politics

An Open Letter to Councillor Doug Ford in response to his comment appearing in the Toronto Star:

Dear Councillor Ford,

Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Parker are in full spin mode as they try to justify the vote to remove the Jarvis bike lanes, while they attempt to steamroller over Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee voted to take out Jarvis bike lanes in a surprise motion today, on top of the motion to take out lanes on Pharmacy and Birchmount. I don't think the councillors realize the blowback of Jarvis compared to Pharmacy/Birchmount (where removal is quite sad, but not much organized local opposition). Jarvis may yet prove to be a lightening rod around which cyclists will gather (to be energized?).

Tino of Bike Lane Diary, Peter - a Bike Union member, and I rode out to Pharmacy (in Scarborough) to talk about bike lanes and the Councillor's request to have them removed. Did you know that Pharmacy is only 10 km away from Spadina? An easy ride. I bet you also didn't know that not one person we spoke with actually knew the bike lanes were being proposed for removal by Councillor Michelle Berardinetti. Don't they deserve to know about this?

http://vimeo.com/25456590

Where have all the proposed new bike lanes gone? For those interested in a safer cycling environment a City Bikeway Network report has just been released recommending Toronto's first physically separated bicycle lanes for a small part of downtown. Unfortunately, the recommended lanes is smaller than that supported by many area residents as well as the Chair of Public Works and Infrastructure.

The Bikeway Network Report for 2011 came out yesterday. Overall it's a big letdown, though I'm happy to see that Sherbourne, Bloor Viaduct and Wellesley are proposed to get protected bike lanes.

Dave Meslin organized a bike count a couple days ago to find out if the John Street Corridor EA's 2% bike mode share claim was correct or not. I joined the effort. What we found out, and suspected, was that it was quite unlikely that 2% could be accurate. The EA claimed that cycling rates on John Street were a steady 2%, morning, afternoon, weekday and weekend.

Councillor Vaughan's proposed bike lanes:

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The regular bike lanes would be 1 km on Dan Leckie, 1.4 km on Bremner, and 1.3 km on Blue Jays Way, for a total of 3.7 km.

There's been a lot of negative press the last while about the Public Bicycle System Company and the recent deal with the City of Montreal. It wasn't just rant radio outlets like Newstalk 1010 (which invited a rant radio host from Montreal to rant about the deal) but even the CBC was calling it a "bailout".

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who's ward includes Sherbourne, has been playing her cards closely. Today we learned that she at least agrees in principle to the separated bike lanes / cycle tracks plan for Sherbourne Street. On Twitter this morning Rob (@rmeynell) asked Councillor Kristyn Wong Tam:

Councillor McConnell is on board with separated bike lanes on Sherbourne, but @kristynwongtam is holding out. With respect, why? @bikeTO