Beaches East York debate live-blog

Posted on 22 September 2011 by Greg Burrell

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Welcome to my live-blog of tonight’s Beaches-East York all-candidates debate at Beach United Church. This is my first attempt at live-blogging anything and I don’t know how well this is going to work out.

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7:08pm: Moderator introducing candidates.

Helen Burstyn (LIB) works with Dr. Eric Hoskins at Ontario Trillium Foundation. Serves on board of LuminaTO. Vice-chair of CAMH board of trustees. Founding director of Equal Voice. Born in Toronto, proud resident.

Michael Prue (NDP) MPP for 10 years. Proven record of strong leadership. Was last Mayor of East York. Cut city’s debt by 7.8M with no tax increase while investing in infrastructure. Sustainable environment and energy plan; accessible and affordable public transit. Has lived in Beaches-East York for 30 years.

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7:12pm: Opening statements: Burstyn’s mic is too quiet, has to move to front. Thanks everyone for coming & thanks organizers. Running for office because of experience at OTF. Bring understanding of government & work together for this very important community. Choice between cutting & conservative govts at fed & city level. Ensure gov’t at provincial level is investing. Making us the best we can be.

Prue’s mic works. Thanks audience. Profoundly disappointed that two candidates aren’t here. Citizens deserve opportunity to see who wants to represent us at Queen’s Park & make informed decision. Running to put people first. Gov’t record puts wealthy & privileged first. Health care, education, student debt load, poverty, child care, most importantly how city is spiralling downward is causing grief. Need to find solutions, NDP has answers.

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7:15pm: Q: how do you propose to make community age-friendly? How to address needs of aging population?

Prue: we are an aging population. Need to start planning now. Essential to start spending wisely. Spend health care dollars on long-term care facilities, community home-care facilities. Keep people healthy at home longer. More important than hospitals.

Burstyn: Mic works now. Pop’n aging, more seniors than other Toronto ridings in BEY. Keep people who don’t have to go to hospitals in their homes for care.

7:18: Priorities for educational spending.

Burstyn: When students start well they finish well. Ensure JK/SK priority. Reduce size of classes. Full-day kindergarten province wide by 2014. Raise graduation rate, goal is 85%. Post-sec affordable & accessible to all who are qualified to go.

Prue: Greatest need is in post-secondary. School in ontario avg. 6,700 for uni, 6,900 for grad studies. Highest in all of Canada. Debt load of 25% of grads is 25,000 or more. Worst ratio of profs to students in Canada. Largest class sizes. Priority needs to be post-sec. BEY needs a French school at public level.

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7:20: Q: Food share promoting mandatory food education.

Prue: Absolutely, people must learn where their food comes from. People eating too much sugar. Speaks about East Lynn Farmers Market.

Burstyn: Healthy Snack Program helps young people learn about nutrition early. What’s available in schools should be healthy. Trans-fat ban. Make people more aware of their own health.

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7:22pm: Financial meltdown in 2008 – 3yrs later many still concerned. How will you create new jobs?

Burstyn: Ontario fared better than most in recession, have gained back more than we lost. Up 124%. More jobs gained in ON than in rest of Canada combined. But more needs to be done, esp. green jobs.

Prue: Meltdown is not over, markets dropping today. Don’t give away billions to banks & insurance companies who cut jobs. Reward small business & corps that create jobs w/ $5,000 tax bonus for each job created. No tax benefit from NDP for cutting jobs.

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7:24: Questioner will vote for party who will tax rich people most. Prue says “I guess that’s me.”

Prue: Don’t just tax rich people, tax people fairly. Speaks about Buffett’s tax letter. People should pay their fair share, everybody should benefit. End corporate handouts.

Burstyn: Libs want fair taxation too. Not just on ability to pay but also on what society can sustain. People complain about taxes at the doors, but glad to live in society where taxes pay for services, education, health care.

Prue uses card to say more: should be concerned about taxes on homes and properties. Pay highest taxes on homes & properties in the world, because so many services have been downloaded. Must make taxes level with other provinces, cities must be able to raise revenues in other ways, otherwise people driven out of their homes.

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7:27pm: Given that Cdn businesses bear cost of social programs, how can they compete with businesses in China with no such programs? Support tariff to support programs, or …

Burstyn: There is a cost to businesses for social, environmental, other benefits we enjoy. Not competing with China on basis of cheap goods. Other nations look to us for innovation. Health care is huge benefit. Well educated work force is huge benefit. Foreign companies locating here because of them.

Prue: Produce wonderful goods & services in Ontario, depend on exports. Can’t close off markets & expect to leave markets open to us. NDP proposes Buy Ontario policy, when costs are competitive.

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7:30pm: does your party have plans for export development?

Prue: Explain? … Need to export. Of course we need export policy to make Ontario prosperous. Can’t do it alone.

Burstyn: We do have an export development policy, always have. Liberal gov’t looks at most promising markets to export to. Large populations like China, India. Largest partner still USA. Export innovative technologies, not just natural resources.

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7:32pm: Mother of 5 receives midwifery care. Until 6wks after birth, midwives provided on-call care. Pay is significantly less compared to health care providers. Would like to see midwives paid more.

Burstyn: is mother of 4. Midwifery is important service. Underpaid relative to other health professionals, can’t say what she would do about it right now.

Prue: NDP released policy today on midwifery: promising 4 birthing centres in province, pay midwives decent wage. Work with them & women across province to convince that giving birth in those centres is as good or better than hospitals (germs, etc). Will save money, free hospitals for acute care.

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7:35pm: Does your party support or will expand housecalls by doctors?

Prue: remembers when doctors would make housecalls for flu, days long gone. NDP wants emergency centers in communities to take load off hospital emergency rooms. Need options. Waits at ERs too long.

Burstyn: Libs just introduced house calls, first with seniors. Difficult for them to wait in ER or doctor’s office, better to receive care in own home. Make it more convenient & take pressure off existing facilities.

One person claps for Burstyn.

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7:37pm: What are 3 top challenges facing Beaches-East York?

Burstyn: Many challenges, many gifts. Main streets need to be revitalized. Danforth (east) needs to have more buzz, energy, more things happening. Less of a dividing line between north & south riding. Protect waterways & beach in riding. Protect environmentally sensitive areas; appropriate development.

Prue: 3 greatest challenges: rampant deveopment, developers taking over neighbourhoods, destroying streets. Abolish OMB; enough to save neighbourhood. (applause) Next is transit, transit is lifeblood, restore TTC budget & all transit budgets. Toronto only North American city with no subsidy from senior government. Reverse damage done by Harris. (uses extension) Infrastructure has to be updated. Mentions need for new French language schools again.

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7:40pm: What is vision for Beaches East York community?

Prue: would like community to stay as it is, prevent rampant development. Don’t pit neighbour against neighbour. Condos nice but destroys character. People like ambiance of community. Cannot allow that to be destroyed simply for profit. Preserve streetscapes, homes, festivals.

Burstyn: Celebrate diversity through festivals. Special community, one of most diverse in all of Ontario. Some parts don’t know other parts, community should be more connected & cohesive. Bring neighbourhoods together. Brag about community more, draw attention.

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7:43pm: As a resident, questioner doesn’t feel represented at Queen’s Park, current MPP unavailable. If elected, how will you represent us?

Burstyn: people always have representation. BEY hasn’t had as much attention as some other communities. Need to attract attention from government.

Prue: office hours 5 days a week; makes personal house calls. Goes to every festival, is visible on the streets, nobody could do more. Was him who brought attention to get funding for local hospital. Will continue to be a great opposition MPP but would love to be government MPP.

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7:45pm: Journalism student who has only ever voted NDP: why should I vote Liberal?

Prue: Thanks questioner. Jack Layton encouraged people to come out and vote more than ever before. Says Horwath doing a good job without taking cheap shots at other parties. NDP talking about own platform more than other parties, not resorting to cheap attacks. Stand by principles.

Burstyn: Positive progressive plan to move forward together. Health care, education, Green Energy plan that David Suzuki lauded. Proud of many things done over 8 years, but more to be done.

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7:47: Proposal for huge mega quarry will affect water quality. What will you do to protect communities?

Burstyn: Liberals will put hold on mega quarry project until further studies are done. Seek resolution that does not over develop & affect residents negatively.

Prue: Quarry is obscene, should not be built. At headwaters of major rivers, on prime farmland. US firm building is just looking for profit, doesn’t care about people. NDP will not allow it to proceed.

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7:49pm: Private schools accused of selling credits to students, affects university standing for qualified students.

Prue: private schools need to be regulated and violators need to be shut down. Need to provide equivalent education that is available in public system. Looks bad on Ontario.

Burstyn: credit mills need to be investigated. Need to be regulated, practice of giving credits to students who haven’t earned them needs to be stopped. Thanks Toronto Star for uncovering local story.

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What do you have to offer college students?

Burstyn: New spaces. Colleges not “B-team” of post-sec institutions any more. Now enjoy respect of post-secondary system. Increase spaces available.

Prue: Tuition has risen 30% in last 6 years, now want to give grant. Liberals need to make up their mind. NDP will freeze tuition, is frozen in rest of Canada. Post-secondary education is important. Need to cut interest rates on student debt. Must build & staff universities. Mentions prof to student ratio again.

Burstyn adds: Liberals raised tuition to help schools suffering from Harris era, then reduced rates later. Encourage non-profit activity by extending no-payment period for student loans.

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7:55pm: How to fix Ashbridge’s Bay? Disgusting, has to affect water quality.

Prue: smells from sewage treatment plant disgusting. On Toronto Council, many studies re: reducing smell. Engineers need to work on that. But sewage facility is necessary, sewage must be treated before it goes into the lake. Water goes out cleaner than it came in. Trust scientists.

Burstyn: no easy fix. Not enough of a priority, need to raise issue with the city & the province to address.

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7:57pm: What is your party’s position on wind farms?

Burstyn: Liberals support wind energy, alternative energy. Can’t make it only energy source but very important to replace dirty coal plants. Promote clean energy. But no wind turbines in residential areas. Location important.

Prue: NDP supports wind energy, even on water if feasible. Some people might not like it. Liberals made people angry by passing legislation that takes away the right of every municipality to have a say where wind farms & other hydro plants are built. Communities must have input.

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8:00pm: Q for Prue: Queen Street rotten with panhandlers. Support legislation to remove them?

Prue: these are people who need help from society. Very few are aggressive, need police presence to deal with aggressive panhandlers, but some panhandlers are ok. Harris legislation has failed.

Burstyn doesn’t answer.

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Q: programs to encourage foreign investment?

Burstyn: Highest level of foreign investment of any jurisdiction in North America because of Liberal programs. Large investment from Samsung, much investment in green economy. Many opportunities for investment for the types of industries we want.

Prue: public has right to know who is coming & when. Nobody knows what’s in $7B Samsung deal. NDP government will get a copy of the deal & make it public, will cancel if it’s not a good deal. Liberals redacted all but 12 words.

