THE ARTSY WAY
Students outfit Bloordale with one-of-a-kind metal bike racks,
Bike racks in Bloordale now have a funky new look sporting new designs such as a space ship, the peace sign, flowers and leaves.
Over the past week, 20 one-of-akind bike stands were unveiled on Bloor St. W., between Dufferin St. and Lansdowne Ave. by the Bloordale BIA.
The bike stands were designed by students from Bloor Collegiate Institute and built by Jacqueline Fernandez, a Grade 12 student of Contact Alternative School.
On Monday, Fernandez held a bike rack in place on Bloor St. W. by Duf- ferin Station, as Phil Sarazen scooped cement to fill the hole to secure it.
Students came up with the designs after researching the history of Bloordale, said Liza Lukashevsky, Bloordale BIA chair.
For instance, one of the students designed a bike rack with an elephant.
She came up with the design after seeing a photograph of a parade of elephants down Brock Ave, Lukashevsky said. Where the Dufferin Mall stands today, once stood a circus.
Sarazen, the supervisor of the project, said he got the idea to design these bike racks when he saw a “bunch” of them painted in beautiful colours at various places in Toronto.
“I thought, this is wonderful,” he said.
The appeal behind these bike racks, apart from esthetics, is that they make people appreciate the city and promote cycling, Fernandez said.
“It’s more than a piece of metal,” Sarazen said. “It incorporates community involvement both in schools and people involved.”
These bike racks also promote cycling in the community, Fernandez said.
Right now, the city has 60 such bike racks from a few in the Kensington Market area to Parkdale, the ROM and Chinatown. The bike stands are made out of hot rolled plate and flat bar steel.
“This project is part of Bloordale BIA’s commitment to promoting bike culture,” Lukashevsky said in a news release.
“We are pleased to have provided funding and would like to thank everyone who made this project a reality.”