Ward 28: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

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Front St. Redesign - Ward 28 Advocacy Group submission

29 Nov 2011 - 19:01 by: mmwent

Following was submitted on Nov. 29 to the Front. St. Redesign Group. It is a request for a cycling-specific consultation opportunity.

We have received an automatic response, and will post when we receive a more direct response to our request for consultation.

Regards,

Michael Went, Ward 28 Advocacy Group

______________________________________________________________________

To: FrontStUnion@toronto.ca

Hello Front St. Redesign consultation group,

We are writing as the Toronto Cyclists Union, Ward 28 group. We are a membership-based organization of people who live and/or work in Ward 28 (Toronto Centre), advocating for cycling as a legitimate, accessible, and safe means of transportation.

We are writing regarding the Front St. Environmental Assessment to request a cycling-specific consultation opportunity. We believe that the proposed redesign for Front. St. is an opportunity to enhance cycling / transit interconnectivity and visibility, as part of a larger transit story. We hope to have an opportunity to meet with appropriate representatives to discuss cycling-specific strategies to capitalize on this once-in-a-lifetime chance for a true mobility hub that serves both the broader community and local residents.

For some of us, Union Station is our main access route to public transit from our local neighbourhood. As such, we hope to bring a unique local cycling perspective to the consultation regarding the Front St. redesign in front of Union Station.

In particular, we are seeking opportunities to propose the following enhancements to the Front St. redesign proposal:

Greatly increased bicycle parking, visibly located in front of and around the station.
Prominent location of Bixi stands, as a showcase feature of a mobility hub
Closer consideration of full bike lanes along Front St. to start to connect the Yonge St. and (proposed) Bay St. bike lanes with the lanes on Lower Simcoe St. fostering safety for all road users

We believe that fostering cycling at Union Station can help to alleviate the problems of traffic congestion that is costing our city billions. For each citizen who may safely opt to bike to or from Union Station, one less car or taxi needs to negotiate this highly congested zone.

We support the pedestrians-first philosophy of the Front St. redesign. And we recognize that there are concerns about cyclist/pedestrian conflict. Our contention is that this is addressed by making cycling a visible, prioritized option in this zone. It is for this reason that we support the idea of full bicycle lanes to provide enhanced safety and minimize conflicts between road users. We are concerned about the possibility of double-parked vehicles (including buses or taxis) and believe that at least a bicycle lane would provide safety and security for all.

Prominent bike racks could be placed in front of Union Station, perhaps even some of the attractive double-decker designs used in Holland, which address space concerns in an innovative manner.

We would also like to see Bixi stands located prominently at the front of Union Station, where they were until recently. We recognise that Parks Canada is concerned about the historic façade of Union Station. However, this is Canada’s largest transit hub. With prominent bikeshare systems exploding in popularity in Paris, London, Montreal, Barcelona and around the world, we believe the Bixi system should be given prominence here as well, for both visitors and commuters. Bixi should be closer than the closest cab. Please consider placing another Bixi stand in a car parking / taxi pick-up spot on south side of Front St. Eight people may ride efficiently to and from Union Station from the space taken by a single car.

Cycling is swiftly gaining popularity in Toronto and around the world. VIA Rail has fully implemented bike racks on many trains trhoughout the entire Windsor/Quebec City corridor as of last summer. Tourists and travellers are increasingly arriving in Toronto with their bicycles, a further argument for lanes connecting to Union Station. We hope to avoid the need for costly retrofits. It would be a shame to waste the opportunity to do it now.

It is our understanding that Union Station, as the country's biggest transportation station, would constitute a "mobility hub" under Metrolinx's mobility hub guidelines. For more fulsome reference, please refer to:
http://www.metrolinx.com/en/projectsandprograms/mobilityhubs/mobility_hub_guidelines.aspx

There are global examples of mobility hubs that celebrate cycling through massive bike parking garages, bike lockers, and bicycle lanes. We would be delighted to discuss such global examples with you, from our perspective as commuter cyclists who live and work in this area.

We are thankful for the consultation opportunities presented so far. We believe that a more fulsome exploration of the ideas discussed in this letter would require an in-person discussion opportunity. We believe that cycling can be considered an integral part of the redesign of Front St.

We hope that the redesign can allow everyone to safely transfer from one transportation mode to another, where all transportation options are valued and celebrated. By working together, hopefully we can create a transportation hub that serves the needs of all local residents.

Please contact us via ward28@bikeunion.to

You may also visit us on Facebook for more information about our group.

