From tragedy to disgust: Video of dead cyclist stolen [The Star]

Earlier this month, bicyclist Jenna Morrison was struck and killed by a truck while turning right from Sterling Rd. to Dundas St. W.  Now, the family has been rocked by the news that a video camera containing footage of the much-loved yoga instructor dancing with her son has been stolen.

Side guards get nod from city council [NOW Magazine]

In an overwhelming 39-3 vote, councillors approved a broadly worded motion to look into introducing several safety measures on trucks in Toronto, including side guards and other features like audible warning systems. The motion also voiced council’s support for a federal bill that would make side guards mandatory across the country, and asked staff to investigate the feasibility of fitting the guards on all city-operated trucks.

Canadians want more bike lanes and law-abiding cyclists: poll [National Post]

Following recent high-profile cycling deaths in Ontario, results of a poll suggest four in five Canadians think until more cyclists respect the rules of the road, they won’t be able to gain the respect of motorists. “What Canadians are saying is that there needs to be more understanding between motorists and cyclists,” Ipsos Reid associate vice-president Sean Simpson said.

Reminder: Toronto Cyclists Union Member Appreciation Night [Bike Union]

 The Bike Union’s Member Appreciation Night is tonight (Thursday) at Mountain Equipment Co-op.  Get 10% off MEC products, INCLUDING bikes!

Bixi gets bigger [Spacing Toronto]

Locating Bixi stations close to each other and creating a dense service area is crucial for a bike share system that is structured for relatively quick, under 30-minute trips. However, the realization that there are opportunities for stations outside the initial service area, while less densely located, is a welcome one.

[photo from National Post]

About the News Cycle

The News Cycle is a periodic post which brings together links to news, events and other things which may be of interest to Toronto’s cyclists.  If you have an item you would like to see in The News Cycle, please email it to me at joe[at]bikingtoronto.com

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The Fixer: Cycling campaign appeals to drivers’ better instincts [The Star]

Request to drivers: Please be more accepting of cyclists and consider them fellow travellers, instead of adversaries. That’s the idea behind “I Share the Road,” a campaign begun by cycling advocate and blogger James Schwartz, who hopes to foster a better relationship with drivers.

Morrison memorial service set for Monday [The Star]

A service to honour the life of Jenna Morrison will be held Monday at 7 p.m. at Bloor Street United Church, friends of the family announced Friday. Morrison was riding a bicycle when she was struck and killed by a truck last Monday morning while both were stopped at an intersection.

A bike ride into tragedy [The Star]

Excellent opinion article by Laura Robinson by the shocking lack of laws protecting those using roads (ie. public space) while not in cars.  Cyclists and pedestrians are seemingly ignored by the lawmakers of all 3 levels of government.

[photo from the Star]

About the News Cycle

The News Cycle is a periodic post which brings together links to news, events and other things which may be of interest to Toronto’s cyclists.  If you have an item you would like to see in The News Cycle, please email it to me at joe[at]bikingtoronto.com

Subscribe to our RSS feed to get The News Cycle in your feed reader, or subscribe to our mailing list to get BikingToronto posts in your email (maximum 1 email per day).

Back in June, Rob Ford presented his BikePlan, which essentially was just a re-hashing of some earlier concepts by other politicians and I think, originally, by Dave Meslin, including most signficantly, an idea to put separated bikelanes on Richmond and Adelaide Streets.

That plan is one step closer now due to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee carrying an item at their meeting on Thurs, Nov. 3rd to move ahead with an Environmental Assessment on the feasibility of the separated lanes.

The full text of the item is as follows:

1.         City Council authorize the General Manager of Transportation Services to initiate a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment study for separated bicycle lanes within the Richmond-Adelaide corridor, between Bathurst Street and Sherbourne Street, which could include consideration of a pilot project to install and evaluate separated bicycle lanes on the preferred alignment during the course of the study.

2.         City Council direct that the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment Study for separated bicycle lanes within the Richmond-Adelaide corridor be limited to existing one-way road configurations.

