Courage not compromise

Dear Winnipeg elected officials

The North East ride of the Bike to the Future series was supposed to be today, but it was cancelled because of unsafe air quality.

These rides are meant to raise awareness about the climate crisis, yet the crisis itself has shut these rides down twice this year.

If the air isn’t even safe to bike in, how can we keep ignoring the need for urgent change?

We can't keep making things worse.

Cancelled bike rides may not seem like a reason to install more lanes but in fact it is: we must reduce car dependency. We must have alternatives. There must be safe and easy walking, biking, and transit choices.

This is a time for courage, not compromise.

Instead of delaying plans for one crucial bike lane, we should be roaring ahead on implementation of multiple active transit projects, no matter how much drivers complain.

When will the elected representatives of Winnipeg make decisions appropriate to the level of crisis we are already experiencing?

*“compromise” refers to the chair of public works closing her ears to (cumulatively) more than a 100 pleas to install a bike lane on a stretch of roadway that was already identified as a problem needing action before it was the site of a tragic (probably preventable) accident. “I gotta make compromises to get things done,” is her justification to adding an additional year’s delay to what had already taken a year.

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