The folks at the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) have done a superb job of surveying candidates for the upcoming municipal election. While the majority of candidates have not responded they have already exposed a candidate not worthy of your votes.
That candidate is Dan Harris in ward 35, the same ward I live in. Mr. Harris, a former NDP federal candidate, is taking the same approach to cycling issues as fellow NDP’er Councillor Adam Giambrone. He wants to be elected without a position,
“The bike lane projects proposed for your ward are listed below. Do you support the following projects? …
Comment: For the other 4 projects, although I am supportive, as city councillor, I would need to conduct thorough public consultation with the residents of the ward.”
He wants us to vote for him without knowing his position. Councillor Giambrone takes the same lack of leadership approach, although he is already elected he wants citizens to do all of the leadership work and then maybe he might follow. Mr. Harris does not want to take a position but rather leaves us to guess what he supports. Clearly voters deserve to know what they are voting for, it is our ultimate form of approval or disapproval. While community consultation is great in theory we have seen how city politicians manipulate them to whatever meets their interests. Remember the Bike Plan has been on the books for almost 5 years now, this lack of leadership from council is what has hobbled it so severely to date. Let us hope that Mr. Harris does not claim he did not read it.
It gets worse.
“Do you support funding the following programs to build links between cycling and transit?…
Comments: I support these concepts, but supervisors of the bike parking will be paid out of cyclist user fees.”
Cyclists and pedestrians already pay proportionally more taxes to support automobiles in Toronto, most of which are from out of town, yet he wants us to pay more taxes? I am not against every road user paying their fair share but let us even the playing field first. We pay our taxes yet we have watched council continually ignore cycling issues. Especially frustrating are the safety issues that have gone ignored and that have resulted in lost friends. Mr. Harris wants more taxes where the city’s track record shows it will go to waste? One can only wonder if next he wants license plates on bicycles.
Mr. Harris blames Mr. Harris!
The candidate has to go all the way back to the dark ages to hinge further progress on the Bike Plan on former provincial Premier Mike Harris.
“Do you support adding 285 kilometers to the Bikeway Network by 2010 by supporting the budgets outlined below?…
Comments: When the provincial government removes provincially funded social spending for the local property tax base I will support the budgets outlined.”
That is quite the sick stretch. Beyond me how the two are even related. The irony here is that there are two types of pedestrian/cyclist, those who make the choice to walk/ride and those who are forced. The latter are usually the poor. In the case of the working poor getting to a job inexpensively is usually the difference between putting food on the table or not. I cannot even to begin to guess why a candidate who claims so much compassion for the poor would take such a position. Leadership along with some creativity is needed to overcome the issue of downloading. At best I can describe Mr. Harris’ comments as a sign that he intends to do like the current council and that is nothing.
There might be a little bright light in Mr. Harris’ platform in terms of bylaw enforcement. Not really sure though if he has the stomach for more than ‘poop and scoop’ issues. Would he be brave enough to demand enforcement in the Diamond Lanes that cross the top of ward 35’s boundaries. Quite frankly I am not prepared to waste a vote on him to find out.
You may not live in ward 35 but you need to pay attention to the TCAT survey to get an understanding on where your candidates stand. We will have to live with our decisions for the next four years.
All quotes are from the TCAT survey for ward 35.
http://biketoronto.ca/vote2006/show/can/215.htm
13 responses so far ↓
1 jkim // Oct 29, 2006 at 11:59 pm
There are greater priorities in Scarborough then bike lanes. For example bus service improvements and a solution to the aging RT. How will bike lanes help to get the thousands of commuters from Scarborough into the downtown core, or across the top of the city. Especially with the limited budget of the city. In my opinion bike lanes are good because they do keep cyclists out of the way of motorists as they usually dart in and out between cars wildly. However I am not sure taking up car commuter space on eglinton with bike lanes would be very beneficial. Traffic is too heavy to reduce the number of lanes there to have bikes slowly moving down the right hand side of the road. Not to mention that bikes would also block busses from getting by. Development in ward 35 is not pedestrian friendly, and until retail plaza’s are built right up to the street, the area remains an automobile suburb.
I also agree that the community probably needs to be consulted before bike lanes are put on major arterial roads. They may not be worth it if there are only a handful of cyclists using them. In the suburbs that money would probably be better spent on transit improvement and streetscape improvment, and not bike lanes that only a limited proportion of the population can use.