Burstyn adds: Samsung deal has been renegotiated, hopes that renegotiated deal is publicly available. Believes in transparency. Terms kept private by request from Samsung, not government.

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8:04pm: How to control rampant development?

Prue: Beach was offered opportunity to be declared heritage district on street-by-street basis; most residents voted against so it didn’t happen. Get rid of OMB that can overrule wishes of residents.

Burstyn: development not “rampant” but pockets of unsatisfactory development. OMB needs to be revamped, maybe not abolished. Membership should be revisited, should be citizen representation on the board.

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8:05pm: If elected, how will you use social media?

Burstyn: experimenting with social media in campaign. Learning from people every day how social media can be used to get message out. Much different from traditional media. Has a Facebook page, is on twitter.

Prue: social media is the way of the future. As older adult, not as adept as younger people on campaign team, they help to get message out. Traditional ways appeal more to older voters, leaflets at subways, door-to-door, phone calls, signs; more in tune with politics of community.

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8:07pm: Why are political campaigns characterized by attack ads & blame? Why not more positive?

Prue: NDP has no attack ads. Running positive campaign only, talking about own platform. Jack Layton left legacy for Canada, how effective positive politics can be.

Burstyn: doesn’t like attack ads, doesn’t use them. Negativity comes from US campaigns. Campaigns on Liberal platform and Liberal record only.

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8:09pm: Given NDP is unlikely to form government, can a third-party critic properly represent riding?

Burstyn: believes in role of opposition. Canada has 3 strong parties. Yes, you can have strong representation from opposition. But better to have experienced representative in government.

Prue: Libs & Cons have said he is best representative of anyone in Legislature. Talks about people of riding, brings forward rational arguments so that Beaches-East York is completely in the picture.

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8:12pm: Question for Prue: You want to freeze tuition. Do you want to freeze taxes too?

Prue: Will take GST off home heating fuel, HST off electricity, reduce HST on gasoline over time. Won’t pay more taxes unless you earn a lot of money, or corporations whose tax breaks harm people.

Burstyn doesn’t answer.

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8:12pm: 17-yr-old injured worker lost job when employer refused to accommodate disability, claim denied by WSIB. How would you change?

Burstyn: doesn’t know specific case; not fair treatment. Did you try appeal process? System in place that works well to deal with injured workers. Can’t answer, needs to look at specific case.

Prue: system is not fair at all. When worker is injured, key goal of WSIB is to get worker back to work. Deeming Provision can deem you able to work even when you’re not, then you’re deemed to have refused and WSIB is cut off. Needs massive overhaul.

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8:15: Recent poll says health care most important issue.

Prue: Nanos also has NDP within 1% of Liberals. They’re right, health care is most important. Feds giving money to province for health care, province must choose how to spend it. Won’t spend on million dollar consultants for e-Health. Will spend on professionals, practitioners, caregivers.

Burstyn: Poll is correct, health care is most important issue we face. Liberals investing, building new hospitals, hired over 11,000 nurses. Creating new opportunities for people to receive care in their communities instead of in hospitals.

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8:17pm: Where does party platform diverge from local riding issues?

Burstyn: No divergence. Platform speaks to needs of people in all parts. Something for everyone. Not intended for only certain issues. Costed by senior economist for (I missed the name of the bank). PC platform to get elected, Lib platform to govern.

Prue: special love for municipalities. Towns & cities must prosper. Need more than 8 cents of tax dollar to go to local government. Must be able to build infrastructure. Needs to be finest place to live.

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That was the last question, now 90 seconds for final statements.

Prue: Thanks organizers, this has been very exciting even though there were only two of us here. Asking for support to go back to Queen’s Park. Skills & abilities well respected on all sides of house. Chosen as Deputy Speaker because fair & balanced. Beaches East York look out & care for neighbours, need to be seen at Queen’s Park. Hoping to bring talents to government. Ran 5 budgets with no tax increases as East York mayor. It can be done, believe I have the skills. (applause)

Burstyn: Thanks organizers & audience. Less debate than community meeting, many important questions, hopefully good answers. Very respectful, constructive, need more of this everywhere. Will bring this sort of leadership to politics. Not fighting – collaborating, working together. Have worked in government since 1982. Can work together if you want to. First-time candidate but brings experience. Bring new dignity, new grace, better meaning to politics. I’m a community builder. (applause)

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End of debate. Moderator thanks organizers, thanks Remarkable Bean for providing coffee, Thomas Breads for providing snacks, Beach United Church for providing space, and Neighbourhood Link for organizing the debate. Also thanks candidates, not an easy job to campaign but it’s an important part of the process. Also thanks people for coming & being informed.

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And that’s the end of the debate, folks. Thanks for following along & putting up with my first attempt at a live-blog! Now go get informed and vote on Thursday, October 6!

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

Ontario Election 2011: Beaches East York

Posted on 22 September 2011 by Greg Burrell

With the upcoming Ontario provincial election around the corner, and one of a few community all-candidates debates coming up tonight, I thought it might be a good idea tonight to find out who’s running in my riding. After a bit of running around on the internet, I finally found this tiny “Find Your Candidate” link in the fine print at the bottom of Elections Ontario’s We Make Voting Easy website. Actually, I started at Elections Ontario and didn’t find anything. Then I found the candidates on Wikipedia first, then by doing a Google search, and then much later I stumbled across the Find Your Candidate link. Needless to say, “We Make Voting Easy” is an unfortunate misnomer. But I appreciate the sentiment.

