Dodgeville

It’s been three months since any progress has been made on the semi-completed bike lane on Chester Hill Road between Broadview and Cambridge Avenues. Just when I was beginning to give up hope that work would ever resume on this project that started way back in November, the lane was finally painted with two diamond and bicycle stencils today. Some work remains to be done—the temporary stop sign at Cambridge needs to be replaced by a permanent sign, and the signs prohibiting turns onto Chester Hill from Broadview must be updated to allow cyclists to make the turn—but once again I have some hope that the lane will be finished before the end of time.

To recap the work done so far:

Late November: A 70 metre line of yellow paint goes down marking the lane. Two bike lane signs are attached to poles, but one of them remains covered by black plastic.

Mid-April: The second sign is uncovered and a temporary stop sign is erected at the Cambridge Avenue end of the lane, held up by three sandbags.

July: Two stencils are painted to mark the lane.

Surely there’s a joke in there somewhere.

At just 70 metres long, this is probably the city’s shortest bike lane. At close to eight months and counting since work started, it’s taking an unbelievably long time to slap down some paint and post some signs. Back in April, I wrote that the early spring progress on this lane was a good sign because the cynic in me had expected completion of the lane to “languish well into the summer.” Um…

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Almost five months after work started, the 70m contra-flow bike lane on Chester Hill Road may be nearing completion. The first sign of progess since the end of November came on Friday, with the erection of a temporary stop sign at the intersection with Cambridge Ave. (above) and the uncovering of the sign at the beginning of the lane.

The road still needs to be stencilled, one more sign allowing southbound cyclists on Broadview to turn right onto Chester Hill needs to be installed, and a permanent stop sign needs to be mounted, but any movement is welcome after a long winter of inaction.

As I said in my earlier post, I can’t fault Transportation Services for the weather we had this winter, but I still think it’s inexcusable that virtually all the bike lane work across the city last year was left until October.

If Adrian Heaps is serious about his pledge of 50 km of bike lanes this year­—reiterated at yesterday’s Bike Union meeting—the work is going to have to start a lot sooner and be ongoing throughout the year. That this leftover stub of a lane is seeing attention so soon after the snow disappeared is promising; I really thought that it would languish well into the summer while Transportation Services focussed on fixing potholes after the harsh winter.

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Yes, I went for a quick ride on Friday afternoon. It was after the worst of the storm had passed, but before it had stopped snowing and before most of the roads were cleared. Now that I’m working from home again, I haven’t had nearly as much opportunity to ride as I did earlier in the winter.

Despite the media spin, which always leans towards panic and gross exaggeration (with the occasional level-headed commentary masquerading as satire) when it comes to the weather, it was just not that bad a day. I went downtown for some shopping in the morning, ran a quick errand by bike in the afternoon, and then went up to North York for dinner. All in all, it was a pretty normal Friday for me. Oh, and I had to shovel a couple of times. Whoop-de-do.

Although the blowing snow wasn’t all that pleasant, it was certainly not the worst I’ve ever seen, nor was it anything that a warm coat and scarf or balaclava couldn’t deal with. It definitely wasn’t anything to get anxious and paranoid about. The sidewalks seemed well-used, the parks I passed through had obviously seen a day full of playful dogs, and I even encountered a couple of other cyclists while I was out. People generally seemed to be in good humour, taking it all in stride. Yet to read the paper or watch the news, you’d think that the sky had just fallen, that Toronto lay in ruin after the worst natural disaster in all of recorded history struck down the entire city.

Why the overreaction? It was hardly an isolated incident, either; the media regularly predicts mayhem and destruction any time a weather event is on the way, ready to menace the city. Yet from my hours tootling around the city by foot, bike, and subway on Friday, it seemed to me that the people most affected by the weather were those in cars. And most of those were people who simply didn’t use common sense. You know, like if the snow on the street is a foot deep and your car only has six inches of clearance, you’re probably not going to make it all the way down the block. If the roads are covered in snow, you’re probably going to need to give more room when you pass and slow down a bit when you turn. If you’re driving on summer tires and Pottery Road hasn’t been ploughed yet, find another, flatter, route. If you’re trying to zip through that left turn as the light is turning red, you’re probably going to slide into the curb.

