Keeping the 2022 Election Momentum Going

While John Tory’s re-election as Mayor was widely expected during last month’s municipal election, there were still some positive changes. Amber Morley defeated five-term councillor Mark Grimes in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, while the unfortunate death of Councillor Cynthia Lai (RIP) lead to Jamaal Myers getting elected in Scarborough North. On the road safety front, 12 candidates who signed onto the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition’s road safety calls to action were elected, while mayoral candidate Gil Penalosa presented lots of good policy platforms covering various sectors.

To help keep the 2022 election momentum going, I will discuss five of Penalosa’s policy platforms which road safety advocates are encouraged to keep fighting for.

The Gardiner Expressway ramps east of the Don Valley Parkway were removed last year

Improving Moncton’s Bikeway Network

September 2022 marked the first time I went back home to Moncton in over three years. During this time, I borrowed a bike from my friend Joel and managed to do a 30 kilometre loop around the city on Saturday, September 10. Given last Wednesday’s cyclist fatality which happened near Connaught Avenue and Wheeler Boulevard, let’s review the loop and identify ways Moncton’s cycling network can be improved.

My List of 2022 Toronto Candidate Endorsements

Over the past several weeks, I have been working with the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition (TCBC) to interview candidates for the purposes of endorsement, as well as ask them to sign onto our group’s three calls to action. Over 40 council candidates in 22 wards – plus two mayoral candidates – have signed on so far. We have since endorsed Gil Penalosa for Mayor and candidates in the following seven wards:

• Ward 2 (Etobicoke Centre) – Thomas Yanuziello
• Ward 3 (Etobicoke – Lakeshore) – Amber Morley
• Ward 5 (York South – Weston) – Chiara Padovani
• Ward 9 (Davenport) – Alejandra Bravo
• Ward 18 (Willowdale) – Markus O’Brien Fehr
• Ward 20 (Scarborough Southwest) – Kevin Rupasinghe
• Ward 23 (Scarborough North) – Jamaal Myers

In addition to these seven city council races, I would like to personally support candidates in additional wards, but will add a disclaimer they do not represent the views of TCBC.

Norm Di Pasquale's and Ausma Malik's joint campaign office in Kensington Market

#ActivismTO

On August 11, Dave Shellnut (a.k.a. The Biking Lawyer) and some other road safety advocates organized a ride for safe streets near High Park to protest the ticketing of cyclists there and other questionable actions by the Toronto Police. While I couldn’t make it at the time, over 800 people of all ages and abilities rode their bikes and managed to shut down the Bloor-Parkside intersection. With police continuing their ticketing operations on Shaw Street since then and have been caught rolling through stop signs, a follow up event was held yesterday called #ActivismTO which saw hundreds of people take part and started at Trinity Bellwoods Park. 

Tour de Mississauga 2022

Sunday was a great day for the 15th Annual Tour de Mississauga which saw over 2000 people take part. This family friendly ride has five ride options to choose ranging from 5 km to 100 km, while those doing the 50 km or 100 km had rest stops with complimentary food and drink. I chose the 50 km which – combined with biking to and from Downtown Toronto – lead to my first century ride since the Ride to Conquer Cancer in 2014. The ride offered a good sampling of Mississauga’s trails and bike lanes. Let’s take a look at some of them.

dandyARCHIVE - Your 2018 Pre-Election Bike Plan Update

NOTE: This article originally appeared on Dandyhorse's website on September 13, 2018 and is being reposted here since it is no longer available.

Story by Robert Zaichkowski and Albert Koehl

With over three months left to the end of 2018, we already know that this year will be another heart-breaking one for many Toronto families. To date, 25 pedestrians and 4 cyclists have been killed, while many more families have to deal with life-altering injuries to their loved ones. The three memorial rides in June alone sparked renewed calls for a real network of bike lanes in the city. The response from City Hall has been disappointing; exacerbated by the failure to live up even to installing the infrastructure promised in the ten-year cycling plan passed in 2016. In fact, even if this year’s planned projects (see our table) are all completed --- never a sure thing in our city --- we will only be on pace to complete the plan by 2049 instead of 2025.

Bike lane ends sign at Poplar Plains (via Albert Koehl)

High Park Policing Shenanigans

Over the past couple of weeks, there has been considerable outrage by Toronto’s cycling community over the ticketing and harassment by police officers in High Park. One cyclist got ticketed for going 26 km/h in a 20 km/h zone – something which rarely happens for drivers – while another got a $110 fine for rolling through a stop sign. There was even another case of a ticketing police officer driving into a cyclist who was reported to have earned $281,000 in 2021! If that doesn’t make your blood boil, Mayor John Tory claimed police do not deserve to be criticized for ticketing.

A Toronto Police officer ticketing a cyclist in High Park (via Dave Shellnut)