There are six candidates competing for my vote in Beaches East York. Of the six, three are eliminated right away:

Chris Menary, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario: the PC party is the party of former Premier Mike Harris, who in the late 90s decimated the province’s social services by slashing funding for almost everything. Hospitals and schools closed. Infrastructure projects were cancelled. Social assistance was taken away from millions who needed help the most. Harris’ reign ended just before the 2003 Blackout, where the underfunded and decaying power grid mishandled a minor routine fault, throwing much of Ontario and the northeast United States into darkness for days. The Harris tax cuts left the province billions of dollars in the hole. Tim Hudak, Menary’s leader, has surrounded himself with former Harris advisers, and most damning of all, is endorsed by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (see Every Mayor Is Better Than Ours!) There is no possible way in hell that I would vote for this party, ever.

Naomi Poley-Fisher, Freedom Party of Ontario: the Freedom Party was founded in London, Ontario in the 1980s by people who thought that the Progressive Conservative Party of the day was not libertarian enough. No thanks.

Joe Ross, The Only Party: while some sources refer to his candidacy as simply “independent,” The Only Party is registered with Elections Ontario. Unfortunately, that’s all the information I could find. They do not have a website (try Googling “only party”), and Ross did not submit any contact information with his nomination papers. Searching Joe Ross on Google brings up many varied results, including a Joe Ross who ran for the Green Party in an eastern Ontario riding in 2003, but none are conclusively the same Joe Ross nominated here. Not having an internet presence at all means no further consideration for this candidate.

The three remaining are the three I will consider voting for.

Shawn Ali, Green Party of Ontario: I’m usually impressed with Green Party candidates. They tend to be younger intellectuals who can seriously debate on the issues, when given the chance. Many seem to be the former conservatives left behind when the Conservative Party was taken over by crazy libertarian reactionaries. However, federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May came out this year as an anti-WiFi nutter, aligning herself with a group opposed to wireless broadband and notably opposed to hydro smart meters because of their wireless technology. Very disheartening coming from the leader of Canada’s environmentalist party.

Michael Prue, New Democratic Party: I have voted NDP in every election ever, without exception, and Prue has held this riding for several elections and is the favourite to win again this time. However, the NDP platform contains such policies as reversing the HST and lowering gas taxes, both of which I’m strongly opposed to and would expect to find in the PC platform if I ever wasted my time looking at it. But they’re also calling for higher corporate and income taxes, both of which the province sorely needs to close the deficit gap. Still, I’m extremely unimpressed that our only real left-wing party is quoting from the Tory playbook.

Helen Burstyn, Ontario Liberal Party: I’ve been more or less satisfied with the Liberal government of the past eight years. They harmonized our sales tax, which will benefit the economy despite the populist whine of the Conservatives. They have opened many new hospitals where Harris closed them. They have committed to some very large and desperately needed infrastructure projects, like creating Metrolinx to manage transportation redevelopment in the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area, which is already having major successes despite the roadblocks Rob Ford has tried to drive into the process. And they seem to be the only party investing in a green energy economy, seemingly including the Greens. These are all important things. But they also gave away billions in handouts to American automakers who destroyed the economy in the province’s southwest. And they were complicit in the breakdown of civil rights and thousands of unlawful detentions at the Toronto G20.

So there’s still much to think about. Tonight I’m going to attend Neighbourhood Link’s all-candidates debate at Beach United Church, and live-blog if my mobile signal is strong enough. I’m excited to learn more about these candidates. And I encourage you to learn more about candidates in your own riding.

Posted in Politics, Toronto | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

City Hall Slumber Party II: Thumb Harder

Posted on 20 September 2011 by Greg Burrell

Last night, Shawnte & I joined hundreds of our friends & fellow citizens at Toronto City Hall for the second all-night Executive Committee meeting. We listened as deputant after deputant pleaded for Mayor Rob Ford to spare their essential city services from the chopping block, to look instead for more creative ways to solve his manufactured budget crisis. And we watched as Ford and his hand-picked inner circle ignored and ridiculed our fellow citizens of this once-great Toronto.

Many of last night’s deputants advocated for restoring the vehicle registration fee and implementing road tolls and congestion charges. One deputant, Rob Shirkey, read from a Toronto Board of Trade report suggesting the city could raise over a billion dollars in revenues per year by asking drivers to pay their share. A billion dollars would plug the deficit hole, pay for every public service and grant up for a cut, and leave enough left over for Ford to kill his hated Land Transfer Tax and make a hefty property tax cut.

So why aren’t tolls on the budget table?

Wifi networks available in Committee Room 1: on TwitpicCouncillor Giorgio Mammoliti took a stab at that one. During the election, voters told Ford’s people they didn’t want road tolls. A simple answer from a simple man. Of course, if you ask someone in a bubble if they want to pay more, they’ll say no. Ford’s people didn’t ask “would you rather pay a modest vehicle fee, or a 35% property tax hike, or lose your parks and libraries and community programs?” They’d get very different answers to that question.

Balancing a budget is a tricky play, and Ford fumbled right from the very start by slashing revenues as he took office. Even with all of the cuts now on the agenda for next week’s council meeting, only $100 million will be saved. That still leaves a budget hole of over half a billion dollars, if you’re like Councillor Norm Kelly and you “believe” there’s a $774M shortfall. The city must increase revenues somehow. That will eventually mean raising taxes or creating new user fees, no matter how much gravy Ford and his million-dollar consulting firms think they can find.

We can’t count on the private sector to provide homeless shelters, harm reduction programs, quality libraries, effective public transit and sustainable urban development. The people who depend most on those programs are the ones the least capable of bearing the cost. Cutting taxes for the rich while slashing services for the poor isn’t leadership. It’s class warfare.

