Updates on Recent Stories: Bikes, Bagels and City Halls
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.11.07
Who has right of way? New York's Mayor Bloomberg recently said "bikers also have to watch out for themselves in interactions with cars. “Even if they’re in the right, they are the lightweights,” Bloomberg said of cyclists. “Every year, too many people are hit by cars — and bikes have to pay attention.” Bikers shouldn’t assume car doors won’t open into their path, for example, he said. Toronto's Rob Ford said "Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day." Meanwhile Joe at Biking Toronto shows these great pictures shot from the same corner, 107 years apart. Sorry Rob, roads are built for streetcars and bikes and the cars came later.
We wrote earlier about a petition to "request that Dempster's, along with Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and Canada Bread Company Limited, stop littering our shelves, our waste baskets and our landfills with over-packaged products, and that they review their environmental policies in order to reduce their packaging." We are pleased to announce that Dempsters put the idea in the Dumpster and cancelled the Morning Mates.
Below the fold: Plant wins City Hall Competition
image from readingtoronto.com
We were thrilled that Plant Architects and Shore Tilbe Irwin won the competition to redesign and restore Nathan Phillips Square in front of Toronto City Hall. Eric Haldenby, the competition chair said "The team has imaginatively re-invented elements of the Square, enhanced the experience of the public realm and integrated exemplary new sustainable design approaches."
This treehugger has worked, partied and learned from so many of the members of this team and congratulate them all!
Even before there were streetcars there were roads, and they we used by pedestrians, horses, cows, sheep, and all manner of other animal powered transportation options.
And while Bloomberg might not be doing such a great job promoting bikes as sustainable transportation, he is at least reminding people that they need to actually pay attention to their own safety, rather than hoping someone else will. It is indeed a dangerous and generally bad idea to ride in the door zone, no matter what kind of vehicle you're driving. It's just not where traffic belongs.