The Toronto Cyclists Union is stepping up the fight to save the Jarvis bike lanes. On Friday the group announced it has obtained a legal opinion challenging council’s decision to remove the controversial piece of cycling infrastructure.
Council voted in July 2011 to tear up the Jarvis lanes after a surprise motion to do so was introduced without notice at a meeting of the public works committee the month before. Mayor Ford and his allies argue that the bike lanes cause traffic congestion, but cycling advocates counter that ridership has tripled since they were installed in 2010 and the lanes prove motorists and riders can safely coexist.
At a press conference on Tuesday the union will go public with the legal opinion obtained from Toronto firm Iler Campbell, and won’t divulge its details before then. At the time of the council decision however, the group charged that the lanes’ removal was improper because there had been no consultation with the public.
“The whole process by which they were removed was pretty questionable and undemocratic,” said TCU spokesperson Andrea Garcia in an interview on Friday. “There was no consultation with the community or even the local councillor when the decision was made. It wasn’t on any public agenda so nobody had an opportunity to make a deputation against it.”
Garcia says that at this point, the TCU is merely seeking a response to the legal opinion from the city, and the group has no plans as yet to take the issue to court.
Last summer, there was decisive support for Ford’s plan to remove the Jarvis lanes and revert back to its previous five-car-lane configuration. The final vote was 28-9, although eight councillors walked out in protest.
Much has changed since then however, with Ford’s influence on council waning after defeats over the budget and transit plans. At least one of his allies, Councillor Michelle Berardinetti, has said she’s willing to reconsider her stance on Jarvis.
But if the issue is reopened as a result of TCU’s latest challenge, the ensuing debate will see cooperation between Ford and Councillor Karen Stintz, who lately has been his nemesis on the transit file.
On Friday, Stintz reiterated her support for the mayor’s position.
“The Jarvis segment never made sense,” she said, adding she would “absolutely” support Ford on the issue.
The lanes are scheduled to be removed in the fall in conjunction with the completion of new separated bike lanes on nearby Sherbourne St. The cost of reverting to the street’s old configuration has been estimated at $272,000.
