Council backers praise strategy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/07/2015 (3751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PRO-CYCLING politicians claim a small city council faction is trying to poke a stick in the spokes of a plan to improve commuter pedalling in Winnipeg.

As opposition mounts against the city’s 20-year cycling and pedestrian blueprint, councillors on the other side of the debate are working hard to be heard, too.

“(Councillors opposed to the strategy) are trying pretty much everything they can to put roadblocks in front of it,” Coun. Jenny Gerbasi said Tuesday. “They have every right to bring this forward, but the mayor ran on it, I am very supportive, so gutting (it) is certainly not something I will support or most of council will.”

The $334-million pedestrian and cycling strategy will be voted on at the last council meeting of the summer on July 15.

On Tuesday, the East Kildonan-Transcona community committee proposed cutting the strategy’s budget to $55 million, removing a recommendation to have residents clear their own snow and remove half of the proposed protected bike lanes.

Committee members Couns. Russ Wyatt, Jeff Browaty and Jason Schreyer rallied together to oppose the strategy. More money should be spent on sidewalks and more consultation is needed on proposed active-transportation routes for their neighbourhood, they said.

But other councillors such as St. Boniface Coun. Matt Allard remain supportive of the strategy, noting it might not be perfect, but it is a “good way to move forward.”

“I think the nature of these big-picture plans is that it’s a global plan and in terms of any individual bike route, further public consultation would be required on any specific project,” he said Tuesday. “I think with a strategy of this magnitude, there is going to be different opinions.”

Couns. Devi Sharma and Cindy Gilroy echoed Allard’s comments, noting any changes that need to be made to the document can occur in the future.

“We need a plan, and we can’t move forward without one,” Sharma said. “It really is a living, breathing document.”

Gerbasi said Wyatt is playing “a shell game” when it comes to the strategy.

“(If) They would rather invest in new roads or something else that is their priority, they should be coming out and saying that, rather than stating it is a flawed strategy,” she said.

Mayor Brian Bowman has been an advocate for cycling and has supported the strategy, however, he was not available for comment.

Deputy mayor Mike Pagtakhan said even if there are parts of the 364-page document council doesn’t support, they will take it on a case-by-case basis.

“It is not like everything is written in stone. It talks about good ideas for routes and at the end of the day, there will be consultation on those routes. It talks about a vision and where our vision could be,” he said.

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca