Battle over Jarvis bike lane rages on

Toronto council is debating removing the bike lanes on Jarvis that were just put in last year.

Paul Moloney, Urban Affairs Reporter

Cyclists who packed the city council chamber will have to return Wednesday to learn whether the Jarvis St. bike lanes will be retained or scrapped.

After four hours of debate, council ran out of time to vote on a controversial plan by Mayor Rob Ford’s administration to spend $200,000 to remove the Jarvis lanes, installed last July.

A staff report said it will cost another $210,000 to remove three-year-old bike lanes on Birchmount Rd. and Pharmacy Ave., as urged by local Councillor Michelle Berardinetti (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest).

“It is a disgrace,” said Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, who cycles downtown daily from Scarborough and took personal exception to the plan because he uses the Birchmount bike lane.

De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) was asked to apologize after he accused Ford of threatening bikers’ personal safety through his opposition to bike lanes.

He apologized to Ford while continuing his contention that removing bike lanes imperils lives.

“I do hope this council — if anyone gets killed or maimed in a car accident after we take out these bike lanes — I do hope our mayor and members of council will send flowers to their funeral,” he said.

The council chamber was packed with cyclists who were repeatedly warned by council’s speaker Frances Nunziata to refrain from clapping. She said they could wave their hands in the air instead, which they did when pro-cycling comments were made.

The high turnout in support of keeping the Jarvis lanes isn’t a true reflection of public opinion, said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East), chair of the public works and infrastructure committee.

“I think there are a lot of individuals who use Jarvis St. and a lot of people in communities all across the city who feel a different way but, hey, don’t always come to city hall,” Minnan-Wong said.

There are about eight councillors on the list to speak on the bike lane issue before the 45-member council votes.

Cycling spokesperson Andrea Garcia said she was heartened by the tenor of the debate.

“I think there’s a lot of councillors pointing out how senseless it is to remove the Jarvis bike lanes and for that matter the Birchmount and Pharmacy bike lanes,” said Garcia, of the 1,100-member Toronto Cyclists Union.

In other council news:

 • Mayor Rob Ford announced three new task forces to be led by community development and recreation committee chair Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti.

Task forces on finding “alternative” ways to fund child care and on developing public-private partnerships for ice rinks were previously proposed by Mammoliti. The third task force will focus on homelessness, though Mammoliti said he did not know exactly what its goals would be.

“At this point, I can’t answer the question with respect to what we’re going to do, but I could say to you that we need to be looking at everything. And it’s just not right for a city like this to continually see this going on,” he said.

 • The city’s new graffiti plan, which seeks to strike a better balance between aggressive enforcement and engagement with artists, passed unanimously after it was amended at the request of Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) to exempt the famed “Graffiti Alley,” near Queen St. W., from enforcement.

With files from DANIEL DALE

 Earlier comments on this story

Comments

[Fenn]

I'm glad there's fight left in the cyclists. I'm sorry but this seems like a HUGE waste of money. There's $410 000 of next years $774 000 000 budget gap. Admittedly not that much but at least it's in the right direction. Is it me or does Ford have it in for non stationary bikes (see the art bike he "saved" after almost removing). What's wrong with him? More bike lanes = less traffic. He wants to end the war on cars this is the way to do it, add bike lanes.

[bjenkins.temiskaming@rogers.com]

The begining of the end of a great City!

[d. moretti]

Removal of bike lanes = Common sense

There's an underulitzed bike lane on Sherbourne. Now Tam Wong want to reduce Yonge Street to one lane. Downtown will be clogged with cars and smog.

You may think it's fine now (and it actually is) but come fall, winter and spring it takes 30-40 min to travel on Jarvis by car between King and Bloor.

[QuasimotoJoe]

Haha, I can picture all the helmeted and lycra clad moonies quietly waving their hands in the air, "Jazz Hands for Bike Lanes!!" they cry silently to themselves, LOL.

Maybe if they had respected the process that they hijacked to get the bike lanes installed then they would not see their ill gotten gains so easily retracted. Jarvis redevelopment was going to cost more, yet in the end would have been far superior to what the bike lane lobby made us settle for. Council too should have stayed the course then instead of capitulating with their eyes on saving millions by installing bike lanes and walking away patting themselves on the back!

As for "other Council news", Just what the hell is Mammoliti gong to suggest on these topics? I can guess:

For an "Alternative" way to fund child care he will try to kill several endangered birds with one disgusting stone. You can expect;

1. Proceeds for childcare can be earned by rounding up the homeless and putting them to work in state of the art brothels located (for savings and convenience) in the very child care centres the profits would provide! Double win!

2. Ice Rinks can be funded by topless lap dancers on ice at every city rink to entice rink users to part with another $20 for the rink upkeep. Where do we get the lap dancers you ask? Why, the homeless of course! They can sleep in the change rooms.

3. Licensing fees, an untapped wealth for the city, can fund all three initiatives. Surely the bedraggled, drugged up, violent, drunken bike messengers earn enough that they can be tapped to contribute to all these initiatives, also, lesbians. We can make videos of lesbians.

Want to know what Ford DOESN'T care about in this city? Watch for where he puts his trained monkey Mammoliti.