Taxes and user fees are always unpopular. Even some speakers who spoke in favour of tax hikes struggled to say they would like to pay more. We elect leaders to make those tough decisions for us, not to ask us how much we would like to give. A true leader at City Hall would say, “here’s how much our vision of society costs. And here’s how we’re going to pay for it.” And we would pay for it.

I hope that Council comes together with a vision that is more than Ford’s idea that a city is just roads and police and garbage. Toronto is so much more.

Posted in Living, Politics, Toronto | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Every Mayor is better than ours

Posted on 11 August 2011 by Greg Burrell

Rob Ford has been Mayor of Toronto for just over 8 months now. In just those few short months, he’s set himself apart from his predecessors, in the worst ways possible. His mish-mash of regressive proposals threatens to destroy everything that makes Toronto one of the world’s great cities. His administration has been an insult to democratic process, and rife with corruption and scandal since day one. And by all accounts, that’s just the way he likes it. Indeed, Mayor Rob Ford may already be the worst mayor in the history of our city, but he has three long years left to really cement his legacy as the worst of all time.

What of Mayor Ford’s contemporaries? Many cities around the world are facing the same sorts of budgetary restraints and growth pressures as Canada’s largest city. Tough decisions are being made every day. Yet almost every day, a news story comes out about a big city mayor facing tough circumstances who stood up for progressive city-building policy, and who is making international headlines for all the right reasons.

Not too long ago, I began reposting these stories to my Twitter account, with the tongue-in-cheek proclamation “EVERY MAYOR IS BETTER THAN OURS!” Now I’ve seen enough of these stories that I’m starting to believe it’s true. Along with possibly being the worst mayor in Toronto’s history, could Rob Ford also be the worst mayor currently serving in the world?

Rather than go down that rabbit hole (I find it depressing,frankly) I’ve decided to collect these stories of progressive heavyweight mayors around the world, to celebrate their amazing work. This morning I started the Every Mayor Is Better Tumblr at mayorisbetter.tumblr.com. I’ll be posting stories of mayors doing great things in their cities, in hopes that maybe some of Toronto’s city councillors and other leaders might be inspired. If you know of a great story to post, stay tuned while I come up with a way to submit links. And please feel free to share the links.

Who knows, maybe one day Mayor Ford will do something amazing and I’ll be posting a link to a story about his great vision. But between you and me, I think it’s more likely that I’ll end up with a story about mayors in every other city in the world, and prove that every mayor really is better than ours.

Posted in Living, Politics, Projects, Toronto | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The problem with cycling enforcement “blitzes”

Posted on 4 August 2011 by Greg Burrell

This week, Toronto Police are leading a crackdown on bicycle safety at the intersection of Broadview and Danforth Avenues, stopping cyclists and handing out $110 tickets to those who were riding without bells. Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act requires all vehicles on the road to carry a sounding device, most commonly interpreted as a bell for a bicycle (although inexpensive air-powered horns exist). On Wednesday morning, on my way to work, I aired my opinion on Twitter:

I'm at Broadview/Danforth watching a woman riding her bike in the crosswalk & along the sidewalk. Police doing nothing. Thanks guys! #bikeTO
3 August 2011 9:04 am via SeesmicReplyRetweetFavorite
@ivanvector
Greg Burrell

On the south side of the viaduct, a group of police are standing in the bike lane forcing cyclists into regular lanes. Be careful, #bikeTO.
3 August 2011 9:10 am via SeesmicReplyRetweetFavorite
@ivanvector
Greg Burrell

It's like how private automobiles are subject to all those random roadside inspections. ...What? ... Oh, right, never mind. #bikeTO
3 August 2011 9:13 am via SeesmicReplyRetweetFavorite
@ivanvector
Greg Burrell

I was joined by a number of other cyclists on Twitter openly complaining about the blitz. Traffic Sergeant Tim Burrows, who I have enormous respect for, responded today:

First of all, I’m not whining about enforcement. I love enforcement. I’d love to see more enforcement. Much more. But the scope of this supposed “safety blitz” is stupid. Police weren’t at Broadview & Danforth promoting cycling safety – if they were, they wouldn’t have been standing en masse in a bicycle lane, and they would have stopped and ticketed that woman who rode on two sidewalks and a pedestrian crosswalk right in front of them – an offense that is actually dangerous. Police were there interfering with bicycle traffic to check and enforce a single point in the law, and a very minor one in the grand scheme of bicycle safety.

Nobody gets injured or killed on a bike or by a bike simply because they don’t have a bell. Cyclists get hurt and killed by drivers running red lights and stop signs, opening car doors without looking, speeding, passing inappropriately, talking on cell phones and driving drunk, among other illegal activities. Cyclists hurt and kill others by riding on sidewalks and in crosswalks, riding the wrong way on one way streets, passing open streetcar doors, running red lights and stop signs, and, yes, cycling drunk or impaired. All of these things are illegal, and I observed at least some people doing these things within sight of a publicized and well-staffed police safety blitz on Wednesday at Broadview and Danforth, yet the police did nothing. Then, when the police publicized that more than 100 cyclists were given $110 tickets for not having bells, the implied message is that the police don’t care about all of the other illegal activities taking place on the roads. And the fact that the police put out a press release each time they do this, saying which single intersection they’re going to be at and which single law they’re going to be enforcing, makes the effort seem all the more absurd and pointless.

