Calvin Lau from Dear Toronto emailed to tell us that his video of this year's Toronto Bike Awards is now online.
The video features interviews with Rick and Yvonne from the Toronto Cyclists Union and councillor Adam Giambrone, plus footage of various awards recipients, the gold sprints, Clay and Paper Theatre, and much more.
And yes, of course, the highly praised "reverse strip tease" gets good coverage too (pun intended).
Congratulations, Yvonne, on becoming the Toronto Cyclists Union Executive Director!
Since the Bike Union's inception in May, Yvonne's efforts as our spokesperson and assistant coordinator has raised the Bike Union's profile as an inclusive, city-wide cycling resource and advocate at City Hall and amongst our partners and residents throughout the city. Along with Rick Conroy, Heather McDonald, Craig Barnes and the dedicated efforts of many, many volunteers, Yvonne has contributed to developing our membership to over 500 members! We look forward to Yvonne's passion and creativity as we continue to gain momentum and plan for great events as the swell of spring approaches.
(This comes via Angela Bischoff/Greenspiration Toronto)
"Only white yuppies bike in Toronto". At least that's what I was told when asking people informally. But there is some actual data on the issue, including a small survey in Toronto noting that visible minorities were less interested in cycling than white respondents and a Canada study finding that immigrants bike less than non-immigrants. Even in bike-friendly countries like Denmark they're realizing that their incoming immigrant population cycles less than the "average" Dane. And if there is a link between a person's ethnic background and the likelihood that they'll use their bike to get around, it could be an issue in encouraging more cycling in Toronto since 47% of Torontonians are visible minorities and over 50% are foreign born.
To find out more on this topic, I'm inviting all Toronto cyclists to fill out a quick 5 minute survey aimed at gathering information on who you think cycles in Toronto as well as who actually does. There's also a space to add your email address, if you'd like to see my final findings.
To complete the survey, click on this link or copy/paste it into a new window:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=TH_2f6L1imn922QWQ0gZ9TeA_3d_3dThanks in advance for your time.
Erica Duque
M.Sc. in Planning 2009 Candidate
University of Toronto
duquee@geog.utoronto.ca