As Darren over at Toronto Cranks reports 27km ain't going in this year. No Surprise! As far as I am concerned A. A. Heaps has no credibility whatsoever. You can defend him all you want.
Too bad he just had to shoot his mouth off repeatedly and mislead people.
Moreover, Ian Stuart points out that Bike Lanes are all crap anyway.
Oh, well. Fuck it all. Let's ride!
7 comments:
Hah.. Yes, less talk more rock (and roll)... and by roll I mean ride. err.. this is going nowhere fast. :D
-Wes
ps. Martino, I can't find your email address anywhere. Send me a quick email so I have it.. mm'kay?
Hey T - nice headline ;-) very appropo..
I just rang up Kyle Rae now - he says he told Gary Welsh that bike lanes NEED to be part of the plan in the Yorkville development... and said he is demanding them, even if they have to reconsider the width from 1.8 to 1.3 for example... he said he expects to hear back from Welsh next week.
Oh and I forgot to add that I see this as the outline for a new little dance at the clam shell... since we now know that City engineers/planners won't 'sign off' on (ie stencil) sub-standard width lanes!
Thanks very much for pursuing Mr. Rae Tammy. I could be wrong on this, but part of me wouldn't object to a bit less width if we could get some rose coloured concrete, or painted asphalt eg. green, rose, blue just to really put a marked difference on how we do bike lanes. Thoughts?
It's a nightmare if they don't do it right. colour would be wonderful - but the whole issue of not wanting bike parking on the sidewalk... Isn't there a by-law somewhere that that contravenes?
the width issue IS an issue bcs it gives the City a loop hole to make more excuses as to why we can't have a bike lane...as we see with Marlee, the engineers won't stencil or sign it as a bike lane if it isn't up to the TAC standards, yet the councillor can go around trumpeting loudly that he fought for that bike lane! you see what I'm saying?
I just think it would set a REALLY BAD precedent for our entire (first?) east-west bike thoroughfare to have it start out so narrow and unsigned (and be the product of a back room deal that sees all bike parking removed from bloor.... I know sometimes you have to give a little but I PERSONALLY whip up there to shop and do errands on my lunch hours all the time and it is already REALLY difficult to find parking. If they remove ALL of the R&Ps on bloor - I guess I'll have to start using the valet service at pusatari's ;-)
As sincere and well-intentioned as Rae and Heaps' push for lanes here might be - the sacrifices may be too much.
speaking of too much...I'll stop now...
Hi Tammy - detail is good, sorry that it sometimes eludes me as I just checked this comments page again, as I (good news/bad news) don't spend all day in front of a screen and can't check comments.
I appreciate your perspectives and edge - I just thought I might offer a trial balloon of some flex, though the Davenport flex is most marginal.
Are the TAC guidelines at 1.5 or 1.2? This has implications for the eastbound curve on Bloor before the Viaduct as it's too narrow at 1.2 'cause all the cars cut into it, and it's a bit scary seeing a cab or truck crossthrough the bike lane 4m ahead of you, and I've bugged the city for a couple of years about this unsafe narrow pinchpoint
tthanks
Councillor Heaps is giving me a different story...
'The works department are spraying the lanes themselves since our 30Km
paint contract was too small for anyone to bid on. We are close to 24Km
and hope to be able to reach target December
Adrian
Toronto City Councillor A.A. (Adrian) Heaps
Scarborough Southwest, Ward 35
416-392-0213
councillor_heaps@toronto.ca
www.adrianheaps.com
Luis Filipe
luis.filipe@utoronto.ca
18/10/2007 9:22 am
Councillor Heaps,
Earlier this year in June, in reference to hitting the city's 30 km bike lane target, you stated in the Toronto Star that "If the
transportation department has to spray paint it themselves - you can quote me on this - it's going in."I
How close is the city to meeting this target at this point in
October?
Thank you for your time,
Luis Filipe'
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