Kindly acknowledge receipt of this communication in writing and provide us with notice of any future meetings concerning this proposal.

Thank you for your consideration,

Toronto Cyclists Union, Ward 28 Advocacy Group

cc.
Members of Toronto Cyclists Union, Ward 28 Advocacy Group
Toronto Cyclists Union
Transportation Options
Bixi Toronto
Bike Train Ontario
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, Councillor Pam McConnell, Councillor Adam Vaughan, Councillor Glen DeBaeremaker, and Public Works and Infrastructure Committee
Dan Egan (City of Toronto Cycling)
Bob Rasmussen, York Quay Neighbourhood Association
St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association
Toronto Island Community Association
Catherine Porter, Toronto Star
Chris Hume, Toronto Star
Don Peat, Toronto Sun
Marcus Gee, Globe & Mail
Peter Kuitenbrower, National Post
Enzo di Matteo, NOW Magazine

Ward 27/28 Group Ride To Bike Union Advocacy Program Re-Launch - Sat. Nov. 27, 2010

25 Nov 2010 - 01:00 by: mmwent

Group ride to the Toronto Cyclists Union Advocacy Program Re-Launch, and Livable Communities Workshop. We leave from the corner of Queen and Jarvis at 9:30 am, enjoy the Jarvis St. and Sherbourne St. bike lanes and wander through Rosedale to get to the Evergreen Brickworks. We'll meet some more riders from the east at Bloor and Sherbourne Sts. around 9:45 am.

For more info about the ride, visit:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180984488582156

Advocacy Program Re-Launch!

Toronto has a new Council with 14 new faces and a new mayor. Now it's time to engage cyclists across the city to make their voices heard, from Scarborough to Etobicoke, demanding safe streets for all users.

The Toronto Cyclists Union would like to invite you to our Advocacy Program Re-Launch Event! Join us on November 27th from 1-5pm for a productive afternoon workshop where we can set goals and priorities for the next Council term.

You'll hear speakers from different perspectives on effective cycling advocacy, including Dale Duncan, a former Councillor's assistant and Dave Meslin, founder of the Toronto Cyclists Union. We will also provide resources such as large-scale maps for you to draw on and plan. City staff and other successful cycling advocates, including Nancy Smith Lea from Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, will be on hand to answer any questions and provide advice as we set goals. This is a great opportunity to develop an effective plan with fellow bike union members for your area.

For more about Livable Communities Workshop, visit:

http://ebw.evergreen.ca/cal/event/livable-communities-workshop

Howard Zinn's talking about Toronto Cyclists Union

10 Jun 2010 - 22:19 by: fellouse

"It is important to say that democracy is not the three branches of the government. It's not what they told us in junior high school. "This is democracy, we have three branches of government, the legislative, the executive, […] we have checks and balances, […] if somebody does something bad, he will be checked by another […]" woah! what a neat system! Nothing can go wrong! Well, those structures are not democracy, democracy is the people, democracy is social movement, that's what democracy is. What history tells us is, when injustices have been remedied, they have not been remedied by the the three branches of the government. They have been remedied by great social movements, which then pushed and forced pressure and threaten the three branches of government until they finally do something. Really, that's democracy. And, we mustn't be pessimistic, we mustn't be cynical, we shouldn't think we are powerless. We are not powerless. If you see history, people felt powerless, and felt powerless, and felt powerless, until they got organized, they got together, they didn't give up and they built social movements. It was the anti slavery movement, the black movement of the 1960's, the anti-war movement of Vietnam, the woman's movement. They started small and apparently helpless, and they became powerful enough to have an effect on the nation and the national's policy. We're not powerless. We just have to be persistent, patient, patient not in the passive sense, but in the active sense. Of having a kind of faith that if all of us do little things, well, at some point there will be a critical mass created. Those little things will add up. That's what has happened historically. People could not think they could go to the consulate, but they kept doing doing doing and something important happened. And I'll leave you with one more thought. If you do that, if you join some group, a group that is working on gender equality, or racism or immigrant rights, environment, the war, whatever little action you take, it will make you feel better. I don't say we should do all these things just to make you feel better, but it is good to know that life becomes more interesting and rewarding when you become involved with other people in some great social cause." This is an excerpt from Howard Zinn's speech at the at University of Binghamton, Upstate New York on September 8th, just after the USA presidential election, broadcasted by Democracynow.org. Link to the full video "War and Social Justice": http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow%2Fdemnow%2Fdemand%2F2009%2Fjan%2Fvideo%2...