Ride and Rally - Eglinton for Everyone (don't wait until the crosstown is opened)_ - video Dailymotion

The Root Aka Rootbrian

The timelapse portion of the ride was first with original audio, adjusted for time. No original music composed this time around.  High-pass filter was used to correct the bad audio (speaker facing the wrong direction, who knew!), including that of the carbrained heckler who ultimately lost the game in trying to get us to get the fuck out of there (police told her to get lost).

Transcript

00:00This video is brought to you by S.T.A.L.A.L.D.

00:30And then also, I just want to let folks know, as well, I think Stratron and Chris Orlando,

00:55we are all finally promoting the L'Expert on the Second Mindness Award, so we've got these choirs as well.

01:01Feel free to nominate someone in your community, just making the second community friendlier, happier, kinder space.

01:12So this is still open until Friday, so we'll have some reason to do it.

01:17Yeah, thanks everyone.

01:19You know, I can say that, you know, Stratron, my name is Michael Laukjot, I'm the Executive Director of Stratron.

01:25Thanks everyone.

01:27You know, I can say Stratron has been dreaming of doing a group ride.

01:33I've put my plans on equity for well over a decade, and today we finally did it.

01:37All 1.7 kilometers.

01:43But seriously, we were actually planning and hoping that we would be doing a ride this year across the entire segment,

01:49from Keele to Mount Pleasant, and up until earlier this summer, we thought that's what was happening.

01:53Until, we heard from the city, that despite the council approved plans to build these bikeways,

02:01that we've all been waiting for for over a decade, very, very patiently.

02:05So anyways, I have a nice lady here.

02:15I have a nice lady here.

02:17No, we're not! It's fucked off!

02:21So everyone...

02:25Driving is a privilege, not a right!

02:39Why don't you mind your own business?

02:41Let her talk, man!

02:43Let her talk!

02:45So, again, we were told that we just planned that it would happen this summer,

02:49and now we're being told it's what happened.

02:51And the excuses that were given, we were not accepted.

02:55We know that this stretch of Egerton, beyond the stretch we just rode,

03:01is dangerous for all group users.

03:03Not just for cyclists, and in fact, the existing gaps of bike lanes that exist,

03:07make it even more confusing.

03:09There is no excuse for the city to not proceed with its own plan to build those bike lanes now.

03:15And furthermore, there's a real threat that the city has not addressed,

03:19that by delaying the bike lanes now, they risk provincial interference.

03:25So, to get into the weeds a little bit, because the bike lanes on Egerton,

03:29I thought you were just having trouble getting through.

03:31I thought you were just having trouble getting through.

03:33Yeah!

03:35And because the plane has been installed ahead of that,

03:37it's technically not subject to provincial interference.

03:39There is no reason from the province the city cannot proceed now.

03:43But, by delaying, it potentially opens it up to provincial interference.

03:49And the city will not answer questions about whether or not they're putting our safety at risk by delaying.

03:55It's simply not acceptable.

03:59So, I do want to talk to, I do want to introduce some other folks that are here.

04:05I've been, you know, talking about Bill 212 and the province over a year now.

04:12And, you know, I think it's really important, though, that we hear from some folks

04:16who can talk a little bit more about Egerton in particular, and this community in particular.

04:21So, first of all, I want to introduce Yale and Graham on behalf of Marley for Kids.

04:26Hi, everyone. My name is Graham Pressey.

04:37Yale and I are organizing Marley for Kids.

04:40We're advocating for completing the Marley bike lanes, which is a street west of the island, just north of Eglington.

04:52The bike lanes along Eglington are going to make the streets so much safer for everyone.

04:56They're going to give everyone space to get to Birmingham and safely.

04:59They'll help children get around safely, comfortably, build independence.

05:04They'll help students get through school.

05:06Forest Hill Legion is just on the other side of this building, and it's disconnected to the bike lanes here.

05:13So, for everyone there, this is going to be something that will really make the city a lot more connected and a lot more safe.

05:22We have an event coming up on September 20th, as you can find out on our website on rmarley.ca.

05:34So, we're hoping that we can push Marley ahead and make it a little bit better.

05:38Next, we're hoping that we're going to be working with, and I'm going to do that thing.

05:44What's the URL again?

05:45Rmarley.

05:47So, rmarley.ca. Happening on the 20th.

05:50Woo! Woo! Woo! Yeah!

05:53Yay, Marley!