That’s my problem with the “traffic blitz” methodology of traffic law enforcement. If you’re going to bother enforcing any of the laws, enforce all of the laws. And don’t stand in the bike lanes.

Posted in Cycling | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Going the wrong way on bike lanes

Posted on 11 July 2011 by Greg Burrell

Once again we’ve had a serious collision involving a bicycle rider doing something they shouldn’t, with tragic consequences. Since it’s a vogue issue in Toronto lately, it’s getting a lot of media attention, and of course cyclists are again bearing the brunt of negativity. And once again it’s bringing out the argument that cyclists should be licensed.

The licensing argument has been dragged out at least once a year in Toronto, it seems, and each time it’s soundly dismissed, as it should be. I wrote about it a few times last year, and Ryan Day just last week published an excellent rebuttal, just to name two (there are many more). We already have dedicated bicycle police handing out tickets to cyclists who shun the rules. It’s clear that for a variety of reasons, some cyclists choose to ignore the law (as do some pedestrians, drivers and transit users). Adding a layer of costly licensing bureaucracy on top of the existing laws won’t improve the behaviour of those who already choose to disobey the law. It’s just a slap in the face to those of us who do follow the rules.

I listened to a podcast today of last Thursday’s Metro Morning, in which host Matt Galloway asked cycling advocate Yvonne Bambrick why someone would choose to ride on Huron Street when the Beverley/St. George bike lane is just one block to the east. This is a question that often comes up in cycling discussions in Toronto, and I find it infuriating. It reflects the idea that seems unique to Toronto that cyclists don’t have anywhere to be, and have time to take the scenic route through the city’s ravines or go well out of our way to one of the city’s few and woefully inadequate bike lanes.

Tomorrow (or maybe the next day) Toronto City Council meets to discuss removing the one-year-old bike lanes on Jarvis Street, and the same argument has been used to support their deletion. There is a bike lane on parallel Sherbourne Street, and it only makes sense to have one, right? Never mind the fact that Sherbourne is one of the worst streets in the city for potholes and disrepair. I’m hard pressed to find an example of any city anywhere in the world that is actually spending money to dismantle cycling infrastructure, and the way that the motion was introduced at the last minute and without any public consultation shows that many of Toronto’s councillors are openly hostile towards cyclists for purely ideological reasons. Installing the bicycle lanes did nothing to increase vehicle traffic congestion on the street, and removing them will do nothing to alleviate it. It will just make the street much less safe for the hundreds of cyclists who have come to depend on Jarvis as a cycle route.

The message City Council is sending to Toronto’s cycling community is “we don’t want you here, we don’t care about your safety, you’re a menace and we want you to go away.” Mayor Rob Ford even said as much, more or less, as a city councillor. Believe me, that negativity from City Hall is felt by cyclists on the road, and the hostility is causing people to get hurt.

While all of us recognize that there are some cyclists who refuse to play by the rules, talking about how to punish them is the wrong place to start, and taking away options for safe riding is certainly not going to help either. Better enforcement is a route to explore, but we just don’t have the resources to police everywhere at all times. People have to want to follow the law for the law to be effective, and that can only start with education and promotion of cycling as a viable commuting alternative, along with meaningful expansion of the cycling network to support people choosing to bike. None of this will happen while some members of council continue to act with so much spite and hatred towards cyclists. Changing their attitudes is the first step to moving on.

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Windy night on Kingston Road

Posted on 29 June 2011 by Greg Burrell

Last night I was riding home after a tour of the endangered Pharmacy and Birchmount bike lanes. Riding into a powerful headwind west from Warden, I was crashing over all the cracks and bumps on Kingston without much thought. Just west of Victoria Park, a woman in an SUV stopped to let me know I “lost a bunch of cards back there.”

I stopped to check, and sure enough, all but one of my new business cards were missing from my pannier. They must have jarred loose over one of the many bumps in the road and scattered in the wind. Fortunately I only had about a dozen of them in the first place.

I retraced my route all the  way back to Warden, but I never found where the cards had gone missing. So a bunch of my business cards are out there, floating on the breeze somewhere in the Upper Beach.

If you are here because you found one of them, say hi! And I’m sorry for accidentally littering your neighbourhood.

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Who will be the champion of Toronto’s bike network?

Posted on 26 June 2011 by Greg Burrell

Photo by Tharanga Ramanayake

This Thursday, at a meeting of Toronto’s Public Works and Infrastructure committee, suburban ward 26 councillor John Parker surprised everybody and nobody by introducing a motion to remove the bicycle lanes on Jarvis Street. Despite assurances from the mayors Ford that deleting the Jarvis bike lanes was not part of their transportation plan, and despite having not consulted with the community or the local councillor, and with no notice and no opportunity to hear from the public on the modified plan, city council now has to vote on a foolish cycling infrastructure plan that leads to bike lanes being removed from city streets.

Photo by HiMY SYeD

A day later, cyclists gathered at Bloor & Spadina for the largest Critical Mass of the summer. Although Critical Mass is usually a group ride that tours randomly around city streets, this time the group of about 200 cyclists was headed for Jarvis. With some spare fabric, sequins and hot glue, Shawnte put together capes for us to wear, and we dressed up as cycling superheroes for the evening. Thanks to many riders with cameras who participated, we have some pictures to share. Credit and copyright belongs to the photographers, of course. More photos from Critical Mass can be found on R.T. Lechow and Martin Reis‘ Flickr sets, and possibly others.

