Four sections of bike lanes were on the agenda at today's PWIC meeting: All carried. That is: what we are getting is what was on the agenda.
At dispute was a section of Annette from Jane to Runnymede; this section was not on the agenda before the PWIC but many cyclists felt it should have been. A total of 14 people gave deputations about Annette Street: 9 came out for the bike lanes, 3 were against.
We got a win; mostly. The bad news for many cyclists, and would be cyclists, is that we’re not getting bike lanes on all of Annette St. right now. The section in dispute has been referred back to Councillor Saundercook and city staff in order to meet with area residents and businesses owners to see if this matter can be peacefully resolved in time for the October PWIC meeting. This compromise was suggested by Councillor Grimes, and was the option eventually adopted by the committee.
Councillor Parker moved a motion to get all segments of bike lanes on the agenda pushed back, but none of the other committee members saw this as prudent action to take. Councillor Carroll reminded Councillor Parker that the Bike Plan is not new, and that it ties in with many other city council approved plans, and should not be unduly delayed. In addition she reminded Parker that there was only one objection heard to one of the four bike lane segments in front of them, but plenty of support heard for all of these segments including from the local councillors.
Councillor Carroll, Councillor Giambrone and Councillor De Baeremaeker toyed with the idea of pushing through the bike lanes on all of Annette at this meeting, however they thought that Grimes' idea had merit. The committee adjusted his motion to be more specific and to give staff more direction. They agreed to delay the process only because some of the people who gave deputations said that inadequate notice and time had been given for feedback (read: objection). Having followed this from the start I don't think is an accurate assessment as there has been plenty of media about this bike lane as evidenced by these links:
- Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation
- Annette Street repaving
- Annette Street Bike Lanes - Public Meeting, April 17
- BikingToronto.com
- Annette Street to get new pavement and bikelanes
- Spacing Toronto
- Cutting short the Annette Street bike lane
- biketoronto.ca
- Four new bike lanes proposed in Phase 2 of 2008 bike lane plan, June 4th, Annette lanes cut short
- insideToronto.com
- Annette Street set for resurfacing
- Bike lanes coming to Annette Street
- City changes concept for proposed bike lanes in response to community uproar
- CityNews.ca
- Toronto 2008 Roads Budget
- bikeunion.to
- Annette Street bike lanes
- Open Hand/Open Eye
- Report from the Annette Street Bicycle Lane Meeting
- Cycling in Toronto -- Next Steps
A couple of additional notes to make about this: The meeting was very well attended by cyclists, and not just those who made deputations. Thank you to all of you for your show of support; I hope that next time you'll come out and speak as well. Councillor De Baeremaeker tried to make it as clear as day that he and the other committee members listened the deputations that we made. You could tell by the interrogation he gave Maryann Dixon after her speech against bike lanes. Amongst the questions he asked was if his own safety when cycling was less important that her convenience of being able to park her car in front of her house.
Lessons learned: Motivate people who ride bikes to show up to these meetings and make deputations; it really helps! Councillor De Baeremaeker made a point of mentioning that the most weight for decisions made by the committee is given to those positions expressed by people who attend and make deputations at city hall meetings like PWIC, and especially to those from members of the public, ie residents (us) who have (likely, probably) taken time off work to be there; less to the hired guns (ie deputations made on behalf of "groups"). De Baeremaeker was trying to encourage those of us who ride bikes to keep coming out to these meetings because it makes it clear to them to push the bike plan through.
Lastly gratitude, appreciation and recognition need to be given to the deputants who came out supporting the bike lanes, Helen Armstrong, Andrew Bieler, Jun Nogami, Yvonne Bambrick of Toronto Cyclists Union, Ivan Brock, Ron Fletcher of TBN, Andrew Moody, and Elizabeth Lines of World 19.
