Even The Star Takes Comrade Miller To Task

Walk this way? Not with gutless leaders
Pedestrians, bicyclists stymied by lack of will
April 28, 2007
Chris Hume

What Toronto thinks it is and what it really is are two different things.

Creative? Not a bit. Green? Would love to be, but doesn't have the guts. Pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly? Not a chance.

In fact, the growing sense of disappointment with Mayor David Miller comes from his failure to deliver even on the most basic of promises. And please, spare us the rhetoric about Toronto the impoverished; much can be done without spending a dime.

At a public meeting Wednesday evening at the Harbourfront Community Centre, a lonely group of citizens showed up to suggest ways the city could better incorporate foot traffic and two-wheelers. They came up with all kinds of ideas – wider sidewalks, more footbridges, safer crosswalks, slower speed limits and so on.

Their proposals will be on the agenda of Walk21, an international conference to be held here in October. Its slogan, Putting Pedestrians First, is not intended to be ironic.

Before the participants broke up into workshops, however, they heard a brief presentation from Gil Penalosa, executive director of Walk and Ride for Life, and former parks commissioner of Bogota, Colombia, where with his brother, Enrique, the mayor, he transformed that city. In just three years, the administration opened 200 parks and built 280 kilometres of bike paths.

"Bogota is a poor city," he pointed out. "Toronto is rich. The problems aren't technical, they're political.

"This is not just about pedestrians and cyclists. It's about making Toronto competitive. It's about figuring out how to attract and retain wealth-creating people; that's every city's goal in the 21st century. Toronto needs to develop a sense of urgency; it's got to be done and it's got to be done now."

Penalosa proposes Toronto could start by copying another Bogota success story, the Ciclovia. Introduced in '93, it is a program that sees 113 kilometres of streets closed every Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 1.5 million people take advantage of car-less roads to walk, ride or skate.

Connectivity is key; the idea is to create a network of streets so that users can travel in a giant loop.

Penalosa suggests the program be implemented from Victoria Day to Labor Day, about half a year.

"Not only is it healthy," he adds, "but it would be an exercise in social integration. Everybody meets here as equals."

Like many Torontonians, Penalosa can't understand why this city has no designated pedestrian precinct. Sure, we close Kensington for a few Sundays during the summer, but why not permanently? The reason, of course, is that local merchants are terrified that closure will destroy their business. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The shopkeepers brayed just as bitterly in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Edinburgh and in every other city when similar measures were introduced. But as Penalosa makes clear, they were dead wrong. In fact, these pedestrian-only neighbourhoods are now hugely desirable retail districts.

Tourists, of course love them. That's because tourism is largely a pedestrian activity. Too bad Toronto politicians are too weak to resist the uninformed complaints from the business community.

"I think the majority of people in Toronto are in favour of pedestrian streets," Penalosa says. "But the NIMBY factor is strong. Politicians here are scared and a little behind. Miller is the type of mayor who wants to do the right thing but he doesn't seem to be the type of mayor who can do the right thing. He needs to surround himself with doers."

Ah, but in Toronto, the town that time forgot, we have added 41 kilometres of dedicated bike lanes since 2001. Here streets are for cars and trucks, and only cars and trucks. The Pedestrian Charter city council passed in 2002 isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

Fair enough. Neither stupidity nor hypocrisy are anything new in politics, but in a world where no city can take its future for granted, Toronto might at least try being smart for once.


Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca