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Bike lane proponents decry 'overreach' after committee votes not to hear them until July
Bike lane proponents decry 'overreach' after committee votes not to hear them until July

CBC

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • CBC

Bike lane proponents decry 'overreach' after committee votes not to hear them until July

Social Sharing Proponents of a protected bike lane along Winnipeg's Wellington Crescent accused city council's public works committee of a "gross overreach of power" after dozens of people slated to speak at city hall on Thursday had their delegations cancelled and put off until a meeting in July. No fewer than 27 people signed up to speak to the committee about a proposal to create a temporary bike lane on Wellington, where cyclist Rob Jenner was killed last year by a speeding motorist who lost control of his vehicle. The item was on the agenda to allow the committee to consider a request by city transportation engineers to have another month to complete a report about the temporary bike lane. Citing the request for the extension, committee chair Janice Lukes (Waverley West) moved to suspend city council rules and hear the delegations at the next public works committee meeting, slated for July 3. Lukes, as well as councillors Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) and Ross Eadie (Mynarski), then voted not to hear the delegations. The fourth member of the committee, council speaker Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan) left the committee floor and did not take part in the vote. The decision led some people watching in the council gallery to shout at the committee, prompting Chambers to ask security to clear the council gallery of some spectators. This proved to be temporary. Linda van de Laar, who took a day off from her job as a cardiac nurse at St. Boniface Hospital to attend the meeting, said she was upset city councillors effectively silenced people unhappy with the time the city is taking to improve safety along Wellington Crescent. She accused the committee of overreaching its powers and engaging in an unprecedented move by shutting out registered delegates. "The councillors are here to represent the citizens and the residents, so I do not understand it," van de Laar said outside city hall. "A lot of people here took time off from work to be here. I personally cannot make it on July 3. I'll be on a night shift," she said. Ian McCausland, a Bike Winnipeg board member who was able to address the committee because he also registered to speak about another item on the agenda, said he is concerned about the message sent by the committee to people who take the time to engage with city councillors. "It speaks to how much the city might value the input from the average citizen," he said. "I'm hoping that this is a one-time thing and that they actually continue to engage with all stakeholders on the project." Van de Laar said she was especially upset Lukes told CBC Radio on Wednesday she would hear delegates on Thursday. 'I'm disappointed too,' councillor says Lukes, who volunteered as a bike and pedestrian trail activist prior to running for council in 2014, said she knows what it's like being on the outside of council, looking in. "I don't think there's anyone here that understands the level of frustration like I do, because I was an advocate and came down 50 to 60 times, very frustrated," she said during a break in the committee meeting. "Then I actually decided to put my name on a ballot and see if I can make change on this side of the table. Making change is not easy, I've come to learn, on either side of the table." Lukes said she was the councillor who originally pushed to reduce the speed on Wellington Crescent and she too is disappointed. "Everyone's disappointed. I'm disappointed in some of the things that have been said to me and to the committee members. They're disappointed that we don't have a plan in place," she said, referring to the delegates. "I'm disappointed too, but we will have a full report next month." Lukes said the city is moving more quickly on a protected bike lane on Wellington Crescent than it has on other protected lanes. She said a temporary barrier is the only option right now because permanent barriers are built when streets undergo full renewals — and Wellington Crescent is not slated for this work any time soon.

Makeshift bike lane set up on Wellington Crescent on anniversary of Winnipeg cyclist's death
Makeshift bike lane set up on Wellington Crescent on anniversary of Winnipeg cyclist's death

CBC

time2 days ago

  • CBC

Makeshift bike lane set up on Wellington Crescent on anniversary of Winnipeg cyclist's death

Social Sharing Concrete cinderblocks, two-by-four planks and green paint briefly lined hundreds of metres of Winnipeg's Wellington Crescent last week, set up by bike-lane advocates to mark the anniversary of a cyclist's death in a high-speed crash there one year ago. Organizer Michael told CBC's Marcy Markusa on Information Radio Wednesday morning that community members who live and move along the busy road feel the city is stalling instead of installing safety infrastructure. CBC News has agreed not to use Michael's last name. "It shouldn't be as hard as it is to get the city to take action here. We wanted to demonstrate that this is something that a bunch of people — in an hour and a half — put together. It shouldn't be taking years and years in order to design and study and build this," Michael said. "We've gone through all the official, proper channels and we still have nothing on the ground." The DIY bike lane went up last Friday, exactly one year since 61-year-old cyclist Rob Jenner was killed when a 19-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle while driving 159 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. The driver, Beckham Keneth Severight, was sentenced in March to three years in prison for dangerous driving causing death. Winnipeg cyclist killed in hit and run was a loving family man who took safety precautions, family says Voice shaking, widow of cyclist killed in hit-and-run addresses young driver in court 19-year-old driver who killed cyclist in Wellington Crescent hit and run sentenced to 3 years Michael said hundreds of community members gathered at a block party to celebrate Jenner's life and install the bike lane, stretching for about 400 metres each way from Cockburn Street North to Hugo Street North. The city took it down the same day. 'It's just not safe,' councillor says Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes, who chairs the city's public works committee, told CBC's Faith Fundal on Up to Speed Wednesday afternoon that the DIY bike lane was a hazard for all road users and had to be dismantled. "We had to take it down, because you could barely see it … and at night, you would never see it and then a car would run into it or a cyclist would run into it, and there would be another disaster," Lukes said. "It's just not safe because it's just not designed to be safe." The city is developing a report on making cycling safer along Wellington Crescent. The committee voted to delay that report, prompting protests outside city hall last month. Lukes said traffic engineers are still studying how the city would install "semi-permanent" barricades that would serve as a temporary barricade until Wellington undergoes road renewal. She said that renewal isn't planned for Wellington yet, but temporary bike lanes were installed on River Avenue before they were replaced with permanent infrastructure. "It can't be done overnight. It just takes time to properly engineer it," she said, adding that the city would also have to run public consultations with residents and other stakeholders. "I understand it's not fast enough for some," Lukes said. Lukes's public works committee had backed a push to reduce speeds along Wellington Crescent from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. But that motion was voted down by the city's executive policy committee in December. Michael said he and other bike-lane advocates are frustrated that the speed-limit reduction motion stalled, while the safety report faces further delays. Yet the city moved very quickly to tear down the DIY bike lane, he said, removing it within hours of it going up. "I'm just so mad. They'll delay for two years in building the dang thing and that same night they find the time to come and tear it down," Michael said. "If they actually cared about keeping people safe, they'd be building something instead."

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