Bike Friendly Windsor Essex

Bikesmart is a program offered by the Youth & Family Resource Network of Essex County, a non-profit organization aimed at strengthening families and youth across the region. YFRN has been around since 1994 and received funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2011 to get the Bikesmart program off the ground.

This program has two main goals: providing youth in Kingsville and the surrounding municipalities with the opportunity to gain real-world work experience and hands-on job training, and also to supply affordable transportation options for those who cannot afford to  buy a new bike or vehicle. They have a staff of young volunteers who are taught how to properly repair and maintain donated bicycles by an experienced mechanic. The bikes are then sold at reasonable prices to the community. They also run a repair shop where they can fix up your bike and help you maintain it and keep it running smoothly. 

With help from people in the community, as well as their partners, they’ve already collected over 100 donated bicycles. Besides the Ontario Trillium Foundation, their partners include the Leamington OPP, the Salvation Army, and the Windsor/Essex Solid Waste Authority. They’re open to new partnerships, too, and also welcome public and private donations. All eligible contributions will receive an income tax receipt

There are a couple different ways you can contribute to the program. Volunteer in the program and either learn to fix bikes or, if you already have experience fixing bikes, help teach others. They’re also looking for donations of bikes, bike parts, safety gear and tools. Check out the program’s website to learn more about what items they need most. 

Donations are accepted at any time and can be brought by the Bikesmart location in Kingsville, the Harrow Youth Centre, or a pickup can be arranged. Keep an eye out for upcoming bike drives scheduled across the county. 

If you’re interested in helping out with this worthy and ambitious project, contact program coordinator Michael Cervi by emailing him, or visit the shop at 23 Mill St. W. in Kingsville. 

I know this isn’t about Windsor directly, but indirectly, it applies to us here. You see, one of the things we’re lacking, and this is part of the reason the city only received a bronze designation from the Bicycle Friendly Communities program, is a dedicated cycling coordinator.

Don’t get me wrong, there are dedicated staff that deal with cycling issues in Windsor on a daily basis. However, the manager of the transportation department has told me personally that if the city were to hire a cycling coordinator, they would have plenty of work to give them.

So, one of my requests of council during this ever-enlightening time of budget deliberations is the hiring of a cycling coordinator. Chicago has Ben Gomberg, Portland has Roger Geller, Hamilton has Daryl Bender, and heck, even Calgary is hiring one.

If Windsor were to hire a cycling coordinator, imagine what they’d be able to accomplish! They could perform collision analysis, update and report on the city’s Bicycling Use Master Plan, organize a Bike Share program along the riverfront, promote the city’s Bicycle Friendly Workplace Awards, finally update and maintain the cyclewindsor.ca website, act as a liaison between other cities, Windsor’s BIAs, cycling groups, councillors and the Windsor Bicycling Committee, as well as perform regular evaluations on our current cycling facilities and programs.

All of these duties are currently being performed by various staff, within a corporation that, in my experience, could use some work on communicating. A cycling coordinator could effectively wrangle our efforts to become an even more bicycle-friendly community.

I just got back from Cinema Politica Windsor‘s screening of You Never Bike Alone. It was an inspiring film, reminding me of how much we have left to do to make Windsor a Bicycle friendly city.

There was a group discussion after the film, which I found quite interesting, and which raised several topics which I will touch on here.

The film followed the life of Critical Mass in Vancouver from the 90s onwards. For a background on Critical Mass, click here. There were comments afterwards regarding violence towards Massers, which has apparently happened in the past when Windsor had a Critical Mass ride. Windsor’s first CM was approximately a dozen years ago, and was tied to the Citizens Environment Alliance “SmogFest”, and had approximately 75 participants. Since then, CM has been revived a few times, the most recently about 6 months ago, but each time it failed reach “Critical Mass”, and fizzled out.

In the discussion that followed, there was also mention of Windsor’s Bicycle Use Master Plan (B.U.M.P.) and the Essex County Wide Active Transportation Study (CWATS), as well as the Riverside Drive Vista Improvement Project (RD-VIP) – which should see some construction starting in March, as stage 1 phase 1 is currently open for bids for tender.

