Bike assistance from a car membership organization: CAA offers Bike Assist

This will create a tough situation for some (and by some, I mean mostly myself): whether to buy a membership in the southern Ontario CAA to take advantage of their roadside bike assistance program, Bike Assist, or to refuse to support the CAA financially because of their anti-bike lane stance. I suppose a third option would be to keep the CAA membership but vote to change their knee-jerk response to bike facilities.

The goal is to fix the bike on the spot. If that is impossible, the bike and driver can be transported up to 10 km with a Basic membership, up to 200 km with a Plus membership, and up to 320 km with a Premier membership. There is no extra charge for the service, which began on May 1, 2010 and which is available anywhere in CAA SCO territory.

And if that's not mind-boggling enough, the CAA is now offering their own "bike squad" to go around helping out cyclists. Their first appearance this year will be at the Bike to Work Day to City Hall on May 31.

CAA SCO will also introduce the Bike Squad this summer, a pilot project in the Greater Toronto Area. A team of four trained cyclists will be on call at charity and cycling events to help stranded motorists with flat tires, car lockouts or boost requirements. The Bike Squad will inflate (but not change or repair) tires, and will be equipped with small hand tools to help cyclists as well. The Bike Squad is free to members and non-members and will operate between May and September.

herb : 13 years 11 months ago
Tags: advocacy, motorists, roadside assistance

The Globe: City to complete West Toronto Railpath extension

West Toronto Railpath Bridge over Dupont St., and Art Starts mural
Bridge over Dupont St., and Art Starts mural

Today's Globe & Mail has an article about the possible future extension of the West Toronto Railpath.

A few quotes from the article:

A completed trail “would be amazing,” said Daniel Egan, manager of the city’s cycling infrastructure and programs. “What’s in place now doesn’t really go anywhere, but you can get a sense of what’s possible. ... You don’t need much imagination to understand how important it could be.”

But the completion of the trail into downtown is likely several years off, and still faces significant design and construction hurdles.

But if it is to become more than just a recreational trail, and open up a new commuting route for cyclists, the southern portion of the trail down to King and Strachan needs to be completed. That depends on whether room can be carved out alongside the rail corridor that is being expanded to provide more frequent GO train service and a rail link to the airport.

Metrolinx, the government agency planning the GO expansion, says it will try to make room for the railpath alongside its tracks. The city is willing to pick up the tab for construction costs, and will accommodate the trail on adjacent land or streets in the sections where it can’t be accommodated on rail land. And the grassroots group Friends of West Toronto Railpath, which pushed for years to get the path under way, is lobbying hard and helping with the design of the extended path.

You can read the complete article online at the Globe & Mail website.

vic : 13 years 11 months ago
Tags: infrastructure, railpath, Ward 18

Kenk book launch visited by man of the hour

Out of curiousity I dropped by the Kenk graphic novel launch party last night. To my surprise, while ordering a beer, I saw Igor Kenk nursing a glass of water (or vodka?) at the bar. He was decked out in the very "I'm Tired" shirt that graces the cover of the book, which seems to encapsulate his world-weary attitude of profligate North American consumerism, while he also profited from it.

The Cadillac Lounge was packed with people but I saw only one other cycling advocate there, suggesting the topic is not the highest priority for them, at least not on a Thursday night. We will see later on this month at the bike theft forum hosted by the publishers (where I'll also get to gab on about my own views on bike theft and Kenk).

One guy, who had seemingly arrived not knowing it was the Kenk event, was steaming mad at the "celebration" for Igor, telling me that he had three bikes stolen and had visited the big warehouse after Igor's arrest to look for his bikes. He didn't find them and asked me "Who remembers their serial numbers?!" I replied "I wrote mine down, but I'm a bike nerd." When I mentioned that Igor had graced us with his presence he went off looking for him to give him a piece of mind or fist (I hope he didn't encounter Igor's "martial arts").

There did seem to be some fawning going on, or at the least, a voyeuristic urge to find out more about the inner workings of Igor (see a photo of Igor talking to some of the voyeurs - I'm just out of the camera's frame, thank god).

A former neighbour, Dexter - a modern day beatnick in appearance - informed me that he had lived right near Igor's original shop at Queen and Ossington, back when he was "legit". "We used to play chess together." At this point Igor was talking to some the voyeurs and I encouraged Dexter to go get his book signed by Igor. I listened in as they promised to play chess together again soon, and found out that Igor felt that his happy situation from being forced to sell his building for $700,000 was tempered with some brutal time in prison. He claimed he was beaten by 10 guys upon arriving, but that after that initial beating, he said he was able to hold them off with his martial arts skill, even in his injured state. Or something like that.

Igors stories and dramatic lifestyle are the core of what draw people to him. They know he's a criminal (even though a CBC story claims he was an 'ordinary guy' who saw a loophole in the law). Even if only 50% of his stories were true, they would still be fascinating. At this point I felt I had to leave since I too was clearly tipping onto the side of uncritical fandom.

Igor is a petty criminal dealing in stolen goods and drugs. Like Richard Poplak said in the NOW, Igor was a Robin Hood who stole from everyone and sold to whomever.

herb : 13 years 11 months ago
Tags: bike theft, Igor Kenk