Ward 2 Councillor Stephen Holyday held a community consultation about bike lanes. The meeting was obstensibly about the proposals for the next phase of the cycling plan. However, the venue was selected to be the closest possible point in Ward 2 to the newly installed Bloor bike lane extension into the Kingsway, and it was clearly meant to be an opportunity for community members to vent about this installation.
The auditorium at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute was full. There was a podium at the front, and a table for Holyday and four city staff from transportation, including Becky Katz.
Holyday kicked off the meeting by noting that he voted against the extension of the Bloor bike lanes, and the big cheer and applause that followed set the tone for the rest of the evening.
He then showed the agenda which began with a 35 minute presentation by city staff, which drew howls of disapproval since many didn’t want to wait to complain about the bike lanes. It took a while for Holyday to setting things down, and he was clearly styling himself as the sage and sane voice in the room.
One of the first slides had a few points about the benefits of cycling, and this drew much derision, with someone yelling “show us the facts”. Clearly there was parts of the audience who regarded what was being presented as someones opinion, or someone else’s set of facts.
Again Holyday intervened and said that we should give staff the opportunity to give their presentation. He immediately undercut the presentation by noting that “The slides are controversial and you have to understand the context under which city council makes their decisions”. The clear implication that he thinks this is the Kool Aid that majority of council has drunk.
City staff didn’t help their cause with a slide listing the factors considered in building a cycling network, including equity, connectivity, potential cycling use, etc, with public consultation only shown as a subbullet under one of the eight factors listed. The context of the slide was that given the fact you are building a cycling network, what should be considered. The crowd was more interested in why the cycling network was being put forward in the first place.
There were a couple of new things that I learned about plans for Ward 2. First up was a list of potential bike lanes that were associated with future road reconstruction, i.e. an opportunity to put in permanent changes, with adjustments in road width, etc. Unfortunately, the timing for these projects will slide to at least three years in the future due to delays in the associated road or sewer work. This includes the potential extension of the Bloor lanes past Kipling.
The second set of projects did not involve road work, and so would be quick build if implemented.
The third set was a list of longer term projects being considered, requiring more study.
The final slide showed projects that were not being led by the city, including a potential greenway in a north south hydro corridor.
Again, Holyday provided a spin, “defending” city staff by saying that they are directed by council and they don’t have a choice in what they are doing. He repeated that on Bloor, there were only 0.3% of people travelling by bike.
At this point, it was time for questions. There were three mikes, and the one at the aisle were I was closest immediately at about 15 people lined up. Virtually all questions were about the Bloor bike lanes. There was one question about bikes on quiet streets decreasing safety for everyone. There were two complaints specifically about a proposed cycle track on Superior Ave in South Etobicoke.
Comments about fell into several general categories:
- There wasn’t public engagement on these projects.
- Given the lack of consultation, how can the audience accept the work of transportation staff?
- Did staff consider congestion as a consideration?
- What about emergency response?
- Staff haven’t assessed the impact of what has already done. How do we take a step back? On this point, staff said that studies were underway, and the data will be studied starting in March. This drew much laughter as if a study could be conducted instantly.
- The leader of one of the opposition group was given the opportunity to show a video (clearly this was prearranged) taken over a 24 hour period on Jan 14, with less than ten cyclists, and almost an equal number of bike lane snow plows. This drew much laughter.
- One person polled 59 local business, and said that 57 were against.
At this point, it was clear that there was still much pent up hostility in the room. There were comments about Councillor Morley that do not bear repeating. On the point of what it would take to remove the bike lane, Holyday said that this would require 14 votes on council.
Time and again, Holyday held himself seemingly above the fray. He said that “I am a data and analyst person by nature” referring to the fact that one of his motions to ask for data about emergency response times was voted down. At another point, after a particular angry question, he said that he appreciated the vigour of the comment.
