Dear Mr. Ford, I’m writing…

Dear Mr. Ford,

I’m writing to let you know how I disagree with your decision to make approving and removing bike lanes a provincial matter instead of a municipal one. I hope you reverse this decision.

I’ve lived in Toronto for 13 years and the most convenient and affordable way to get around for me has been by bicycle. The Bloor bike lane improved my commute a great deal, as I no longer had to share a lane with cars and worry about getting hit by them. I also drive a car regularly and I much prefer roads having bike lanes so it lowers the risk of me hitting a cyclist, I hope most sensible and compassionate people do. When I first moved to Toronto I was hit by a car on a street that didn’t have a bike lane. I definitely aim to use bike lanes whenever possible for my own personal safety as well as to stay out of the way of cars.

Your politics and rhetoric lead me to believe you don’t necessarily care about the safety and wellbeing being of cyclists, so I won’t try to compel you that way. So let’s talk about what really matters to you: cars. I just don’t see how this will help congestion. It will mean cars will be sharing lanes with bikes, which will obviously slow things down. Plus imagine what a nightmare it will be for you to spend our tax payer money to remove our perfectly good infrastructure. Construction projects led by the province tend to go over budget and miss deadlines - do you really want to create traffic mayhem in our cities for no reason? At the expense of taxpayers no less.

Also I would have assumed you don’t believe in “Big Government” doesn’t the province taking control over municipal government decisions go against that?

You have made a lot of questionable decisions lately, Ontario place, the science centre… it’s too bad you are at war with the biggest city of your province, instead of trying to invest in it and make it better.

Please leave our bike lanes alone, or better yet, give us more. Please stop giving sweetheart deals to your developer friends. Please help us have a city that is designed for its residents.

I hope you see what a bad legacy you are creating for yourself and change course. You have made this province worse (specifically Toronto) and at the expense of its citizens. You are an embarrassment to your office.