WAITING ON A SOLUTION
Cyclists irked by delay
It could be two years before Windsor city council has a meaningful discussion about putting bike lanes on Wyandotte Street East — a delay that would extend past the next municipal election.
Local cycling advocates are continuing to express frustration and disappointment over the majority of council deciding on Monday night to postpone the bicycle lane debate until the Active Transportation Plan is finished.
Although the plan is expected to take from 10 to 16 months to complete, Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin said it’s realistically going to be much longer before there’s another opportunity for council to talk seriously about bike lanes.
“I’m not hopeful that we’ll see this in two years,” Bortolin said bluntly on Tuesday. “We know how things get pushed back and delayed.”
“I can understand why the cyclists are frustrated .... They came to speak. They were prepared to speak. They had done a lot of work and advocacy on this.”
Bortolin and Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt were the only members of council to vote against the delay.
At least 11 delegations attended Monday night’s meeting to say their piece on the issue — most hoping to convince council to invest in bike lanes on Wyandotte Street East to complete the “Windsor Loop” of cycling routes, rather than adopt the zigzag arrangement proposed by administration.
“We had five business improvement associations, representation from the real estate board, teachers who want safe routes for their students, business owners from the Riverside and Pillette Village areas,” said Lori Newton, executive director of Bike Windsor Essex.
“This has gone well beyond some bike advocates talking about wanting bike lanes .... Council put it off because they do not want to deal with things that are not status quo.”
Both Bortolin and Newton wondered why there even needs to be a debate on the issue, given that the city’s Bicycle Use Master Plan, which was approved in 2001, already indicates Wyandotte Street East should have bicycle lanes.
Asked why there doesn’t seem to be political will to move forward on the matter, Newton replied: “I don’t think that (most of council) takes cycling infrastructure seriously. They have no vision.”
And if there’s another municipal election before there are more bike lanes? Newton said this issue and how it was handled will affect at least one person’s vote. “I bike. I walk. And I vote,” Newton warned.
“There are discussions happening at a grassroots level. There are a lot of groups and organizations across the city who are feeling very frustrated. I mean, the BIAs are having these conversations.”
“What we are going to be looking for in the next election are forward-thinking candidates. Candidates who understand the concept of livability .... And those candidates — other than a couple — are not sitting around the council table right now.”