At this point, I couldn’t take the atmosphere of the meeting anymore. I felt bad that I didn’t stay until the bitter end to show my support to staff. I also regret that I didn’t stand up to speak, and I hope that Holyday is not able to say that not a single cyclist was support of the bike lanes during the meeting. There were two people who prefaced their comments against with the fact that they were “avid cyclists”.
As a postscript to the meeting, I walked out with a nicely dressed woman who said that Mayor Chow is driven to within a few blocks of City Hall every day, and then hops on her bike. She also said, and I quote: “If I saw Comrade Chow on her bike, I would steer into her.”
I was cheered a bit by seeing some familiar machines parked outside.
It is important to understand the depth of feeling among the opposition to bike lanes, and not just to dismiss their arguments as being without merit.
However, to paraphrase a quote form HG Wells: after a meeting like this, I despair for the future of the human race.
On a side note, there was quite a hefty wind out of the west along with a significant drop in temperature by the evening.
Someone posted this image:
This was our wind gauge in the front yard as I set off.
Updates:
Also this from Councillor Amber Morley
My apologies for my neighbours (I live in the Kingsway Neighbourhood). The kinds of behavior you talked about is unacceptable for anyone (calling a councillor derogatory names as you implied, threatening to murder the mayor, etc).
Further, people forget that new infrastructure takes time to bed in and be adopted (cyclists won’t fill the lane the day it is opened the way some people seem to expect). We need alternatives to driving: and biking is a critical one (along with the subway we already have).
Thanks, Jack for the kind words. I know that the meeting was not fully representative of the opinions of Kingsway residents. Still it was rather disturbing to watch how freely people expressed their anger towards cyclists.
I was the guy at 13:47 in the video with the beard holding the ‘SAVE OUR CYCLISTS’ sign. For context, I am an Urban and Regional Planning student at TMU. I cycle EVERYWHERE. I was genuinely appalled by this meeting. I was the only pro-Bike Lane, pro-cyclist there, and I was constantly booed, called an ‘a$$hole’, a ‘tree hugger’, a ‘champagne-drinking socialist’, and a bunch of other crap. By that point I had enough of waiting in line and went directly to Holyday himself, begging that I could share my alternative, pro-cycling approach. I prepared a fact sheet using peer-reviewed studies on why and how bike lanes reduce emissions, increase spending, improve driving, improve cyclist safety, increase physical activity, etc. etc. However, I was literally yelled at by the MAGA WASPs and was forced out of the auditorium, brought to tears! People kept yelling at me until I left the building. What a truly appalling meeting full of backwards rednecks – I cannot believe I live near such extremists!
Max, you were not the only bike lane advocate there. For example, David from the Etobicoke South Cycling Committee calmly referred to the traffic congestion he encounters on Etobicoke streets without bike lanes, but he got yelled at and lost his temper l little. But others (like me) were so disgusted by the bullies working to intimidate city staff and any cycling advocates that it seemed almost dangerous. I for one didn’t want to wrestle in the mud with these people. I will wrote critically to Councillor Holyday and a send a supportive message to the city cycling staff working on the 2025-27 Cycling Plan.
Thanks for this dispatch and sorry to hear how much anger and vitriol the few cyclists there had to face. I think a lot of people are really angry about this extension because they had no idea about it. Even as a cyclist, I have to say that aspects of the design seem to gratuitously immererate drivers. Maybe more thorough notice and consultation could have led to better design and less resulting resentment against cyclists. There are echos of the Jarvis Street bike lanes here, which were reversed after many felt that cycling activists rammed it through.
“Cycling activists” don’t “ram” anything through. Any bike lane project takes years of planning and consultation, and yes, advocates help push for that. But at the end of the day these projects are passed by council and enacted by city staff, and there were consultations. That doesn’t mean the few angry residents would have been able to stop the project. That is not how things work. but the idea there is some kind of cabal of bike lane extremists usurping the democratic process to sneakily install bike lanes is wild.
I’m also curious what you view as gratuitous about the new lanes along Bloor West? Is it possible that drivers will be enraged no matter what lanes look like? Is it also possible that no amount of notice or consultation will assuage these enraged folks?