TCAT News

Last week, Toronto City Council approved the following motions,
putting us one step closer to a people-friendly rail crossing at
Strachan Avenue:

"1. City Council strongly supports the Grade Separation Option which
lowers the Georgetown/Milton rail corridor, allowing Strachan Avenue to
pass over the rail lines, and

For those who consider canoeing a form of active transportation too oft
overlooked, there's an exhibit currently showing at Arcadia Gallery at
680 Queen's Quay West that you may want to check out. It documents a
canoe ride across Toronto from northwest to southeast that took place
over 10 days last summer, accompanied each day by a different
co-paddler. The gallery is open on Sat/Sun afternoons and closes next
weekend.

The UK government has just issued an urban design compendium
that offers guidance for designing for walking and cycling. Click on
"urban design principles" and go to the section "making the
connections".

Todd Litman's Economic Value of Walkability, released last year, is a great resource describing ways to evaluate the value of walking and walkability.

These
cycling infrastructure capital projects got the nod from the City's
budget committee at their meeting on November 25th, 2008:

The City of Toronto has undertaken a study to create a Master Plan
for the Western Waterfront. The study area covers a 4 km-long stretch
of the Western Waterfront between the Humber River and Marilyn Bell
Park. Recommendations will be made about the type and location of park
facilities that meet a range of community needs, as well as
improvements to the transportation, transit and pedestrian links with
surrounding neighbourhoods.

York Region is looking for a Senior Active Transportation Specialist to
implement its Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan. Job posting here.

Smart Commute NTV have two positions available: Marketing Manager and a Program Coordinator.

As reported in CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for
Bicycling & Walking, one of the world industries seemingly not
suffering in the current worldwide recession is the bicycling business.

"Top bicycle and bicycle parts makers in Taiwan and Japan are reporting
steadily increasing revenues, despite the falling popularity around the
world of the bicycle's four-wheeled cousin." Read more here.

You can donate online by clicking here.
When asked the name of the charity, please type in "Clean Air
Partnership" (not TCAT). In order to make sure your donation gets
directed to us, please note "TCAT" in the message/instruction section.

Please consider making a year-end gift to TCAT today to support our
work. TCAT gratefully acknowledges the founding and ongoing support of
the Toronto Community Foundation
and other generous funders, but we also require funds to support our
core program work. We are dedicated to our mission to create a better
city for cycling and walking. We want TCAT to grow and to continue to
provide policy, research, and timely information to enable informed
participation for our supporting organizations and active
transportation advocates.

On November 18, 2008, Legislative Bill 126, Road Safety Act, 2008 had
its First Reading. The amendment is primarily to toughen drinking and
driving measures but they've also tacked on a change in the definition
of a bicycle to the bill to include power-assisted bicycles (e-bikes).
To track the status of the bill and read the debates, click here.