Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Bike Lanes on Brimley Road – Why Should You Care?


In late May Toronto Council approved taking two lanes out of Brimley Road and handing these over to the bike lobby. 


The bike lobby told our Councillor Michael Thompson that we needed bike lanes to get to the grocery store, the drug store, the LCBO and Beer store at Eglinton. They told him we needed to get our exercise by riding our bikes up and down Brimley. 


The lanes went in early in July. We’ve had 4 months to see how this is working out. Traffic is only partway back to pre-COVID lockdown ‘normal’ levels. When Brimley is busy we are seeing long lines of traffic forming in the single lane remaining. A single-vehicle stopped to make a left-hand turn into their driveway or their neighbourhood blocks the whole street. Long queues are forming at the traffic signals. 


Why should you care? 


Here are 8 good reasons why everyone in Glen Andrew should care about the Brimley Bike lanes: 


1. Bike lanes on Brimley today are just the start. 


This is just a ‘pilot project’ they snuck in when everyone was totally focused on the COVID emergency. The bike lanes won’t stop at Lawrence. The bike lobby wants to extend these all the way to Steeles. And then do it again on Midland Ave. 


2. Your friends and neighbours who front onto Brimley Road had their right to park and even just to stop in front of their homes cancelled by City Hall. 


There are +\- 200 homes with driveways directly to Brimley between Kingston Road and Lawrence. 


Whatever privileges they had to park or even just to stop in front of their homes before the bike lanes went in, they were cancelled overnight. City work crews took down the old signs and put these up: 




If your daughter parks in the curb lane, where she’s parked for years to bring over the grandkids, maybe deliver some groceries if you can’t get around, she’ll get whacked with a $150.00 fine. 


No-one knows how you get your roof repaired; your furnace replaced or even your lawn care company to come to your home if you live on Brimley. Where do they park?



3. Because practically no-one is using the Brimley bike lanes. 

  • Even in the really good cycling weather of June, July and August. 
  • Even when there was practically zero traffic on Brimley during the COVID lockdown. 
  • Even when the City Hall bike lobby sent out 23,136 full-colour glossy pamphlets to sell their latest scheme. 

4. Because cycling is seasonal. 


Cycling on the really well-used bike lanes downtown where it makes sense drops off by +\-80 % from November through the end of April. 

If there’s almost nobody cycling on Brimley today in great cycling weather, how many people will be pedalling on Brimley in the dark and cold, on snow and ice from November through the end of April? 


5. Maybe you have been able to avoid Brimley Road but those are your friends and neighbours stuck waiting in those queues. 

  • They’re riding the Brimley 21 bus to the subway. 
  • They’re trying to get to and from their homes right on Brimley and in the neighbourhoods on both sides. 
  • Those are our children riding school buses to Knob Hill, Hunters Glen and Charles Gordon public schools south of Lawrence and further south to Anson public school; 
  • They’re waiting for the handicapped access taxi and the WheelTrans van; 
  • They’re wondering how the service trucks can get to their homes to repair their furnace, fix their roof, or deliver the things they’ve ordered online. 


6. Because neither our Councillor Michael Thompson nor the bike lobby at City Hall has answered our question: 


How will snowplows, driveway plows, street sweepers and storm drain vacuum trucks do their jobs with bike lanes hogging the curb lane? 









7. Because a huge proportion of the vehicles going up and down Brimley every weekday belong to Scarborough businesses. 


These companies employ us. They employ our neighbours and kids. 

They help us maintain and improve our homes, deliver food to our stores, deliver what we’ve ordered on line. 


Here are just a few of the companies whose trucks use Brimley Road every day: 













































Not to mention dozens of Atlantic Packaging’s tractor trailers, Crupi Paving heavy haulers and Praxair’s tanker trucks that use Brimley Road every weekday. 



8. Because two years is not “temporary”. 


When the bike lobby at City Hall grabbed two lanes out of Brimley for bicycles in July, they put up signs telling us this was ‘temporary’. 


They told our Councillors they’ll watch how things go and report to our Councillors “in the fourth quarter of 2021.” 


If you know how things work at City Hall, our Councillors won’t get around to these bike lanes until quite likely December 2021. Even if they decided then to remove the bike lanes, it’s not likely to happen until the spring of 2022. 21-24 months of this nonsense spanning two winters is not ‘temporary’. 