3.         City Council authorize the General Manager of Transportation Services to initiate a second study to develop preferred bikeway route alignments to connect the future Richmond-Adelaide corridor bike lanes to existing bikeways east of the Don Valley, including, but not limited to, Dundas Street East, Eastern Avenue, and the Lake Shore Boulevard East path, as well as to the west of Bathurst Street to connect with bikeways on Strachan Avenue and Shaw Street.

The PWIC Agenda Item on the City’s website has a lot more background information on this as well.  I recommend you checking it out if you’re interested.

[Image by Dave Meslin, via the Bike Union]

I didn’t like writing the title of this post, but the following HAS to be said.

We’re in danger of losing the 1-year-old Jarvis bikelanes as the Ford Mayoralty has shown that they believe (and they’re right) that the Torontonians that voted for Rob Ford and his idealogical counterparts voted for them to 1) reduce waste at city hall and 2) end the so-called “war on the car”

The Ford Mayoralty is catering to the drivers in Toronto.

The cycling advocacy community in Toronto (mainly the Bike Union) is pulling out all the stops to try and get City Council to “Save Jarvis” (as well as the bikelanes on Pharmacy and Birchmount avenues in Scarborough) by encouraging their members and people that bike on Jarvis to contact Rob Ford and their local councillors.

Does anyone else see the problem in this strategy, or is it just me?

Don’t get me wrong… what the Bike Union is doing is GREAT, but it can’t stop there:

To paraphrase Kanye West, Rob Ford does not care about cyclists.  They did not vote for him, and he knows they won’t vote for him in the future.

Therefore, cyclists can email and phone his office (and the offices of all the City Councillors who are in the Ford voting bloc on Council) all they want, but it will be dismissed, because neither Ford nor the right-wing of City Council has any vested interest in the needs of cyclists.

Getting cyclists who use the Jarvis bikelanes to contact the Mayor is akin to (if you’ll forgive me for a rather crude analogy) hitting on a good looking guy/gal while they’re having sex with someone else.

It’s all fine and good to mobilize and galvanize the cycling community, but until Rob Ford isn’t mayor anymore, or at least until his stranglehold on Council breaks, it is the Totally Wrong Way to save bikelanes or get new ones installed.

The ONLY way to save or get new bikelanes in the current political climate is to have DRIVERS contact Rob Ford and their councillors (especially the non-downtown councillors).

Go to the shopping malls surrounded by parking lots in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough and  hand out information pamphlets about how bikelanes actually help *ease* traffic congestion (and how they can contact Rob Ford).

Talk to the DRIVERS stuck in traffic downtown about how getting people on bikes means getting people out of cars and therefore their commute may get a little easier.

Get DRIVERS to phone Rob Ford (Rob loves the phone) and tell him:

• They’re a driver and a taxpayer and…
• They like bikelanes because it gets cyclists to the side of the road and not in front of their cars, slowing them down, or:
• They’re son/daughter wants to ride their bike to school and they should be safe on the roads, or:
• Getting people out of their cars and on bikes will mean less cars on the roads, which means better car traffic flow.

If you haven’t heard already, on Thursday the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee at City Hall voted to take out the Jarvis Bikelanes that were installed about a year ago.

This is not the final decision on the Jarvis bikelanes though… the matter now goes to City Council on July 12-13, and the Toronto cycling community is mobilizing to convince City Councillors to save the lanes and save the taxpayers money (the cost to remove them is in the $250,000 ballpark).

The lanes were installed last year and took a very car-oriented street (5 lanes, with a reversible middle lane) and turned in into a slightly more humane street with 2 car lanes and 1 bikelane in each direction.  City of Toronto studies have shown that car travel times (and volume) have basically stayed the same while bicycle traffic has tripled (from about 300 to 900 cyclists using the lanes in an 8-hour period). [source - pg. 17 - PDF file]

The other thing which should be remembered is that even if the bikelanes are erased, there is no guarantee that the middle lane will be re-created – the signaling for the lane is expensive to re-create, and as well, Jarvis is due for planned streetscape improvements (before the bikelanes were planned, expanded sidewalks and pedestrian improvements were planned, with a similar reduction from 5 to 4 car lanes.

