Muddled Markings

[ This is part 1 of 2, dealing with bicycle markings on Toronto's streets ]

As spring approaches, our city planners are developing plans for the 2010 construction season, to improve our roads and bring us closer to Toronto’s goals of having sustainable streets that encourage green transportation.

Recent years have brought a string of disappointments, as cyclists were repeatedly promised much more infrastructure than was delivered.  The majority of proposed bikelanes still remain stuck as mere proposals.  This year, the City seems to be taking a different approach by offering subdued targets, and trying new strategies that are less likely to be politically volatile.

At the core of this new approach, is a massive implementation of various forms of “sharrows”, a relatively new marking on Toronto’s streets.  Sharrows are essentially used when there isn’t enough road width (or political will) to paint proper bikelanes. Sharrows remind drivers that they need to share the lane, and they’re also supposed to push drivers over to the left providing a little more space for cyclists.

Sunday Snapshot • February 7

Here’s the February 7 election snapshot.  A weekly look at how municipal candidates are distributed across our grand city.

10 new candidates registered this week.  Four wards remain vacant, and 13 have only one candidate. The 2 highest numbers are in wards where a sitting Councillor has stepped down (7 in Rae’s ward, and 6 in Mammoliti’s) and third place goes to Ward 35 where 4 challengers have registered to run in addition to incumbent Adrian Heaps. Etobicoke remains the most disengaged region.

Here’s a map of the ward numbers, to help you navigate.  (Click on the map to find out which ward you live in.):

Click here to see a list of all candidates, by Ward.

20,000 Hits • Thank you!

Hello readers!

Mez Dispenser just passed the 20,000 hits mark!  I just wanted to say THANK YOU for taking the time to read my rants, complaints, ideas, comics and proposals for a better city.

The top posts have been:

A note about suicide (not a suicide note) 4,465 views
DeMilo #2 • Winter in Toronto 1,914 views
Death and Advocacy 1,095 views

Don’t forget to leave comments on my posts, so I know what you’re thinking!  It only seems fair, since I keep telling you what I’m thinking.  ; )

yours,
~mez

Five to Watch • Bringing New Voices to City Hall

While Toronto’s mayoralty race continues to heat up, I thought I’d bring your attention back to the neighbourhood level for a moment.  Don’t forget there are 45 votes on Council, and the Mayor only gets one.

Here’s a list of five candidates to watch. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it’s a quick look at some of the most inspiring new faces we’re going to see in this election.

I have a lot of friends running (or considering a run) who would each make a great City Councillor in their own way.  Over the next few months, you’ll be sure to see more on my blog about people like Susan Gapka, HiMY SYeD, Chris Tindal, Michael Layton, Josh Matlow, John Laforet, and a whole bunch of others.

But I’ve chosen to highlight these five today, because I think they’re in the best position to bring new progressive voices into City Hall and to help erode the disturbing gender imblance and cultural imbalance we currently have on Council.

Kristyn Wong-Tam, Neethan Shan, Hema Vyas, Mohamed Dhanani & Karen Sun

Sunday Snapshot • January 31

Here’s the Jan 31 election snapshot.  A weekly look at how municipal candidates are distributed across our grand city.  As of this week, there are still four vacant wards, and 16 acclamations (mostly concentrated in North York and Etobicoke).  You can expect a jump this week in ward 18, as candidates will line up to replace Adam Gimabrone, who is launching his mayoral campaign tomorrow.

Sunday Snapshot • January 24

Here’s the Jan 24 election snapshot.  A weekly look at how municipal candidates are distributed across our grand city.  As of this week, there are still four vacant wards, and 20 acclamations.

Rossi City

Realising the progressive urban vote was being split too many ways, mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi took a dive to the far right this week, seeking the support of suburban conservative voters who are stuck in the last millennium.  By saying he would remove bike lanes from arterial streets, and re-evaluate our rapid transit plan for Toronto, he was placing himself on a part of the political spectrum that has barely been seen for a couple of decades.

Sunday Snapshot • January 17

Here’s a treat for all the municipal election geeks out there.  I’ll be posting a weekly map showing the concentration of candidates across the city.  The Sunday Snapshot gives you a sense of where the action is, and where the deadspots are. Enjoy!

Keep Your Tweets Out of My Face (Book)

Hey folks,

I’ve started a new FaceGroup page.  If you want to see less TweetJunk on your wall, please join and spread the word!

Description:

We are fans of keeping Twitter Jargon (RT,@,#) off of Facebook. If you choose to participate in Twitter, that fine. But not everyone uses Twitter, you know. For many people, all your “RT”s and #hashtags and @so-and-so are just a bunch of gibberish. It’s like visiting your friends house, and leaving clutter on her coffee table. Or walking into a Polish Community Centre and making an announcement in Chinese.

It’s just rude, and weird.
Thanks!

CLARIFICATION: Tweets that do not contain TweetJunk (RT, @, #) are welcome on Facebook. It’s the jargon junk that clutters our world. Although, honestly, if we really want to see your Tweets we’re probably following you on Twitter!!  No need to repeat yourself.  Is there an echo in here?….

Join here!

Half Over: Backroom Bullying and Toronto’s Invisible Municipal Primaries

As you’ve no doubt heard, this was the first week that candidates for Toronto’s city election could officially file their nomination papers and begin their campaigns. Mainstream media, social networks and the blogosphere are alive with updates about who’s running for Council and for Mayor.

It would seem to the observer that the election began on Monday. The headlines started to appear and races finally materialised. Rumours turned into campaigns. But the election actually began a long time ago and half of the process is already over. Due to the quirky nature of our out-dated election system, many candidates never even get a chance to appear on the ballot.  There is an invisible process that occurs in the months leading up to the ‘beginning’ of the election process that determines who is in the election, and who is excluded.