Make no mistake about it: 

  • The bike lobby at City Hall, like a thief in the COVID night, grabbed half the capacity of Brimley Road for themselves while we were all busy trying to stay safe. 
  • They grabbed both sides of Huntingwood: most of the 321 homes with driveways to Huntingwood lost the right to park or even just to stop in front of their homes with no consultation. 
  • The bike lobby has their sights set on the rest of Brimley… right through Glen Andrew and all the way to Steeles. 
  • Then they’ll do the same thing to Midland from Kingston Road to Steeles. 


Unless you speak up. 


Unless Mike Thompson hears from you that this is not acceptable. 


Here’s our message to Councillor Thompson: 


1. Remove the bike lanes from Brimley Road immediately…before the snow flies: 

  • Take out the pylons. 
  • Paint over the markings. 
  • Put black bags over all the special signs you erected. 

2. Consider reopening the bike lanes next summer…June, July and August…AFTER some genuine discussion with all the homeowners who front onto Brimley, the communities on either side and the businesses who depend on Brimley Road. 


Join us. 


Tell Michael Thompson you support Glen Andrew’s request. 


Call him: 416-397-9274 

Email him: councillor_thompson@toronto.ca 

Write to him: 100 Queen St W Suite B24, Toronto, ON M5H 2N2 


Lorne Ross 

For the Glen Andrew Community Association 



NOTE

Glen Andrew Community Association supports cycling as a good weather recreational activity. 
We have sent the City all sorts of ideas on how to improve safe and attractive cycling using our parks, ravines, trails and hydro fields. 


Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Need a little help cleaning up?



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Your lawn will be clean & safe to enjoy immediately. 

Your Safety is our #1 Priority.


Remember: When you choose That Dog Company, you’re helping dogs get adopted. That’s because we donate at least 25% of our profits to local shelters and dog rescue groups.


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Thank you,

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“If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers


Phone: 416-272-9587

Web: www.thatdogcompany.com

Email: justin@thatdogcompany.com or info@thatdogcompany.com

Monday, August 31, 2020

New Physical Farmers' Market in Scarborough



Scarborough Farmers' Market (physical location)



When: Tuesdays from September 1 to Tuesday October 6.


Hours: 10:00 A:M – 3:00 P:M

Where: Hand of God Dog Park 



on the south side of Borough Drive across from the Scarborough Civic Centre
  • Farm fresh produce
  • Corn
  • Maple syrup
  • Pepper Sauces
  • Samosas
  • Sausages
  • Skincare essentials 

    ...and more!

Please support our local producers and entrepreneurs!


scarboroughfarmersmarket.ca

courtardfarmersmarket.ca

(Online ordering not required for this market)


Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Open call for volunteer help


We need your help




In our last two newsletters, twice by email and our blog, we have asked that a few of our neighbours would give us a hand with some of the tasks that need doing in order to keep the Glen Andrew Community Association working properly. So far only two neighbours have come forward and have taken on a task.

We still need one volunteer to set up the meetings at St. Andrews Church. This includes:
  • Reserving the hall at the church.
  • Setting up the hall for the meeting and put everything back in place after the meeting.
  • Be at the door yourself and have the guests sign in.
  • Contact the other helpers who we have on file to help with the sign in and the sale of memberships.

We will also need one or two volunteers to help with organizing and set up for yearly litter clean-up day. This includes:
  • Contacting the helpers we have on file to help with the sign in
  • Handing out gloves and garbage bags
  • one or two people to make and serve coffee, tea, soft drinks, muffins and donuts.
  • Put up the clean-up day posters in our neighbourhood and order supplies.
  • Show the volunteers what areas need to be cleaned of litter.

A new newsletter editor is also needed. This includes collecting the information for the newsletter and get the newsletter ready for print.

We do have a volunteer who will have the newsletter printed and delivered to the street reps for delivery in our neighbourhood.

Once you decide to help us, please send me an email or call me. Contact info can be found here: 
http://glenandrewcommunityassociation.blogspot.com/p/contact-us.html

We will meet with you and explain the task in more detail and answer any questions you may have.

Iain McLeod,
President


Monday, July 20, 2020

How Effective Are Masks? - video

An excellent video that simply, clearly demonstrates why you should wear a mask when you are in circumstances that do not permit you to maintain that 6 feet (2 meter) distance.





Glen Andrew Community Association does not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed or linked to in any shared content. The shared content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. 

