Luke Siragusa's blog

Yikes, Ward 29 Bikes Tom Flaherty's first Powerpoint presentation!

"...We want you to give us the answers." And with that Val Dodge of Ward 29 Bikes got last Wednesday's East End/Danforth Cyclists' Confab underway.

Hosted by Ward 29 Bikes it featured an impressive slate of speakers: Dan Egan, manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, Yvonne Bambrick of the TCU, Brian Betsworth of Cycle26, Don Wiedman of the Bikes+Transit Club, and Christina Bouchard, the dynamo behind Toronto Bike Month. Rounding out the 45 attendees were workaday cyclists, members of the Danforth BIA, a cute baby and a stuffed monkey -- proof positive that cycling is not just for the narrow few?!

ghet-to[get-oh]
–noun, plural -tos, -toes.
1.a section...inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships...

sanc-tu-ar-y[sangk-choo-er-ee]
–noun, plural -ar•ies.
...7.any place of refuge; asylum.

(Courtesy of dictionary.com)

Typically the popular imagination assigns these places opposite ends of the spectrum. Simply put, sanctuary is for the worthy few; a ghetto, the base underclass. You're expected to want into sanctuary, and expected to want the hell out of the ghetto. But things are rarely that simple.

There can be comfort and security among your own kind --no matter how low they may be -- and in 'knowing your place' though it be at the cost of greater possibilities and inclusiveness. The arrangement can also be expedient to the wider world: marginalizing problems is easier than confronting and resolving the dilemmas at their heart. Ask any politician. Just don't expect an honest answer.

Stripped of connotations ghettos and sanctuaries can appear as one and the same. And what would that look like? How about something like this?

I'm sorry to hear that we're apparently at war with motorists and it's all our fault. This is disturbing. Some of my bestest friends drive cars and it saddens me that they may fall victim to a bicycle blitzkrieg. Perhaps there's a chance to avoid carmageddon if only we would all step away from our vehicles, let reason prevail, and admit we've been bad boys and girls.

So in as much as it's in our interest to maintain, er, attain, cordial relations with our cagebound colleagues of the road I propose that Toronto cyclists 'fess up. We should admit how we exploit the motoring masses into paying for our selfish privileges. It's only fair. Let's hoist the white flag, acknowledge culpability, pay penance, and work toward a better tomorrow for all.

Let me be the first to say sorry.

"Yeah", I laughed, "fenders are proven technology, they've been around for over a century. And unless you favour pedal powered enemas, I highly recommend them."

So went the conversation with Chris, a colleague at work. Chris is an ideal candidate for two wheels: he has a young family and, with a mortgage, on a budget; he's located at Landsdowne and College, well within pedalling range of much of what Toronto has to offer; he doesn't drive and, at 15 K, a work commute is certainly viable (seasonally at least); and lastly, he's looking to lose some lard.

Why doesn't this man already have a bike? Precisely my reaction as well. Perhaps it's presumptuous to think it was my campaign of subtle proddings -- "Dude, drop the cheese doodles, grab a brain bucket and get with the program!" -- that finally prompted him to seriously consider the proposition.

For those who hold that the terms "great expectations" and "TCAC" (Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee) have long since proven themselves mutually exclusive, the rumblings and ramblings emanating from Committee Room 2 of City Hall last Monday may give cause to reconsider. The regular bureaucratic tedium -- accountants' conventions are Roman orgies by contrast -- belied the significance and scope of the schemes underway. There is truly cause for (cautious?) excitement.

Look up. No I mean at ibikeTO's...ah...screwed up banner (as of December).

Ok, it could be an environmentally inclined -- it's green after all! -- Metalhead's idea of a fashion accessory. But it's even better: your ticket to remaining upright in slippery situations.

If you balk at the $100 Schwalbe and Nokian charge for their premium versions, are a do-it-yourselfer, and are keen on doing your part to save valuable resources -- that is, you're own green! -- do read on.

Studding your own tires is straightforward, and the result can easily exceed the performance of the high priced versions. You will need a few items before beginning though...

Imagine that you've $100. And that each of your 30 million fellow citizens -- every man, woman, and child in Canada -- does as well. We'd have quite a lump under the collective mattress: $3 billion worth.

Now imagine that we directed that amount toward an initiative in keeping with creating an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable society. Let's say...oh...building urban bicycle infrastructure. That would correlate to the ten largest Canadian cities -- Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Regina, Winnipeg, pick three other cities -- each receiving a cheque for $300 million. Right now.

That would make quite a difference wouldn't it? Possibly a complete revolution in the living patterns of a significant percentage of those cities' -- and Canada's! -- inhabitants.

Now toss in another $400 million and imagine that the total was directed toward an enterprise that already benefits by billions in implicit subsidies, has ceased to be a going concern; makes what people aren't buying, is rapacious in its hunger for resources and infrastructure, and is a significant contributor to the defilement of our landscapes and ill health of our populace.

Lay down a sewer pipe and there are myriad standards dictating dimension, clearance and placement. Lay down a bike lane and sound design precepts are optional, more often recognized in the breach than in the application. How is it that conduits for sh_t are typically subjected to greater planning rigor than conduits for human beings on bicycles?

If you're apt to such musings whenever...oh...pedalling through an officially designated door zone painted up as a bike lane, you're not alone. A few of us were pondering just how that mystery related to the Bloor Viaduct bikeway, a pillar of Toronto's bike network and, conveniently, right in our backyard.

A generation has been conceived, miseducated, and is now tormenting parents with grating music and delinquency since the inception of the Viaduct bike lanes. Yet the bikeway remains stillborn, its hazards, all too familiar to regular cyclists, unresolved.

It can be better. It should be. Why not try to make it so? That was the motivation behind the The Bloor Viaduct Report. I'll skip the specifics, download the report (attached 2.4 MB PDF) and in about the same time it took to read this article you will be familiar with the details.