So… what can you do to help save the Jarvis Bikelanes?

1. Check out the Bike Union’s “Save Jarvis” page, which runs down these options as well

2. Sign the petition to save Jarvis.  The more signatures it has the more City Councillors will pay attention to it.

3. If you don’t have a regular job and your days are free/flexible, attend the City Council meeting on July 12-13.

How to Stay Updated on This Issue:

• Twitter: Follow the #SaveJarvis hashtag on twitter and Follow @bikingtoronto to get all the latest news.
• Facebook: “LIKE” the Save Jarvis Facebook page and the BikingToronto page, as we share all news there too.

The Fort York Pedestrian and Cyclist Bridge is, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Some background, in case you haven’t been following along:

You may remember our post from a couple weeks ago when the Public Works Committee decided that a beautiful pedestrian and cyclist bridge that would link historic Fort York (and waterfront neighbourhoods) to the park system and neighbourhoods north of the railway tracks along the waterfront) cost too much money and it would be better to scrap it, ignoring the attractions of such a bridge to area residents (north and south of the tracks), condominium developers, and Toronto in general.

The bridge (and it’s supporters) are not going quietly into the night however.

A Save the Fort York Pedestrian Bridge website has been set up (with online petition) and many prominent City Councillors and former mayoral (and premier) candidates (John Tory) are lining themselves up to save the bridge.

Despite the best efforts of Councillor Mike Layton and almost half of City Council, 2/3 of Council did not support Layton’s motion to move the matter from Committee (Public Works) to Council (in order to have a proper discussion and debate about it).

This wasn’t just a cycling infrastructure project – this was a project for cyclists, pedestrians, 2 neighbourhoods (north and south of the railway tracks) and condo developers.  This was a city building project.

It wasn’t cheap, but who said building a quality city is cheap?  Do we really want to build a cheap city?  23 of the 45 people on Council do – and this is who they are (the NO votes):

[thanks to BlogTO from grabbing the above image from the motion documents]

Related News Articles:

• Bid to Save Fort York Bridge Fails (Torontoist)
• Fort York bridge dead, councillor says (Star)
• The Fort York Bridge is a no-go (BlogTO)
• Council votes down bid to save Fort York bridge (CTV)
• Fort York bike bridge project in limbo (CBC)

This information is from Save the Fort York Bridge , who is publicizing the following to help drum up support for overturning the decision to scrap the beautiful pedestrian and cyclist bridge planned for Fort York:

1. 1000 Letters to Mayor. The Battle Is On To Save The Fort York Bridge
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144787658927784

Thu May 12 between 4pm to 7pm at 15 Stafford Street

Call To Action: Torontonians
We plan to deliver 1000 letters to Mayor Ford and Cc to Councillor Mike Layton, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong and Councillor David Shiner. Be part of this. Drop by and sign the letters.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144787658927784

 

 

Sat May 14 between 1pm to 2:30pm; starting point Trinity Bellwoods, northeast corner at Dundas/Shaw 

Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe founded modern urban Toronto (i.e. Town of York), when he established Fort York in 1793. At that time, Garrison Creek flowed in a large deep ravine with several tributaries, from north of St. Clair Avenue to Lake Ontario. The creek had sparkling clear water and was famous for its salmon fishing. The British built Fort York at the mouth of the creek to guard against possible American attempts to invade Canada.

Walk with Councillor Mike Layton as we join Garrison Creek from a starting point of Trinity Bellwoods at the northwest corner (Dundas/Shaw). The route leads you along the now-buried Garrison Creek valley from the park down to Lake Ontario.

Discover the missing link.

