Take the Lane

Cyclists needed for music video

Here's an opportunity for cyclists who have always wanted to be in a music video. Jazz vocalist Coco Love Alcorn is filming a video for her song Revolution, from her new album Joyful, on Tuesday from noon to 7 p.m. at a central location in Toronto (TBA).

If you want to be in the crowd of cyclists, marching band members, protesters and concert-goers, email her partner, Simon Farla at simonfarla@gmail.com for more details.

You can hear Revolution, and some of her other work, here. You can also hear I got a bicycle, which would make a great bicycle video, also.

Yanking bike lanes stirs a storm

The Share the Road Cycling Coalition has responded with a detailed, two-page letter to St. Catharines council after council voted to remove recently-installed bicycle lanes so that there won't be traffic jams of shoppers turning into the local Canadian Tire.

This decision by council to yank these lanes (a decision which will cost them $65,000 -- see latest story) has really stirred up a storm, and I give full points for Eleanor McMahon for giving the council both barrels . . . diplomatically, of course.

Here are some excerpts:

"While our work is provincial in scope, we have undertaken international research, particularly in the United States in Europe, where we have visited and studied a number of bicycle friendly jurisdictions including, to name a few, Madison, Wisc.; Chicago, Ill. and Apeldoorn, Holland.

"You might ask, what do these cities have in common? They share an approach which features cycling as a mainstream mode of transportation where cycling is encouraged as a part of daily life. And they are but a few of a growing number of cities worldwide which have realized that creating bikeable, walkable communities is central to creating active and healthy communities and contributing to an enhanced quality of life for their citizens.

"Indeed, research demonstrates that cycling is actually a net benefit, and contributes to tackling some of the most pernicious problems facing our society – climate change, obesity, traffic congestion . . .

"More recently the Share the Road Cycling Coalition has been asked to partner with Green Communities Canada to deliver a cycling component as part of the Active and Safe Routes to School program currently planned for a number of Niagara Region municipalities including St. Catharines. This is, no doubt, part of a longer term laudable strategy to reduce obesity rates. As you may know, according to the Statistics Canada Health Report (Vol. 17, No. 3, August 2006), St. Catharines has one of the highest obesity rates in Canada amongst adults aged 18 or over at 69.3% -- and much higher than the Canadian average of 59%.

"Reducing the ability of your citizens to choose to walk or ride their bike stands in contrast to your participation in initiatives like Active and Safe Routes to School. Indeed it is puzzling, given these other policy and program initiatives and could indeed, contribute to worsening health outcomes. Cycling infrastructure is a key component to a healthy transportation strategy and while we applaud the City’s efforts to encourage cycling in children, we are concerned at the possible negative impacts of removing bike lines and cancelling the provision of sidewalks . . .

"Further with the recent announcement that Toronto has been awarded the Pan American games, we would also ask that you consider how making your community less walkable and bikeable stands in contrast to the values of this global sporting event. In short, what kind of community do you want St. Catharines to be? One where the health and well being of your citizens flourishes in the context of a choice of transportation mode and where healthy choices are encouraged or one where the only choices do not involve enhanced physical activity and indeed increase car dependency . . .

"Your Worship, Members of City Council, the time is now to be ambitious, to show political courage, to create a vision for a healthy, active community. By your actions you can and must make a difference."

Now, will the St. Catharines council have the smarts to rethink their flip-flop? They could set an example for municipal councils everywhere.

Who took the bikeable out of walkable/bikeable living?

Somehow, the City of Kitchener has lost sight of the "bikeable" part of the walkable/bikeable community model, at least as far as the redevelopment of the city's downtown goes.

I vaguely recall, when the first stories came out back in 2007, that King Street was going to become "people-friendly" with "narrow roads and increased bike paths." I'm quoting a Record writer's story, so may not reflect accurately the intention of the planners, but I do recall the architects' drawings that emphasized pedestrians, cyclists, bike racks and streetside patios. The intention appeared to be to dethrone the car as king of King Street.

As I was walking along the new, improved King Street the other day, I noticed how many bicycles were chained to the railings around trees or to the protruding natural gas pipes outside of office buildings and wondered, "Where are the bike racks?"