Also deserving of our thanks are those individuals who have monitored and blogged about this. They helped to keep us informed, Martin Koob, John Spragge, Vic, and Fred Sztabinski. A very special thanks to the Toronto Cyclists Union for speaking on this, for supporting us, for engaging with other community groups on this, and especially for encouraging its members to show up and be involved and make deputations. And another special thanks needs to go to TBN for making an appearance and speaking so eloquently on it's members' behalf. I don't want to discourage Ron from speaking but I hope that for next time TBN will encourage its membership to also speak at these meetings in the same way the Toronto Cyclists Union did, and for the reasons that De Baeremaeker mentioned at the meeting.
Next on cyclists' to do list:
- Watch for and attend the community meeting(s) about the bike lanes on the rest of Annette St. Sell and defend the value of these bike lanes for the local businesses, our health, the environment, our safety, and all of the other good things that road-diets and bike lanes bring to our communities.
- Get ready to sell and defend the next batch of Bike lanes which will be coming at the next PWIC meeting on June 27.
The Toronto Star also covered this PWIC meeting: Annette bike lanes spark bickering
Comments
vic
Annette in The Villager
Thu, 06/05/2008 - 14:24Another artice in The Villager / insidetoronto.com: Cyclists, residents disagree on Annette bike lanes
Though it sounds to me like the headline is inaccurate. Cyclists and residents generally support the plan, but it's some of the business owners who seem to disapprove.
Helen (not verified)
Annette bike lane politics and the perils of "consultation"
Thu, 06/05/2008 - 14:28Hi Anthony. It was great to meet you and get your support, especially during the bike bashing part of the meeting - which thankfully was pretty brief. I appreciate you putting together this detailed and accurate report after the PWIC meeting.
I would add that I did not join in the demands for more public consultation, because I know that can be problematic. More consultation means we have to keep working hard and for a longer time period (which can burn some people out) to get our people rallied, and at the same time the anti-cycling crowd can marshall their forces and sometimes they will get financial backing to do so, while we have none. But I really think we have the City on our side this time - hopefully - except for our councillor Bill Saundercook, who has never truly supported cycling, despite sending around a lot of slick election propaganda about being an environmentalist!
I have met some pro bike lane parents at Runnymede Public School just since yesterday, so hopefully the movement is really growing in Ward 13.
I want to thank Andrew Beiler for his steadfast support during this exhausting process leading up to PWIC.
We hope people will come out to the public consultation to be held in our ward this month to build support for all of the bike lane on Annette, as you mentioned Anthony. I will keep you posted on the date and location.
Happy cycling.
Helen Armstrong - a regular commuter cyclist on Annette Street
vic
Annette/Dupont - Email from the City Clerk
Thu, 06/12/2008 - 11:46Here's the text from an email attachment that was just sent out to people/organizations that wrote in about the recent PWIC meeting.
-Vic
June 4, 2008
ALL INTERESTED PARTIES:
Subject: 2008 Bikeway Network Program - Phase 2 Installation of Bicycle Lanes
Committee Recommendations:
The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee recommended that:
Decision Advice and Other Information:
The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee requested the General Manager, Transportation Services to meet with the local Councillor and various community groups (e.g., residents, local Business Improvement Areas, churches and cyclists) and report to the meeting of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on October 10, 2008, on installing the missing section of the bike lane on Annette Street between Jane Street and Runnymede Road, consistent with the City of Toronto Bike Plan.
Background:
The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on June 4, 2008, considered a report (May 20, 2008) from the General Manager, Transportation Services, respecting the 2008 Bikeway Network Program - Phase 2 Installation of Bicycle Lanes.
