Re: Changing Leaside
I enjoyed your [Glenn Asano] article on the changes facing Leaside in the future. This is just the tip of the iceberg when you add in other social and environmental changes coming our way. Our existing infrastructure (sewers, buildings, hydro lines, healthcare, etc.) are not suitable to handle the forecasted impact due to increased temperature and extreme weather events (climate change). It will not be possible for the City of Toronto to manage these issues without better funding and cooperation from the provincial government and it looks like that is not likely in the near term. NOW is definitely the time to start planning for these realities before it is too late.
Michael Brophy
Re: Sharing Sidewalks
As an 80 year-old, I find this concept very distressing. That a biker would try to pass an elderly person who may well have balance and mobility problems by ringing their bell is extremely dangerous for both parties. I have been struck twice in the past year by bikers who are speeding down the Bayview hill between Sunnybrook Hospital and the CNIB. When a bell rings behind seniors, who are often arthritic and unable to turn around to see the biker, they become startled and easily lose their balance. (This may cause the biker to be hurtled into moving traffic, which is often inches away from the sidewalk.)
Something must be done about this strip of sidewalk as there are many blind and disabled people using it, and ringing a bell behind this population is extremely dangerous.
A sign forbidding cycling on this sidewalk with a stated fine is immediately necessary, prior to a plan for a bike lane on the other side of the barriers.
Please reply to this e-mail and rethink the ringing of bells on the sidewalk behind pedestrians that is stated in “Share the Sidewalk.” I have ridden a bike myself on the sidewalk, always dismounting around pedestrians. This is a reasonable compromise.
Nancy Hammett