So I walked the "new" stretch from Frederick to Gaukel. Over the three blocks, there are three (3, count 'em, 3) new bicycle racks, each capable of accommodating four bikes placed there by friends who knew what they were doing. There were also two older bike racks, that may belong to the city or may belong to the property owners, that could between them accommodate 21 bikes if you really jammed them in.

And how many parking spots were there in the same stretch? Forty. (40. Four-oh.)

Oh yeah, the car has been dethroned. Long live people-powered transportation. Anyone who rides a bike knows that the pleasure of using a bicycle to shop is that you can pedal, stop, lock, shop, unlock, continue. A bicycle is just walking with wheels, and key to that is safe places for your bike while you're inside. Three new bike racks? Two of them on the east side of the street and one on the west side. This is supposed to encourage people to come downtown?

Here's my tip to urban planners everywhere: spend a week doing what you think your clients will do. Walk or bike around your walkable/bikeable/liveable city. See if it really is liveable. What will make it liveable?

For cyclists who hope to meander through the downtown, spending money so they can fill their wicker baskets with provender and fill cash registers with moolah, what will make it liveable is bike racks.

Kitchener wants your input to the cycling master plan

If you want to contribute to the cycling future of Kitchener, you will want to make time on Saturday, Nov. 21 to attend the first Cycling Master Plan information sessions open to the public.

There will be one at the Kitchener Market, 300 King St. E., from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and another at the Activa Sportsplex, 135 Lennox Lewis Way (just north of St. Mary's High School on Block Line Road), from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The intention is to develop a master plan that will include policies and design standards that will consider the needs of recreational and commuting cyclists. These are the policies that cyclists need in place to ensure that they will have the kind of infrastructure that makes cycling doable in our future walkable/bikeable city. Without policies, every bike lane, every sign, every bike rack, becomes a budget item to be fought over and, often, dropped as a "frill." With policies, they can become the essential components of our future city.

If you cannot attend one of the two sessions, you can contribute to the debate at www.kitchener.ca, at 519-741-2232 or by TTY at 1-866-969-9994.

And of course, you can contribute to the debate right here. Coment, contemplate, contribute.

Councillors flip-flop on bicycle lanes

The councillors in St. Catharines have flip-flopped on a progressive bicycle lane plan after a Canadian Tire store owner complained the lanes caused traffic tie-ups among motorists bound for his store.

You can read the story from the St. Catharines Standard here, but briefly, a four-lane road went on a diet in September and changed to two lanes, a central turning lane and two bike lanes. The store owner went to council with his complaint and the staff came up with a compromise that saved the bike lanes. Council members ignored the compromise and ordered the immediate removal of the bike lanes to return the street to four lanes, just in time for the Christmas shopping rush. I like the store owner's line that traffic jams will "discourage even more people from shopping." Uh, I thought the traffic jams were there BECAUSE people wanted to shop.

Apparently, if bicycle advocates want to succeed, they need the big boys -- Canadian Tire, Tim Horton's and the like -- on their side. Oh, and don't interfere with traffic flow.

Dangerous doctor-driver convicted; faces 10 years

Those who read my Monday post on the L.A. doctor charged with using his car as a weapon against some recreational cyclists, will be pleased to know that he was found guilty. A short story from the Los Angeles Times can be seen here.

Christopher Thompson faces up to 10 years in prison on such charges as assault with a deadly weapon and mayhem. No details yet about when the sentencing will happen, but you can bet it will be well-watched.

Local paramedic cycles for landmine removal

A Cambridge paramedic will be one of two Canadians riding in a pretty unusual fundraising bicycle event next February and March.

Medics In Motion -- Vietnam to Cambodia, is the Canadian contingent that will join 40 cyclists from around the world who are riding 500 kilometres over five days to raise money and awareness for the Mines Advisory Group and the worldwide issue of landmine clearance.

Annette Jang of Cambridge will be among them, along with the only other Canadian, Julie Colgan of London. Jang is no stranger to long-distance cycling or to heavy-duty fundraising, counting the Ride to Conquer Cancer among the many charitable bicycle events she has participated in. The Vietnam to Cambodia ride will push the envelope for her. Both she and Colgan plan to raise $12,000, and are looking for your help.

Part of their fundraising effort is a charity gala on Saturday, Nov. 28 in Vaughan, where the guest speaker will be Kim Phuc, who was the subject of the iconic 1972 photo of children fleeing a napalmed village. Phuc's foundation focuses on helping the child victims of war, a nice fit with the landmines group, since so many chlidren continue to be victims of these hidden killers.

