Results tagged “torontocyclistsunion”

PERFORMANCE: The Repo! Shadow Cats are back for their tenth shadow cast performance of Repo! The Genetic Opera, a Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Blade Runner rock opera. If you're unfamiliar with the Shadow Cats and their shadow cast performances, the show will feature a live recreation and unique interpretation of the film, while it is being projected on a screen behind the Cats. In addition to blood, boobs, and off-beat humour, tonight's Halloween-themed performance will feature the Repo characters in costume. Audience members are also encouraged to attend in costume for a chance to win prizes. Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West), 9:30–11:30 p.m., $10.

Saying something like, "Hey, it's been a ridiculous year for cycling in Toronto" sounds like a bit of a cheap lead-in, but it's true. This year, already dubious for widespread Obamamania, then equally widespread Obamaphobia, and peppered each month with one tragic, horrifying aviation disaster after another, has sucked pretty hard for local cyclists. From losing one of its own at Bay and Bloor to being told, laughably, that a carbon footprint somehow rivalling that of the city's motorists is cause enough for a bike tax, Toronto's cycling community has a few too many reasons to shake its collective head.

If you're reading this, you've probably done some thinking about bicycle policy in Toronto. In the aftermath of this summer's struggles over shared roadways, culminating in last month's extremely ugly incident, many voices have joined the debate, some less successfully than others. There is, in the middle of all this, a group of cycling activists in Toronto that is resolutely ambivalent to all solutions. The organization is Bike Pirates, and it exists to address an issue that cuts through law and infrastructure, right to the heart of the daily cycling experience.

With rights come responsibilities. That was the refrain, over and over and over again, from councillors who spoke at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee yesterday in favour of a motion by Michael Walker (Ward 22) to develop a cyclist licensing program. According to Walker, "licensing would provide for more effective enforcement of the applicable laws and clarify collision situations" [PDF]. Though the debate was largely framed as stemming from concern about cyclists' well-being (given that cycling does come with dangers, said several, it is incumbent upon the City to do its level best to mitigate those risks through a programme of education and regulation), underlying it was palpable anger and frustration on the part of at least some councillors with regards to how cyclists comport themselves on our city's streets. "Licensing is a barrier to entry," protested Yvonne Bambrick, executive director of the Toronto Cyclists Union, and we got the impression that that was exactly the point.

ART: Kris Knight’s new paintings suggest to us what might happen if the cast of Blue Velvet turned up at our cottage at the end of November, intending to stay. His new exhibit “Farewell Log Cabin” turns the clock back to the winter season, a time when cabin fever sets in like an old sock on the collective Canadian soul. Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects hosts the opening reception tonight for this disturbing and beautiful solo show, on until July 18 at the gallery. Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects (1082 Queen Street West), 6–9 p.m., FREE.

Urban Planner is Torontoist's daily guide to what's on in Toronto, published every morning. If you have an event you'd like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you've got any—to events@torontoist.com.

Score one for the cycling community. After an intense and late-breaking campaign, and with a crucial assist from Councillor Kyle Rae, bicycle advocates have successfully introduced bike lanes into a major redevelopment plan for Jarvis Street. Yesterday afternoon the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) voted to remove the centre, reversible-direction lane of traffic, and use the freed-up space to install bicycle lanes in both directions from Bloor to Queen.

Things of which we are fans: cycling advocacy, dancehall-laced DJ sets, jokes about benzodiazepine, tipsy city councillors. Last night we were lucky to find all of these in the very same room, at the first annual Toronto Bike Awards, hosted by the Toronto Cyclists Union. The Gladstone Hotel’s ballroom was standing-room only, packed with die-hard cyclists and the people who love them. While the City of Toronto has distributed Bicycle Friendly Business Awards for many years, this was the first time that a full evening’s worth of partying was devoted to recognizing the individuals and organizations that are working to continuously improve the state of cycling in our city. In addition to the City’s awards, the Cyclists Union inaugurated their own Golden Spoke Awards: one each for the outstanding city councillor, volunteer, and cycling advocate of the year. The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) and I Bike T.O. gave out their own awards as well—proof of the breadth and depth of cycling activism in the city.

SPORTS: A community meeting is being held tonight by City Councillor Bill Saundercook to discuss bike lanes running along Annette Street between Runnymede Road and Jane Street. The Toronto Cyclists Union is encouraging "strength in numbers," asking that "everyone who wants Toronto to have a secure, connected bicycle network should attend." James Culnan Catholic School (605 Willard Avenue), 7 p.m., FREE.

WORDS: Join the Toronto Cyclists Union at CineCycle tonight for the launch party of Dandyhorse, a new Toronto-based urban cycling magazine. The magazine will feature articles about commuting, advocacy, couriers, safety, fashion, and anything else related to bikes, and the party will have DJs, a cash bar, cake, and—of course—lots of brand new magazines. CineCycle (behind 129 Spadina Avenue), 7:30 p.m., $5.

If you're not getting tickets from the "Safe Cycling" cops this week, spend that extra cash and get them for this week/end's Bicycle Film Festival. Now in its eighth year, the round-the-world celebration of two-wheeled transport careens into Toronto this Wednesday night, June 18, through Saturday, June 21.

We don't know what exactly spawned their big decision, but the big guys at the Toronto Cyclists Union sat down and decided they needed some kind of fundraiser. Bike-a-thon? Nope. Bikini car wash? Nope. Star-studded screening of Pee-wee's Big Adventure? Why not?!

After months of quiet preparation, Toronto's very own Bike Union officially launched at City Hall yesterday morning. Modelled after successful cycling advocacy groups in Chicago, London, and elsewhere, the Toronto Cyclists Union is already a big name in the city's cycling community.

In a world where the squeaky wheel gets the grease, cyclists may be a little too well-lubricated for their own good. No matter how much noise they think they're making, cyclists just can't seem to push their agenda as well as, say, the Canadian Automobile Association can push theirs. Into this breach is stepping the Toronto Cyclists Union, the latest in a series of formal and informal organizations to try to help Toronto cyclists squeak a little louder.

Cycling in Toronto has been undergoing a bit of a renaissance lately. Hundreds of people took to the streets last September to promote a cross-city bike lane on Bloor Street, the cycling intervention collective Outdoor Urban Repair Squad was named the best activist group for 2007 by NOW Magazine, the Toronto Cyclists Union is launching this spring, and the city's Bike Week has become so packed full of events that it will stretch into Bike Month this year.

It's a gloomy time of year to be a cyclist, but Dave Meslin and the Toronto Cyclists Union are still finding time for projects in between their slushy commutes. The group is about to launch its own magazine, and they're looking for a name.