It was fun to dress up as cycling superheroes for Critical Mass, but the real cycling superheroes will be the city councillors who vote against the Fords’ ridiculous, car-focused transportation plan. These superheroes will save Toronto from becoming one of the only cities in the world to remove bicycle infrastructure instead of promoting healthy alternatives to vehicle traffic, and break the pattern of ever-increasing vehicle congestion throughout the city. You can help by writing to your local superhero councillor and sharing your story of why Jarvis is important to you, and why it benefits everyone in Toronto to expand the bicycle network in intelligent ways. And if you can, show up with your bike to the city council meetings on July 12-13, where our superhero forces will fight to stop the Fords’ destructive plan. See the Toronto Cyclists Union Save Jarvis! campaign for more ways you can help.

Here’s some more reading:

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London, Ontario’s Master Plan – A cycling plan Toronto should steal

Posted on 23 June 2011 by Greg Burrell

Last month, I spent some time in my hometown of London, Ontario. With Toronto’s Bike Month about to start, and having just participated in the Toronto Group Commute in May, I was noticing all of the new bicycle infrastructure that London has built since I moved away in 2007. Close to my parents’ home, Wonderland Road, London’s only continuous north-south arterial thoroughfare, has had separated bicycle lanes as far back as I can remember, probably since the Guy Lombardo Bridge opened in 1977. However, a reconstruction of the busiest stretch of London’s busiest road changed the separated bike paths into on-street painted bicycle lanes. Other areas where road reconstruction has resulted in new on-street bicycle lanes include Commissioners Road East where it crosses the Highbury Avenue Expressway, Oxford Street West in the Oakridge area, and much of Fanshawe Park Road West, which has a speed limit of 80km/h, and yes, cyclists were using them.

As Torontonians, we’ve been hearing the rhetoric that bicycle lanes impede traffic and cause congestion and delays, and our mayor Rob Ford famously promised to construct a bicycle network without any new on-street bicycle lanes. Former mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi swore that bicycle lanes on University Avenue and Jarvis Street would lead to “GRIDLOCK!” and snarl traffic throughout downtown. Why would London install all these new lanes on its busiest arterial roads?

London has long recognized that their public transit system can’t keep up with commuter demand, and has come up with a Bicycle Master Plan [PDF] for long-term development and promotion of cycling as an option for commuters in the city, and as a way to reduce vehicle congestion, promote active healthy living, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Master Plan features a commuter bicycle network and a recreational bicycle network, recognizing the different needs of different cyclists. London and Toronto share similar geography, including a system of rivers and ravines leading into the city centre, and generally flat terrain otherwise. Both cities have a system of multi-use recreational trails along the ravines. London’s Thames Valley Parkway trail connects downtown to the northeast, southeast and west along the branches of the Thames River.

However, unlike Toronto, London recognizes that the meandering pathways along the rivers are not well suited to the commuter cyclist, and while the river trails are an important part of the recreational network, commuter cyclists are looking for more direct routes. Based on research and study, London’s Master Plan calls for on-street lanes only on streets with traffic volumes in excess of 40,000 AADT, which means that only London’s busiest thoroughfares are being considered for bike lanes. In areas with less traffic, London’s plan calls for widened curb lanes and signed on-street routes, or likely something like Toronto’s sharrows. The Master Plan recognizes that painted bicycle lanes provide a degree of safety to experienced cyclists who will ride on the street anyway, reduce the conflicts between bicycles and vehicles at intersections, and boost the visibility of cycling in general.

Another interesting finding from London’s Bicycle Master Plan is the recommendation to remove the city’s version of separated bicycle lanes, like what has happened on the Guy Lombardo Bridge. London’s planners found that separate bike lanes within the boulevard but set back from the roadway created conflicts for cyclists at entrances to laneways and parking lots. Because of reduced visibility, cyclists have to slow down or stop at every entrance to avoid collisions. That finding comes just as Toronto’s city council is considering installing the city’s first separated bicycle lanes on several downtown streets.

In Toronto, under the current mayor, cycling is being treated as a nuisance to vehicle drivers, instead of as a viable alternative. 100km of multi-use pathways in the city’s ravines is a nice touch, but it doesn’t encourage cycling as a commuting option, except for a very limited set of residents. It doesn’t get people from where they are to where they want to go, and leaves thousands of residents without decent access to cycling facilities. Rather than integrate cyclists in the city’s transportation matrix and promote cycling as a healthy alternative to sitting in traffic or on crowded TTC vehicles, Toronto’s plan tucks cyclists neatly away from transportation corridors without doing anything at all to accommodate the many commuters who are already riding on busy city streets. Toronto could learn a lot from London’s commuter cycling network plan.

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How to ride a bike on Queen Street

Posted on 23 May 2011 by Greg Burrell

Over the last year I’ve heard from quite a few cyclists who say they won’t ride on Queen Street in Toronto. A lot of less experienced riders (and some very experienced cyclists) are afraid to ride on Queen. It’s a busy street with all kinds of vehicles, pedestrians, street parking and other hazards to bicycles, not to mention the world’s longest continuous streetcar route. For the recreational cyclist or timid commuter, there are painted bike lanes and off-street paths for a lot of its length. But what makes Queen Street an effective route for cars and streetcars also makes it a convenient route for bicycles. The road is straight and the terrain is flat, and the street stretches from the far east and west ends of old Toronto (not counting Scarborough) and bisects the downtown core. It can be intimidating at first, but once you’ve biked Queen Street a few times, it becomes a very enjoyable ride crossing through many of Toronto’s diverse neighbourhoods, and might even save you a bunch of time on your ride.

Riding on Queen Street, and other streets in Toronto without bike lanes, can be a bit of a challenge, but once you do it a few times you’ll see just how easy it is. Here are some tips to get you started.