You can go to the Medics in Motion web page to get more info or pledge to the ride. The Mines Advisory Group web page is worth some time, as well. It seems a good fit to have the silent and simple bicycle be a vehicle to help return a war-ravaged landscapes to being safe and secure again.

George Bechtel wonders why he didn't wear his helmet

Forgetting to wear his bicycle helmet on one trip has cost George Bechtel dearly.

The longtime spokesperson for Transport 2000, advocate for alternative transportation and subject of a February post that reported on his goal to ride the equivalent of three times around the Earth has been sidelined after a crash this past summer.

He contacted me partly because of the recent bicycle accidents and partly because of the critical injury of young Kitchener Ranger Ben Fanelli, who suffered a fractured skull when his helmet came off after a hit during a game. Bechtel has been thinking about helmets a lot.

The 77-year-old Bechtel is also rebuilding himself after what could have been a fatal cycling crash. He had left home on July 28, hauling a bike trailer on his way to clear some weeds from around a historic plaque on the Bechtel family farm. While he normally wears a bicycle helmet, he didn't put it on for this trip. He remembers putting two types of weed clippers in the trailer before leaving the house, but the rest of the day has been erased from his memory.

He was found on the pavement on a hill on Speedsvale Road in Cambridge. The presumption is that somehow he lost control and fell. One suggestion is that the bike trailer twisted and pulled him down. He was told that the police report says he was doing 60 km/h at the time, something he finds unlikely since he has never recorded speeds like that on his odometer. He was taken to Grand River Hospital and transferred to Hamilton General, where after several days he first regained consciousness, and stayed there for two weeks, followed by two weeks at Freeport Hospital, learning to walk again. He's home now, under the watchful eye of his wife, Grace and assisted in his rehabilitation by three therapists.

Head injuries can be complex. Aside from the scars on his face, both temples and the back of his head, there is the memory loss: "I've always been a poor speller, and I really am now . . . Sometimes I have trouble getting the right word or someone's name." Bechtel has been a longtime contributor to the debate in Waterloo Region over mass transit, and has frequently appeared in The Record as a columnist, a letter-writer or a contact person for reaction to a news story. But he's philosophical about his hiatus during his rehab: "It leaves some room for other people to write."

He was told by the brain surgeon that he cannot drive or bike for three months, and is expecting that restriction will be extended through the winter. But if he can ride again in the spring, he will continue toward his goal of three times around the Earth.

He's been watching the Fanelli case: "I feel very sorry for anyone with the kind of injury I've had . . . I've been praying for him." He has advice for cyclists: "You have to have people understand that they should always wear their helmet." And, finally, he wants to know what happened. "I would really like to know what happened. . . On thing I can't understand, is that I left my helmet. I never went any distance without my helmet. Why did I do that?"

 

Los Angeles court case a sad commentary on cyclist-motorist relations

After you read Jack Leonard's piece in the Los Angeles Times about the assault trial of a surgeon who is accused of using his red Infiniti as a weapon against a group of cycle enthusiasts, you might wonder if there is any hope for bridging the divide between cyclists and motorists.

The jury is deliberating on the case today, so Leonard was able to summarize the case nicely. I don't mind weighing in to say that the doctor acted like a jerk, and despite his denials that he braked hard in front of the cycling group, thus causing the accident, his call to 911 saying he braked and some cyclists slammed into him, and his statement to police at the scene saying that he stopped in front of them "to teach them a lesson," should be enough to convince the jury that he acted with malice and casual disregard for the safety of others.

What I don't get is why. The cyclists were doing the speed limit. He didn't have to pass them or crowd them. One of the cyclists may have flipped him the bird. Not very smart, but not life-threatening. The only reason he had to stop was to hurt someone. He's a doctor. Isn't the MD's credo to "do no harm?"

Shane Vandermeer memorial and ghost bike

Thanks to Bruce Hawkings for this photo of the ghost bike erected on Friday as a part of the memorial gathering for Shane Vandermeer, killed this week on Franklin Boulevard in Cambridge near the Highway 401 ramp.

The event was sponsored by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group and Recycle Cycles. The ghost bike may be familiar to people in Toronto, but not so much in Waterloo Region. I'm sad to see one here, and hope it makes people think about cycling safety.