Communications:
(May 29, 2008) e-mail from Shayla Duval (PW.New.pw16.2.1)
(May 30, 2008) e-mail from Jun Nogami (PW.New.pw16.2.2)
(May 30, 2008) e-mail from Juliet Palmer (PW.New.pw16.2.3)
(June 1, 2008) e-mail from Ian Graham (PW.New.PW16.2.4)
(June 1, 2008) e-mail from Brian Huntley (PW.New.PW16.2.5)
(June 1, 2008) e-mail from Sara Lipson (PW.New.PW16.2.6)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Christine Pitcher (PW.New.PW16.2.7)
(June 2, 2008) petition from the Local Residents and Business Owners in the vicinity of Dupont Street, between Lansdowne and Dundas (PW.New.PW16.2.8)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Fereshteh Hashemi (PW.New.PW16.2.9)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from James Rolfe (PW.New.PW16.2.10)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Doreen King (PW.New.pw16.2.11)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Victor Gedris (PW.New.PW16.2.12)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Scott Armstrong (PW.New.PW16.2.13)
(June 2, 2008) submission from Dr. M. G. AbouHaidar (PW.New.PW16.2.14)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Frank DiGenova (PW.New.PW16.2.15)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Hugh Lynch (PW.New.PW16.2.16)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from P. Schmidt (PW.New.PW16.2.17)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Fred Spek (PW.New.PW16.2.18)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Cyndy Abel (PW.New.PW16.2.19)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Joan Guenther (PW.New.PW16.2.20)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Ron Fletcher, Chair, Toronto Bicycling Network Cycling Advisory College (PW.New.PW16.2.21)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Shirley Barrie (PW.New.PW16.2.22)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Ted and Connie Marras (PW.New.PW16.2.23)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from John Leeson (PW.New.PW16.2.24)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Anthony McGrath (PW.New.PW16.2.25)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Jill Marzetti (PW.New.PW16.2.26)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Tim Cormick (PW.New.PW16.2.27)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Jim Roche (PW.New.PW16.2.28)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Manfred Becker (PW.New.PW16.2.29)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Mary Poppe (PW.New.PW16.2.30)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from David Zalokar (PW.New.PW16.2.31)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Chris Lampropoulos (PW.New.PW16.2.32)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Karen Yukich (PW.New.PW16.2.33)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Richard H. Boehnke (PW.New.PW16.2.34)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Pam Mountain (PW.New.PW16.2.35)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Gillian Toles (PW.New.PW16.2.36)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Annabel Reinis (PW.New.PW16.2.37)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Hugh Lynch (PW.New.PW16.2.38)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Annie Dupuis (PW.New.PW16.2.39)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Zhijian Zhao (PW.New.PW16.2.40)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Kate Chung (PW.New.PW16.2.41)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Rita Bijons (PW.New.PW16.2.42)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Antony Hilliard (PW.New.PW16.2.43)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Oksana Kuryliw (PW.New.PW16.2.44)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from John Liss (PW.New.PW16.2.45)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Jocelyn Tharp (PW.New.PW16.2.46)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Louise Cochrane and Michael Stewart (PW.New.PW16.2.47)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Sigrid Blohm (PW.New.PW16.2.48)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Andrew Bieler (PW.New.PW16.2.49)
(June 2, 2008) e-mail from Helen Armstrong and Tony Rapoport (PW.New.PW16.2.50)
(June 4, 2008) e-mail from Elizabeth Lines, on behalf of world19 (PW.New.PW16.2.51)
(June 3, 2008) e-mail from Mary Ellen Lynch (PW.New.PW16.2.52)
(June 4, 2008) submission from Andrew Moody (PW.New.PW16.2.53)
(June 4, 2008) e-mail from George Harasymowycz (PW.New.PW16.2.54)
Speakers:
Yvonne Bambrick, Toronto Cyclists Union
Helen Armstrong
Andrew Bieler
Anthony Humphreys
Jun Nogami
Ivan Brock
Ron Fletcher, Chair, Toronto Bicycling Network Cycling Advocacy Committee
Andrew Moody
Elizabeth Lines, world19
Marianne Dixon
George Harasymowycz, and on behalf of the Annette Village Merchants
Felix Bednarsky
City Clerk
R. Dyers/tl
Item PW16.2
Sent to: General Manager, Transportation Services
All Interested Parties
c. Deputy City Manager, Richard Butts