I've reached out to the CEO of Tiny Mile, Ignacio Tartavull and we're working on bringing attention to this issue by contacting councillors directly. 

We need to get as many people as possible to sign this petition before December 14th as the city council vote is December 15th.

Please sign and share through all social channels. Also please call or email/mail your councillor using this template: 

My letter to Krysten Wong-Tam:

Councillor Wong-Tam,

I’m writing to inform you that I strongly disapprove of the motion to ban micro utility devices on sidewalks in Toronto. I've lived in Toronto my whole life and am now a resident of Toronto Center. I think these devices are an important part of the future of cities. I believe this motion is taking Toronto several steps backwards for a number of reasons.

1. The proposed motion is anti-environmental. These robots are electric and replace a good number of gas powered cars.

2. The proposed motion makes city streets less safe. Again, since these robots remove vehicles from the road, they reduce congestion and provide pedestrians greater safety.

3. The proposed motion stifles innovation. You said, “We don’t need to be the early adopters here. Let somebody else sort it out.” However, this implies that in a few years, we’ll still have micro utility devices on our sidewalks, but they’ll be built and managed by another company, most likely based in San Francisco. The robots will not be built with Toronto’s challenges in mind. We have a great opportunity to influence how these robots are built, and capture the value they will create, but only if we support the companies building them.

4. The proposed motion encourages brain drain. I work at a tech company in Toronto. All of the top tier tech companies are based in San Francisco, and often hire away workers that were trained in Canadian schools. Justin Trudeau has committed to stopping the brain drain and encouraging top innovation in the Toronto-Waterloo corridor. This can't happen if we implement punitive regulations that effectively eliminate promising tech startups.

A ban is not the right move forward, it’s an overreaction that will damage our city. There haven't been issues thus far, while these robots have been on streets for months. I don't understand the need for a pre-emptive ban, without first trying to make things work for all parties. Please consider working with the stakeholders involved to come up with ways to address concerns as they arise, rather than being close-minded.

Please reach out if you have any questions. Also please let me know how I can best make my concerns heard ahead of the vote on the 15th.

Best,
Adam