A large contingent of cyclist s were in attendance inside Toronto City Hall council chambers on Monday to listen to the debate about the proposed bike lane development on Jarvis Street.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Mayor David Miller and his supporters on council Monday endorsed a controversial plan to narrow Jarvis Street and install bike lanes, after the mayor threw his muscle behind a proposal that had angered drivers in some of Toronto's most desirable neighbourhoods.
"Frankly I am amazed that anyone looking at Toronto ... can possibly say that taking one lane of traffic to create two lanes of safe cycling for cyclists, on a street that intersects with three east-west bike paths, could possibly be the wrong thing to do," Mr. Miller said, calling the plan "modest" compared with moves in other cities around the world.
But in a daylong debate over the plan, which Mr. Miller's critics on council argue is part of a "war on the car," several councillors said the Jarvis plan, and other initiatives like it, would be a key campaign issue for whomever decides to challenge the mayor from the right.
"I predict this will be a huge election issue next year because people are really frustrated at getting around this city," said Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), a conservative opponent of the mayor known for his opposition to bike lanes.
"To a large extent they blame it on this council, and the fact it is waging a war on those who commute by car."
Council voted 28-16 yesterday to officially file with the provincial government an environmental study on narrowing Jarvis after Mr. Miller used his powers to put the $6-million plan first on city council's agenda yesterday morning.
His opening speech earned applause from the about 100 cyclists in the council chamber - many wearing their bike helmets - who were at City Hall for the launch of the city's bike month.
The plan would reduce Jarvis from five lanes to four from Queen to Bloor Streets, eliminating the street's unique reversible middle lane, which currently alternates, allowing southbound cars an extra lane in morning rush hour and northbound cars one in the evening.
The project is not yet in the city's budget, although city officials say the middle lane could be removed and the bike lanes painted as early as this year, before the city goes ahead with landscaping and other improvements meant to beautify the street.
The narrowing is opposed by residents associations in North Rosedale and Moore Park, affluent neighbourhoods to the north where many use Jarvis to commute downtown. A handful of opponents were watching the debate, wearing bright yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Don't Jam Jarvis."
Mr. Miller said the move, championed by local city Councillor Kyle Rae, a key supporter, would help restore drab Jarvis as a "grand boulevard" as it was in the 19th century, and make a dangerous cycling route safe for cyclists, helping to meet the city's environmental goals.
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a right-leaning critic on council touted as a possible mayoral challenger, was among those who link the Jarvis plan to other recently announced proposals, such as experimenting with a ban on right turns on red lights at 10 intersections and the mayor's support for tearing down the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway.
The mayor's critics argued that drivers, especially those in the suburbs who use Jarvis to get downtown, were not properly consulted on the plans to narrow the street. Some argued the city should shut the lane down temporarily as a test, an idea rejected yesterday by the mayor's supporters.
A computer-modelled traffic study by external consultants on the narrowing concluded that at peak times, the eight-minute trip down the affected stretch of Jarvis would take an extra two minutes.
About 300 cars would be forced onto Church and Sherboune Streets in the peak hour of the morning rush, according to the study. The street handles about 28,000 cars a day.
Tim Costigan of the Moore Park Residents Association said he was disappointed with Monday's vote. He said his group may challenge the environmental study with the provincial Ministry of the Environment. But he also warned that Jarvis would be an election issue in 2010.
"This council and the mayor are going to be held to account in 2010," he said, adding that many resented the way Mr. Rae dismissed the concerns of the affluent neighbourhoods north of Bloor in the past several months. "... Mr. Rae made a big mistake here by insulting his constituents."