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Scarborough Farmer’s Market




Scarborough Farmer’s Market


Town Centre Plaza at the corner of McCowan Rd. and Milner Avenue 

(Winners and Princess Auto)




Saturday 4 - 6 pm

Starting: Saturday, July 4th
Ending: Saturday, October 10th

Online ordering for 
curbside pick up or delivery 
by midnight Wednesday



We have just been informed that there will be a Farmer’s Market set up in the Town Centre Plaza which is at the corner of McCowan Road and Milner Avenue, on Saturday beginning on July 4th and ending on Saturday, October 10th.

Orders must be received by midnight Wednesday for a Saturday pick up at the Town Centre Location. 

There are other locations and pick up times available and a full list of what is offered on scarboroughfarmersmarket.ca

Your comments would be appreciated by your Glen Andrew Community Association.


Iain McLeod
President

Monday, June 15, 2020

Alternative Route Suggestions for Proposed Bike Lanes on Brimley Rd.




Thomson Park to Bluffers Park

One of the rationales put forward for taking two lanes out of Brimley is to allow a cyclist to travel between Thomson Park and Buffers Park.

We’re not too sure how many people would actually make that trip, even on a nice sunny dry day, but there is an attractive alternative route which does NOT put cyclists on busy arterial roads, nor does it cross hundreds of residential driveways, not does it take lanes away from heavy industry south of Danforth Road.

Below is an air photo of central Scarborough from Ellesmere down to the Lake Ontario shoreline.

In orange are existing multi-purpose paths separated from arterial road traffic. In red are the Brimorton bike lanes painted on the roadway.

The orange paths in the air photo run through the following parks and ravines:

  • The Gatineau-Meadowway-Pan Am path systems;
  • Birkdale Ravine;
  • Thomson Park;
  • The Highland Creek ravine system;
  • The small branch of the Highland Creek that connects Knob Hill Park on the east side of Brimley with McCowan Park; and
  • The 2 km diagonal path system south of Eglinton between the Bellamy GO Station and Brimley Road. It runs in the former Scarborough Expressway lands. I don’t know if it has a name so I’ll call it the Expressway Path.

To connect these with safe walking-cycling paths, there are two ‘missing links’.

  1. About 0.75 km through Hague park; and
  2. About 1.1 km south down McCowan Road from McCowan Park to the Expressway Path; ...which takes you back to Brimley south of the heavy industries.

We leave it to Councillor Crawford and his communities to decide if they want to continue a painted bike lane system on Brimley or McCowan south from the Expressway Path

McCowan Road from McCowan Park to EglintonIt’s a dead end. It operates as a local street carrying very little traffic compared to an arterial like Brimley.
No TTC buses operate on this part of McCowan.
There are only 2 homes with driveway to this part of McCowan.
It is paved today as a two-lane street but the City owns a 27m wide right of way. There should be lots of room to build a separate cycle track down to Eglinton.
McCowan south from Eglinton
It’s four lanes and in my experience, this part of McCowan is not heavily travelled. If there is no feasible way to build a bike path separate from the travelled lanes under the CNR-GO line here, the impact on traffic of taking two lanes should be far less than taking two lanes out of 4 kilometres of Brimley.

The Bellamy 9 TTC bus runs on McCowan south of Eglinton. The latest data available to us shows that this bus carries less than half the passengers that ride the Brimley 21 bus every day.

If you believe a lot of people want to ride bicycles down and back up the severe slope of Brimley below Kingston Road and you think that slope is safe for all ages/stages of cyclists, then proceed with that part of your plan.

Advantages of our Hague Park-McCowan Road proposal:

  1. Builds on/ connects to the existing Highland Creek and Expressway path system;
  2. Displaces very little traffic from busy arterial roads;
  3. Does not interfere with busy TTC bus routes;
  4. No conflict with heavy truck traffic from industrial operations;
  5. Crosses 2 residential driveways from Thomson Park south to McCowan District Park and back to Brimley south of Skagway.
  6. Puts more people on the Expressway path which increases safety for everyone.
  7. Connects to McCowan District Park:

  • Scarborough’s only outdoor skating trail
  • Scarborough’s second outdoor skating rink
  • Sports fields
  • Splash pads
  • Children’s play areas
  • Picnic areas





Below is how it lays out. Red lines are existing bike lanes painted on roads. Orange lines are existing pedestrian-cycle paths in Scarborough parks and ravines.



