What to know
- Ahmed Nadar, a Toronto-based software developer, created SolveTO to address a personal pain point of what he perceived to be the city’s inefficient pothole repairs.
- Since then, it’s grown into a platform where council motions and councillor efficacy are collected and presented in a streamlined manner.
- Nadar hopes his work will encourage more civic participation and increased communication between residents and the city.
A Toronto-based developer’s frustration with the city’s delay in fixing potholes has grown into a movement of civic engagement.
“We deserve to know better, and the city deserves to have people that care about it,” Ahmed Nadar tells Now Toronto.
Nadar is of the belief that complaining and pointing the finger don’t “get things done.”
“If [the citizens] are empowered with knowledge, I hope – and I have seen it with a few people – that this will change their mind about how to care about their own neighbourhood.”
Through Nadar’s public database SolveTO, Toronto residents can report matters around the city that require municipal attention – everything from potholes to garbage overflows and graffiti.
With artificial intelligence, reports filed by users would automatically be passed along to the city in an email to 311 and the local councilor.
Since it was first released to the public in February, the website has undergone updates to its software, layout, and interface.
Another thing that was updated? Nadar’s ambitions
“I want to do more for civic intelligence – to connect everything together,” he says.
Nadar began thinking about what the city does with the information it receives.
“Let’s say there’s a flood in your area. How old is the chase basin? How is it connected? Has it been maintained? Who’s responsible for that?” Nadar found himself asking.
“I wanted to know more, and I wanted to know fast. I don’t want to dig through [the city’s website,” he says.
And so, SolveTO’s ‘Council’ page was born.
#Toronto 👋🏼
— Ahmed Nadar (@ahmednadar) April 9, 2026
A few weeks ago I realized I had no idea how my city council actually worked. Who voted for what. What passed. What failed. What it means for my street 😕
I wanted to know, so I dug in. Turns out everything is on open data. Every vote. Every motion. Every… pic.twitter.com/8zfAG7ApH1
Although the system has launched, Nadar says there are some gaps that still need to be addressed.
“I don’t have all the motions, I don’t have all the committee. [Sometimes] I have to go manually and grab something that happened,” he says.
“I can only grab what I can grab, not what they have. They have a lot, and they’ll say [some data] is not up for grabs by just anyone.”
For now, Nadar, a full-time software developer himself, updates the program manually as often as he can and includes the links to relevant motions for anyone looking for more information.
It’s Nadar’s hope that by making council decisions more accessible, there will be an increase in civic participation not just municipally but provincially and federally.
“The big picture is to have civic intelligence across Canada,” Nadar says.
In a blog post on SolveTO, Nadar pointed out the lack of open data in municipalities across the country.
“The more I dug into civic data, the more I realized the gap wasn’t just Toronto versus the rest,” Nadar wrote.
“It was Canada versus the world.”
In the post, Nadar refers to the United Nation’s annual E-Government Development Index. According to the agency, e-governments improve public service for all, boost development, and strengthen institutions and accountability. In 2024, Canada sat in 47th place, behind Spain, Lithuania, Uruguay, and Kazakhstan.
“When I looked into this a little bit, I found that it’s not the technology,” Nadar says.
“It’s the trust from the people to allow the government to start to establish [an e-government]. Trust between both of the people themselves and the government.”
Nadar’s current biggest challenge is forming a line of communication with the City of Toronto
After reaching out to all 25 councillors and the mayor, Nadar says he’s only heard back from two.
On SolveTO, Nadar also scores each councillor on a scale of 100 based on different factors like their success rate in issue resolution, speed in which they get there, and their responsiveness.
“I’m not here to judge them,” Nadar clarifies.
“I know [the councillors] are not the ones who control what gets fixed or not. They’re not. They’re not the centre of the universe. The city is.”
What Nadar wants is communication. He says such a system of accountability could help the city communicate better and faster, closing the gap that currently exists between those seeking action and those who provide them.
Nadar also has an ask of the residents of Toronto, for whom he dedicates much of his free time: more awareness, more reporting, more updating.
“I know everyone is busy. They forget about it,” he says.
But from his personal experience in his own neighbourhood, he’s noticed that putting some time and effort into this growing movement has brought results.
#Toronto 👋🏼
— Ahmed Nadar (@ahmednadar) April 7, 2026
A dead tree was dangerously leaning across the sidewalk on Ossington Ave, blocking pedestrian access.
Thanks to the resident who took 30 seconds to speak up instead of just walking past it.
Reported Monday. Fixed Tuesday. 24 hours ✅
No 5-page form. Just a photo… pic.twitter.com/spWrVg3nsg
“When I tweet about [resolved issues], people get excited and are willing to report more. And I noticed that once I write something like that, I see more reports submitted. So people want to be helpful, they just don’t know how,” Nadar says.
To report any municipal issues or stay up to date with council matters, you can check out Nadar’s website, SolveTO.