I dont know if this actually posted the first time
2 Administrator // Oct 30, 2006 at 5:45 pm
I encourage you to visit ward 35, you might be surprised to see a bicycle friendly Diamond Lane on Eglinton (DURING RUSH HOUR!!!)… that is what that little bicycle symbol means on the sign. Nothing bad has befallen the ward because of it. They only people blocking the buses are drivers who cannot read the signs.
While a handful of cyclists may “…dart in and out between cars wildly…” forutunately they have only managed to kill two people in the last ten years in Toronto. Cars have killed around 600 in that period and injured thousands of others. It costs each and every taxpayer in Ontario close to $1000. just to keep bad drivers on the road.
I agree with you that mass transit is a priority, tends to help the most people in all of the varied seasons. Looking at a bike lane as just that is a little short sighted. Bike lanes also make streets more people orientated. It did a great job on Dundas St E on calming the street making it safer for children walking to school. In 3 of the 4 rush hour directions the average travel time for motorists actually decreased. The travel time decreased because there was a more orderly flow of traffic and less cars racing to get to the next light. I live on Pharmacy, considered a major arterial, which is predominately a residential street with a few schools. It is not uncommon for Toronto Police to stop cars on the road going 100kmh. How many seniors or children do you know that can safely cross a road when faced with cars going 100kmh? The speed limit on Pharmacy for those who have not visited is 50kmh. We can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars getting more police to enforce the speed limits or we can redesign the roads to make them less inviting to high milers and more people friendly with a little paint.
Mr. Harris’ position to tie bike lanes into provincial downloading is obscene but I guess everyone needs a bogeyman with Mike Harris playing the part well. It has to be the strangest thing I have ever heard.
3 jkim // Oct 30, 2006 at 11:37 pm
After reading this article I did a little more reading on the bike plan and such. It seems pretty interesting to me, and for the most part a decent idea.
But to compare Dundas to eglinton is not right either. I mean the development on eglinton is very suburban, and Dundas is the opposite. I use Dundas to drive to school a lot and I love how the bikes are out of the road way now. But the streetscape there is greatly different then in scarborough.
I also looked at the survey results of candidates for the bike plan stuff. Interestingly enough you panned Harris, but failed to note that he agreed strongly with most of the points. Also your article fails to note that Harris and Heaps are the only 2 candidates that actually bothered to respond to the survey. If anything I wouldn’t consider any of the candidates who didn’t bother to respond to this survey. At least Harris (and heaps) took the time to look at these things, so why pan him and not the others who obviously care a lot less?
4 Administrator // Oct 31, 2006 at 12:32 am
I am not comparing Dundas to Eglinton. The latter has had Diamond lanes longer than Dundas has had bike lanes with none of the ill effects you are trying to get at. Allowing bicycles to use a lane during rush hour has in no way harmed suburbia along Eglinton.
I really do not know what article you read as I did point out that, “While the majority of candidates have not responded they have already exposed a candidate not worthy of your votes.”
Simply responding to the survey does not guarantee anyone a free pass. Responding may show that you care and are worth considering. Unfortunately for Harris the difference between himself and Heaps is that Heaps took a position. Heaps will have to live by that come voting day. Harris is trying to score points going after Mike Harris with bike lanes??? It is the weirdest thing I have ever heard. Voters on either side of the issue deserve to know where the candidate stands and vote accordingly. Harris is going to be lumped in with those who did not care to respond because of his position. I have never even heard of a councillor that hates bike lanes come anywhere close to Harris’ position.
Downloading is a serious problem that needs to be addressed but not with bike lanes.
5 jkim // Oct 31, 2006 at 1:39 am
If you ask me Heaps provided even less insight. His comment on a similar question you panned Harris on. And I wouldn’t even know how to characterize his response. let me quote it: “The cost will have to be justified by the actual benefits to the citizens of Toronto”. This was in regards to staffing issues. That was one of two comments. By the look of it Harris is in suport of these projects so I wouldn’t discount him yet.
in my opinion all of that money spent on bike lane expansion would probably serve many more people if it were reallocated to the TTC for capital expenditures or something. I agreed with you that bike lanes are good in many ways but considering that our city can’t afford anything right now there are probably bigger priorities. Now I also understand that as a cyclist you are from a special intrest group on this issue so I can see why you may disagree with anyone who doesn’t declare 100% unconditional support for the cause.
