Since our last news of May 24th, there have been several developments on the Annette St. bike lane issue.

As expected, the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting (PWIC) is to be held this coming Wednesday, June 4th at 9:30 in Committee Room 1 at City Hall. The Committee will vote on this and other bike lane proposals, and their decision will then be passed on to the full City Council for final determination. Also as expected, following the poorly publicized and ill-attended Open House of April 17, Ward 13 Councillor Saundercook is supporting an alternative plan that would divert the bike route north to St. Johns Rd. for the segment between Runnymede and Jane.

We strongly disagree both with the recommendation and the process by which it was reached. The more we think about it, the more we are convinced that any option other than Annette-all-the-way is not an option at all. As we’ve said before, if not Annette Street then what street??

This really should be a no-brainer. If shops are concerned about delivery access, surely we can come up with alternatives short of abandonment of the bike lanes. It just doesn’t make any sense.

And if the city is serious about its commitments to greening and livability, it’s not going to assign its east-west cyclists to a phantom route on St. Johns Rd.

This weekend, Dale Duncan wrote about the issue on the Spacing website.

 

Updated information on world19 website:

We have updated our bike page ( http://www.world19.com/bikes.htm) with:

• More background on the Annette issue and the city's overall official Bike Plan
• Arguments as to why we feel it's important to create the continuous Annette bike lane route all the way to Jane
• Reasons why the "public consultation" behind the diverted (St. Johns Rd) route is illegitimate.
• Details on the PWIC and how to depute or send comments (also see below)

Public "Consultation"

• The April 17 Open House on the issue was so poorly publicized and attended that the statement in the City's staff report that "The local community was given an opportunity to comment on the proposal at a Public Open House held on April 17, 2008" is simply false. (See below for link)
   
• As is The Villager article of May 23 implying the proposed change was a result of "community uproar" ()
• In response, world19 and the Toronto Cyclists Union sent this letter to The Villager. It and a similar letter from a local resident, Andrew Moody, were published in the May 30 issue.

How to depute or submit comments to the PWIC:

• We strongly recommend people who support the full Annette proposal inform the Committee of their views.
• The deadline to send comments or to request the opportunity to present to the Committee is noon on Tuesday, June, 3, 2008
• In order to present your comments at the Committee meeing, you must contact Ros Dyers rdyers (at) toronto.ca or 416-392-8018 by the deadline.
• For information on making a deputation, see http://www.toronto.ca/city_council/deputation.htm
• To submit written comments via email: send to pwic@toronto.ca .(We recommend copying councillor_saundercook@toronto.ca, and if you'd like, also cc us: mail@world19.com)

Also note the PWIC agenda is available online (PDF format) at and the staff report (also PDF) is available here

For world19,
John Leeson

Supporting citizen involvement in our community and its future

email: mail@world19.com
web: www.world19.com