War on cyclists an ongoing affair
Halberstadt is, as usual, the fall guy.
Everyone seems a little myopic when it comes to cycling in this city, especially the motorists. Ward 3 councillor Alan Halberstadt, after fielding complaints from pedestrians who feel threatened on their turf by cyclists fleeing the wild-west that is their city streets, decided to write a letter to Windsor Police Services asking them to actually uphold the law.
As stated in this Toronto Star article “The rules also say bikes with tires over 61 centimetres are prohibited on sidewalks. So is riding/operating a bicycle (or roller skates, in-line skates, skateboard, coaster, toy vehicle) on a sidewalk “without care and attention and reasonable consideration for others.” Cyclists face fines of up to $90 for breaking the rules. Aggressive cyclists can also be charged with careless driving.”
How about charging them with dangerous driving? As well, the realm of the sidewalk is the domain of the municipality - not the HTA. A municipality is completely within its mandate to outright ban cyclists from the sidewalks if it wants to. Or, how about imposing a speed limit on a sidewalk to keep the annoying buggers on BMX’s from running down our pedestrians at 25 kph. I guess it all comes down to enforcement, which Windsor’s police force has been reluctant to do up until this point.
The city must take full responsibility for this clash. It’s own highly-paid consultants told them back in 2001 that Windsor needed to spend $1 million dollars per year on bike lanes and infrastructure, but at the height of spending, we saw $200,000 one year. We may have spent in total (since 2002) $1 million when it should be five times that. Councilors, if cyclists had somewhere safe to ride (read - bike lanes), you wouldn’t have many complaints about them using the sidewalks…
Maybe all the attention that local bike commuter Scott Graber garnered through his (successful) bike challenge to ward 3 city councilor Alan Halberstadt will keep commuter cycling on the front burner. I was amazed at just how the local mainstream media grabbed ahold of this story. I followed along for the ride. Here, check out the video…
Here’s hoping that this actually makes a difference. If you look at the clippings in the photo (click on it for a larger image) you’ll see that I have been berated by city councilors (I think Cassivi called me a pansy or something of that nature) since 2002 over cycling related issues. My cycling forefathers were dealing with this long before then.
So the war continues. Maybe some day our children will see a city that embraces alternative transportation and not look upon a cyclist/transit rider/pedestrian with disdain…
Tags: Alternative Transportation, City Council, commuting, mobility, Video
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Warning!!! Big and dangerous idea!
How about we hold an innovation and design charrette with a simple challenge: divert 50% of our city’s individual and car-centric transit resources to public and pedestrian/cyclist centric transit.
We could calculate the all-cost dollar value and the land space we devote to our current individual and car-centric transit system and use this as a reference. Then, we ask the students at the university and college to imagine and design their vision of a future Windsor. At the end of the exercise, we present the two alternatives to Windsorites and ask them which city they would rather live in.
We spend so much money, devote so much land, and are so innovative when it comes to our individual and car centric transit system. Some examples include: heated bridges and driveways to melt the snow and ice, ingenious and intricate networks of highways and roadways, tunneling to overcome obstacles, and covered walkways to get us from where we park our cars to where we are going comfortably no matter the weather conditions.
Could you imagine the utopia we could produce if we spent the same amount of money, devoted the same amount of land and used the same amount of brainpower on a public and pedestrian/cyclist centric transit system? Solar powered community garages with zero-emission-no-noise vehicles we could all share! The use of tunneling, surface heating, and retractable coverings to produce all season bikeways and walkways! The use of smaller and slower pod like public transit vehicles that could share new bikeways! Ingenious and intricate networks of public transit networks! And many more!
Bike and pedestrian centric –
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/lessons-from-bogota/
High frequency transit –
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/hop-skip-and-jump-aboard-a-boulder-bus/?autostart=true
Bus rapid transit –
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/bus-rapid-transit-bogota/
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/mobilien/?autostart=true
Pod transport –
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/10/personal-pod–1.html
Car sharing –
http://www.carsharing.net/
ZENN car –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldu35ZkCjww&feature=related
I think, we stand at the precipice of peak oil production. A few months ago, we leaned forward and stared down the shear cliff and imaged the carnage if forced over the edge. We have little time to figure out ways to safely propel down this shear cliff. If we do nothing, at some point, we will be forced to take a flying leap.
