CITY COUNCILLOR
LILY CHENG
WILLOWDALE WARD 18

This week, I requested a briefing on the rollout of the Smart Signal program for 2026. I was happy to learn the Willowdale area will see a major share of the City of Toronto’s Smart Traffic Signal rollout, with about 25 intersections targeted, fully half of the city’s planned 50 new installations for 2026. That means Willowdale alone will receive 50% of all new smart signals, a significant concentration compared to the roughly 200 smart signals already deployed citywide by th

With the recent warm weather, snow operations teams are actively repairing potholes across Willowdale. A recent "pothole blitz” was conducted on Feb 28th throughout the city, and additional repair days will continue throughout the spring. So far this year, in our ward, 311 has received 283 service requests regarding pothole repairs, 260 have been completed, and currently 23 requests are in progress. Currently, the estimated time for repair upon submission of a service reques

Something historic happened in Willowdale this past weekend. I was pleased to sit down with The Honourable Ali Ehsassi and The Honourable Stan Cho to talk about how we align our efforts to support both the pressures of today and the growth of tomorrow in our neighbourhood. All three of us are part of large systems where we each have to fight for our ward for attention and resources. Working together will provide more opportunities to be strategic and align our efforts to achi

Metrolinx has shared several new construction notices related to early works for the Yonge North Subway Extension project near Yonge Street and Steeles Avenue. Residents and businesses in the area may notice upcoming activity, including: Installation of underground monitoring equipment at multiple locations along the corridor, including (1) Steeles Avenue & Yonge Street, and (2) Connaught Avenue, west of Yonge Installation of underground monitoring equipment on Connaught Aven

401 Interchange The City and Ministry of Transportation (MTO) are advancing the Environmental Assessment (EA) work with preparing procurement materials and targeting release of an Request For Proposal (RFP) in Spring 2026. Once a Consultant team is retained, the EA is expected to take about two years and will identify a preferred interchange design after evaluating options Transform Yonge The Request for Proposal (RFP) for detailed design is currently on hold while staff asse

Today, we capped off a multi-week Budget Committee journey by presenting a set of recommendations to the Mayor, who will release her version of the Budget on February 1 . I am grateful to all Willowdale residents who stayed engaged—from the initial consultation at Memorial Hall, to the Willowdale Youth Council information session with deputation training, to our Virtual Budget Town Hall (see photo below) and this week’s Budget Deputation Meetings, where we heard a wide rang

On Tues. Jan 20 and Wed. Jan 21, I attended the Public Deputations on the 2026 City Budget to hear Torontonians input. Here's what we heard: Residents repeatedly emphasized that Toronto’s public health, mental health, and social services are under severe strain . Frontline workers and community members described staffing shortages, burnout, wage disparities, and retention challenges that are limiting access to preventive care, Indigenous health programs, sexual health service

The City of Toronto is implementing new zoning changes that will allow more housing to be built near transit , following direction from the Province. These changes affect areas near 120 transit stations across the city, including TTC subway stations, three of them in Willowdale. The goal is to make better use of land close to transit by allowing additional housing options while supporting complete, connected communities. In August 2025, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and

NY29.16 - Hendon Avenue - Traffic Safety Measures - Speed Humps, Speed Reduction and All-Way Stop Control At North York Community Council , we approved a set of traffic calming and pedestrian safety improvements for Hendon Avenue . These changes respond to ongoing resident concerns about traffic volumes and speeding, particularly with the future Beecroft Road extension in mind. The measures are based on an updated review of a previous Environmental Assessment, which looked at