Walk it. Bike it. Bring your dog.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165887126804565

You may remember our post from a couple weeks ago when the Public Works Committee decided that a beautiful pedestrian and cyclist bridge that would link historic Fort York (and waterfront neighbourhoods) to the park system and neighbourhoods north of the railway tracks along the waterfront) cost too much money and it would be better to scrap it, ignoring the attractions of such a bridge to area residents (north and south of the tracks), condominium developers, and Toronto in general.

The bridge (and it’s supporters) are not going quietly into the night however.

A Save the Fort York Pedestrian Bridge website has been set up (with online petition) and many prominent City Councillors and former mayoral (and premier) candidates (John Tory) are lining themselves up to save the bridge.

If you haven’t signed the petition yet, be sure and do that… but more importantly, call and/or email your local city councillor – they pay a lot of attention to feedback from citizens.

The Save the Fort York Pedestrian Bridge website has some suggested text to email, but feel free to edit or change it yourself:

Dear Mayor (or Councillor),

I am writing to you as a proud citizen of the City of Toronto to express my surprise and disappointment at the decision by the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee to refer the matter of the Fort York Pedestrian Cycle Bridge back to staff, and to strongly urge you and City Council to reconsider this decision at its May 17th meeting.

The development of The Fort York Pedestrian Cycle Bridge was conceived to be a key waterfront revitalization project that would improve access to the historic fort, spur local development, link a network of parks, and allow cyclists to avoid busy streets.

The motion to refer this matter back to staff, as presented to City Council, does more than just postpone the pedestrian bridge – it effectively kills it.
This is simply unacceptable.

As a resident of the community most affected by the cancellation of this important economic, historic and environmental project, I ask that you consider the resources already invested into advancing and developing this project and in particular to consider the many benefits that this landmark project will deliver to our local communities and indeed the City of Toronto.

I respectfully and urgently request that you ask Council to reconsider this costly decision and allow the development of The Fort York Pedestrian Cycle Bridge to proceed as planned.

Here are the email addresses of the mayor and all the City Councillors, if you don’t know which one is yours, you can look that up here:

mayor_ford@toronto.ca,
councillor_ainslie@toronto.ca,
councillor_augimeri@toronto.ca,
councillor_bailao@toronto.ca,
councillor_berardinetti@toronto.ca,
councillor_carroll@toronto.ca,
councillor_cho@toronto.ca,
councillor_colle@toronto.ca,
councillor_crawford@toronto.ca,
councillor_crisanti@toronto.ca,
councillor_davis@toronto.ca,
councillor_debaeremaeker@toronto.ca,
councillor_delgrande@toronto.ca,
councillor_digiorgio@toronto.ca,
councillor_doucette@toronto.ca,
councillor_filion@toronto.ca,
councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca,
councillor_dford@toronto.ca,
councillor_fragedakis@toronto.ca,
councillor_grimes@toronto.ca,
councillor_holyday@toronto.ca,
councillor_kelly@toronto.ca,
councillor_layton@toronto.ca,
councillor_lee@toronto.ca,
councillor_lindsay_luby@toronto.ca,
councillor_mammoliti@toronto.ca,
councillor_matlow@toronto.ca,
councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca,
councillor_mcmahon@toronto.ca,
councillor_mihevc@toronto.ca,
councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca,
councillor_minnan-wong@toronto.ca,
councillor_moeser@toronto.ca,
councillor_nunziata@toronto.ca,
councillor_palacio@toronto.ca,
councillor_parker@toronto.ca,
councillor_pasternak@toronto.ca,
councillor_perks@toronto.ca,
councillor_perruzza@toronto.ca,
councillor_robinson@toronto.ca,
councillor_shiner@toronto.ca,
councillor_stintz@toronto.ca,
councillor_thompson@toronto.ca,
councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca,
councillor_wongtam@toronto.ca,

save@fortyorkbridge.ca,

bridge@bikingtoronto.com

City Council meets on Tuesday (the 17th) and Wednesday (the 18th) next week, so be sure and write the Mayor and City Council before then (and get your friends to do it too!)