Since none of the other candidates even bothered to respond, and heaps was even less substantial will you be voting for any of them? None of them appear to support your cause enough. Who are you leaning to then? I am undecided and trying to look at some of the bigger issues in our ward.
6 Administrator // Oct 31, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Exactly who’s book did you pull the “special interest” retort out of, Stephen Harper or George W. Bush? A chess club qualifies as a special interest group. The NDP is the largest beneficiary of special interests groups going. It would not be around if it were not for the CAW.
Mass transit costs a fraction of what it does to support motor vehicle traffic. Cycling costs an even smaller fraction of what it costs to support mass transit. Hundreds of millions of dollars are rightly given to mass transit every year, cycling can get by with $6 million a year. Numerous studies point to physical activity improving the health of the participant thereby reducing tax money spent on health care, something mass transit cannot do.
You still have not explained how downloading affects cycling, it has never been a provincial responsibility. How the two ever became related is beyond explanation. It is a pretty good indication that Harris is not well in tune wit the issues. He seems like he will be sitting on his hands not doing anything until the problem of downloading is resolved. Mike Harris is a has been, what is the point of making him a whipping boy?
NDP council members including the mayor have supported spending tens of millions on the Front Street Extension, a 2km length of road meant to help 905′ers get home sooner. A colossal waste of money. They even wasted close to a hundred million buying subway cars from Thunder Bay. They were so worried that the people who gave us Mike Harris may go without. Too bad they did not save that money to create union jobs here in Toronto, like more bus drivers to improve transit. Or better still help the homeless.
You talk about “our ward” yet you did not even know that a cycling facility has existed on Eglinton for several years.
7 jkim // Oct 31, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I didn’t say anything about Mike Harris. You’re the only one who has mentioned that. In fact I don’t think Harris did either, that was your own little spin.
And I know there are the diamond lanes on eglinton. But who the hell would want to use it considering the traffic speed is 60km+ and traffic volumes there are so heavy. Those lanes would be great if they were enforced for bus and vehicular traffic. Im not sure how useful they would be as bike lanes. It would still be to dangerous to bike there with busses and car pooling traffic.
You also shouldn’t assume that I am NDP, because it seems like you are. How do you know I didn’t vote for say…the Liberals? Call me a swing voter depending on the major issues.
As far as the subway deal, that was good for ontario as a whole. The tax dollars will come right back into the provinces economy rather then heading for germany or china. With all of the Mills closing in the north, 200 jobs will make a huge difference for those people up there.
You never addressed anything about the other candidates in 35 either. None of them were even interested in this bike survey by the look of it other than Heaps and Harris. Heaps provided even less insight then Harris so who is to say that he wouldn’t be sitting on his hands waiting to see if, and I quote, “The cost will have to be justified by the actual benefits to the citizens of Toronto”.
If no one takes an interest in your bike plan how can you attack or support any candidates?
8 Administrator // Oct 31, 2006 at 5:00 pm
This is the most fun I have ever head with anyone posting on torontocranks.
Mike Harris is synonymous with downloading and “special interest groups” so no it is not my spin. Dan Harris is simply trying to conjure up a past devil. It is hilarious that you are trying to nail me as a NDP’er, I do not think I have said anything pleasant about the party in this whole discussion. I did vote for the NDP for a long time but have not gone near them in years.
The mills in northern Ontario are the problem of the provincial government. Your whole argument is that Toronto does not have money to implement programs like cycling facilities but suddenly giving away $100 million that we do not have is OK? That money could have gone to people in Toronto that need it. You think that the provincial or federal government is going to credit Toronto for their goodwill? Did you hear anyone from either government thanking Toronto for wasting that much money?
Because you lack confidence in dealing with cyclists and sharing the road with them does not make a good argument to deny them facilities. I have ridden across Eglinton using the Diamond lanes, not such a big deal. Sadly you are right they are not properly enforced but that fault does not lie with cyclists. That problem sits squarely on the shoulders of the Mayor’s lapdog, another NDP’er.
Dead on the money, “The cost will have to be justified by the actual benefits to the citizens of Toronto”. There is overwhelming evidence that cycling improves the lives of citizens for an exceptionally low cost. The only thing that costs less and is as beneficial is walking. Heaps assessment is reasonable, he did not reach for some old NDP mantra about Mike Harris.
