Tragedy on Avenue Road not an Anomaly
Last Wednesday, Miguel Joshua Escanan’s young life was taken while riding his bike on Avenue Road, metres beyond the end of ActiveTO bike lanes (and where a speedway begins).
Move365: Supporting people with more than bike lanes
Our commitment to Move365 is about more than bike lanes. It’s about building relationships and supporting people. With bike lanes being removed from Brimley Road in Scarborough this past week, I’m reminded of bike lane removals on Pharmacy & Birchmount
Our commitment to Move365 is about more than bike lanes. It’s about building relationships and supporting people. With bike lanes being removed from Brimley Road in Scarborough this past week, I’m reminded of the bike lane removals of Pharmacy Avenue and Birchmount Road in 2011.
Brimley's bike lanes are already gone.
These removals are examples of how Cycle Toronto wasn’t resourced to support communities outside of the downtown core. As we learn from these setbacks we are realizing more and more that this support starts with “building a culture of cycling where knowledge and expertise goes beyond recreational riding so that people are also using bikes for transportation and utilitarian purposes.” Move365 does just that.
Move365 is an education and encouragement campaign that will co-power community leaders with the knowledge, expertise, and tools to create possibilities and change transportation infrastructure in their communities. The pandemic has impacted Toronto’s most vulnerable people that also face the biggest transportation and mobility challenges. With your support, we will have the capacity to support local priorities in those communities especially outside the downtown core.
Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough are often framed as being built for cars. Yet, car ownership isn’t particularly high and transit access and cycling infrastructure is far worse than downtown. In Scarborough for instance, most neighbourhoods have more households without cars than with them. While it may be true that local councillors heard that people wanted the Brimley bike lane removed, it’s worth considering who they were hearing from, and, more importantly, who was not heard from at all. Move365 aims to bring more people to the table, have their voices heard, and co-power them to support their transportation needs every day of the year.
We cannot make Move365 happen without your support. For Cycle Toronto the pandemic continues to exert considerable financial challenges, and we now face difficult decisions as funding runs out on some staff positions in the new year. As we look to a recovery and rebuild in 2021, we’ll be fighting to retain staff, build capacity, and increase resilience to make Move365 happen. Help us reach our first goal of $10,000 in order to start delivering Move365 in 2021.
Thank you for your continued support,
Mark Romeril
Sr Partnerships and Development Manager
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