For those who didn’t get their fix of cycle films, check out a the short videos on Momentum Magazine’s website – and remember that Bike Friendly Windsor members get a discount on Momentum subscriptions!

Cinema Politica, a non-profit media arts organization, will be hosting a film screening this Thursday February 2nd at the Odette Building at the University of Windsor (room 108).

The film, You Never Bike Alone follows the course of Critical Mass rides in Vancouver from the early 90s to the present. Vancouver’s Critical Mass rides have become renowned for their size and party spirit that attracts cyclists of all stripes.

Courtesy Bicycles has annouced that they are launching bicycle maintenance courses. They will offer two types of classes – a basic course and a travel/race day course. The basic class includes topics such as changing a flat tire,  and how to adjust brakes and derailleurs, as well as a question and answer period for specific issues. The travel/race day class is aimed at those who have basic skills, but want a better understanding of how to disassemble/reassmble for travel and race day. It includes instruction on how to take a bike apart and put it in a bike-box, and how to set it up again.

Each class is 2 hours long, with basic classes costing $30 per person, and travel/race classes costing $50 per person. It is recommended that you bring your bike with you to the classes. Students will receive a 20% discount on tools on the night of the class. Tentative dates are February 1,7,10,16,20, and 29.

For more information, call John Saul at Courtesy Bicycles (519-252-0080) or email j_saul2000@yahoo.ca

I wanted to share this with all of you… some good news from Sue and Tom Omstead (sent out on Dec. 20th).

The Essex-Amherstburg Greenway won’t receive any money from the Aviva Community Fund, but the publicity was excellent. Now, more people are aware of existing trails, and the number of votes can be used as evidence that cycling and active living are valid concerns for Essex County residents.

Hello Cyclists and Supporters,

It’s about time we gave you a report on progress being made in the County to make our local roads safer for cycling.

County of Essex

As you know, the County completed the County Wide Active Transportation Plan this year. This Plan is a comprehensive document planning for safer cycling and walking facilities to be constructed all across Essex County and its member municipalities over the next 20 years. The County and its municipalities share costs for such facilities and the County has committed to allocating $1,000,000/year toward its cost of Plan projects.

Town of Essex

On CHYR radio this morning, Town of Essex Councillor John Scott announced that the Town has approved $100,000 to pave shoulders along a section of CR50 in Colchester in 2012. The Town of Essex has recognized the importance of active transportation facilities in creating a healthy, vibrant community and they are actively incorporating such facilities in their Town Plans. Here’s a link to part of his commments.

Town of Kingsville

The Kingsville Community Active Transportation Committee has recommended to Council that they include $200,000 in the 2012 budget to make cycling improvements on County Road 20 between Kingsville and Leamington. Kingsville has already made good progress in making the Town’s roads more cycling friendly and Council has agreed to include the recommended amount in budget deliberations. Here’s a link to a news report.

Town of Leamington

Tom and I made a presentation to Leamington Council to request that they provide the required funding in their 2012 budget to make cycling improvements on County Road 20 between Leamington and Kingsville. While most, if not all, of the Councillors recognize the safety concerns on County Road 20, they are gathering more information from the County before including the recommendation in budget deliberations.

Those of you who have been with us since the beginning (2005!) will know that we started Share the Road – Essex County by focusing on CR20, possibly the County Road most travelled by cyclists and yet one of the most unsafe roads since it has no safe space for cyclists to use. The cyclists using this road are not just out for pleasure rides; they are migrant greenhouse workers who use their bikes as their primary mode of transportation. We think the risks associated with cyclists on CR20 should have been resolved years ago and we hope that Kingsville and Leamington both approve the funding to do so in 2012.

If you are aware of progress in your municipality not identified here, please feel free to let us know so we can share it with our supporters. We always appreciate your comments and feedback.

We are pleased to have such active supporters and you should know that when you write a letter or send an email to your Council representatives, it does make a difference. They have many budget priorities to balance and they need to hear from you that safe cycling facilities are important to you and to your community.

Happy holidays, everyone! and ride safely,

Tom and Sue Omstead
Share the Road – Essex County