A Future Where We Can Finally Bike Safely (Hands Off, Doug Ford!)

Doug Ford's petty, never-ending, Trump-like spitefulness towards our city for rejecting him as mayor 12 years ago continued this week with his announcement that he'll proceed with ripping out bike lanes on our main streets.

Meanwhile, our mayoral candidate and current Toronto City Councillor Brad Bradford campaigns hand-in-hand with him to rip up bike lanes that he himself voted to install three years ago.

This is why so many people have lost faith in our political system. Even when your local councillor makes you a promise, you have to hold your breath that they won't reverse their position for political gain. Even when some progress is finally achieved, you have to hold your breath that our city or province won't rip it up and start all over again.

You may have heard the saying that progress doesn't move in a straight line. Here in Toronto, sometimes, it seems to move in circles.

We need safe, protected, convenient bike lanes right now, not just for ourselves and our neighbours, but also for our kids and future residents.

Our kids shouldn't have to decide how much of a risk is worth it just to ride their bikes. They shouldn't have to grow up hearing about as many friends and neighbours struck and injured as we have.

And as parents, we shouldn't have to worry about them making it home safely, or getting lost on the winding roads the Ford government proposes as absurd "alternate routes."

Here in Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth, we are not immune from criticism over the state of our bike lanes. The flimsy bike lane bollards which are meant to protect cyclists are regularly run over and destroyed, and then left unreplaced for years at a time, eventually creating open stretches wide enough for cars to pull over and park in.

As your City Councillor, I will ensure that bike lanes in our ward are safe and protected, push for bike lane expansion across the city, and fight for political reform so that we can choose how to govern ourselves as Torontonians and start to restore trust in our city's democracy.