05:55Next, I'd like to find out the Bronx account speed.

06:01I'm still going to say it with Trouted Community Bikeways.

06:04Thanks, Michael.

06:09I was going to be, until recently, I was with a group on the Trout Community Bikeways Coalition.

06:17So, the group was started about five years ago, and the other group was on building the building

06:22roads accountable to the road safety and climate goals, such as this translating project,

06:28amplifying community voices, proposing policy solutions, and hosting fun events.

06:34One thing that made me thrilled about this Angleton Today project is it would make Toronto,

06:41it would make Angleton, Toronto's next great east-west bikeway after floor Danforth.

06:47Yeah!

06:48And, unless this Angleton Today project, along with Danforth casing, can be completed,

06:57we could have not one, but two 30-kilometer east-west bikeways, which, if you ask me,

07:04those three are amazing.

07:05Yay!

07:06Yay!

07:07Yay!

07:08Yay!

07:09Yay!

07:10Yay!

07:11Hey, Mark Angleton, I did ride along some parts without bike lanes recently, and, yes,

07:16the pavement quality is terrible, so I can sort of understand why this day wants to do the resurfacing,

07:23but to do it without doing the complete street-sickler bike lanes is unacceptable.

07:29Yay!

07:30Yay!

07:31You can do it now!

07:32New times we'll think, okay, we can put up with a bit of a delay, but we cannot at this

07:39time, because, as Michael said, delaying the bike lane part was projecting it to Bill 212,

07:46and Doug Ford conservative government.

07:49And, unfortunately, if the Bill 212 thing comes into effect right, that means we need not

07:57be able to see bike lanes from Keele to Mount Pleasant until, um, 2029 at the earliest

08:03consensus of the next provincial election.

08:06But, if this city is still, uh, refusing to do the whole, um, stretch from Keele to Mount

08:12Pleasant right away, I was wondering, why can't they address some of the, uh, shorter

08:16segments, uh, right away?

08:18So, a few I had them on include, um, calling to, uh, Mount Pleasant.

08:23Woo!

08:24And it's probably 1,50 meters, so you get the easter end, though, right?

08:28Yeah!

08:29Woo!

08:30Another part would be, uh, here, from Chaplin to Bathers.

08:32Look, if I recall correctly, this thing was considerably dead, along with the Abner

08:36to Chaplin stretch last year.

08:37But somehow fell off the radar.

08:39Yay!

08:40And, last but not least, there's this 180 meter gap just must have killed that knowing that

08:46That annoys the daylights out of me from Yosemick now, so why not get that thing out of the way right now, right?

08:57So, I just want to say, like, let's continue holding the city of Toronto a candle,

09:03let's continue climbing the middle of the bike lights across the city,

09:06and one last favor, if you haven't already done so, please sign the OpenStreetPetition

09:11at tinyurl.com forward slash OpenStreetPetition. Thank you.

09:22I'd like to bring up a guest speaker for Friends and Families for Safe Streets.

09:30For anyone who hasn't heard of Friends and Families for Safe Streets before,

09:34we are a group of people whose loved ones were killed by reckless drivers in Toronto

09:38and people like me who survived being hit by a reckless driver with life-altering injuries.

09:43Not far from here, a little ways up Bathurst, in 2015, I got smoked by a reckless left-turning driver

09:51who made a turn into me when I had the right avoidance.

09:54She broke my spine. She inflicted a brain injury that still haunts me

09:59and so much soft tissue damage to my left side that she hit

10:02that I developed a blood clot in my left leg and then a big piece of that clot broke off.

10:07It chewed through my heart and I thought I was going to die.

10:10And then it landed across both holes of my lungs and I almost did die.

10:14And that's just because we can't be bothered to build Safe Streets.

10:18If this piece of infrastructure had existed on Egmonton at that time,

10:27I wouldn't have been taking a dangerous route to work.

10:30I would have been taking a safe route to work.

10:33I was only using Bathurst to get over to Roselon,

10:35which is the safer east-west connection that's parallel to Egmonton.

10:39Right?

10:40Yeah!

10:41If you could make Egmonton safe, think of all of the collisions

10:44and all of the harm that could be averted.

10:46And I wanted to give you guys some facts about Egmonton

10:49because doing this research is so boring that you shouldn't have to.

10:52That's what I like to do.

10:54So, and it's shocking.