Lorne Ross for Glen Andrew Community Association

Brimley Bike Lanes (Three Parts)



Getting Around Central Scarborough for the Next Three Years
Retaining Industrial Jobs and Taxes 
Cycling & Pedestrian Data 

Dear Councillor Thompson:

Please take the time to read through the three parts of this response to your proposed Brimley bike lanes.

PART ONE: Getting Around Central Scarborough for the Next Three Years 

Perhaps staff told you it would be just fine to hand over two lanes of Brimley to non-existent bicycles because all the traffic will just go “somewhere else”.

Or maybe they don’t care… putting obstacles in the way of drivers is a ‘good’ thing…because every obstacle will force Scarborough people to walk, get their bike out of the garage, or wait for the bus to make their 5 or 6 trips every day to work, the daycare centre, shopping, T-ball practise, music lessons, medical appointments etc.

Perhaps the bike lobby isn’t aware of how many lane closures and diversion and outright road closures are on the books for people trying to get around central Scarborough.

If they don’t know, you do. Here’s a shortlist of what we are facing in our part of the city for the next 3 or 4 or if the past is any example maybe 5 years:

  1. Lawrence Avenue- McCowan Road lane closures, lane diversions, millions of heavy vehicle deliveries of construction material for 3 to 5 years to build a subway station 35 m deep in the ground using ‘cut and cover’ construction;
  2. McCowan Road from Bushby drive to Progress through our Scarborough Centre: 3 to 5 years of lane closures and diversion to build a subway station 30 m deep in the ground in a high water table area using ‘cut and cover’ construction: millions of heavy vehicles trips delivering material;
  3. Progress Avenue closed at the Stouffville GO tracks for 2 or 3 years to build an overpass; thousands of heavy vehicle trips to deliver materials and equipment;
  4. Danforth Road closed west of Midland for 3 or 4 years to build an underpass under the Stouffville GO tracks; thousands of heavy vehicle trips to deliver materials and equipment;
  5. Eglinton from Kennedy to Kingston Road, which already has Diamond Lanes for buses in rush hours, hands over the curb lanes for ‘buses only’ all day;
  6. Ellesmere from McCowan to Morningside hands over the two centre lanes for Durham buses and the curb lanes for non-existent bikes.
  7. Eglinton west of Midland closed for ?? years to excavate a trench to remove the subway tunnel boring machine, connect the tunnel into Kennedy Station; thousands of heavy vehicles delivering material.




So where is the magical “somewhere else” that Brimley traffic is supposed to go when you take out 2 lanes for bikes?

PART TWO: Retaining Industrial Jobs and Taxes
You’ve been a major champion of retaining Scarborough’s industrial employment throughout your career. It’s not in your Ward but you are Deputy Mayor for Scarborough and we have 33 hectares of Industrial activity on both sides of Brimley south of Danforth Road.

Heavy industries like Crupi Paving, Atlantic Packaging and Praxair. Probably the largest trucking warehouse in Scarborough, +\- 40,000 m2, is on the west side Dozens more are down there on lower Brimley Road and on Skagway trying to employ your residents, pay taxes to Toronto.

All of these put trucks, tractor-trailers, bulk carriers, heavy dump trucks on lower Brimley where you want to put bike lanes.




Do you have a report from your Economic Development staff supporting these bike lanes?
I know you’ve seen these heavy vehicles on Scarborough Streets, but in case the bike lobby folks don’t know how Scarborough works, below are examples of the heavy trucks these industries put on Brimley Road up to Danforth Road every day. 




PART THREE: CYCLING & PEDESTRIAN DATA

We’ve been out counting cyclists and pedestrians on the Gatineau path and the painted cycle lanes on Brimorton, Conlins and Sheppard. The data is startling:


  • 10 3/4 hours spent on Brimorton = 13 people in the bike lanes; 302 walking on the sidewalks
  • 3 hours on Conlins = 7 people using the bike lanes; 17 people walking on the sidewalks.
  • 2 1/2 hours on Sheppard = 8 people using the bike lanes; 53 people walking on the sidewalks.
Grand total on the painted roadside bike lanes:

  • 8.35 kilometres of painted bikeways
  • 16 ¼ hours monitoring
  • 28 cyclists
Funny story: A couple of days ago I spent an hour counting bikes on Brimorton. I only needed one finger. When I got home I counted one coyote trotting down the sidewalk in front of my home.



When the number of coyotes equals the number of cyclists you know you’ve wasted your time and money painting bike lanes like on Brimorton.

