Calgary City Council has voted to make their downtown bike lanes a permanent part of the city, based on a year and a half of data:
To quote the Mayor:
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said he thinks the cycle track network was a false controversy, pointing to the fact he got 850 emails to his office, 825 of which were supportive of the project.
“People kept saying this is controversial, but it’s controversial I think in the way secondary suites are controversial, which is it’s controversial around the council table,” he said.
“In fact, as it turned out with the final vote, not that controversial around the council table.”
Photo thanks to the CBC
I was curious about the Calgary Sun’s take on this. Predictable, but an interesting tone to the piece.
http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/12/19/calgary-cyclists-get-the-cycle-tracks-they-fought-for-against-a-grumpy-but-apathetic-public
Mr. Bell seems truly worried about the state of democracy in his adopted city.
Yep, the same narrative as the Vancouver Sun. No matter how popular something is, if it threatens profits to the auto industry then they frame it to make it seem like only a minority benefitting. If council backs it then the council must be biased. Same narrative. Meanwhile a giant corporation claims to represent the public.
And the photo they chose wasn’t a mother with small children it was three fit looking men with weird clothes. Yep, classic.
Here’s a healthier viewpoint on it. http://shifter.info/the-unlikely-success-of-calgarys-bike-lane-network-has-these-lessons-for-other-cities/