The midtown Yonge bike lane pilot goes to IEC today

Update:

A victory today, IEC unanimously recommended that council take a bold step in making the Yonge Street bike lanes permanent. #TOPoli #Unirose

— Dianne Saxe – Toronto City Council Ward 11, UR (@DianneSaxe) January 30, 2023

The midtown Yonge St bike lane pilot goes in front of the Infrastructure and Environment committee this morning. Yonge4All organized a rally at City Hall at 9, timed so that it would be just before the IEC meeting started. Robin Richardson was our MC.

She reminded us that Yonge4All is a community group that brings together many different groups with the common interest in making Yonge St a safer, complete street for everyone.

Our first speaker was Councillor Brad Bradford. He reflected on the positive effect of the Danforth bike lanes on his ward. He also emphasized that broad consultation and working with all sides is the way to get these types of projects done. He has been impressed with the work that had gone into this initiative.

Next, urbanist Ken Greenberg says that Yonge St is emblematic of our city. He described the unfortunate transformation of the city by the automobile over many decades, and was glad to see this trend slowly reversing. He has been involved with both Reimagining Yonge and YongeTOmorrow, and described the midtown pilot as an important missing piece.

Councillor Amber Morley was happy to see this initiative, and hopes that similar things will be happening in her ward of Etobicoke-Lakeshore. Such a sea change from former Councillor Mark Grimes.

Toronto Centre Councillor Chris Moise is also supportive, and reminds us that the Bayview bike lanes are also being considered today.

Stephen Job represents a group of property developers. He said that reducing parking requirements enables the creation of more housing, and that people will only consider such developments if they see that cycling and transit are real and safe alternatives to the car.

Finally, Councillor Diane Saxe led us in a rousing round of questions and answers where the crowd response was always “Bike Lanes!” She was presented with that green binder, which symbolized the more than 8000 signatures on the petition.

Finally, a group picture of some of the leaders of Yonge4All.

In the interest of balanced reporting, I will note that there was also a smaller crowd of anti bike lane people off to the side.

Thanks to all the people that are staying for the day to give deputations (over 80 people have registered to speak). I’ll report back with updates when they are available.

You can follow some of what is happening in this twitter thread.

At City Hall ready to depute in support of making the Midtown Yonge Complete Street Pilot permanent. Over 80 people registered to speak, while @Yonge4All hosted a media event with @chrismoiseto, @DianneSaxe, @CllrAmberMorley & @BradMBradford. #BikeTO #TOpoli #VisionZero pic.twitter.com/W39E4WxZIy

— Robert Z (@rzaichkowski@mas.to) (@RZaichkowski) January 30, 2023

Update: Emotions run high during Yonge Street bike lane debate (Toronto Star)