This Monday Sept 25, 2006 at City Council's last meeting before the election Councillor Ootes - Ward 29 Toronto-Danforth will make yet another attempt to undo the Cosburn Bike lanes in his ward. He had tried to make a motion to that effect at Toronto and East York Community Council in June 2006 but that was defeated. He has now filed a notice of motion entitled "Request for a Poll on Bike Lanes - Cosburn Avenue between Broadview Avenue and Coxwell Avenue which is seconded by Deputy Mayor Feldman - Ward 10 York Centre. This is a revision of the motion that he had put forward at the July 2006 Council meeting. That motion was titled "Request for Removal of Bike Lanes - Cosburn Avenue between Broadview Avenue and Coxwell Avenue which did not get dealt with at that meeting.

This attempt to rerun a consultation process, that had been conducted prior to the installation of the bike lanes, should be voted down. If passed it will force the Transportation Services staff to divert their time from working on designing new bike lanes to creating and conducting this poll. A report has already been done at Councillor Ootes request on the usage of the bike lane after it was put in. It did not get the results he was looking for (see previous article). That in itself took alot of staff time from working on expanding the Bikeway network and has contributed to the delays in getting other bike lanes designed and approved. Councillors should put an end to this waste of the city's financial and human resources.

Toronto residents who want to see the city move ahead on the bike plan and not continue circling the same block over and over again should contact their councillors and ask them to vote down Councillor Ootes motion. You can find out who your councillor is and how to contact them at the following link. Find your Councillor.