politics

TorontoCranks informed me of some anti-bike lane campaigning taking place in Scarborough, Ward 35 - Adrian Heaps' ward. There's no love lost on Heaps by hardcore cycling advocates (including TorontoCranks who considers Heaps an "arrogant jackass") but TC points out that Heaps has done a lot to improve his ward. And at least Heaps has voted for all the bikeway network projects before council in the last 4 years while he was also the chair of the Cycling Committee.

Can an anti-bike lane screed win Michelle Berardinetti this ward? I'm skeptical since I don't believe the issue is front and centre for lots of people who are likely more worried about their jobs. TorontoCranks makes the great point that the bike lanes on Pharmacy, which Ms. Berardinetti complains about so loudly, were installed on what is basically a residential street. Much like the Dundas East bike lanes, the Pharmacy lanes have calmed traffic and made it safer for all the residents. This may be something which the locals have noticed.

Hi Rocco, Rocco and Himy, where are the others? Oh, there you are Joe, in the back.: Photo: Toronto Cyclists Union

Eight mayoral candidates accompanied the bike union on a downtown bike ride on Monday (oops, stale news!). Three of the main candidates didn't go for the ride: Smitherman hoped to arrange a one on one ride; Thomson was probably planning her exit strategy; and Ford was afraid to look like a big hypocrite (he was probably also thinking about lurking nearby with his SUV, the "road shark", ready to pounce). According to the bike union, the half hour ride gave the candidates a full experience of downtown cycling:

...allowed candidates to experience almost the full range of scenarios faced on a daily urban commute by bicycle. The ride took candidates on arterials with bike lanes, without bike lanes, on roads with construction, roads scarred by utility cuts, on minor arterials, and on side streets, though because of time constraints, candidates did not experience the less welcoming suburban cycling environment where traffic speeds are higher and few if any cycling facilities currently exist.

Pantalone, because he never learning to ride, got a nice rickshaw ride by his assistant Mike Smith. (Rickshaw looks like it was provided by Streets are for People).

BIXI Toronto memberships have reached 500 as of September 1st! This is a reason to celebrate! Why? Despite news reports suggesting this is a "lukewarm response", we are still nine months before the launch date and 3 months before the requirement to get 1000 memberships. They've also made the threshold high by only selling yearly memberships - the monthly memberships would have allowed many more people to dip their toes in the water before diving in.

City Hall made it quite difficult for bikesharing to get off the ground: they're providing no money to get it started, and even to get a loan guarantee (which only allows BIXI to get a better interest rate from private banks) City Hall made a number of harsh requirements. BIXI Toronto has reached the half-way mark after only one month out of 4 months.

With a bit perspective we can see that this is in fact remarkable that BIXI Toronto already has 500 members and over 1300 fans on the Facebook page. It's clearly popular. What other company selling a product requires that people purchase the product a year before it comes out? Only Apple fans would be crazy enough to do that.

Here is the first serious platform presentation on cycling by Mayoral Candidate HiMY SYeD. It's a shame that all the mainstream candidates have only excreted patronizing and dangerous platforms. We are still waiting on Sarah Thompson's platform which might take cyclists a bit more seriously than the likes of Rossi, Smitherman, while anything is better than Ford's vision of cyclists giving up on cycling altogether else lest they take their lives in their own hands. You'd think that these guys had never been on a bike or been around cyclists.

Well done Himy.

"Vision 2020 - Another Toronto IS Possible" - Mobility - BikeCity

Toronto Mayoral Candidate HiMY SYeD has informally been sharing his BikeCity Vision with cyclists and the wider community since May 25 2010, the beginning of his Campaign in becoming The Peoples' Mayor.

' BikeCity ' is a key component in his integrated overall 10 year direction of hope in Toronto: ' Vision 2020 - Another Toronto IS Possible '.

' Vision 2020 ' is defined in three broad themes - Mobility, Sustainability, Identity.

The ' Vision 2020 ' theme of Mobility begins with ' BikeCity '.

The complete Mobility theme within Vision2020 will be expanded upon and shared later in mid-September.

The contentious Jarvis bike lanes should be operational by the end of July. Transportation Services will be removing the reversible centre lane and hardware starting Friday July 16. Depending on who you are this will either be the end of the world as we know it, or a small addition to a street network that is safer for cyclists.

Read more about the Jarvis Streetscape improvements, and read the press release:

News Release
July 14, 2010

Installation of bike lanes on Jarvis Street begins this Friday

The City of Toronto's Transportation Services Division will begin the installation of bike lanes on Jarvis Street (from Queen Street East to Charles Street) on Friday, July 16, continuing until late July.

As a result of this work, Jarvis Street will be transformed from five lanes of traffic to four, with two bicycle lanes. In order to undertake this work safely, a series of partial road closures and lane reductions will be required.

The following is a summary of the work:

Friday, July 16 - The removal of pay-and-display parking machines and the installation of no-stopping regulations on the roadway will occur.

Friday, July 16 (evening) - The centre reversible lane will be taken out of operation in both directions.

Saturday, July 17 or Sunday, July 18 (weather permitting) - Temporary pavement markings will be installed to mark the closure of the centre lane. This work will take place during the evening.

Geoff assualted by Police during peaceful Bike rally Photo NOW Magazine, p.14
The following is from Geoffrey Bercarich, a Bike Pirates volunteer:

My name is Geoffrey Bercarich, age 26 and life long resident of Toronto, Canada. I was attacked and held illegally by Toronto Police in the “g20 jail” on Sunday June 27th, 2010.

I was riding in a special critical mass of cyclists, there was 600 cylists riding in group to take the media spotlight away from the property damage done to the city core the day before.

The bike ride was peaceful and no street laws where broken. The mass ride was riding along Yorkville and this is where I was attacked. A police cyclist blocked my path directly in front of me; another police cyclist struck me in the face, hitting my teeth with his fist. Another police cyclist threw his bicycle into mine causing me to fall to the ground. The squad of five police officers threw me onto the fallen police bike, pushing me down onto the bicycle and beat me in the face and the groin. The officer that struck me first held my knees open as another hit me repeatedly in the groin. I was then turned on to my stomach and my face was smashed into the street repeatedly, leaving a pool of blood. This all happened without any notification by the police officers as to what crime I committed or why they were attacking me. As the beatings continued I repeated in a strong voice, “I am not resisting.”

By Tino.

By thewaitingroom

By katalogue

By joerayment

By dgriebeling


By harrychoi

G20 Critical Mass. By Tino.


By nouspique

See more at Treehugger.

Photo credit: Stu Chan

Fences make good bike parking! A friend emailed this photo and I thought of the G20 fence. But no, these bikes are actually locked to the fence at Iggy Pop's concert last weekend in Dundas Square. But it could just as easily be bikes locked to the paranoia wall surrounding the G20 meetings, except that the G20 fence would only have the parasitic bikes until the police came to clean them off.

All the same, this photo points out the depressing lack of bike parking downtown as more and more people get to events by bike. Here's a call for these established events to hire the bike union for valet parking!

As for the G20, I've been biking downtown and hearing and seeing how this whole weekend police state is just a big minus for Toronto cyclists, and actually driving me to go for a weekend bike trip out of the city.

Us cyclists must bear the annoyances and brutishness of the G20 paranoia as much as any Toronto citizen. Some of the ways we pay are in restricted access to the zone. Another way is the lack of bike parking in a huge part of downtown. I've heard that anyone locking up in the area during the G20 will have their bike removed. A manager at Mountain Equipment Co-op told me that even in front of their store (at King and Spadina) bikes will be removed. I wonder how many threatening bikes I've locked next to all this time.