Sorry about the lag time, Edwin. Folks, when you submit a comment with more than one external links, it automatically gets tagged as possible “spam” and needs me to “de-spam” it. I don’t check the spam list as often as I should, so if you’ve submitted a comment that hasn’t appeared yet, just shoot me an email at [email protected] so I can take care of it for you.
Once again, Edwin, I’m sorry I didn’t “de-spam” your comment sooner
I have to say, I did a few stints a bike commuter both in Windsor and Charlottetown. First, Windsor is as flat as a pancake, which I miss.
Second, there nothing more enjoyable to the zipping along past motorists wedged into traffic mayhem while I weave and bob around their cars.
One day, maybe, just maybe, cycling will be more acceptable to the masses. Fight on!
A multimillion dollar creation of Walker Rd underpass…no bike lanes.
Fixing Grand Marais behind Chrysler….no bike lanes (but they sure made one hell of a wide “sidewalk”)
Redoing Wyandotte between Walker and Drouillard when the underpass was filled in…no bike lanes.
the MULTIPLE jobs done on Giles Blvd….no bike lanes. An additional lane of traffic was actually installed in one section.
i know tehre are many more but i can’t think of them right now.
what i meant to add is that this City seriously lacks forward thinking. It is all about this exact moment. The problem with that is we will always be behnd the ball and playing catchup instead of being a leader.
On my way home Thursday, I rode the Grand Marais path all the way to Walker, there is/will be pedestrian/cycle access to go under the tracks. The side walks are very wide and I think bikes and pedestrians will be able to co-exist for the short trip through the viaduct.
However, for pedestrians/cyclists wanting to cross Walker to continue eastward on Grand Marais there is a problem. I had to wait through two cycles of the lights because as soon as the traffic signal turns the westbound Grand Marais traffic immediately starts their left and right turns onto Walker. A pedestrian/cyclist has no chance even though the cross-walk signal said go I was not about to challenge the mechanical supremacy of cars and transports. Even after waiting through the two cycles of the lights I still had to race the north/south Walker traffic to get across.
How can you be a leader, when everybody is talking trying to change the conversation or take charge of the conversaton, calling them as in the mayor saying “Call us! We’ll change your conversation to something that we think is appropriate.” The car is king until the last ounce of oil is used up on this earth and this city!
Outside of Alan Halberstadt, I doubt that there is one other person at city hall, city council or a city employee that rides a bike but of course many live in the county don’t they!
I was very impressed with that video Chris. I can’t wait to see your final documentary. It is a welcome challenge to the non “bicycle friendly” attitude in Windsor planning. The real citizens want and deserve better and I want to thank you for telling their story. A woman who works in my office always tells me that she would love to ride into work, but its just not feasible with the lack of routes and she is just plain scared to get killed. …by the way, she might be a good person to interview if you want
Keep up the awesome work!
Scott.
Thanks a ton, Scott. I wanted to send some kudos your way also. You came across very well on tape and I wanted to encourage you to keep the pressure on. You didn’t flinch at all with the media wanting their pound of flesh from you.
For some reason, your bike challenge hit a note with them, and it is always necessary to keep items like this in the news. Keep it up, and I hope we see more of Scott Graber in Windsor’s cycling world.
CHRIS YOU RODE THROUGH A STOP SIGN JUST 20 SECONDS INTO THE VIDEO! lol
That was a bird!
I wasn’t the only one that noticed.
Well, who wouldn’t notice? The rare octagonal European Swallow is a rarity in these parts of the continent, and to have one just perched up on top of a pole by the side of the road like that?
Miraculous!
Truely.
Chris, 1 million dollars a year and 20 year master plans??? I don’t mean to always be argumentative but I think, we need to radically expand the scope. Radically rethink whether our car-centric transport system is and critically will be appropriate in the not-to-distant future. I think, the discussion should be whether to divert, all lets say, 50% of current resources and maybe 100% of all new resources to a new pedestrian-centric transport system. We need to be talking about billions of dollars and 5 year plans.
