WINTER(safety)FEST LETTERS OF SUPPORT

** Business Letterhead **

Dear Warren Park Community and City of Toronto,

My business, [INSERT BUSINESS NAME]. is located at [INCLUDE BUSINESS LOCATION]. Foot traffic and walkability from local communities is an important part of sustaining and growing my businesses. St. Mark's Road between Humbercrest Blvd. and Varsity road offers sub-standard walking conditions and safety risks to my community of patrons and potential patrons, reducing pedestrians willingness to walk that route, and therefore affecting my business revenue, particularly in the winter months.

Short term temporary barriers to protect pedestrians would have an immediate positive impact on my business this winters season. A long term plan to integrate pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicles safety would improve my connection with the Warren Park community, with positive long-term effects on my business. 

As a business that cares about the long term environmental sustainability in our urban setting, reducing vehicular traffic and increasing the connection and accessibility between my business and the parks available from within the Warren Park community further offers opportunities for me to improve my city and the wellbeing of my patrons. 

It's my hope that we will see pedestrian safety measures implemented shortly. I will continue to support this issue for my business and my community.

Sincerely,

[NAME]

[ROLE]

[BUSINESS NAME]

[BUSINESS ADDRESS]

[BUSINESS WEBSITE]

[BUSINESS PHONE NUMBER]

[BUSINESS EMAIL]

** Organization Letterhead **

Dear Warren Park Community and City of Toronto,

My organization, [INSERT ORG NAME]. works towards [INCLUDE ORG MISSION]. Foot traffic and walkability from local communities is an important part of [INSERT ORG GOALS, VALUES]. St. Mark's Road between Humbercrest Blvd. and Varsity road offers sub-standard walking conditions and safety risks our community of [INSERT ORG PARTNERS/SERVICE RECIPIENTS], reducing pedestrians willingness to walk that route, and therefore affecting [INSERT ORG GOALS], particularly in the winter months.

Short term temporary barriers to protect pedestrians would have an immediate positive impact on [INSERT ORG PARTNERS/SERVICE RECIPIENTS] this winters season. A long term plan to integrate pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicles safety would improve our connection with the Warren Park community, with positive long-term effects on our organization. 

As an organization that cares about the long term environmental sustainability in our urban setting, reducing vehicular traffic and increasing the connection and accessibility between  [INSERT ORG PARTNERS/SERVICE RECIPIENTS] and the parks [REPLACE OR INSERT ADDITIONAL NEIGHBOURHOOD SERVICES/FEATURES] available from within the Warren Park community further offers opportunities for us to improve our city and the wellbeing of our organization's community. 

It's our hope that we will see pedestrian safety measures implemented shortly. We will continue to support this issue for our organization and our community.

Sincerely,

[NAME]

[ROLE]

[BUSINESS NAME]

[BUSINESS ADDRESS]

[BUSINESS WEBSITE]

[BUSINESS PHONE NUMBER]

[BUSINESS EMAIL]

TEMPLATE OPTION 1: 

** School Letter Head** 

Dear Warren Park Community and City of Toronto,

Our school, [INSERT SCHOOL NAME] works towards [INCLUDE RELATED SCHOOL MISSION]. Foot traffic and walkability from local communities is an important part of [INSERT SCHOOL GOALS, VALUES]. St. Mark's Road between Humbercrest Blvd. and Varsity road offers sub-standard walking conditions and safety risks our community of students, reducing pedestrians willingness to walk that route, negatively impacting many of our school goals, particularly in the winter months.

Short term temporary barriers to protect pedestrians would have an immediate positive impact on [INSERT ORG PARTNERS/SERVICE RECIPIENTS] this winters season. A long term plan to integrate pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicles safety would improve our connection with the Warren Park community, with positive long-term effects on our organization. 

As a [INSERT SCHOOL BOARD] school that cares about the long term environmental sustainability of our urban setting, reducing vehicular traffic and increasing the connection and accessibility between our school community and the parks, Warren Park Outdoor Education Center, Lambton House and community from within the Warren Park geographical bounds further offers opportunities for us to improve our city and the wellbeing of our students and staff. 

It's our hope that we will see pedestrian safety measures implemented shortly. We will continue to support this issue for our organization and our community.

Sincerely,

[NAME]

[ROLE]

[BUSINESS NAME]

[BUSINESS ADDRESS]

[BUSINESS WEBSITE]

[BUSINESS PHONE NUMBER]

[BUSINESS EMAIL]

TEMPLATE OPTION 2:

** School Letter Head** 

Dear Warren Park Community and City of Toronto,

As a TDSB school, student safety and wellness play an important role in offerings to our school community. 

A sizeable portion of our student population and a number of staff members live in the Warren Park neighbourhood. In order to travel to and from our school daily on foot the only reasonable route requires walking along St. Mark's Rd from Varsity Rd. to Humbercrest Blvd, otherwise known as St. Mark's Hill, a route that our staff, parent council,  and families have identified as a safety risk and impediment to walking. 

As an EcoSchools Canada participant, we're actively working on increased environmental awareness school wide, including low carbon commuting. Safety concerns on St. Mark's Road reduces the number of families and staff that are willing to travel to school by walking, therefore increasing the environmental impact our school community has locally and globally. 

Our school has a limited capacity to handle vehicular traffic at student drop-off and pick-up times, and increased vehicles on site also poses an increased risk to students. These conditions further motivate us to pursue walking as a preferred means of travel for our students over driving.

We are looking forward to improvements to St. Mark's hill that will increase our school's walkability improving student wellness, safety, environmental awareness and climate action. 

Sincerely,

[NAME]

[ROLE]

[YOUR CONTACT INFO - EMAIL/PHONE]

[YOUR SCHOOL]

[SCHOOL PHONE NUMBER]

[SCHOOL EMAIL ADDRESS]

[SCHOOL WEBSITE]