Glen Andrew supports building safe recreational bike paths in our parks and open spaces. The Gatineau path is a huge success! We put in 3 hours of monitoring and counted 123 cyclists and 91 pedestrians.

The speed of cyclists on the very popular Gatineau path is almost dangerous to kids learning to ride, old-timers like me and family groups out walking on this super popular recreational path.

If you have $40,000.00 to spend to promote cycling in Scarborough, spend it where it may do some good.

HERE ARE SOME IDEAS:

  • Expand the Gatineau path so cyclists have their own lanes and do not endanger people walking, jogging, pushing baby strollers, little kids learning to ride, people carrying supplies and tools to their allotment gardens;
  • Speed up restoring the pedestrian-bicycles paths in our Highland Creek system which seems to take two and three years to repair after washouts;
  • Design-build a way to get the Gatineau path over/under the Stouffville GO line between Kennedy and Midland to unite the two parts of the system!
Lorne Ross for the Glen Andrew Community Association.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Letter to Councillor Thompson - Bike Lanes on Brimley Rd.


Councillor Michael Thompson
RE: Impact of Bike Lanes on Brimley Road

Dear Councillor Thompson:

We are truly disappointed that you and Mayor Tory did not pause to think about the impact of taking two lanes away from Brimley Road and handing them over to the bicycle lobby.

If you had paused to think about the impact on just one neighbourhood you would never have supported this disastrous proposal. Please take a look at the impact on just one neighbourhood on the west side of Brimley from Lawrence south to the creek just north of Ferndale Baptist Church.

It’s about 42 hectares [105 acres] in size. Your Planning Staff have all the numbers but I’m going to suggest there are about 400 homes in this neighbourhood.

Brimley Road is their only access out to the rest of the city. There are no streets connecting them to Lawrence nor to Midland. Brimley is it.


With all the best intentions of good city planning in the 1960’s the streets connecting this neighborhood to Brimley were deliberately NOT lined up with streets connecting to Brimley from the neighbourhood on the east side.

There are two traffic lights allowing people from this neighbourhood to get out safely onto Brimley road when it’s busy.

1. Shediac was realigned to line up with Fraserton on the east side a few years back and a signal installed.


2. Deerfield has a signal. But Seminole on the east side was too far south to bring it into the signal. People are encouraged by signs not to block Seminole when they are stopped at thelights.

None of the other streets connecting to Brimley are signalized. If you use Haileybury, Arnprior, Canzone, and Gully Drive you have to wait for a gap or depend on the courtesy of Brimley drivers.

55 homes in this one neighbourhood front onto the west side of Brimley: their driveways cross the sidewalk and connect right into the curb lane…. the lane you want to convert to a bikeway.

Same thing for the Scarborough Centre Alliance Church and the +\-25 recently built townhouses up close to Lawrence.

Your people have the traffic counts. The best one we have is from the Brimley Ellesmere development project. It counted 1,900 vehicles on Brimley in the busiest hour in the morning and another 2,100 vehicles on Brimley in the busiest hour in the afternoon. We know ‘rush hour’ is actually 3 hours long in the afternoon and maybe 2 hours in the morning.

You force all these vehicles into the one remaining lane, and throw away left and right hand turn lanes at intersections and there won’t be many ‘gaps’ for people to get out of their neighbourhood on Haileybury, Arnprior, Canzone, and Gully Drive.

TTC ‘route planner’ tell us they run 150 buses up and down Brimley Road every 24 hours. That’s how transit riders from this neighbourhood connect to Kennedy Subway Station gong south. That’s how they get to all the other bus routes that come together at Scarborough Centre Station. The Brimley bus carried over 9,500 passengers on a typical weekday as of 2014.

If you shut down one lane each direction and force all traffic into the centre lanes, a single vehicle stopped to make a left turn, or even a right hand turn across the bikeway, and a single bus stopped to take on/let off passengers, will block everyone else in the one remaining lane. How ‘courteous’ will they be about letting people get out to Brimley from the church, the townhouses or Haileybury, Arnprior, Canzone, and Gully Drive

You need to tell those 55 homeowners who front onto Brimley just exactly how you expect them to get in/out of their homes. First across the sidewalk, then across your bikeway, then backing into the one lane you have left for them which will be full of frustrated drivers.

Sorry Mike: you’ve been sold a bill of goods by the bicycle lobby.

