Muffler Noise

To all GYRA board members: Tonight the Mayor held a press conference in front of the Yorkville Fire hall (I attached a few photos). The focus was to address excessive noise and in particular excessive muffler noise. While it obviously affects our greater Yorkville neighbourhood, it also affects numerous other areas throughout the City. This initiative as you know has been a long time in coming and we’re grateful to Mayor Tory for stepping up to address this issue, which btw, was one of his campaign promises. Toronto Police Traffic Services will be responsible for this initiative and starting October 1st, when the new Noise Bylaw comes into effect, will also be working with Municipal Licensing and Standards. Superintendent Scott Baptist who I know, previously the Superintendent of 53 Division, is now the Superintendent of Traffic Services. Scott is a good guy and clearly understands the problem. One blitz has already taken place a couple of weeks ago in other parts of the City with 42 tickets issued and a number of blitzes will take place this evening in various parts of the city. Tonight’s presser was to get the message out about this new initiative to the public and especially to the motorcyclists and drivers of high performance cars. This is a major step in the right direction but we will remain vigilant in ensuring that this issue remains a focus of the Mayor, Toronto Police Services and ML&S. Thanks to Barry Campbell and Bill Etherington for helping to move this issue forward with the Mayor. Best, Alan Baker President GYRA