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Bailao votes against Jarvis lanes

October 3, 2012 - 2:14pm — Jeff

I wanted to make local residents aware that yesterday evening, Ana Bailao voted to remove the bike lanes on Jarvis. Last year she issued a statement to Cycle Toronto (formally Toronto Cyclists Union) that she didn't want them removed.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2012.PW17.9
http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/392035/jarvis-bike-lane-vote...

I find it shocking that a councillor who had a tragic cycling related accident in her ward not even a year ago would vote against cyclist's safety. However, I'm not even sure why I'm surprised as she voted to remove the lanes on Pharmacy and Birchmount last year. Her stance on cycling has been somewhat confused as she tries to stay friendly with both sides of council.

I had previously thought Ana supported cycling in our community and throughout the entire city but unfortunately, I was wrong. I remember seeing her at shed dedication along the rail path last year and briefly speaking with her while Bike Pirates tuned up my bike. I guess that was just for show.

I know this doesn't sound polite but I highly suspect she's trading votes to keep council from selling off too many TCHC houses. Her recent report suggested keeping 90% of the houses, which isn't going to be popular with right-wing councillors. It'll be interesting to see how Minnan-Wong votes the next time TCHC housing sales is debated at council.

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October 18, 2012 - 12:55pm — Scott D

Big Picture

I think people need to understand that local politics requires a lot of horse trading. I was on Sherbourne this week and construction is underway on that far more extensive separated lane and it looks promising.Keep in mind that at the end of the day we are still have a north south within a few blocks of Jarvis. I would like to keep Jarvis too but sometimes you just dont get want you want.

Sadly, in terms of Lansdowne the bike lane situation is a colossal failure that I think lands at Giambrones feet.Lansdowne should have been narrowed BUT real bike lanes should have been put in instead of the sharrow BS. Not putting them in was the biggest cycle infrastructure mistake in years and oddly people were almost silent about it. Its unlikely that lanes will be put in just to go a few blocks to Dupont.

In terms of Ana, I think it is a mistake to turn on a person because they voted once in a way you disagreed with. Nobody I have voted for has ever voted 100% the way I wanted them to. You have to look at the big picture. As a JT resident I suspect that Ana now has a "bag of chips" that will (with Sarah Doucette's help) save the Dupont bike lanes.I have talked with Ana about the lanes and I think she has come to see their value as an east west route and an asset to the community. The recent Staff report was very glowing about them and showed that traffic snarls are being caused by other factors which it looks like will be mitigated. I would also remind people that Ana is a huge supporter of Railpath stage 2 which is in planning right now. And that is not just about the path but about how it connects to streets.

October 4, 2012 - 10:52pm — Anonymous (not verified)

I am also very concerned

I am also very concerned about this councillor. I cannot get a straight answer from her office about the fate of the Lansdowne Ave. north of Bloor bike lanes that were approved and supposed to go in way back in 2005.

Really not impressed....