City Council — July 2011

As Council highlights donation of fire equipment to Bulgaria, let's recall that time Ford got mad about a similar thing http://bit.ly/mX18TS

Rob Ford just asked for an opportunity to vote against funding for a variety of organizations related to community diversity, etc #TOCouncil

Minnan-Wong is well aware that the bike union has told people the vote will likely be tomorrow. He's trying to push it to today. #TOCouncil

Man, it was hard to get a seat in here. #TOCouncil

The mayor's repeated use of the word 'culprits' is the most charming thing about him today. #TOCouncil

"I get that you're asking about the complexities of this item, so in response let me again restate things in the simplest possible terms."

Just called 911 to report graffiti emergency after viewing alarming segment of @rickmercer's show. #TOCouncil

Mammoliti accuses Adam Vaughan of turning scofflaws into so-called artists with his lax attitude toward downtown graffiti.

Long discussions about graffiti may be the Toronto cycling community's kryptonite. The chamber was really amped up there for a while.

Nothing livens up a five hour discussion on graffiti like a PowerPoint presentation. #TOCouncil

Mammoliti asks @shelleycarroll if she has a "socialist dictionary" that defines "corporate graffiti." #TOCouncil

Mammoliti down-thumbs Vaughan's motion to protect graffiti alley. #TOCouncil

.@kristynwongtam starts strong on #SaveJarvis debate. Key is to stick to narrow focus -- cost, logistics - and not bikes vs cars. #TOCouncil

Nunziata thanks us in the audience for keeping quiet and civil. Heart, three sizes, this day. #TOCouncil

$200K to kill Jarvis. $70K to stop Bloor-Danforth EA. Millions to stop Transit City. Building nothing is expensive. #TOCouncil

.@DenzilMW blames public notices in @nowtoronto for warping results of consultations re: Jarvis. #TOCouncil

.@DenzilMW again implies that money committed as part of a plan is comparable to money that's actually been spent. #TOCouncil

.@PeterMilczyn speaks, proposes rescinding approval of lanes on Bloor West, doesn't mention he supported Jarvis lanes in 2009. #TOCouncil

Layton points out Toronto has the highest rate of car-cyclist collisions in Canada. Omelettes and eggs, I guess. #TOCouncil

The strategy behind this baffles me. Had plan come to #TOcouncil without the amendment to kill Jarvis, it would have passed smoothly.

De Baeremaker has motion to "delegate local bike infrastructure to Community Councils", mirroring a Ford campaign promise. #TOCouncil

Ford called for "stronger community councils" during his campaign (pg 4) http://scr.bi/nyfPEP #TOCouncil

De Baeremaeker is inviting Rob Ford to bike to work with him. "That's what a MAN would do." #TOCouncil

And now Nunziata has asked security to escort Glenn out of the chamber. #TOCouncil

Mammoliti, known for constant decorum and unwavering respect for his colleagues, is expressing disappointment in De Baeremaeker. #TOCouncil

"I would like to read very quickly from 1984," says Gord Perks, quite seriously. And then he does. #TOCouncil

Cars have always been at war with bikes. #TOCouncil

To be fair, riding your bike from the suburbs to downtown does strike me as pretty manly. #TOCouncil

Am I crazy or has no one actually moved a motion yet to save Jarvis? #TOCouncil

Now Gary Crawford is moving to remove three bike trails from the 2011 bike plan. #TOCouncil

At this rate the 2011 Bike Plan will ultimately approach negative kilometres. #TOCouncil

Crawford says move on lanes needs consultation. Let's see how badly he contradicts himself with later votes. #TOCouncil

Here it is: @kristynwongtam moves to save Jarvis (and fix signals) or, failing that, fix Sherbourne before killing Jarvis. #TOcouncil

And she's got a 3rd motion to hold consultations, as well. #TOcouncil

Geez. @kristynwongtam rocks it, citing economic/social impact of letting Jarvis remain a glorified highway. #tocouncil

Karen Stintz is speaking! At #tocouncil!

Holyday rises to claim original Jarvis consultations didn't include drivers, dismissively refers to "bike people." #Tocouncil

Cllr Di Giorgio rises, asks if Jarvis lanes are necessary, neglects to mention he supported them in 2009. #TOcouncil

Councillor Kelly rises, acknowledges he voted for Jarvis lanes in 2009, but says today he will vote to remove them. #TOCouncil

.@councillorkelly is disingenuous, claiming in 2009 he voted for wider sidewalks and didn't get them. But no motion to go back to old plan.

.@Fragedakis29 says move to kill Jarvis isn't a war on the bike - it's a war on common sense.

Mark Grimes just gave a speech that would seem to support Jarvis, but I'm not sure it was intentional. #TOCouncil

Putting this on my résumé. “@TrendsmapCanada: Matt Elliott, @graphicmatt is now trending in Canada http://trendsmap.com/ca”

I finally met some of my favourite internet people tonight: @jm_mcgrath, @goldsbie, @cityslikr, @dreahouston, @AdamCF. Good times.

Here's the video + transcript of Mammoliti's pro-Jarvis speech in 2009: http://bit.ly/ivjh81 #TOCouncil

Shiner again makes the same old argument that bikes were not part of Jarvis plan. So why not move motion to return to widened sidewalk plan?

Don't pretend to be a friend of pedestrians when you're advocating the return of a reversible traffic lane pedestrians hated. #TOCouncil

This David Shiner speech has so many factual errors it's actually kind of admirable. #TOCouncil

A little more optimistic this morning that at least @kristynwongtam's motion for more consultation before removal might pass.

We can't have bike lanes until we have dense, walkable communities. We can't have dense, walkable communities without bike lanes.

The fun part of all this will be watching same councillors who support today's bike plan rage against Richmond lane later on. #TOCouncil

Fundamental question @DenzilMW & others won't address: are they opposed to streetscape/pedestrian improvements on Jarvis Street? #TOCouncil

Installing lanes on Sherbourne, then removing Jarvis lanes and returning to pedestrian plan (keeping 4-lane road) could be good compromise

Would have no real impact on current travel times, though.

Bike lanes on Jarvis aren't what Moore Park residents object to, really. They object to idea of improving Jarvis for residents/businesses.

Well, it was nice knowing you, Jarvis Street. #TOCouncil

Delay on Jarvis action until Sherbourne is welcome. Hope there's further action @kristynwongtam might be able to take to stop fifth lane.

#TOCouncil votes on @kristynwongtam's motion 7A - retain Jarvis, fix left-turn at Gerrard. http://twitpic.com/5plf79

Not sure why @JoshMatlow voted against 7A after speaking in favour of lanes.

DMW's amendment confused everything. Here's the #TOCouncil voting results for 7B as amended:. http://twitpic.com/5plhlt

Carroll for, Matlow against -- it wasn't clear what anyone was voting for.

So Minnan-Wong's amendment to KWT's motion (Wait until Sherbourne) made her motion 7c - consultations - irrelevant? So sneaky.

For the record, here's the final final voting card for the whole plan. Lots of walk-outs. #TOCouncil http://twitpic.com/5plljw

Really confused as to why @JoshMatlow and @JoshColle voted against motion to retain lanes (7A). A #TOCouncil mystery.