Peak oil and IEA report. I haven’t read this report yet, but from media reports and previous IEA reports I can probably summarize and translate what it says:
1.conventional oil production has already peaked,
2.there needs to be huge growth in unconventional oil production to keep up with demand,
3.this huge growth in unconventional oil prodution is unlikely for many reasons (amount of investment needed, geo-politics, and it is easier and cheaper to change consumption behavior (this last one is my own opinion and is the discussion we need to have))
4.best case (all the stars lining-up) peak oil iproduction n 2030.
5.realistically peak oil production in 3 to 10 years (again my own opinion).
http://watch.bnn.ca/special-presentations/brett-harris-reports/#clip112078
Obviously, I agree, Edwin. In Daniel Quinn’s seminal book Ishmael, (one of my all time favourite books, which is, by the way, in stock at the Library), he said that the first thing a man needs to do to break free of the prison that is tieing him to the status quo is see the bars of that prison. The average Windsorite doesn’t even know s/he’s in a prison in the first place, let alone see the bars of their cell.
We need to educate and empower Windsorites to see the constraints imposed upon them by an autocentric lifestyle before they will ever approve the spending necessary to build our way out of this mess.
How about we hold an innovation and design charrette with a simple challenge: divert 50% of our city’s car-centric transit resources to pedestrian-centric transit. Pedestrian-centric not only includes walking but cycling and public transit too.
We could calculate the all-cost dollar value and the space we devote to our current car-centric transit system and use this as a reference. Then, we ask the students at the university, college, high schools, and grade schools (thanks PFA) to imagine and design their vision of a future Windsor. At the end of the exercise, we present the two alternatives to Windsorites and ask them which city they would rather live in.
We spend so much money, devote so much land, and are so innovative when it comes to our car-centric transit system. Some examples include: heated bridges and driveways to melt the snow and ice, ingenious and intricate networks of highways and roadways, tunneling to overcome obstacles, and covered walkways to get us from where we park our cars to where we are going comfortably no matter the weather conditions.
Could you imagine the utopia we could produce if we spent the same amount of money, devoted the same amount of land and used the same amount of brainpower on a pedestrian-centric transit system? Solar powered community garages with zero-emission-no-noise vehicles we could all share! The use of tunneling, surface heating, and retractable coverings to produce all season bikeways and walkways! The use of smaller and slower pod like public transit vehicles that could share new bikeways! Ingenious and intricate networks of public transit! And many more!
Or
How about we organize a day with out cars. A day where all cars are band in Windsor!
Let’s open eyes and point out the bars.
Great minds think alike, Edwin.
I was thinking of almost the EXACT same thing - calculate the amount of $$$ we spend on auto-centric infrastructure and design a ped/cycle/transit system using that much $$$.
What a great visual that would be, wouldn’t it?
In order for that to work you’d have to come up with an advertising campaign for bikes and buses that works the same way the auto companies have been leading people around by the nose for years: “this product will make you more viral” “this product will get you laid” “this product will get you laid more often” “this product will make Mrs. Jones down the street green with envy” etc. et al. Right now, bikes and public transit just aren’t sexy enough. I’m picturing a new Windsor-made Chrysler bicycle, gleaming in brushed silver paint, chromed handebar ornament, blingy rims, and Chris Holt in his speedos riding down Kildare with the wind blowing in his hair. Any takers?
…and running stop signs
Great minds? god help us. Not only $$$ but space too. Take inventory of all the space used for roads, highways and parking.
Chris, the idea of closing-off streets to cars for a day or on certain days is another powerful tool in changing perspectives. Could you imagine people walking and cycling on EC ROW. I’m thinking, we could demand it be a part of any alternative transit target. A guaranteed alternative transit target! For example, if by the end of the month we are 50,000 riders and cyclist short of the target for that month we close-off the streets to cars for one day to meet the target.
