IBM Canada Innovation Office, AECOM, and Great Gulf. Sidewalk Labs’ successful bid for Quayside development was announced at an October 17th 2017 press conference attended by Justin Trudeau, Kathleen Wynne, John Tory,  Eric Schmidt, Dan Doctoroff, and Will Fleissig. The joint venture would be known as Sidewalk Toronto, but the two organisations continue to operate individually.

On July 31 2018, Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto released their Plan Development Agreement (PDA). This agreement enabled Sidewalk Labs to commit USD $50 million to create a Master Innovation Development Plan (MIDP). The MIDP was initially scheduled to be released in April 2019, but is now expected to be released later in spring 2019.

Key figures

Dan Doctoroff – CEO of Sidewalk Labs and former Deputy Mayor of New York City

Will Fleissig – former CEO of Waterfront Toronto

Ann Cavoukian – former Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and former Sidewalk Labs privacy consultant  

Mary-Margaret McMahon – Director of Community, Sidewalk Labs and former City of Toronto Ward 32 Councillor

John Brodhead – Director of Policy and Strategy, Sidewalk Labs and former Chief of Staff, Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott

Public consultation

On February 2nd 2018, Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs released the Sidewalk Toronto Public Engagement Plan. The plan outlined a series of public talks, five public roundtable consultation meetings, Toronto neighbourhood association meetings, pop-up stations, a children’s summer camp in partnership with YMCA of Greater Toronto, and a research fellowship for university students.

In June 2018, it was announced that the public engagement plan was experiencing considerable delays and that public roundtable meetings would be delayed. It was around this time that 307, Sidewalk Labs’ Toronto office and experimental workspace opened its doors. The office is named after its location at 307 Lake Shore Boulevard East — the northeastern area of land designated for Quayside — and was transformed from its history as a fish-processing plant and abandoned warehouse. 307 is open to the public every Sunday from 11am to 5pm and is home to pilots and prototypes developed for the Sidewalk Toronto project.

In November 2018, the twelve Sidewalk Toronto Fellows — university students between the ages of 19 and 24 from across the Greater Toronto Area — released a report containing 27 recommendations for Quayside.

Criticism and controversy

On July 2018, Waterfront Toronto CEO Will Fleissig resigned and many speculated that he was pushed out the organisation’s board of directors. On August 3rd 2018, Julie Di Lorenzo resigned from the Waterfront Toronto board, citing privacy concerns related to Sidewalk Labs’ connection to Google.

On October 21st 2018, former Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Ann Cavoukian resigned from the project’s Digital Strategy Advisory Board. Cavoukian cited concerns about the project’s insufficient implementation of Privacy By Design principles, although Sidewalk Labs’ maintains that privacy in Quayside is a top priority.  

On December 5th 2018, the Auditor General of Ontario released an annual report, in which Waterfront Toronto was heavily criticised. The report highlighted the fact that over a period 16 years, Waterfront Toronto has only developed 5% of the land its entire mandiate aims to revitalise. In addition, the report also states that Waterfront Toronto “did not adequately consult with any levels of government regarding the Sidewalk Labs project.”

On February 14th 2019, the Toronto Star obtained leaked presentation slides containing Sidewalk Labs’ plans for the Eastern Waterfront, beyond the 12 acres designated for Quayside.

On April 2nd 2019, Bianca Wylie (Centre for Digital Rights) and Saadia Muzaffar (Tech Reset Canada) and several other activists held a press conference at Toronto City Hall to officially launch the BlockSidewalk campaign. BlockSidewalk calls for the immediate annulment of Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto’s agreement and compares the project to the Amazon HQ2 controversy.

April 2nd 2019 was also when Dan Doctoroff, Micah Lasher, and John Brodhead testified in front of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics at the House of Commons. The ethics of the RFP process and suspected preferential treatment by Waterfront Toronto were the focus of the hearing. NDP member of parliament Charlie Angus is a vocal critic of Sidewalk Labs’ and he questioned Brodhead. This questioning focused on whether or not Brodhead was in talks with Sidewalk Labs prior to his leave as chief of staff for the Infrastructure Minister, accusations Broadhead adamantly denied.

See also

• Sidewalk Labs
• Waterfront Toronto
• Alphabet Inc
• Intersection
• LinkNYC

External links

• Waterfront Toronto website Quayside request for proposals
• Sidewalk Toronto – "How Quayside will make data work for Toronto — and protect it"
• Quayside Innovation and Funding Partner RFP Outreach
• Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto Plan Development Agreement
• Sidewalk Toronto Public Engagement Plan
• Sidewalk Toronto public engagement update Sidewalk Toronto Fellows Report
• BlockSidewalk website

References