I’ve lived in the High Park…

I’ve lived in the High Park area for over 20yrs, and am truly disappointed with how our current city council is overseeing our city, and managing our resources.

I understand that our current Mayor may have inherited some legacy issues; however there are members of our council that have been around for far too many years, and that are truly using their position to unduly influence issues in order to better themselves personally (Gord Perks is one that comes to mind).

Putting this aside, I am NOT in favour of the current bike lane infrastructure we have. I live right on Bloor (across from High Park) and having bike lanes that have removed 2 critical lanes of traffic is absurd.
Firstly, Bloor Street (and Yonge St) are both “subway lines”. In addition to removing 2 lanes of traffic, thus making it challenging and difficult for emergency vehicles to get through… when there’s a subway closure (and let’s face reality… the TTC is broken). The amount of times the subway is down, and shuttle buses are required to replace a failing transit system, creates even more gridlock.

The second issue is the design of the bike lanes (including barriers, painted streets, etc)
The design has created blind spots for drivers who need to make a simple right hand turn off of Bloor Street to any side street. The cyclists (both sport riders & commuters), and the delivery persons on scooters or e-bikes (which btw can go up to speeds of 35-40km/hr - often faster than a car travelling along Bloor) are both zipping along Bloor St, and it’s extremely difficult to see them coming behind you due to this poor design.

The city complains about the cost of installing and dismantling the bike lanes - both amounts seem outrageously inflated!! - yet, they continue to install bike traffic lights along Bloor Street West (Runnymede / Windermere) as recent as last week!! I’m sure they’re going to say “it was already in the works”, yet we all know that these projects can be cancelled and funds repurposed towards other priorities like repairing our streets, helping the homeless, trying to keep the cost of living under control, etc

We need to have these bike lanes shifted to side streets, and alternate them every other street (one bike lane per street), so not to create congestion everywhere, and allow for the same amount of parking for residents.

As a resident of Bloor West village, I can hear and see how divisive this topic has become (especially around the city’s latest project of installing bike lanes along Parkside Dr. I think any sane person can see how crazy this idea is.

I hope our Premier and provincial government can help step in to prevent any further bike lanes from creating even more gridlock; and removing bikes lanes along Bloor St West, Yonge St and Hospital Row (University Ave)