This has nothing to do with helping people cooped up for the past 6 weeks to get out there and enjoy the sunshine, get some exercise. If there were truly pent up demand by thousands of folks just itching to get their bikes out for some exercise, we’d be seeing crowds on the bikeways we already have. Instead we continue to see practically no-one on the 4 kilometer bike path painted on Brimorton ten years ago.

Lastly just how safe will anybody enjoying this new bikeway be with thousands of disgruntled drivers queued up in the one remaining lane, bus passengers walking across their path and homeowners tying to get in/out of their driveways.

That’s just one neighbourhood. Identical issues are going to come at you from all along Brimley Road.

As we read the Council decision, it looks like the local Councillor has authority to think again and cancel this plan:

5. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to, as part of the design, installation, and monitoring process, work in consultation with the local Councillors and stakeholders to identify and implement changes to the ActiveTO cycling projects as may be necessary to address operational and safety issues as they may arise, including modification or removal of the ActiveTO cycling projects if deemed necessary.

We strongly suggest you use this authority to stop this before it gets started.

Lorne Ross

For the Glen Andrew Community Association

Friday, May 29, 2020

Bike Lanes on Brimley Road

Do you travel on Brimley Road?

It is hard to believe but the City is proposing to shut down one lane of Brimley Road in each direction all the way from Lawrence down to Kingston Road and give it to people riding bicycles.

  • The TTC runs the Brimley 21 bus from Kennedy Subway Station east on Eglinton then up Brimley to Scarborough Centre and on up to Steeles. Somewhere around 150 buses travel this part of Brimley every weekday. The latest info we’ve seen from the TTC, dated 6 years ago, but it showed over 9,500 people ride the Brimley bus every weekday.
  • Every major street in Scarborough carries the trucks our businesses depend on.
  • Meals on Wheels, WheelTrans, visiting nurses/health care services all use our major streets.
  • All the parcel delivery trucks we have gotten used to depending on, Amazon, Canada Post, FedEx and more use our major streets.
  • People who don’t own a vehicle/aren’t allowed to drive rely on ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft and others or taxis.
  • Not one of my favourites but it looks like a lot of people order prepared meals delivered to their homes via DoorDash, UberEats, SkiptheDishes and others.
  • A lot of us use Brimley to drive family members and friends to the subway at Kennedy Station when the weather’s bad, during the dark days of winter when the sidewalks to the nearest bus stop are bad when it’s late and not necessarily safe to walk/wait for the bus.

If they get their way they’ll also ‘examine’ all the left and right hand turning lanes at an intersection to see which ones, if any, should remain for people making turns. You can bet, when they’re done, there won’t be many turning lanes left.

Sorry folks: we’ve seen some pretty harebrained schemes come out of City Hall in the last several years. This one is just patently absurd.

If you live on Brimley or travel it regularly you know how busy it is.

The last traffic report we have, for Brimley Road at Ellesmere last year, shows 1,900 vehicles on Brimley in the busiest hour in the morning and another 2,100 vehicles on Brimley in the busiest afternoon rush hour. We know ‘rush hour’ is actually 3 hours long in the afternoon and maybe 2 hours in the morning.

Taking away one lane in each direction doesn’t just reduce the road capacity by 50%. The congestion in the one remaining lane, where a single vehicle waiting to turn left or right holds up everybody for miles, actually knocks out way more than 50% of the street’s capacity.

It’s not just personal vehicles using Brimley.

Can you imagine what Brimley would be like if they pack all those trips into just one lane each way, with no left/right turn lanes at intersections?

We have asked our Councillor Michael Thompson to stop this lunacy. He’s not going to do so. He is going to support the cycling lobby and force everybody else using Brimley into just one lane each way. He calls it a ‘temporary’ measure to help people get around the city during the COVID flu crisis.

By the time they’ve spent the money to paint all the lines, put up all the special signs, install the special traffic signals for bicycles, eliminated left and right-hand turn lanes, you can bet the bicycle lobby will fight like mad to keep it.

We asked all candidates for Council in our Ward back in the October election a couple of questions to help our voters decide. One of the questions was:

If elected will you pay attention to and insist that any proposals for new bikeways, street railways express bus lanes, whatever shall maintain the number of traffic lanes we have today?

Michael Thompson’s answer was pretty clear. He said YES.

Here’s how you can contact Councillor Thompson to tell him what you think:



Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Suite B31 Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
Telephone: 416-397-9274
Fax: 416-397-9280




Iain McLeod
President
Glen Andrew Community Association