I want the next Prime Minister of Canada to be a Windsorite! With peak oil production being one of the biggest political issues we face. With Windsor being one of the best candidates to be an example of the radical transformation from car-centric to pedestrian-centric that needs to take place. Is there someone with political power and aspirations to lead this transformation and make Windsor the guiding light for the rest of Canada?
The transformation – http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/lessons-from-bogota/
The political strategy - http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/enrique-penalosa-talks-with-commuters/
Education and empowerment on the issue is not enough. What we need is political will.
Politicians are primarily motivated by their own political ambitions. What we need to do is convince some politician that it is in his/her political interest to do so. The rest is easy because the move from car-centric (emphasize on individual freedom) to pedestrian-centric (emphasize on the public good) is the right thing to do. Also, Canadian society is fairly open to the concept that for some things a public system trumps and individual system (Health Care for example).
How do you convince some politician that it is in his/her political best interest to do so? That Windsor is the place to stamp his or her brand on this transformation? Simply point out the implications of peak oil and how Windsor is the ideal candidate.
Remember the mania over peak oil? Remember $150 a barrel oil prices. This is what we face again whenever this financial crisis is over. When faced with this again, are we all going to move to Alberta or are we going to make some changes to how we get around our city? I think, we are simply going to eliminate our wasteful use of energy. This is what we saw before the financial crisis (smaller cars, less car use, increase in public transit use, more cycling, more walking, etc). Any politician that can realizes this now and gets in front of it will be a hero in a few years.
Secondly, Windsor is the perfect place to really leverage the political kudos from leading this transformation. We are incorrectly perceived to be both the hardest to transform and the least able to do so. We are branded as the automotive capital of Canada. Our economy is ranked, by some measures, as the worst in Canada. We are view, deserved or not, as being a polluted city. Transforming Windsor will be perceived as a Herculean outcome when in reality it was not.
Is emphasize on public transportation (pedestrian-centric) instead of a private transportation (car-cebtric) a Canadian ideology?
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/interview-with-enrique-penalosa-long/
Adriano hits it right on the head! No forward thinking, not now not ever in this city. Everything is in the immediate whether demolishing historic buildings or neighbourhoods to kicking out business. Everything is for the short term and never planned for any length of time.
One reason is that it is because elected officials want things done on their watch to show tangible results. That is fine but can they not plan that it sticks around or works for another 30-50 years? Is it truly any wonder why our city looks like it was built in the 1970s or that we are considered negative? Just like the mayor and council and their DRIC plans and other schemes, WE TOO WANT TO BE HEARD! SO LISTEN ELECTED OFFICIALS OR YOU CAN KISS YOUR COLLECTIVE ASSES GOODBYE IN THE NEXT ELECTION. THEN YOU CAN JOIN US ALL ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE AND SEE HOW THE REST OF WINDSOR IS STARTING TO LIVE!
/End of screaming rant!
Chris in a speedo! Now that would definitely convince me to ride a bike- if I already didn’t…
When I was working on the Idle-Free Windsor campaign I encountered similar problems- how to convice Windsorites to stop unnecessary vehicle idling. A fairly simple request, or so I believed, but what was required to convice drivers was a lot more complicated then I thought. What our team eventually decided upon was that it was a waste of time and resources unless we initiated behavioural change, which means not just providing them with information, but identifying and addressing the barriers that would allow them to make that change- using the community- based social marketing (CBSM) approach. Unfortunately Trillium only doles out enough grant money for 2 years- not enough time to allow for changes in behaviour. But If you are a driver that happened to catch one of the bus ads- the one with the little girl wiping away the smog with the caption ” No time to spare help clean the air” and it actually made you think about turning off your engine, I’d love to know.
Check out these sites for further info on CBSM and see the blurb below:
http://www.culbridge.com
http://www.toolsofchange.com
http://www.cbsm.com
To foster lasting behaviour change, green groups tackle barriers, create incentives
Wednesday December 12, 2007 — Michelle Strutzenberger
Clifford Maynes, executive director of Green Communities Canada, says that member groups are aiming to foster lasting behaviour change by tackling barriers and creating incentives to action.
