We could have continued our meeting all night and not run out of issues to discuss :-). Here are some updates on what we discussed:

                                                      

1)     2009 cost of pavement markings: The municipal website shows that contract awarded at approx $48,500 which presumable was charged to our $750,000 2009 budget.

2)     Priority projects and costings: Attached is a table listing the priority projects we identified and my cost estimates based on standard consultant’s cost tables and also showing how the list relates to the funding available. It would be great if we could get all this done in 2010, especially if we could avoid the big cost hit for Victoria Ave.!    

3)     Bike rack costs: The report going to Council Monday  night confirms the cost of post-and-ring racks at $181.65, or $90.83/bike space.

However, there is a reference to “200 racks for $60,000” later in Leo’s report and Tom Beaton mentioned those figures at the January ACSC meeting. Does that mean that installation is expected to cost $120/unit? In my humble opinion that would be nuts!

There is no mention in Leo’s report of the project being spread over 5 years as indicated in the RFQ.

There is no mention of another RFQ being issued for inverted-U racks as agreed to by Don Shropshire at the February ACSC meeting.

The ACSC is a party to this deal, but is not being treated as a full partner.        

                  -Did the ACSC approve the details of the $100,000 program that was the basis for the TDM grant application? Leo has said that the money will have to be spent as shown in the submission.

                  -Did you have any say in who was asked to bid on the racks contract? None of the major suppliers of bike racks in Canada or the USA were included and would almost certainly have had lower bids. Toronto is installing 3000 post-and-rings in 2010 and their supplier could probably run off another 100 for us at very low cost. Other suppliers will have to retool to do this job.

                  -Does the ACSC know how the municipality is deciding how many racks they need and at what locations?  There are standard guidelines agreed on by many municipalities that indicate how much bike parking is needed for various type3s and sizes of property. John J researched those guidelines. Is Administration using them or ignoring them?

                        -I know that  the ACSC wasn’t told that the RFQ specifies 100 racks/yr over 5 years. When I emailed Don S about this he replied: “While this issue was not discussed last night (Feb 16), the Active Communities Steering Committee has in the past discussed the need to maintain our momentum and move ahead with the roll out of the bike rack program. While wanting to maintain a sense of urgency on this file I am not concerned with our current rate of progress”. That of course is not his decision to make.

 

The ACSC was created to give Council and the community initiative, advice, and action beyond what the municipality would get from staff alone. That won’t happen if the ACSC simply agrees to whatever staff says or does. Initiatives from citizen members of the ACSC are needed and must come in the form of motions that get passed and so become ACSC policy. Anything short of that is just conversation

 

I believe that Leo, Don, and Laurel are trying to move this initiative forward in a professional manner. That doesn’t mean that they will always have the right answers or the same level of commitment and sense of urgency that the ACSC should bring. .Also, they are the interface with their staff and with Council, and get push-back from both. Sometimes it may be helpful to them to be able to go back to these bodies and say

 “I initially disagreed, but this is the ACSC decision”.

 

Those at our March 11 meeting who are not ACSC members, and others receiving copies of this email, are representative of the cycling community you have been appointed to represent. They are counting on you.

 

Thanks for bearing with me on this. Best of luck at the ACSC meeting Tuesday.

 

Regards

John Sigurjonsson