Personally, I think that our winter traffic woes would be lessened considerably if winter tires were mandatory on all cars in Ontario being driven within two (three? five?) days of a snowfall. If you don’t want the expense, bother, or safety of winter tires, that’s fine; just leave your car at home a few days a year. If common sense doesn’t tell you to do it, maybe the law should.

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I’d been planning to do a mini photo essay about all of the “closed for the winter” signs that the City slaps up on virtually everything that doesn’t cater to cars, but recently discovered that Now did a pretty good job of it three years ago. Sadly, Toronto officialdom’s aversion to winter has probably gotten worse since then.

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Three weeks. That’s how long it’s been since crews started work on the short (about 70 metres) contra-flow bike lane on Chester Hill Road between Cambridge and Broadview Avenues. I’ve been sitting on this post since they started work on the lane around November 20. Instead of celebrating its completion a day or two later, I’m still waiting.

To date, the 70 metres of asphalt is only half painted: the solid yellow line separating the lane from oncoming traffic is done, but the diamond markings are still missing. In their place for about a third of the lane are diagonal stripes that prohibit traffic (including bikes) from using that portion of the road. Those were put in earlier this year when the City repainted the road to make left- and right-turn lanes.

Only one bike lane sign is up (ironically, the one that proclaims the end of the lane) so far. Another is still covered in plastic wrap, and at least two more signs are still missing: one “bicycles excepted” sign allowing bikes to turn onto the street from Broadview despite the right-turn prohibition, and a stop sign for bikes at Cambridge (which, I’m quite sure, all cyclists will obey).

The signs and paint merely formalize what has long been an informal and well-used route to the Bloor Viaduct for cyclists wishing to avoid the traffic on Broadview. Chester Hill is one-way for only a single very short block, presumably for the express purpose of preventing cars from taking this very same shortcut.

I’m not faulting Transportation Services for the snow and rain we’ve seen since the day after they started work on the lane, and I realize they can’t do much until the snow is gone. But it’s unacceptable that virtually all of the bike lane work in the city was left to the last three months of the year.

When Adrian Heaps made his ill-advised promise of 30 km of lanes this year, many cyclists were skeptical. Even so, the year’s piddly effort of 5 km or so is, in a word, pathetic. I don’t think anyone expected that the city could do any worse than the glacial pace of installations during the last couple of years, yet they managed handily. So now Heaps is promising 50 km for next year? Pardon my skepticism, but once bitten…

The astounding thing is that Council still talks about finishing the Bikeway Network by 2012. They do realize that that’s only 5 more working years, right? They do realize that since the inception of the Bike Plan, bike lanes are being created at a quarter of the necessary pace, and that even that pace has been slowing down in recent years, right? They do realize that they have no credibility on this matter any more, right? They do realize that their lip service is the reason that groups like OURS are thriving this year, right?

Council’s plan to kickstart the creation of 50 km of lanes next year by picking all the low-hanging fruit sounds good, but it means that they’re leaving the more difficult 400 km or so for the final four years. If they can only do 50 km of “easily-approved” lanes in a single year, what are the odds that they’d be able to do 100 km of “difficult” lanes each year for the four years after that? I believe the correct answer would be “Nil.”

I suppose that the Chester Hill bike lane is a perfect metaphor for the bike plan: a small but important piece of a larger puzzle that seems hopelessly stalled after a promising start. Well, there’s always next year.

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It took five weeks and a whole lot more effort and patience than I thought it would, but the recycling bins at 55 Cosburn Ave. were finally in their rightful place—and out of everyone else’s rightful place—this morning. It’s a small victory, but I’ll take it. Maybe next week I’ll start taking on the cars that are always parked and idling along this stretch.

With a garbage-free Cosburn greeting me this morning and the Works Committee making some noise about a major report to be delivered at next Wednesday’s meeting, it’s looking like it could be a great autumn for cyclists.

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It’s now week four of my quest for justice in the Cosburn bike lane. In previous weeks, I’d been bounced around in email and on the phone to various departments and units in my effort to deal with the recycling bins in the bike lane in front of 55 Cosburn Ave.