Green Communities Canada is an association of about 40 community-based, nonprofit organizations that deliver environmental programs and service across the country.
The fundamental focus of its activities is at the community level for delivery and engagement.
Green Communities’ approach to engagement has been inspired by the thinking of Doug McKenzie-Mohr, an environmental psychologist at the University of New Brunswick.
McKenzie-Mohr proposes that information alone, either through mass media marketing or the traditional educational approach, which basically gives people a whole lot of information, is not enough to foster lasting behaviour change.
Instead, behaviour change is “most effectively achieved through initiatives delivered at the community level which focus on removing barriers to an activity while simultaneously creating incentives that enhance the activity’s benefits,” according to a document, Community-Based Social Marketing, by McKenzie-Mohr.
In other words, “you have to start with people and recognize what their barriers and incentives are to action in the real world,” says Maynes.
That understanding ideally comes through in-depth research, focus groups, surveys, and pilot projects, according to McKenzie-Mohr, but Maynes says in the case of Green Communities the process must often be more organic, due to limited resources.
“Very often that understanding comes just through engaging with people, engaging with people in their homes, at the table and malls and fairs,” he says.
Time, convenience and money have been identified as common barriers to behaviour change.
Understanding and knowledge can be barriers as well. However, the answer in the latter case is to present people with very specific information ideally targeted to their particular situation.
“The more targeted the information can be to the individual who requires it the more effective it can be,” says Maynes
For instance, rather than publishing brochures on 10 tips for saving energy, a more effective approach is to outline specific things people can do which will result in so much saved on their heating bill.
Programs such as the home energy efficiency program, now called ecoENERGY, have revealed that financial compensation can be a significant incentive for people to take action.
The green groups realize that working through personal channels of communication can also help foster behaviour change.
Forming partnerships with as many different sectors of the community so that people are hearing reinforcing messages from all sides helps make that happen.
“That way we’re bound to have at least one organization in the mix to which (people) relate on a personal level,” says Maynes.
McKenzie-Mohr propounds that once people take a small step towards living greener, it often happens that they’re willing to hear more and get more involved in green living.
“In other words, often action precedes knowledge,” says Maynes.
McKenzie-Mohr also emphasizes the development of community norms for supporting people in engaging in sustainable behaviour.
“Norms guide how we should behave,” he writes. “If we observe members of our community acting sustainably we are more likely to do the same.”
The blue box program has often been referred to as a prime example of community-based social marketing.
The program makes it easier for people to recycle, overcoming the barrier of inconvenience.
It also creates a social norm in the community. People see that every one else has their blue box and, although they may only have a vague understanding of the waste management issue, they feel they should have the same.
The thing that cheezes me off the most is people who idle while waiting at a train crossing (nevermind the ones who spite themselves and turn around and go ten blocks out of their way). What is the point in that? Even in the winter, a car won’t cool down much if the engine is shut off for ten minutes. But the pollution from a hundred cars idling at a railway crossing for ten minutes certainly *is* significant. “There should be a law!”
JCS, there is a law - a by-law that is. Unfortunately it doesn’t apply to railway crossings. Like a lot of by-laws it is complaint driven and unenforced. You’d have a better chance of getting a visit from a by-law officer for noxious weeds ( like I did) then getting ticketed for idling. A local group spent wads of cash designing and making 400 official anti-idling street signs. Ever seen any?
Nope I haven’t seen ‘em. Where are they, at the public works yard in a pile?
JCS:There is one at the airport and one at the EWSWA parking lot. That’s all I know for sure. Yes, the rest are probably piled up in the public works yard. You can request to have one installed though- for free. But only if you want it on city property, if you want it on private land- like a school, the owner of the land has to incur the cost of installation. I wish I could get one in front of my house, but I don’t think they’d go for that…
Thanks for the info. They should install those signs at those kiss-and-ride lanes in front of public schools.
Here’s some fun facts to read.
http://www.bikesbelong.org/statistics
The ills of our car-centric suburban highway system!
For thousands of years cities have been built as a community, where a community is a group of interacting people living in a common location. Cities have been pedestian centric with walkable streets and abundent public spaces. People of all social classes and backgrouds would interact and share a common identity.
