Tonight at City Council the Erie Street BIA “La Bella Strada” Streetscape Proposal will take place. It’s noted as Item 8 on tonight’s City Council Agenda. The meeting has had a delayed start tonight and as I watch there seems to be a shakeup on items being presented tonight. If you want to listen in tune your TV to Cable 11.
From reading the report attached to Item 8 I’m glad to read this statement:
“Bicycle Use Master Plan (BUMP): Since this streetscape proposal indicates that a “band” of on-street parking and sidewalk bulb-outs are to be incorporated on both sides of Erie Street, there is not enough right-of-way width remaining on this section of Erie Street to accommodate the bike lanes designated in the BUMP.
The proponents presented their proposal to the Windsor Bicycling Committee and committed to installing additional post and ring bike parking on Erie Street, as well as investigating opportunities to install bike shelters. The Committee is amiable to pursing an alternative network connection, Section 6 of the BUMP allows for flexibility in the cycling network implementation process, and outlines the process to be followed for identifying alternative design solutions.”
I still don’t feel so happy about how this design of Erie Street didn’t take cyclists into consideration over the development stages. The Windsor Bicycling Committee met last month to talk about this new plan, but the plan was already complete and they were looking for a way to compromise and reach an agreement. That is what took place, but like I said I still don’t feel very happy about having the bike route possibly moved to Giles in the future.
Even the bike lanes move to Giles the opportunity to have it continue down Erie Street has been lost. I hope that once this new design is put into place, Erie Street will still be as enjoyable to ride a bike down as it is now. Maybe it will be even better? Only time will tell.
I came across this on kijiji, and thought I would re-post it here for anyone interested:
Sat. Feb.13th at Dixie Lawn & Cycle at 27 Erie St. N. Leamington. Auction starts at 9:30 am Bikes ( mfg by Trek, Norco etc), Helmets, Carries, Seats, Gear, Toro & Honda push mowers,2 Honda Generators EM2500 & EZ1800, Honda CRF 80 Dirt Bike etc. etc. Please no Children–we do not have a lot of space in the showroom. Terms cash or interac, 10% buyer preminun in effect. For further info call Lavin Auctions Inc. @ 519 735 3070.
I never thought I would see the old frankenbike I rode back in the mid 70s come into fashion again. This morning I was reading a new post at Bike Commuters where they showed a photo of a new bike he got for his daughter made by KHS called the Hot Rod.
You can see my old CCM that I had customized and rode back around 1975. It looks like the new style is an improvement on the old though with the front springer fork. It will be nice to see some of these on the roads this year.
http://bikesabbath.blogspot.com/2010/02/wrcs-2010-no8.html
The results are in with photos ; )
I didn’t expect the sun to be out today, but it was a nice surprise. Still a bit windy but I love riding on cold and crisp days like today when the sun is out. I just wish some tires I ordered would come in so I could ride my road bike instead. I spent some time downtown and bumped into Rob after hearing his bike bell chime from the distance. It was good to see him out riding on his fixie.
On the way home I made a stop along the river to take some photos. It was nice to get out on the thick ice along shore.
Big slabs of ice were pushed up pointing toward the sky. The water a deep blue. Beautiful day.
Saw this on facebook, so posting it here:
http://windsor.kijiji.ca/c-ViewAdLargeImage?AdId=183651812
“Hi I just had my bike stolen from my workplace and I am offering an award of 100$ to the person that finds it, it is a GT Ruckus SS(single speed), the paint is anodized green, the seat post is seized in the frame, and there is a lever on the handle bars that controls the forks. Any help would be greatly appreciated”
Please take a few minutes to visit the site and try to help out if you can. Spread the word. Please.
I have posted previously about how I think that University Ave, between the University of Windsor, and downtown would suit separated bike lanes. I posted about how Windsor could become a leader in this type of infrastructure in Ontario, if not Canada.
Well, it seems that Toronto might beat us to the punch. instead.
“the ‘New York style’ involves using paint and plastic flexible bollards to separate the bike lanes from traffic and parking, while keeping the parking there. “The street can pretty much function the way it is now, but you’ve got a much safer, more comfortable space for cyclists to occupy,” said Mr. Egan.” (manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure for Toronto)
Source: The National Post (blog)
While Los Angeles city officials and hired consultants tinker with the draft of a mammoth bike plan, vocal critics in the cycling community complain it does not include enough new bike lanes and presents a mishmash of paths and routes that are unintelligible to the average cyclist.
I decided to stay out of politics on this site from now on. At least from my end. I found it has caused me too much stress. I really don’t know what the future of this website will be. I gave it a year and it hasn’t really gone in the direction I hoped. I’m only one person who enjoys cycling, but I alone can’t cover all that goes on in this city. There’s so much more that goes on around Windsor that never makes it onto the pages here. Especially in terms of mountain biking.
I began this site hoping that other people with different views on cycling would post their own thoughts and rides but it never caught on. A lot of people I know enjoy keeping their own blog and posting to it, or just riding and not even going online. So often I post about my own thoughts and rides that I feel guilty calling the website bike windsor. It probably should be called “A cyclist in Windsor”.
As time goes on I don’t know what will come of this website, but I’ll continue to post and share my love of cycling on the pages here.
