cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/34101338
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-calgary-bike-lanes-1.7599932
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else think something is odd…?
It’s fucked up that the province can dictate to a city about what they can or cannot do. Provinces should butt the fuck out of local affairs
At the same time, the provinces are complaining about the Federal government stepping into provincial affairs.
AND at the same time, the provinces are complaining that the Federal government isn’t giving the provinces enough money.
That’s cause there is clear jurisdiction areas for provinces. Cities get fuck all for jurisdictional areas.
Cities are creatures of the province.
Not sure if you replied to the wrong comment there, but yeah, you’re right. And it’s bullshit.
Almost like the local place where people live, where people see others face to face, should be where most the important decisions are made. Not by some elite country or provincial politicians.
The more local the decision more weight should be given to local voices.
For example; Toronto wants to put bike lanes out in the suburbs. Downtown councillors should but the fuck out. Bike lanes in the suburbs had a marginal effect AT BEST to the people who live downtown.
Bike lanes are necessary infrastructure. Cities should not be able to say, “We’re not going to service vulnerable road users, they can die in the streets,” or, “No safe injection sites in our city,” just because that’s what the local residents believe. And neither should the province. There absolutely should be limits to authority imposed on local representation from higher levels of government.
The more local the decision more weight should be given to local voices.
Then how can those with big money influence policy?
Municipalities are legally just an organ of the province. They do not enjoy the independence that provinces do from the federal government. The province can disregard anything a city says or does. What you want cannot happen without major constitutional changes.
It highly depends on who you’ve elected to govern the respective entities. In general it’s better to have the same standards across the whole province or even between provinces. They just have to be good standards, so you have to elect progressive politicians at the province level too.
For example, you wouldn’t want to have different road markings from one city to the next, or bicycle paths that just end at the city border. And if you want a bicycle highway from idk, lets say Ottawa to Montreal, you need the provinces and even the federal government on board.
You see though, this is completely Torontos fault because they chose not to elect Doug Ford as mayor in 2014 and he’s a childish, vindictive cunt.
No bike lanes “impede traffic”. They separate the bikes from the cars so that bikes don’t have to impede traffic.
The most generous interpretation is that this is incompetence and idiocy. Not an excuse when they can educate themselves.
More likely, this is a war of culture. Or someone is looking to get useless paycheques for construction buddies.
It’s known (at least in Toronto) that this WILL hurt and kill cyclists. Some sick fucks will be happy about that.
I think most people are just so shallow that all they see is mostly empty pavement reserved for bikes, and the only thing they can think of is taking it for themselves. They are stuck in traffic looking at perfectly good pavement, so the bike lane is “impeding” traffic because there could be a third lane right there (which of course is proven to not even help anyway, but they’ll clench to it, more lanes better)
A much younger me thought that way, especially my first drive to Montréal, it is a nightmare. But I also fell in love with all the stuff to do everywhere and moved there and forever changed my perspective. I’ve used the bike lanes much more than I’ve ever driven in the city, as most of my friends also did. My car got driven so little I had to jumpstart it every time I used it. I just rollerbladed everywhere I wanted to go to.
That’s the thing outsiders just can’t get in their minds: most of the locals in there don’t actually drive or drives very little or for specific purposes like groceries and work. The restaurant, you walk or metro to, you don’t even have to worry about holding back on the dinner wine. Even if you have a 45 minutes bus ride, just watch a YouTube video or something, much more enjoyable than dealing with traffic. I usually check my emails and respond to people and pay bills and other things like that.
I’m a very patient driver now. I’m stuck in traffic because I chose to drive, and I know I’ll be stuck in traffic so I leave plenty of buffer time and listen to a nice podcast as I waive pedestrians through. Life’s too short to be pissed off that bikers are going faster than you.
My sportscar(it’s a BRZ, not fancy) is parked all week and is only time I drive it is once a week to make sure that it doesn’t rust away. The metro does everything else for me and it’s amazing. I don’t own a bike, just a Bixi pass and a helmet. I can walk so many places. If I get caught out late the 350 will take me almost to my front door. I’m even considering getting setup for CommunAuto because my car is smol.
I had to get from Verdun to Hôpital Sacré Cœur for 6:30pm and at the last second I said fuck Décarie and took the metro and a bus and got their faster than if I had taken the car and in much better spirits. Public transit is badass and while I still don’t want to give up my car it’s because it’s a hobby kinda thing and I do not understand people who don’t even really actually care about cares fighting so hard for something that is so bad in a practical sense.
The most generous interpretation is that this is incompetence and idiocy.
Don’t forget spite.
The world is a small place, the same ‘play book’ gets used by different groups. All test marketed and A/B social network tested.
They’re not different groups though. They’re fascists organizing under the same agenda.
The destruction of the planet is fundamental to the capitalist/fascist agenda. They will continue to make coordinated attacks on any form of sustainable life. This includes not just bikes, but also gutting the EPA, burying science, promoting drill and fracking even when not profitable, etc, etc, etc.
This has real “they hate our freedom” energy.
