Transportation - Cycling

Is there hope for the revised Toronto Cycling Committee?

Lela Gary
June 2007

Councillor Adrian Heaps, the newly appointed Chair of the ever ineffective and spineless Cycling Committee, encountered widespread criticism by frustrated and angry cyclists … an unfortunate beginning.

Not having been informed of the content of the press release that Councillor Heaps gave May 28, I asked him the following questions at the end of his report to the Planning and Growth Management Committee meeting, May 31.

Mr. Heaps, did you volunteer to chair the TCC or were you appointed?
Do you have a Vision or a goal for your new project as chair of the TCC?
Did you present to cycling groups the project outline, procedure, strategies, and criteria for achieving your goal?

Councillor Heaps informed me that he was appointed by Mayor Miller.
This is the first downside.
A deeply involved and passionate chair with toughminded and forward-looking plans for cycling, he directs by pursuing the opportunity to serve, not by conforming to the boss’s request.

Councillor Heaps went on to say that he did not have a Vision, he just wants to implement 30 ks of bike-lanes and he will go on from there. As for the presentation of any plan to cyclists, he feels that this communication will take place later.

Unfortunately, Councillor Heaps does not realize that if a project is to succeed, however modest that maybe, it should be conceived as a well organized:
Vision
Goals and Project Outline,
Strategies and Implementation to accomplish what the project aims to achieve
Criteria for cyclists/groups for inclusion
Timeline
Estimated costs for workplans

As none of such communication took place, but with the stroke of a pen Councillor Heaps brought about changes to a haphazardly plan, he was inevitably confronted by hasty criticism.
If improvement to a powerless and ineffectual TCC committee is to look forward to, Mr. Heaps should keep in mind that if he makes little plans, as in up to 30 ks of lanes, he will achieve little. He should make big plans to stir people’s imagination and motivate them to action and support.
Furthermore, without a forthright and forward-looking plan, cycling infrastructure will suffocate under the pressure of the increasing and unrestricted car-traffic in Toronto.