RANT – Toronto’s Betrayal Over Eglinton

On Monday, I was informed by city staff that the eglintonTOday Complete Street Project website was updated to say the project can no longer proceed due to changes in the Highway Traffic Act. Something which Aidan Chamandy of Toronto Today reported on yesterday. With all due respect to the courteous and professional staff within the Cycling and Pedestrian Unit, we need to call out this recent news for what it really is: an outright betrayal of Toronto’s cycling community by the City of Toronto! Let’s go through to explain why that is the case.

RANT – Doug Ford’s Third PC Majority Win

As was widely expected, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative party secured its third straight majority last night. This is despite him being the least liked premier in the country and all the trouble he caused including the RCMP Greenbelt investigation, the destruction of Ontario Place for a mega spa nobody wants, the crumbling of our health and education systems, and the ripping out of Toronto’s bike lanes. And of course, those $200 pre-election bribe cheques. However, there is a lot more to rant about aside from the outcome itself.

Editorial cartoon via Theo Moudakis

RANT - Yesterday's Consultation Dumpster Fire

Over the past decade, I had a chance to participate in a fair number of cycling related public consultations. While some of them did have their spicy moments such as the pre-pandemic Danforth Study and the Bloor West Complete Street Extension earlier this year, never have I seen quite the dumpster fire as yesterday’s virtual bike plan consultation. The culprits for this were opponents associated with so-called “Balance on Bloor”; the campaign associated with Cody MacRae who started a 12,000-signature petition calling for the recent Bloor West extension in Etobicoke to be removed. Hence it's time to rant again!

RANT – Consequences of Neglecting Safe Streets

In August 2021, Miguel Joshua Escanan was killed while riding northbound at Avenue and Bloor. A death which could have been prevented had the City followed through with implementing ActiveTO bike lanes on that stretch. Unfortunately, the same thing almost happened again two years later.

The removed Brimley bike lanes near this week's fatal collision

RANT – Tory’s Weak Vision Zero Leadership

While Wednesday saw great news for Yonge4All and other road safety advocates in Toronto with the Midtown Yonge Complete Street Pilot being made permanent by a 22 to 4 vote, there is another disappointment which dampened the celebratory mood and deserves a rant. Despite the overwhelming positive staff report, an unanimous vote at IEC, and over 8500 signatures for the Yonge4All petition, Mayor John Tory threw all of that under the bus by supporting Councillor Jon Burnside’s motion to extend the pilot. A move which proves he is a coward when it comes to road safety, as well as contradicts his own earlier push to shorten the staff recommended extension from July 2023 to January 2023.

Mayor John Tory showing a printout of the so-called "landlocked streets" (via YouTube)

RANT – Death of ActiveTO Lake Shore West

For those of you who don’t remember, Toronto stubbornly refused to provide space for people who walk or bike in March and April 2020 when virtually every other major Canadian city was doing so to allow for physical distancing early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite dragging their feet in creating ActiveTO two years ago which ended up being highly popular, Toronto City Council accepted staff recommendations to scrap ActiveTO on Lake Shore West – the program’s crown jewel – except for a limited number of occasions. It seems old habits really die hard here in Caronto and there is too much eagerness to return to the status quo with people returning to the offices post-pandemic.

RANT – Toronto’s Winter Biking Gong Show

Last Monday saw 36 centimetres of snow fall in Toronto. While it may not be as much as the 48 centimetres fallen in December 1944 or the over one metre over two weeks in January 1999 which prompted then Mayor Mel Lastman to call the army leading to national ridicule, the aftermath still merits a rant. Especially from a cycling perspective after what I found while biking to do some errands yesterday.

RANT - Toronto's Carservative Resistance

All right, folks! I need to rant.

During the seven years I have been advocating for safer streets for people who bike in Toronto, it seems no other city in North America has done more to resist improving cycling (or reducing space for cars) than right here. This kind of frustration has been felt by many including by those who have been advocating a lot longer than I have. One such advocate – Hamish – even had a term for this kind of culture which is “carservative”. To be fair, the recent push to create health corridors in Toronto is just the latest in a long tradition of carservative resistance.

The Gardiner Expressway has been a source of contention in recent years