{"id":21429,"date":"2011-07-19T15:18:52","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T19:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=21429"},"modified":"2011-07-20T11:09:49","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T15:09:49","slug":"theres-a-big-ride-for-toronto-cyclists-on-wednesday-heres-why-you-should-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/07\/19\/theres-a-big-ride-for-toronto-cyclists-on-wednesday-heres-why-you-should-go\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s a big ride for Toronto cyclists on Wednesday. Here’s why you should go."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

On Wednesday July 20 at 6:30PM<\/strong> the Toronto Bike Union is planning a “Ride for Jarvis<\/strong>” beginning in Allen Gardens<\/strong> (here’s the Facebook event listing<\/a>). Here’s why you should go.<\/p>\n

Last week was an excruciating one here in Toronto as we saw a number of bike lanes slated for removal from the city streets. Few, if any, cities would do this in 2011, and perhaps fewer would want to burn a vast amount of money in doing so. But many councillors working under a penny-pinching banner curiously did just that. However, as John Lorinc argued yesterday, perhaps the Jarvis is not the hill to die on<\/a> if you’re supportive of City Building. But the symbolism of Jarvis for cycling in Toronto is massive, which is why it does mean something. The Jarvis lanes were problematic from the beginning, added at the last minute to a plan to return the street to its previous gentility and grandeur from the temporary 1950s highway it became during a few high decades of the automobile era (read about what was to be, and how we got into this mess, in Dylan Reid’s Spacing<\/em> post<\/a>). But we got them and they worked (for cars and bikes, there was no crisis, no gridlock — pedestrians got the pooh-covered end of the stick here) and they’re gone now, gentility-free too.<\/p>\n

It’s important to remember a couple of things. First is that the Jarvis lanes were not the only ones voted into non-existence, there are ones on Pharmacy Avenue and Birchmount Road in Scarborough. This is where the name of Wednesday’s ride is unfortunate. This is a ride for cycling infrastructure and respect in all parts of Toronto. Respect is a word that’s had the meaning beaten out of it over the last year in Toronto, but let’s keep using it. It’s ok that the ride is on Jarvis — things happen downtown most visibly (Petula Clark didn’t sing “Uptown” she sang “Downtown<\/a>”\u00a0 because it’s where things — political or not — happen) but our inner suburbs stand too loose a lot here as many people in these car-focused territories don’t, in fact, have cars. If you paid attention to council last week to the tweet-by-tweet details of what anti-bike-lane council members said about biking (paraphrases: “Biking makes body odour” and “I hope to never see bike lanes in Scaroborough again”) this must be countered with a big, non-partisan show on our shared streets.<\/p>\n

And that last point may rub activists the wrong way, but biking is not a left, right, pinko or marginal issue. Everybody bikes for all kinds of reasons. The Fordists want it to be seen as a downtown Left thing so they can ghettoize it and keep dry humping the same soundbites. As has been pointed out many times now, under Mayor David Miller, not much actually happened for cycling in Toronto (in terms of things like kilometers of bike lanes installed) but there was an overt friendliness towards cycling lulling folks of all political stripes into thinking their interests were being actively looked after. In voting against these lanes, some councillors have said (to paraphrase the Globe) they had to die so new ones could be born. If you’re comfortable believing that, the 10 years of unfullfilled promise hasn’t made you a cynic, so bless you. But perhaps it’s time for a big show of numbers. Organization and strategy and suburban outreach can follow. Just as with Pride being the most politicized in nearly 20 years a few weeks ago due to the combination of an atrocious cover story in one of the alt weeklies and Mayor Rob Ford’s refusal to participate in any Pride activities, this moment is exactly when all cyclists need to stand up on their pedals and ride.<\/p>\n

Bodies matter. Get out on the street.<\/p>\n

Photo by Sweet One.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday July 20 at 6:30PM the Toronto Bike Union is planning a “Ride for Jarvis” beginning in Allen Gardens (here’s the Facebook event listing). Here’s why you should go. Last week was an excruciating one here in Toronto as we saw a number of bike lanes slated for removal from the city streets. Few,Continue reading “There’s a big ride for Toronto cyclists on Wednesday. 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