10:56On the stretch of Egmonton in question, seven kilometers a month,

10:59in the Toronto Police Law Collision Database,

11:01there have been 8,892 recorded collisions.

11:07Yay!

11:09That's 773 a year or on each kilometer,

11:13110 crashes on each kilometer of this section of Egmonton per year.

11:19That means if you sit there, you don't have to sit there for three days

11:22before you see a crash that's worth reporting to police.

11:25It is that dangerous.

11:26Shame!

11:27Shame.

11:28There have been 12 people killed on this seven kilometer stretch of Egmonton.

11:35That's 12 devastated families.

11:38That's 12 gaping cold at the family dinner table.

11:42That's empty bedrooms.

11:43That's blood stained clothing that you get back from the police

11:46and have to decide what to do with.

11:48That's parents who have lost their kids.

11:50It's kids who have lost their parents.

11:52It's brothers and sisters and cousins and friends who are dead.

11:56And there is no reason for those deaths to occur,

12:00except that we continually prioritize the convenience of drivers

12:04ahead of the safety of everyone who needs to use our streets.

12:08Shame!

12:11Eleven of those people killed were walking,

12:14and one of those people killed was riding a bike.

12:17There were no drivers who have been killed on Egmonton.

12:20But, Egmonton is not safe if you're in a car.

12:23There have been almost a thousand severe injuries inflicted over the last 11 years,

12:29and of them, in fact, motorists make up the largest percentage of severe injuries,

12:35though none of them die.

12:37Motorists are also paying a heavy toll for the design of Egmonton.

12:40Egmonton, as Michael said, does not work for anybody.

12:45And so in this environment, for our city transportation department to be like,

12:50maybe we're just not going to build that complete street right now,

12:55maybe later, but we're not going to confirm either way,

12:59that is wildly unacceptable.

13:01Bravery can't only be found in the people who use our streets.

13:05Bravery has to be found in the folks at City Hall.

13:08They at least get paid.

13:10Do we get paid?

13:12No!

13:13Get paid!

13:14And they are falling down.

13:16They are letting us all down.

13:18There's a Vision Zero program that they have to be accountable for implementing,

13:22and they are just not doing it.

13:24They walked back Marley.

13:25They walked back the section of Jones that was due for an upgrade.

13:28They're fiddling around with the Logan cycling connection.

13:31Things are falling apart, and the wheels are coming off,

13:34and it is up to us to send that message to City Hall to tell them to pull their socks up,

13:39remember their Vision Zero program.

13:41They choose who lives and who dies in the city by how they build our streets.

13:46And it's time for them to step up and actually fulfill their promises to us and keep us alive.

13:51Yay!

13:52I want to, again, highlight the fact, too, with why we're all here again today.

14:03You know, so many of us have been on rides and signed petitions and have been to rallies

14:07to try to get, you know, to convince our elected officials to, you know, pass laws,

14:12to approve by claims and approved by claims like Eglinton.

14:16But as Jess said, we're in this weird period now where things are getting approved,

14:21and yet we're still having to show up and rally and tell the city to be brave and stick to their plan.

14:28And I want to highlight something here, and I think it's important the city knows this.

14:32They're saying they're delaying because of the opening of the cross down.

14:36Sure, whatever.

14:38But by delaying this window where they have permission through the province,

14:43according to Bill 2 and 2, to not delay this,

14:46and if the city comes back to us in six months or a year and says,

14:50oh, we wanted to install Eglinton now, but sorry, the province won't let us,

14:55we will know that it was their fault, not the province's fault that did this.

15:00This is their choice to pause, and we will not let them forget that.

15:05So they need to build this bikeway now and stick to their plan.

15:09Don't cause construction twice.

15:11We can see what's happening here.

15:13This is going to be great when this is resurfaced,

15:15but build the bike lane as part of it so we don't have to do this twice.

15:18So thank you everyone for being here.

15:28Brock's formerly a part of the show.

15:30Everyone hopefully get home safely because, again, there's no bikeways connected here.

15:37There are some neighbourhood roads, Chaplin and that sort of thing.

15:41But again, I want to thank you everyone for being here.

15:43Let's just do a couple of chants.

15:45Bike lanes!

15:47Bike lanes!

15:49Bike lanes!

15:50Safe lanes!

15:51Bike lanes!

15:52complete!

15:53c bad

Ride and Rally - Eglinton for Everyone (don't wait until the crosstown is opened)_

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