Over the last 60 or so years cities have changed to an anti-community, where we SUB divide and isolate ourselves. My view is that our personal transportation bubble (the car) and the suburban highway transportation system is the main culprit.
The way I look at things is that there is a correct path to follow. We can deviate from this path but only for so long, eventually the jungle growth becomes so think that we must return to the path. This is one reason why I’m usually so hopeful on the future of Windsor. Economically we are on our way back to the path.
But from a transportation and community point of view we are seriously lost. I’m just wondering if we can make a list of the signs that we’re off coarse. A list of the ills of a car-centric suburban highway system! Here is what I have so far:
Environmental - global warming, smog, junkyards and landfills…
Health – obesity, diabetes, breathing problems…
Social – increased inequality, increased crime, mental illness, singles epidemic, lack of empathy, lower quality of life…
Economic – increase wasteful consumption, less available productive capital and resources, less productivity, lower wages…
What else?
Starving the soul and choking Canadiana!
I spent some time in Antarctica. Most of the time was spent on Russian research bases (and yes, Brendan, if scaledown had been around back then I would have read your wonderful posts). One of the things that stuck with me from the experience is how horrible mealtime is in Russian culture. It is not necessarily the food and certainly not the people but the lack of social interactions. Mealtime was totally a utilitarian experience totally devoid of social interactions; no dialogue, no sharing stories, no enjoying the atmosphere and company – nope nothing of the sort. Simply, serve-sit-eat-cleanup-leave.
I can’t express what a soul crushing experience this was. When limited to a handful of people to interact with, when few entertainment and recreation options exist, when working in near isolation for extended periods of time mealtime becomes one of the things you most look forward to – a type of food for the human soul. But, at the Russian research bases my soul was starved.
As explained to me, mealtime in Russian culture is such because for decades soviet food was so basic and bland that mealtime became a utilitarian activity – like doing the dishes you do it quick and get it over with.
This makes me wonder about our obsession with drive-thru food chains and coffee shops. Remember the Canadian moments from the Canadian Air Farce, a group of Canadians sitting around a table at a coffee shop discussing current events? Is this piece of Canadiana dead? Joining street hockey as road kill of our car obsession. Are drive-thrus feeding our hunger but starving our soul?
What is wrong with our city when people like Scott can’t find a safe way to bike to work? When the disadvantaged, like the elderly woman I saw this morning waiving moving traffic and parked cars along Ouellette in her motorized wheel chair, are ignored? Why do we build pedestrian bridges between parking lots and hotels but oppose bike lanes and traffic calming measures between our communities and the riverside park? Why is this same pedestrian bridge protected from the elements yet most transit stops are not? Why do we remove snow from streets but not from sidewalks? Why do we build billion dollar highways and tunnels but refuse to build million dollar sidewalks and pedestrian tunnels? It does not sound very Canadian to me.
Again I ask you watch this video and ask yourself: Is this not what Canada stands for? Is this not what our city should be?
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/interview-with-enrique-penalosa-long/
Reasons why Windsor is the ideal Canadian city to be the example:
1.Southern most Canadian city with little rain and snowfall. (all year bike/walk/public transit potential)
2.flat
3.elongated development east-west along riverfront. This creates car traffic congestion, conflicts between people and cars, and is ideal for public transit.
“It’s sustainable cities, stupid!”
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=6f7c2ae8-0d1f-4f1e-aaf1-e513cb211765
Canada it is time for a national public transportation system.
Where is the next Tommy Douglas?
Duceppe, Dion, Layton form coalition
http://www.windsorstar.com/duceppe+dion+layton+form+coalition/1017065/story.html
Time for a coalition of pedestrian space, bikeways, and public transit to topple the car king.
The revolution will not be motorized!
It is time to write your MP and the party leaders and tell them we want the right type of infrastructure spending. We want to invest in sustainable infrastructure. We want a viable choice to automobile ownership. We want to use this time and this investment to prepare for the storm we face on the other side.
It is our money, our investment. Lets not throw good money after bad.