From my perspective, yesterday’s Executive Committee meeting went “Not well”.

Over forty people signed up to make deputations, but because they dealt with us very last (starting at or near 6:00pm), only about 33 people or so remained to the end to speak for their five minutes.

Full House at April 20, 2011 Executive Committee, photo by Yvonne Bambrick

In the end, the Executive Committee really seemed like they did not want to hear us (Did putting us off to the end not give it away?). With a few exceptions, the majority of the interactions were with Councillors who are not on the committee (like Shelly Carol, Adam Vaughan, Mike Layton, & Pam McConnell) and in the end the committee voted in favour of the recommendations.

We lost here, but we still have two weeks to make a difference…

Because I’ve been a regular attendee (but never on the committee formally) I can attest to why the committees are unpopular with citizens, staff and councillors. On the other hand, I’m not such an Idealist that I’ll heavily defend the committee like this.

In my own deputation I agreed that the committee structure was far too formal, intimidating, and required citizens to learn the procedures and terminology.In addition, there is still limited interaction (ie deputations) for the public with the committees. However, I want to recognize that this rigid formality is also the strength of the committee. If a presentation is made by a citizen or group and report is presented to the committee then staff are obliged to respond in kind, that is with their own report. This is why I why I went to defend the committee.

However, I did offer a middle ground; I did offer a compromise solution. I suggested that the committee be scaled back to meet only a few times per year, say four — or even twice — a year (rather than the 10 or 11 times they traditionally met). And I suggested that the council keep this for a couple of years, or perhaps this term of council. This would give everyone (council, staff and citizens) time to assess the true value of the committees against the other means of engagement that staff are planning in lieu of having the committees. Staff would engage using social media, town halls, etc, and the committees would still exist, but at a much scaled back level.

I know from experience that many of the public consultation meetings don’t work; they become shouting matches between those who want keep the status quo against those who want the proposed changes. At these meetings, no compromise is possible, and no one is forced to look for a solution. Town halls can offer some good ideas, but there’s no obligation to follow-through. On-line Social-media is limited, and can lack many of the subtleties of face to face interaction. Committees, on the other hand, are forced to work for solutions, they need to find reasonable compromises. And these committees also act as a type of watch-dog on over our City Council, at least within the scope of their mandate.

But they do have a cost in staff time in direct proportion to their frequency of meetings. Which is why I offered the compromise that I did. Keep the cycling committee, but have it meet much less frequently. Give all of us (Council members, staff, as well as citizens) a period of time to wean off the committees, especially if the intention is to kill them eventually. Let this become more of an evolutionary change than and abrupt change so we can all be sure that we are not throwing out the baby with bath water, give us all confidence that we are not losing too much when the time comes to kill the committee entirely. Provide us with time and a means to transition to new ways of doing things. This is what I am asking for, and I hope you will ask your councillors for something like this as well.

BikingToronto guest posts are intended to open our readership up to other voices and news about cycling in Toronto. Interested in writing a guest post for BikingToronto? Just contact us with your idea for a post (or series of posts) and we can talk about it. Please remember that BikingToronto is a responsible and positive outlook on all things related to cycling in Toronto, and has a code of conduct.

Tammy Thorne (pictured at right), editor of Dandyhorse magazine, and member of the Cycling Advisory Committee has written a great article in BlogTO about why the Committee should be saved, and the good work that the committees accomplish:

Advisory committees provide an avenue for regular folks to get issues to council that are important to them, but might not be at the top of the political agenda. As a committee member I can work with staff over an extended period of time to help track projects and ensure that plans are actually implemented. Indeed, access to staff is the biggest boon of being a committee member to my mind. While some (including me) might say that keeping councillors and staff honest is our bane.

I’ve been working with, and as a volunteer for many years now, and I have to say it’s bad business to turn away good people willing to work for you for free. It’s neither respectful nor cost-effective.

Read the full article on BlogTO.