We’re bringing our bike festival to the neighbourhood on Saturday, June 18! Join us for a day of activities including the East York History Bike Ride (1 pm), le Tour de Cosburn, and more! Visit our hub at Bethany Baptist Church (southeast corner of Cosburn & Pape) to get your bike tuned up, learn about cycling opportunities in the area, connect with CultureLink’s Bike Host program, and get cycling information and maps. See our event page for more information.
Get ready for the 4th annual Bells on Danforth ride! Once again, Ward 29 Bikes has joined forces with Ward 30 Bikes, Ward 31 Bikes, 32 Spokes, TO35Cycles, and Ward 36 Cyclists to bring you this family ride. This year, to celebrate Bike Month and 100in1Day, we will highlight the Danforth by riding east from Castle Frank to Danforth Road for a party. Bring a picnic lunch or grab a meal or dessert at one of the local restaurants before heading back home. Check out the Bells on Danforth site for more details about this year’s ride. Gather at Prince Edward Viaduct Park (across from Castle Frank station) 10:30 a.m. on Saturday June 6, 2015. Departure at 11 a.m.
Canada Day parade: Ward 29 Bikes members flying the colours.
Ward 29 Bikes is riding in the East York Canada Day parade to celebrate safe, convenient, and fun cycling in our neighbourhood. And we’d like you to join us! This is your opportunity to fulfill your secret desire to be the centre of attention, riding through the streets of East York while thousands of people cheer you on. Parades make everyone smile, and the fun is doubled when you experience it from inside the parade rather than sitting on the curb.
To join us in the parade, just bring yourself, your family, and your bikes to the parking lot near the old Zellers store in the East York Town Centre (Thorncliffe Mall) no later than 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, July 1. The parade leaves the parking lot at 9:00 a.m. and winds its way through the streets of East York to the big party in Stan Wadlow Park. Wear either red and white or Ward 29 blue. We’ll have some decorations for everyone’s bikes.
Contact us if you’d like more information or to confirm that you’ll be riding with us on Canada Day.
Canada Day 2010: Waving to the crowd on Coxwell Ave.
Canada Day parade 2010: It's not the size of the bike, it's how you ride it.
In just a week, a transformed city council will take power under the leadership of Rob Ford. Should cyclists distress? Perhaps. But there is cause for celebration in east Toronto.
This year’s municipal election gave rise to a number of excellent candidates, and Ward 29 was no exception. Local candidates Chris Caldwell, Jennifer Wood, and Jane Pitfield all took very supportive positions on cycling, as did Mary Fragedakis, who will now represent Ward 29 at City Council.
In Ward 32, residents delivered an undeniable landslide victory to Mary-Margaret McMahon, and with that victory comes a renewed sense of responsibility where cycling and the environment are concerned. Both Fragedakis and McMahon participated in the Bike Month Group Commute last May and have been unequivocal in their support for cycling.
These new councillors match nicely with the return of incumbents Janet Davis (Ward 31) and Paula Fletcher (Ward 30). The latter, who hashed out a narrow victory to keep her seat, has the greater challenge of establishing herself as a pro-cycling councillor, especially after her misvote on the proposed 12-week trial of separated bike lanes on University Avenue. But both are clearly distinguished from the bike lane requiem touted by our newly elected mayor.
So as a new administration takes over at City Hall we can at least look to the four Wards that border Danforth Avenue from Broadview to Victoria Park to offer a balanced perspective where the needs of cyclists are concerned. That balance is seemingly more important than before, and it is reassuring that their voices will be backed by the collective and growing support for cycling that exists within our extended community.
We’re conducting a survey this week, both online and in person at the Taste of the Danforth, about cycling in and around Ward 29. If you completed the survey at our June meeting, there’s no need to fill out this one as well; we already have your answers. Please take a few moments to fill out the survey (there are just ten multiple-choice questions) or talk to one of our volunteers at the Taste of the Danforth this weekend.
It looks like Toronto’s widely-anticipated large-scale bike sharing program is getting underway. A Request for Expressions Of Interest (REOI) in the Toronto Public Bicycles Project was posted for potential bidders on the City’s web site late last week. This is the first step in the process that will see a Request for Proposals issued later this year. If all goes well, the program will launch in spring 2010 with 3,000 bikes located at dozens of stations in the area between Parkside Drive, Dupont Avenue, Broadview Avenue, and the lake. Stations are to be about 200–300 metres apart througout the entire area, with expansion planned for the future. Torontoist has more details about the framework the City has established for the project.
Some people feared that Toronto would wade timidly into bike sharing, starting with too few bikes at too few locations. But staff have obviously done research on what works elsewhere and have applied that knowledge to kickstarting Toronto’s project.
Although the initial scope of the project just barely reaches across the Viaduct into Wards 29 and 30, we believe that there would be sufficient demand along the Danforth to justify positioning stations at least as far as Pape during or soon after the official launch.
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