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WFP: Open-street project promotes accessibility, users say (Jun16'21)
by Beth McKechnie 16 Jun '21

16 Jun '21

Open-street project promotes accessibility, users say https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/open-street-project-promotes-access… AT the height of evening rush hour, winding Wellington Crescent is abuzz with all kinds of traffic — even with automobiles limited to one block of travel. Cyclists, joggers, rollerbladers, children on skateboards and scooters, families out for an evening walk with the dog all crowd to the tree-canopied route, taking advantage of the barricaded streets and wide pedestrian boulevard in the warm, sunny afternoon. While most car traffic stuck to the open block, a handful still trekked further, one earning a flash of police lights and a conversation with an officer. Since May, the Winnipeg street has been closed to most vehicle traffic between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.; cyclists are permitted to use the roads, pedestrians are asked to use walkways, and drivers allowed only to travel a block to and from their homes. Though the policy has drawn ire from Wellington and River Heights residents who feel the “open street” brings more problems than opportunities, others say the program provides more accessible ways to get outside and get active — provided everyone shares the road. In a recent package of submissions to the City of Winnipeg public works committee, some disgruntled residents took issue with the increases in traffic on the alternate route, Academy Road. Some residents noted difficulty turning onto the alternate route during rush hour, “bumper-to-bumper” traffic, or tacking extra minutes onto their commute. Others described frustrating encounters with pedestrians and cyclists aggravated by cars on the road — even while driving just one block to their residences. For Sarah Manteuffel, who lives in the Fort Rouge/River Heights area and uses Wellington Crescent when it’s closed to vehicle traffic, the wide-open road provides a safer place for her to ride. On her day off Monday, Manteuffel went for a leisure ride down Wellington and posted a photo of herself — smiling wide next to road barriers outlining the open street rules — in response to criticism of an initiative she feels “makes Winnipeg great.” “I have dwarfism, so I ride a smaller bike and on the streets don’t usually feel very safe,” Manteuffel said in an interview Tuesday. “Even in a designated bike lane, am I going to be trusted to be seen by large vehicles? I go pretty slow, so even other passing cyclists can sometimes be a hazard.” Brian Szklarczuk, an adaptive cycling advocate who co-owns Wolseley’s upcoming bike shop Prairie Velo, said more inclusive forms of movement (three-wheeled bikes, handcycles) often take up a little more space, but those who use them also want to feel safe and comfortable on the road. “We know we need a little more space in the adaptive world, but we really want to be able to not be on the margins all the time,” he said. “(We want) to be able to use the other areas and just feel normal, just feel like we’re another person riding — and that’s what the open streets have allowed folks to do.” As some area residents argued the streets were inaccessible to those who are not as mobile and unable to travel the street except by car, Manteuffel said she found that perspective “challenging” to hear. “I understand that people may want to participate in driving down the crescent to utilize it but, there are other methods and opening the street allows for a different variety of body types to take advantage of that space,” Manteuffel countered. Szklarczuk agrees, and hopes to see all Winnipeggers mindful of each other’s needs when out on the roads. “If we can have the conversations about true inclusiveness, we can have everyone feel safe on whatever mode of transportation they’re using: cyclists, walkers, folks using mobility devices, power chairs, manual chairs — everything you can think of can co-exist really well. We can also co-exist with vehicles really well if there is a shared responsibility that we are all using the road,” he said. Coun. Matt Allard, public works chairman, said a recent motion to knock Wellington Crescent off the holiday closure list came about in an effort to both satisfy the community’s needs and keep the street program running. After Wellington’s ward councillor, John Orlikow, tabled a motion asking for more flexibility on open street rules, by putting power in the hands of the public works director, Allard feared staff could have the power to nix the program. After talking off-the-record with legal advisors, public works instead motioned to take Wellington Crescent off the list and let the area councillor and the public works team decide how best to proceed. Allard said the intent was not to see Wellington permanently dropped from the list, but rather to empower the local councillor and public works director to add routes in a way that works best for constituents. Internal conversations about Wellington Crescent — and its future use as a Sunday/holiday closure street — are still underway at city hall. “The road belongs to everyone, at the end of the day,” Allard said. “All of our taxes pay for the roads, and they are a public space and meant to be shared.” julia-simone.rutgers(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jsrutgers

