{"id":26964,"date":"2020-07-09T22:13:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T02:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26964"},"modified":"2020-07-09T22:13:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T02:13:29","slug":"rainbow-crosswalk-at-yonge-wellington-will-celebrate-communitys-diversity-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/rainbow-crosswalk-at-yonge-wellington-will-celebrate-communitys-diversity-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow Crosswalk at Yonge & Wellington will celebrate community\u2019s diversity: Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Rainbow Crosswalk will celebrate Aurora\u2019s place as a\ncommunity that celebrates diversity, according to Mayor Tom Mrakas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas has put forward a notice of motion to be\ndiscussed July 14 which, if approved by Council, will transform the crosswalk\non the south side of Yonge and Wellington into a sea of colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAurora and other communities across the Province have\nshown their support for Pride and the LGBTQ+ community by raising a Pride flag\nin June every year,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas in his motion. \u201cThe permanent\ninstallation of a rainbow crosswalk is a symbol of the Town of Aurora\u2019s\nacceptance of, support for, and commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. The\nintent of this initiative is to show vulnerable people in our community that\nAurora is a Town where everyone is welcomed and accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas first floated the idea of a Rainbow\nCrosswalk in Aurora\u2019s Downtown Core and hoped to have it complete by the end of\nPride Month in June. Some logistical issues, however, got in the way of that\nend goal and if Council approves the idea next week it could be done by the end\nof July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were discussing it for a while,\u201d the Mayor tells The\nAuroran. \u201cUnfortunately, from a logistics standpoint with some of the\nconstruction timelines, it just wasn\u2019t going to be feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thought, he says, was to have the Rainbow Crosswalk on\nYonge Street at Mosley, but that area already has stamped concrete and the\nmaterial necessary for the Rainbow Crosswalk is unable to adhere to such a\nsurface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crosswalks at Church Street, near the Aurora Public Library and\nAurora Cultural Centre, were also examined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, it was decided Yonge and Wellington would be the\nperfect location and the Rainbow Crosswalk would serve as another gateway to\ndelineate Aurora\u2019s historic Downtown Core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think especially with some of the changes within the Downtown\nCore that we\u2019re looking at making, creating a more vibrant gathering space that\nis going to have more and more people come to visit the area\u2026 I think that\nthere is no better place in Town than right centrally located to have something\nthat speaks to the fact our Town is inclusive, diverse and welcoming to all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rainbow Crosswalk, once approved, will be completed with\npre-formed thermoplastic pavement markings that are non-slip and in keeping\nwith requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act\n(AODA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project comes with an estimated price tag of just over\n$12,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have discussed this idea with York Pride and Pflag York Region\nand they said it was [good to have this installed outside Pride month] because\nit allows for the continuation of discussion outside of regular Pride month,\u201d\nsays Mayor Mrakas. \u201cI am glad they feel that way and are happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As York Pride\u2019s Digital Pride Month celebrations came to an end,\nthey said the motion for a Rainbow Crosswalk was \u201cextremely exciting\u201d for the\nTown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWhat better way to\nend Pride Month than with a symbol that will represent our community 365 days a\nyear in one of Aurora\u2019s busiest intersections!\u201d said York Pride\u2019s Jacob Gal. \u201cThis is the type of leadership from Tom Mrakas and Council we\nneed in our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will be the first ever permanent\n2SLGBTQ+ art installation to be installed in York Region. This is a bold step\nforward in bringing visibility to York Region residents that Pride is for\neveryone and that building vibrant, healthy and accepting communities starts\nwith the simplest gestures. For the last 20 years, York Pride has been working\nvery hard to positively change how people view the 2SLGBTQ+ community, through\nour family friendly events and outreach to our growing region of 1.2 million\nresidents. This will be a great opportunity for families to teach their kids\nabout respecting others, regardless of their differences. Soon, families,\nfriends and residents can go for a walk and make a day full of meaningful\nmemories in the downtown core of Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pflag York offered similar sentiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor LGBTQ2+ people, their lived experiences often involves\nrepressing their true authentic self out of fear: fear of being disowned, fear\nof being attacked amongst other concerns,\u201d says Tristan Coolman of Pflag York\nRegion. \u201cWe, unfortunately, still live in a world and a community that is not\nalways affirming or respectful of these lived experiences. A Rainbow Crosswalk\nserves as a visible sign of support from our elected officials and for LGBTQ2+\npeople. It\u2019s a sign to anyone who feels different to, quite frankly, educate\nthemselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs many of us have learned over the last few weeks, social literacy is a skill many of us are lacking. It\u2019s in a way a new currency for how we measure our engagement with others. Agencies like Pflag York Region can support with those journeys and this rainbow crosswalk may be the start of that for many residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Rainbow Crosswalk will celebrate Aurora\u2019s place as a community that celebrates diversity, according to Mayor Tom Mrakas. Mayor Mrakas has put forward a notice of motion to be discussed July 14 which, if approved by Council, will transform the crosswalk on the south side of Yonge and Wellington into a sea of colour. \u201cAurora […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-70U","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-26 02:13:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}