Comment 31859

By jason (registered) | Posted June 18, 2009 at 09:29:02

Great piece Michelle.

No need to apologize for yet another bike piece on RTH. It needs to be heard, especially in this city of ours. We have leaders who love the idea of spending billions on highways, hundreds of millions on stadiums and aerotropolis, yet can't see the tremendous value in quality of life, child-raising and safe streets that relatively minor investment in bike infrastructure would yield.
As far as transportation modes go, the bicycle is by far the cheapest to implement. And for the record, I'm not necessarily against some bigger projects. I hope we land an NHL team. I hope we get a new harbourfront stadium, and I hope we get light rail.

But it can't be denied - bike infrastructure is a no-brainer. Whether in warm climates like San Francisco, wet/mild climates like Portland or downright frigid climates like Montreal, it has been proven all over the globe - build it and they will ride.

One of the reasons my wife and I love living downtown is the availability of walking,cycling and transit as legit modes of transportation. How wonderful would it be for our children as they grow up to be able to get part-time jobs and have safe, convenient cycling routes to work instead of always needing to be driven everywhere. It's good for their health, good for developing responsibility and good for local businesses accustomed to hearing young people turn down jobs or lose jobs due to someone forgetting to drive them to work, or keeping the car out too long.

Bike infrastructure needs a forum, and it appears as though RTH has become the place. We shouldn't be apologizing for that. We should be ashamed to live in a city where a healthy form of transportation is looked down upon.

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