The bike plan was not written by me, I do not know why you are convinced I wrote it. The plan was written by city staff with cooperation of the cycling committee. It was then sent to full council where a vote approved it.
I do not care who you support or if you are a “swing” voter. Cyclists like every other voter will look at the issues that most affect them and vote accordingly. Alternatives to the chaos on the roads are important to people, that is if you believe the survey in the Toronto Star today or the Globe’s coverage on Monday.
9 jkim // Oct 31, 2006 at 6:04 pm
Lively political debate is always a good thing.
Anyways I think I am all debated out for now, as we seem to be of opposing viewpoints. These discussions tend to go in circles as this one is starting to.
I think a lot of people in Toronto realize the problems the Mike Harris government left us. Remember when Eves left the liberals with a $6B deficit? I remember the school strikes as a result of Mike Harris’s policies and back then, as a kid myself they really did ruin the culture of the schools. After Mike Harris nothing was the same. As you can tell I am not a mike harris fan myself. The Harris legacy is somewhat like the Rae legacy, everyone remembers what they screwed up big time.
I do notice that a great deal of the posts on this site are anti-ndp…which tells me we could probably bicker for quite some time as I am closer to the left. I think you must have misunderstood as I did not try and label you as an NDP’er.
I know the bike plan wasn’t written by you, but I can see that you are a strong advocate of it and it is a very important cause for you.
Bombardier deal…could go on for a long time about this one. Let’s not.
As for Heap’s assesment being reasonable…it was 2 very vague sentences. That wasn’t much of an assesment at all. You should probably get on the other candidates and blast them for not caring at all about your issue though.
Diamond lanes definately need enforcement though. Especially on Bay street, and Eglinton.
As for media coverage in the globe, if you are refering to car free downtown on smog days, that will never fly. The city has enough trouble closing down one street for a car free day let alone the whole downtown. With our summers becoming increasingly warmer the downtown would be shut down for a great proportion of the summer. And the fact is people will still use their cars to commute from pickering to missisauga, Oshawa to Toronto, Toronto to Woodbridge and Vaughn. Imagine commuters trying to get from the edges of Scarborough to Downtown Toronto on a smog day with no car? It would take them forever to get there via TTC. Although the car is a terrible polluter, for some people it is totally nescessary. This is a huge issue that will probably never fly. I’d even say impossible to do. But thats just my opinon
Anyways thanks for the debate. And I’ll keep an eye out in the near future for your assesment of candidates that dont care about the bike lane issue at all.
PS the bike lanes on Dundas are really good.
10 Lana // Oct 31, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I enjoyed the discussion, folks.
I agree healthy debates can become adversarial or circular. The fundamental problem here is that the City is not reaching for an overarching, comprehensive green plan that works for all. Yet it is possible, as these awesome videos demonstrate.
Inspiring 12 min. video interview with Bogota, Columbia’s award-winning, internationally acclaimed former mayor, Enrique Penalosa.
‘A Conversation with Enrique Penalosa’ (directed by Clarence Eckerson, Jr.)
http://homepage.mac.com/trorb/TOPP/iMovieTheater144.html
(There’s also a 28 min version: http://www.nycsr.org/nyc/video.php)
Article: ‘The Politics of Happiness’ by Enrique Penalosa and Susan Ives.
http://yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=615
11 jkim // Nov 9, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Hey I just noticed Dan Harris on his website has a plan for a bike path to connect up scarborough with the Taylor Creek Bike path. That sounds pretty pro cyclist to me!
12 Administrator // Nov 9, 2006 at 9:58 pm
That is rather how misinformed he is. There is no Taylor Creek Bike Path. There is a multi-use path, pedestrians, cyclists doing less than 20 km/h, joggers, children, runners, and dogs that are all permitted to use the path. It is a recreation path. These multi-use paths are not really relevant to cyclists that have to go somewhere as they tend to go kilometres away from any relevant travel path. Further, the average cyclist travels over 20 km/h with ease.
Just another out of touch candidate.
13 jkim // Nov 10, 2006 at 1:37 pm
I don’t know about that. I’ve used that path and it actually is a decent way of getting from downtown to Vic Park. And for the most part it isn’t used in the DVP section much. Even if it is multi use it is much safer for cyclists then roadways. It would be a good commuter cyclist trail.