This week, I escalated my issue to the Waste Enforcement Investigations supervisor for the area, having received no responses to two emails and one voice mail the previous week. I spoke to her on Wednesday morning as I stood on the front lawn of 55 Cosburn Ave. Surprisingly, she said that an enforcement officer had spoken to the superintendent about the issue on Monday, two days earlier. She vowed to get another officer out there this week and said that the issue should be resolved for next week. So either the bins will be out of the bike lane next Wednesday or I’ll be making some more early-morning phone calls. The most annoying thing about this entire situation is that I have to wait a week each time to see if anything has happened.

A couple of weeks ago, Shawn Micallef suggested that I call in the Fixer. I’ve thought about it, but I object to the idea that the only way to take care of this is to shine a big media spotlight on it. That said, I may yet do so if the situation drags on much longer. A part of me suspects that the city and the police would have been all over it after the first complaint if the bins were anywhere on the roadway but in the bike lane, and that bugs me even more. It shouldn’t take four weeks to address an issue like this, but I’m semi-confident that I’ll see some results next week.

I hope this meets your expectations for this week, poika.

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Sure enough, last week’s request to the superindendent and call to by-law enforcement had no effect: the bike lane in front of 55 Cosburn Ave. was once again turned over to the big plastic bins for garbage day. I called by-law enforcement again this morning and once again got voice mail. I asked for callbacks both times but have yet to get any response. It may be time to ratchet up the pressure.

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This is what the bike lane in front of 55 Cosburn Ave. looks like every Wednesday morning. All of the other buildings on the street put their bins on the sidewalk (which is also not allowed, according to section 844-14 of the Toronto Municipal Code), their front lawns, or paved garbage pads beside the sidewalk, but whoever puts the bins out for this apartment building apparently thinks that the solid white line on the road is to keep traffic away from his garbage.

I only started riding this way to work three weeks ago. The first week, I was a little surprised and was willing to give the culprit the benefit of the doubt. Last week, I took pictures. This week, I took action: calls to the City’s right-of-way management and by-law enforcement. I also called the building superintendent from the lobby phone and asked for the bins to be removed from the bike lane. The woman who answered said that she’d tell the super about it, but I suspect that nothing happened.

We’ll see if this scene looks different next Wednesday.

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I wrote an article on Monday for Torontoist about this past weekend’s Taste of the Danforth street festival. The main thrust of the story was that the Taste seems to have lost its focus, becoming just another corporate branding orgy like every other. Some of the comments following my post (and also after BlogTO’s Taste wrap-up) are illuminating, with the vast majority expressing disappointment with the event. While hardly a scientific poll, it’s the kind of thing that should worry the organizers.

Even the people who half-heartedly defended the festival couldn’t come up with much more than that the event was “pretty meh” and probably “less corpo than the Beer Festival.” These ringing endorsements would look wonderful on next year’s promotional posters. “Taste of the Danforth: We’re slightly less corpo than the other branding orgy in town this weekend.” Or “Taste of the Danforth: Toronto’s meh-est street festival.”

So how does a festival which lives primarily by word of mouth deal with such near-universal bad reviews? If the people moved to comment online at Torontoist, BlogTO, and Chowhound are any indication, returning visitors will be fewer and farther between in future years.

I walked the festival twice this weekend and noticed two things: the crowds, while still huge, were noticeably thinner than last year and the year before; and many more people were expressing their disappointment at the supposed bargain prices ($5 for lemonade?), the crowds, and the general atmosphere. The task of navigating the huge event has become an ordeal to be endured, rather than an experience to be relished.

I was especially taken aback by the fact that the best gyros restaurant on the strip was serving up noticeably inferior product at their booth, presumably because it was outsourced for the event. Their normal delicious gyros was available in the virtually empty restaurant a few steps away. Even the merchants seem to be turning their back on the Taste.

All of the anecdotal evidence above suggests that the Taste of the Danforth is already in decline. There are basically two options for the future: the festival can continue down the current path for a few more years, milking its reputation for every last dollar until the whole thing inevitably implodes (can it be long before they start asking for financial support from the City?); or they can attempt to re-invent the Taste as something that people will actually enjoy once again.

My first suggestion would be to dump some of the high-priced corporate tents and beer gardens in the middle of the street and put in some chairs. People need to sit.

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