Toronto City Council is meeting this week and the decision by the Works Committee to not to support bicycle lanes on a section of Royal York Road is on the agenda. (See previous article). Local residents who supported expanding the Bikeway Network in Etobicoke and others felt that this decision was made with out enough information. They felt that it would create a permanent gap in the Bikeway network that would endanger cyclists and undermine the goals of the Toronto Bike Plan. They felt this decision could not be rubber stamped by City Council this week, it needed more consideration.

Last week they started to call on the Mayor David Miller, Councillor Adam Giambrone, the chair of the Toronto Cycling Committee and other Councillors and ask them to have the issue referred back to the Works Committee for more deliberation. It appears that those calls are starting to be listened to. Some Councillors are starting to come on side and starting to question this decision. More are needed if there is to be enough votes to send this back to the Works Committee.

The first step in the battle was to have the issue held as an item to be voted on. If this did not happen the decision by the Works Committee would be automatically approved without a vote. That step was taken this morning. It has been reported by people at the meeting that Councillor Adam Giambrone, the chair of the Toronto Cycling Committee, had indicated that he wanted the issue held and three other councillors added their voice to that request.

The second step is to get a majority of the Councillors to support the motion to refer the decision back to the Works Committee. The vote on this issue will likely happen on Thursday May 19th. You can play a part in this fight to protect the integrity of the Toronto Bike Plan. The best way is to call or e-mail the Mayor and your Councillor, let them know that you support the bike lanes on Royal York Road and ask them to support the referral back to the Works Committee. You can e-mail Mayor David Miller directly at mayor_miller@toronto.ca You can find other contact information for Mayor David Miller here: Contacting the Mayor. You can get your Councillor's contact information from the City's website Councillors. If you don't know who your Councillor is, there is a City of Toronto web page that will find that information for you if you enter your street address. The web page is here: Find your Councillor.

Last week I was feeling that there was no hope to turn this decision around. Now thanks to the work of some dedicated local residents, members of the Toronto Cycling Committee and other cycling activists there is hope. With your help that hope can become a reality.