First, if you’re not comfortable on your bike, you should stick to the trails and marked bicycle routes while you build your skills, or at the very least you should ride with someone more experienced when you’re on the busy streets. Likewise, if you’re the sort of rider who thinks that bicycles don’t need to stop for traffic signals, please stay off of the roads. And you must have a bell, you’ll see why further down the page. Cycling on the streets of Toronto is fun, convenient, enjoyable and relatively safe, but it’s also a serious responsibility. You are traffic and you could be hurt or hurt someone else if you don’t take it seriously.

Part of what makes Queen Street an effective thoroughfare is its consistent character across the city. From Roncesvalles Avenue in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east, Queen is a four-lane roadway (two in each direction) with center streetcar lanes and curbside parking, with very few exceptions. The city’s major intersections are signalized (there are no stop signs), no level heavy rail crossings, and only one grade-separated intersection at the Don Valley Parkway, with only one onramp and no offramps. Although the roadway is consistent, the neighbourhoods it passes through are very diverse, from the affluent Beaches, hipster Queen West, (what is a nice synonym for sketchy?) Moss Park, up-and-coming Parkdale, and the bustling downtown core. Duncan’s City Ride has a great series on Queen’s varied neighbourhoods, although I think he only got as far east as Bathurst.

Along most of the route, you’ll be riding in a fairly narrow lane between the streetcar lane and a line of parked cars. I call this the “bicycle space”, but be aware that cyclists have no more or less right to use that space than anyone else on the street. These are the bigger things you’ll have to deal with in your ride on Queen Street. Pay attention and watch for them.

Parked cars: The parked cars are the biggest hazard on the street – be careful around them. If you see a car pull in to a parking spot down the road ahead of you, be aware that the driver will be getting out, and often they won’t check their rearview before they swing their door open right in front of you. Don’t ride so fast that you don’t have time to stop if a door suddenly opens in front of you. You can use cars’ side mirrors to see if there are people in the cars in front of you, and plan accordingly. If you see someone getting out of their car or loading their trunk in front of you, ring your bell to let them know you’re coming, but don’t expect that they’re going to get out of your way (they usually don’t).

Pedestrians: People aimlessly walking around are another big hazard, not so much for you but for themselves. Much of Queen Street is a shopping district, and pedestrians are often not from the area and aren’t necessarily watching for cyclists. Don’t be afraid to ring your bell if you see people starting to wander into your path. This is especially true for people walking between parked cars as they’re crossing the street – they’re looking for cars but not for cyclists, and many will stand in that bicycle space while waiting for a gap in traffic. Use your bell to make sure they’re aware of you, but don’t expect them to move. Stop if you have to. This is Rob Ford’s Toronto, and people are being conditioned to see cyclists as the enemy.

Parked trucks & tour buses: Any large vehicle that you can’t see in front of is a hazard, because people might appear in front, standing in that bicycle space again. You may have noticed that streetcars ring their gong when they pass these large vehicles, and you should too. Make sure that anyone who might be about to cross in front of you knows that you’re there.

Streetcars: A 55-tonne hulk of glass and metal rumbling along a couple feet from your side is incredibly nerve-racking, and the 501 Queen streetcars run very frequently. However, streetcars are the only vehicle on the street that physically cannot swerve in front of you, so as long as you can ride in a straight line, streetcars are no threat at all. However, do not pass stopped and loading streetcars! If any of the streetcar’s doors are open, it is illegal to pass the streetcar’s back bumper. If you ride up on people getting on and off the streetcar, they will be hostile, and rightly so, because you’re being an ass.

Vehicles passing streetcars: Outside of the core, drivers will often try to pass streetcars just after they load and before they start moving again, in the short space where cars are not allowed to park. This requires swerving to the right lane, accelerating rapidly to pass the streetcar at high speed, and swerving back in front of the streetcar before it gets up to speed again. If you’re riding beside the streetcar when this happens, the driver might not even see you as they’re watching for the gap between the front of the streetcar and the back of the next parked car to close, and you could be hit and seriously injured. Prevent drivers from doing this beside you by riding in the centre of the lane next to the streetcar, or pull aside and wait. Don’t hug the curb, you could run out of room quickly.

Cars: I left this one to last, because if you’re not being an idiot, cars are actually not much of a hazard. Since Queen Street is already heavily used by cyclists, most drivers on Queen have seen and driven around bicycles already, and most are watching for you. Use your hand signals so that drivers know what you’re doing, and you’ll avoid most of the problems you might otherwise have with cars. Don’t try to pass a car on the right at an intersection – either wait for them to move, or if they’re signalling a right turn and you have space you can pass on the left, but if you pass on the right you might have an unpleasant experience with their front fender. And it’s your own fault if you do.

Be courteous to drivers and they’ll generally be courteous to you. If you come across a driver who’s being an ass, just stay out of their way, seriously. Don’t be arrogant and confrontational, you’ll lose. Drivers already have an unreasonable sense of power behind the wheel, and they’re driving vehicles that can kill you easily. Again, Rob Ford is our mayor, and his heart bleeds when a cyclist is killed, but he believes it’s their own fault, and you can rest assured at least some of the drivers who voted for him think that way too. Adjust your attitude accordingly.

If you take the responsibility of riding on the street seriously, you’ll have a great time riding on Queen Street to get where you’re going. Follow these few guidelines to get you started, and for more tips, see the great collection of How-to articles on the fantastic BikingToronto website. The more bikes there are on the street, the better for cyclists everywhere in the city. So get out there and ride!

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