Ottawa celebrates a victory for cyclists today, as Council will finally vote on adapting the City's official Bike Plan.
Meanwhile, back in Hog-Town, Mayor Miller breaks the ground on the Bloor-Yorkville Transformation, a project that not only ignores the needs of cyclists, but has completely balked the required public consultations for a project of this size.
A half-dozen cyclists were shut out of the Bloor-Yorkville BIA “open house” meeting last night, and were faced with threats of arrest from a gang of over 20 assigned police officers. Councillor Kyle Rae flipped out upon seeing their petitions, and screamed at a member of the Toronto Cycling Committee to “Grow up and get informed!” as he pushed his way past.
Reportedly, once behind closed doors, Rae proudly announced that there will be no plan to accommodate bike lanes in this reconstruct, despite unprecedented public demand (for over 20 years), and despite outcomes of the in depth study of bike lane viability for Bloor Street currently underway at City Hall.
The Bloor-Yorkville Groundbreaking Ceremony is scheduled for 3:00pm today at the Manulife Center. Come see Mayor Miller dig a grave for Bike Lanes on Bloor Street.
Let’s hope Ottawa takes its commitment to active transportation and climate change a little more seriously than Toronto.
Comments
Ben
addendum
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 15:05And let's not forget that a city study done in '92 concluded that Bloor is the best choice for an east-west bike lane.
These unprincipled bastards get on my nerves.
jamesmallon (not verified)
The game is lost at city hall
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 15:37The game is lost at city hall for us cyclists. Get over it. We never had a chance. Our lobby has far more earnestness than money, and what we have doesn't count as much as what the BIAs and developers have, and parking meters get for, the city.
Now we all need to grow up, get ourselves under one banner, and start sueing everyone involved in every collision with a cyclist. Lobby, schmobby; scare people. Our enemies have only baser instincts, so lets appeal to that.
Large Marge
Ottawa Accelerates!!!
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 17:15So it turns out Ottawa not only approved the bike plan. They've actually accelerated the phase 1 implementation to 5 years instead of the proposed 10!!
Luke Siragusa
Next time Kyle
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 17:18Too bad I read of this after the fact. A perfect opportunity to display en masse our disapproval has come and gone.
It's important when next the Bloor/Yorkville renovation presents an occasion for cyclists to congregrate and 'get informed' that we heed Kyle and Co.'s edict. The arrogance at City Hall is really galling.
Todd Tyrtle (not verified)
Has the time come for direct action?
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 17:28Just as we should look towards legal avenues, we shouldn't underestimate the power of a group of determined people to inconvenience others enough to get their way. We need to start clogging Bloor during morning/evening rush with "bike buses" - groups of 10-15 cyclists at a time taking the lane slowly traveling both directions between Spadina and Sherbourne. There is nothing that says that we have to wait for them to paint a bike lane - let's make them install the lanes to get us out of the way. Add a few press releases to the mix for added impact...
Darren_S
Donations
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 19:02All we need to do is take donations. Once we have enough money to buy a politician we have it made.
Todd Tyrtle (not verified)
Bake Sale?
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 20:16Maybe we could have a benefit bake sale to fund this? Maybe we should also check in with Kyle Rae and ask him what the Yorkville businesses paid so we know what to put at the top of our little thermometer graphic next to the cookie table.
Kevin Love (not verified)
He's my municipal rep
Wed, 07/09/2008 - 22:40I live in Kyle Rae's ward. As soon as I send this off I'm writing him a letter asking for his side of the story. I vote in every election, and I'm already unhappy with his performance.
HCM (not verified)
Direct action - the slow trip to work
Thu, 07/10/2008 - 00:02Todd Said:
We need to start clogging Bloor during morning/evening rush with "bike buses" - groups of 10-15 cyclists at a time taking the lane slowly traveling both directions between Spadina and Sherbourne.
Can you imagine? The bike bus would be sitting there. Traffic is so stalled on Bloor on this stretch. I can't believe the fools that continue to drive, rather sit in it.
Speaking of fools, council members... neglecting active transportation is so backwards.
A.R. (not verified)
Sounds awful, but...
Thu, 07/10/2008 - 01:30Is there any proof of what happened at the BIA meeting?
Regardless, continue the fight, because Kyle Rae has showed an ugly side to more than just cyclists.
andy (not verified)
Open Letter to Kyle Rae
Thu, 07/10/2008 - 08:59Mr. Rae,
While I am not resident of your ward, I do work near Yonge and Bloor and I am very upset by some of your recent actions and comments.
I am very disturbed by comments attributed to you on this bloghttp://www.ibiketo.ca/node/2346#comments, particularly your suggestion that a member of the city's cycling committee needs to "get informed". I am a former member of the Toronto Cycling Committee and feel the need to point out to you that when it comes to cycling issues, active transportation and the latest in city planning, members of this committee are quite likely better informed and educated that yourself or your peers on city council.
All members are unpaid volunteers who enjoy none of the perks of city councillors, but wish to share their expertise and work towards the building of a better a city. Cycling committee members, and other activists that you dismissed, know that cycling infrastructure is part of this better city and that the city's own planners have recommended Bloor Street as an ideal place to install that infrastructure. Where we are poorly informed, or lack understanding, is how big businesses can so easily cause the city to ignore its own experts and policies and why the city creates documents like the Bike Plan and the Green Plan only to ignore them.
I await your response.
Svend
Time to go, Kyle
Thu, 07/10/2008 - 12:31Check out Kyle Rae's response to a bikeToront cycling survey when running for re-election in 2006.
http://biketoronto.ca/vote2006/show/can/163.htm
Scroll to the bottom, he supported bike lanes on Bloor all the way from Queens Park to Sherbourne as well as other initiatives before being co-opted by the BIA.
Clearly he isn't a progressive politician anymore, no better than Rob Ford in my opinion. Time to go, Kyle.
Luke Siragusa
Re: Time to go, Kyle
Thu, 07/10/2008 - 12:41Well that's up to the voters. I wonder that Kyle Rae was ever 'progressive' to begin with: opportunistic politicos taking up and casting aside banners when it suits them is standard practice. His progressive inclinations aside, the results of the survey reveal Rae to be a hypocrite first and foremost.
hamish (not verified)
hypocarisy is endemic; it's not just Mr. Rae
Fri, 07/11/2008 - 10:25We all have some element of not acting in accordance with espoused principles, but with Bloor it's especially smelly. It's not climate science to paint a white line on the road; while 16 years isn't quite 20, Mr. Rae was a newbie rep when the 1992 Bloor-as-#1 report emerged - so he's had plenty of time to work on it.
But the real hypocarisy is with the larger council: if they cannot put bike lanes on the most logical place in southern Ontario with clear planning precedent and street width, and the agreement of the merchants to remove parking, then they cannot make any claims to be "green" or fighting climate change or smog.
But there's another aspect of hypocarisy beyond this - the lack of an Env Assessment is being justified by the province (to some degree) on the involvement of the BIA in the project. So we have a horde of "progressives" lining up to support a P3 project - public/private partnership but really a private paving party. I haven't reviewed the Council debate (I've been needing to put some sustainability into the activism, including on Tuesday), but there really are some issues around the lack of an EA and the privatization of public space and process.