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Letters To The Editor News

Letters to the Editor: Riding in T.O. scarier than going downhill


Cycling cover misstep

Was I the only one thrown off balance by your cover image (NOW, April 9-15) of a cyclist ready to start riding… with her right foot poised on the left pedal? 

Yikes. It’s like shooting a food cover with the knife on the left side of the plate or something. But thank god her bike has a bell, or you’d have the police writing to you as well. Going for that relaxed Copenhagen vibe as opposed to the hyper Manhattan courier thing? I approve!

Rita Johnson

Ottawa


Riding in T.O. scarier than going downhill

As a biker, I enjoyed the Cycling Special. One subject you didn’t touch on is bike maintenance. Do it yourself or go to a bike shop and have a pro get it ready for the cycling season? 

I am amazed at the number of cyclists with low tire pressure. Pump it up and your ride will be much easier and you won’t get snake bit in a pot hole.

Lastly, I mountain-bike and have gone downhill at Lake Placid, and never have I been more scared than when riding in downtown T.O. So my envy and concern goes out to all I see pedalling.

Stew Looyenga

Caledonia


Biggest problem: bikes on sidewalks

Last week’s issue on cycling failed to even mention the many “revolutionary” cyclists who choose to ride on the sidewalks. It’s dangerous and against the law (though police are unwilling to enforce this), and it’s a huge problem that’s only getting worse. 

Joe Bruneau

Oakville


Cyclists crossed-up at crosswalks

Re Road Warriors Beware (NOW, April 9-15). In the list of Highway Traffic Act violations that apply to cyclists we read about “riding in a crosswalk or intersection.”

A cyclist riding in a crosswalk against the flow of pedestrians boggles the mind, and yet I have witnessed this more than once.

G. Lee

Toronto


Machiavelli spinning us again?

Your cycling issue was very good. Balanced, for sure, and I learned not a few things I didn’t know. Well done and all that.

Warren Kinsella

Toronto


Glyphosate poisoning our health

Thanks for the article about the horror of glyphosate (NOW, April 2-8). It’s important to recognize how completely counterintuitive it is to “poison” a crop in order to slightly increase its yield. 

The research is there to link its use to various maladies. Yet its use continues, impacting the lives of millions and costing billions and billions in related health costs.

It’s my hope that years from now we’ll look back at this time and shake our heads in disbelief, the same way we do watching people chain-smoke on shows like Mad Men.

David Zapparoli 

Toronto


TSO mixed-up in Ukraine war bad blood

I have examined many of Valentina Lisitsa’s “deeply offensive” tweets, as the TSO’s CEO termed them (NOW, April 7). Besides decrying anti-Semitism and fascism among government officials in Ukraine, she talks about suppression of free speech in the Middle East and the U.S., the rights of indigenous peoples and other artists who express their right to have opinions. 

Interestingly, as evidence of her hate-mongering, her detractors keep pointing to one sarcastic tweet showing pictures of Ukrainian and African dancers and talking about tribalism.

It’s crystal clear to me that those who pressured the TSO to cancel her concert are really pro-Ukrainian-government partisans attempting to exploit bad blood between Russians and Ukrainians. 

John Kneeland

Hamilton


More reason to scrutinize Sheppard death

I’m so glad to see the death of cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard being raised again, and with new information (NOW, April 6). It drove me crazy watching this whole creepy miscarriage of justice take place. 

When it happened, I couldn’t believe how everyone seemed to side with Michael Bryant after finding out that Sheppard was drunk or got angry – as if those were reasons why we no longer needed to scrutinize Bryant’s actions in Sheppard’s death. 

All of a sudden I started seeing Bryant at public functions as though nothing had happened. It made me sick. I had to leave when he showed up, because I couldn’t handle watching the way everyone responded to him as though he were the victim. 

Laurie McGillivray

From nowtoronto.com


Harper as hot-button issue

It is certainly a fact that almost 66 per cent of Canadian voters did not want to elect a Harper government last time, and probably a fact, too, that the same or more do not want to re-elect him this time.

Their reasons are many and varied, but a button to mark Harper’s last day (NOW, April 9-15)? Come on, folks, Canada needs less black-and-white, more let’s all play nice together. We have all seen what just two parties (look south to the great American experiment) does to a country.

We need a coalition of all the parties in Canada to oust Harper. Let’s call it the Canada First party. The person chosen to run it must swear to put forward the views of all of the member parties if elected.

Then this majority government can put in legislation so that the stupid first-past-the-post system is wiped out.

After that, many voices with many and varied opinions can be heard in parliament. That’s what’s called true democracy.

Susan Rawley

Toronto


Wow waterfront

Re Waterfront 2.0 (NOW, April 9-15). Waterfront Toronto’s contribution to our urban realm is remarkable, given it’s only been in operation since 2002. I work in the architecture industry and know how convoluted design/construction projects can be. 

Waterfront Toronto’s strategy all along was to provide attractive infrastructure that would lure private-sector development. The theory has worked. Look at all the buzz and new projects geared up for Queens Quay and the Jarvis/Sherbourne/Parliament areas. In five to 10 years, this part of the city will be unrecognizable. Except there is one key difference, waterfront development seems to follow more strict controls in terms of massing and height. These will be real livable neighbourhoods. 

We only get one opportunity to develop properly along untapped portions of the waterfront. It is in the best interest of the city to support this agency.

Adam McGean

Toronto


NOW welcomes reader mail. Address letters to: NOW, Letters to the Editor, 189 Church, Toronto, ON M5B 1Y7. Send e-mail to letters@nowtoronto.com and faxes to 416-364-1166. All correspondence must include your name, address and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length.

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