Cars parking in the bike lane - My letter to Kimberly James

Brilliant!

Let us know if you get a follow-up or reply from this.

Keep hammering away Kevin, we're dealing with thick skulls here.

Good Morning Mr. Love,

Thank you for bringing this situation to my attention. The safe and
orderly flow of traffic is the number one priority for this Unit. With the
current snow conditions it does create concerns for individuals affected in
different ways, cyclists being one and paid street permit holders being the
other.

In this section you are speaking of, a small portion from Coxwell Ave. east
to Maughan Cres. on the south side is licensed street permit parking (9C
area). This area is unique to the rest of Dundas. Not only is it
difficult to accommodate cyclists this time of year, but it is also
difficult to accommodate all permit holders on their streets.
Transportation Services - Road Operations are not at this point removing
snow for on-street permit parking purposes. City staff are diligent in
their efforts ensuring that the streets are passible allowing for emergency
vehicles if necessary.

I commend your dedication to a greener Toronto and a healthy lifestyle, if
you are in fact a cyclist using this means of transportation even under
these weather conditions. However, with the current conditions and more
snow expected, I cannot expect that the roadways are going to improve.
This Unit in concert with 55 Division will continue to monitor Dundas St.
E. along the route you have suggested. Efforts are being made to remove
any vehicles that are snow bound to allow for efficient snow maintenance or
removal.

With this response, I have also forwarded this concern to Councillor Sandra
Bussin's office apprising them of the situation.

Respectfully,

Kimberly Janes
Area Supervisor #65042
Parking Enforcement East
Toronto Police Service
(416) 808-6606

"We do a very poor job of clearing snow in the winter. so we're going to let people park in the bike lane because, hey, they paid for their parking permits so they're more important than cyclists like you (if in fact you really are one) who can't expect any improvement any time soon."

When will Toronto start looking at how other cities remove snow???

http://chicagomontreal.blogspot.com/2006/01/snow-removal-i...

Annie

Hi all,

Oops, it seems Supervisor Janes missed the gist of Kevin's message.

Don't hammer her, give her a moment to collect her thoughts and re-think what the letter said. I get Kevin's point : it's about enforcing parking / stopping in bike lanes. This is not so much about snow clearing. That's ok - people make mistakes. Forgive.

On a positive note, she was very supportive and gracious towards cyclists like us that stay committed to riding all year round. that is a great sign that respect and courtesy is topmost in this woman's mind. I appreciate that.

And she's passed it along to Councillor Bussin's office. She could have done nothing, she could have ignored it. But she passed it UP the chain of accountability - that's pretty good, in my opinion. And of course all of this is my opinion, an interpretation of the situation.

peace, cheers,
Brian

Brian, I admire your ability to consistently remain positive in the face of negative responses and I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for turning you into a cynical old grouch like me, but I find it extremely doubtful that the response was the result of a misunderstanding. I re-read Kevin's letter and there is no way anyone could have mistaken the purpose of the letter. I'm afraid I can't give Kimberly James the benefit of the doubt on this one.

While I am a car-free homeowner, I certainly appreciate homeowners having a place to park their cars and would much rather see street parking than front yards paved over to store cars. It is not realistic at this time of year when parking spaces are already greatly reduced by snow to expect them to give up spots next to the bike lane.

However, what would make a huge improvement!! Would be if the cars were not there when the snow removal was actually happening. So after major snowfalls, notices informing residents when snow removal will take place so they can move their cars, and doing friendly tows of any ones that remain, so complete snow clearing can take place, restoring both parking spots, bike lanes, and peace and harmony.

In the meantime, I actually prefer no snow removal to half-ass snow removal, such as over the B-D viaduct. It looks like its been scraped, but not particularly well, so I am moving in and out of the bike lane to avoid slippery stuff. If they had left it full of snow it would have been apparent to passing motorists I could not move over anymore so I could stay in a straight line without getting road-rage building up.

Kevin, I suggest you remind her in a follow-up letter that the by-law prohibiting parking in a bike lane does not state 'unless the designated parking space is inaccessible due to snow or ice or other debris and obstacles.' It says vehicles are prohibited from parking in bike lanes. Period!

In Montreal they manage removing far more snow, and managed it when the city had no money in the 90s. Alternate days of the week, alternate sides of the road have no parking, so they can scrape and truck it out. For God's sake it's simple. In short: Toronto doesn't give a %^&*. When is there going to be an effective and confrontational cyclist organization in town I can join?

I live in Ward 6 and got almost the exact same letter from Councillor Grimes office. He will consult with Transportation.

In the meantime, here is the response from his office.

Thank you for your message to our office and Councillor Grimes has been made aware of the concerns regarding the bicycle lane snow clearing. By copy of this email to the Transportation Department we request that this matter be looked into.
Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Melanie Gilbart, CA

Councillor Mark Grimes' Office
Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Suite C48
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
Tel: 416.397.9273
Fax: 416.397.9279
www.markgrimes.ca

In the meantime, please post the letters received on this subject on this site. It is refreshing and disappointing to see the remarkable similarity across the City. Reality is people are being paid a liveable wage to do this work. They are not doing it. Keep documenting it.

To be fair, this is more than a parking enforcement issue. Right or wrong, it would be political suicide to start ticketing people who can't park properly in spaces they paid for because they aren't cleared properly.

It's a bigger problem, that the city doesn't have a real strategy, or they have little independent strategies that don't work together. It's like putting in bike lanes in impractical areas that don't help most cyclists and just annoy drivers; there's no political will to push through and do what it would really take to get the job done. The Montreal method of snow clearing looks fantastic, but it would take a major overhaul of the way things are done, and the city seems to be afraid of change.

I'm with Tanya on the semi-cleared bike lanes, too - it feels more dangerous, because I never know when it's going to go from a light layer of slush to chunks of snow and ice. Which leads us to something the city might slightly care about: When I can't ride in the bike lane, whether because of snow or cars, I have to ride with traffic, which slows down and annoys others. Maybe the city needs to see cyclists asserting their rights to the road before they'll start accommodating them.

Dear Kimberly Janes,

Thank you for your email of January 19th. Please accept my thanks for the work done by yourself and by the personnel of Parking Enforcement East, particularly work done out in adverse January weather.

It was very encouraging for me to read that the safe and orderly flow of traffic is the number one priority for your Unit. This is my goal as well. Most unfortunately, the safe and orderly flow of traffic on Dundas Street is currently being prevented by cars being illegally parked in a through traffic lane. This illegal parking of cars in the bicycle traffic lane not only obstructs traffic but creates a dangerous and hazardous situation as bicycle traffic is unexpectedly forced out of this through traffic lane.

I am not asking for any form of special accomodation. I am asking that the Toronto Police Service uphold and enforce the law to remove a serious threat to public safety. A serious danger that poses a grave personal threat to myself. You have the legal tools and authority to uphold and enforce the law by promptly towing away the car of any law-breaker who illegally parks in a through traffic lane. I am asking that the law be enforced equally and without discrimination upon those who park in the through bicycle traffic lane in the same way as it is upon those who park in the through car traffic lane.

I would be pleased to assist in any way possible in upholding and enforcing the law to ensure public safety. In particular I would be pleased to meet with you or with any of your staff to discuss particular areas for enhanced law enforcement. These are areas where I have repeatedly been the victim of illegal, violent and dangerous law-breaking behaviour that has put my personal safety at the greatest risk of death or serious injury. Me travelling to work should be a safe experience. Right now, it is not due to illegal behaviour. I am asking that the law be upheld and enforced so that it is safe for me to go to work.

Yours truly,

Kevin Love

You could also ask her if it's okay for cars to park in front of fire hydrants if they can't park elsewhere due to snow.

It sounds like she's basically saying that cars have permission to park illegally in these snow related conditions.

That can't be right. Can it?

In this section you are speaking of, a small portion from Coxwell Ave. east
to Maughan Cres. on the south side is licensed street permit parking (9C
area).

So you want them to enforce the bike lanes across from 55 Division? Exactly where would they park when they went to pick up their take-out?