On Monday, I went to the public consultation meeting for the Bike Plan implementation in Ward 25 (Don Valley West).
Lawrence and Mt Pleasant Public Meeting
I arrived at the public meeting with the special treat of starting the conversation on the sidewalk outside the school. A motorist was eager to let me know that the way I was riding was going to get me killed. I'm used to hearing this speech now, but usually it's heard while riding on Yonge Street. This time, I had been on Blythwood, a neighbourhood through street, where I was simply riding clear of parked cars, and apparently keeping someone from some cherished red light time. A friend arrived seconds after the conversation started to give me some appreciated points of support.
Three Torontonians were already talking. Democracy at work.
Things were much more civilized inside. The wall was covered in drawings. People were looking at them intently, and gathering in small groups to talk about the details.
I talked to a few people and listened in on some other conversations. I was impressed by the generally positive attitude. Even the people who were apprehensive, seemed to want to make things better for cycling. There were some dead-set against, but most expressed concerns about another issue and wanted to make sure things didn't get worse for them.
There were three main points against the bike lanes. All of them have solutions.
- Spill-over traffic
Will car traffic spill off of a congested Mount Pleasant onto neighbourhood streets? The results on Dundas say "no". Other places around the world have also shown that traffic will find entirely different routes to take or simply "disappear". Convincing people is difficult. It's a fair concern since traffic on some of the neighbourhood streets is already dangerously heavy, and people are afraid of it getting worse. - Parking
The lack of parking on Lawrence will cause an inconvenience for some people. The obvious solution is to allow these people to park on side streets, something they may be able to do already. Most people have driveways, but not all. - A turning-lane for a private school
A turning-lane on Lawrence to a private school will need to be removed. This turning lane doesn't serve much purpose because it gets so backed up that traffic still blocks the left lane. Apparently there was some agreement with the school when the lane was installed, so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.
At the same time, some residents really liked the idea of having bike lanes on Mount Pleasant. It slows traffic down on a road where speeds are too high, and moves the cars away from the sidewalk. Of course, it also gives them a nice cycling route.
Planned Lawrence Bike Lanes
The meeting may have been an exercise in democracy at the grand scale, but for me it was an exercise in personal relations. In these situations, it's very easy for people to say things that sound like personal attacks. Once there's confrontation, no one is listening. While I was trying to avoid saying anything too confrontational, I kept reminding myself not to take anything I heard too personally.
In case you find yourself at this kind of meeting, it might help to get warned of the kinds of responses you'll hear. Here are some thrown at me:
"No one's going to ride their bike on that street."
"I see 5 people a day riding on that street."
"Why don't you just take your bike on the bus?"
"That's great that people cycle downtown. Just keep it there."
"It's different in this part of the city. People won't ride bikes here."
"But I'm a taxpayer. Do you own a house?"
"I'm just being realistic."
"In this part of the city, cycling is just a recreational activity."
Some of these are particularly difficult to hear, if not offensive, especially the "taxpayer" line. I soon discovered that logic isn't going to serve any purpose when it gets to that level of discussion. Fortunately that was rare.
If we can promise people that traffic won't increase between their house and their kid's school, and we can keep parking somewhat convenient, there shouldn't be any opposition left.