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WFP Editorial: Street strife on Wellington Crescent (Jun16'21)
by Beth McKechnie 16 Jun '21

16 Jun '21

Street strife on Wellington Crescent https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/street-strife-on-welli… THE city should pay close attention to the serious concerns raised by some Wellington Crescent residents about the consequences of favouring cyclists and restricting motorists. What the city must ignore, however, is the suggestion by several residents that their high-end addresses entitle them to special treatment. To bestow municipal favours on the basis of property value is a type of classism that has no place in Winnipeg. It would be a logistical nightmare, for example, if city staff had to prioritize posh areas for services such as fire, police and snow-clearing. It would also violate the egalitarian foundation of democracy, where citizens, regardless of address, get equal access to government consideration. That said, it’s equally important not to stoop to negative stereotypes. Many critics in public forums are denouncing the recent feedback on bike routes as the laments of well-to-do Winnipeggers who don’t want their tony street to be sullied by visitors. It’s a pilot project, after all, and feedback is warranted. These Wellington Crescent residents took the opportunity to offer their feedback, plenty of feedback, a prerogative that could be equally exercised by homeowners along any of the other 17 city areas involved in this summer’s Enhanced Summer Bike Routes program, formerly known as Open Streets. Their views were outlined in about three dozen letters, citing problems with the traffic-calming program that restricts motorists to one block of travel between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week. Homeowners wrote about increased trash on the ground, and dog deposits on lawns. Many were also miffed that their alternative driving route, along Academy Road, is now so crowded that traffic is slowed. Alarmingly, several letter writers described conflict. One wrote: “I was threatened, yelled at, and physically blocked by cyclists and pedestrians, on a daily basis, while driving the one block allowed to access my residence.” Another wrote: “When you close the roads, the people that live on the street are treated like trespassers onto their own properties.” While councillors should thoughtfully weigh such concerns, they should ignore an attempt by several letter writers to wield their property taxes as a lobbying weapon. One writer noted: “I pay almost 12K a year in property taxes.” Another wrote: “I hope that with our hefty property tax bill our voices will be heard.” The letters were submitted to the city’s public works committee, which then recommended Wellington Crescent be removed from the open streets list. The recommendation now goes to council’s executive policy committee. Councillors should be wary about granting Wellington Crescent an exemption that could set a precedent and undermine the entire open roads program. Council could be required to grant similar exemption to any street where a few homeowners took the initiative to door-knock neighbours and obtain a petition and letters seeking, like Wellington Crescent, an exemption from open roads. Councillors, and Wellington Crescent residents, should live with the current open-road restrictions until this year’s pilot program ends on Nov. 5. It will then be decided which routes will be included in next season’s open-road program. Wellington Crescent is a beautiful area with well-tended properties, grand homes, lush gardens and flowering trees. It’s to be hoped homeowners fortunate enough to live there can bear with the added cyclists and pedestrians for now, perhaps even considering it a community service that their haven offers visitors a geographical tonic from the stressful grimness of the pandemic.

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Webinar Recording - Improving Traffic Signals for Bicycling and Walking
by Mark Cohoe 15 Jun '21

15 Jun '21

Hi, I had the chance to watch this webinar last week, and found it very interesting and useful. https://www.pedbikeinfo.org/webinars/webinar_details.cfm?id=109 One key part was the need to look at average pedestrian delay when setting phasing for traffic signals. When left out of reports that calculate average delay and levels of service for vehicles, average pedestrian waiting times often end up exceeding 40-50 seconds, or Level of Service F, even though it might actually be pretty easy to greatly reduce the average pedestrian wait times without causing much added delay to vehicles. To prevent this from happening, some cities's have adopted policies that require average pedestrian wait times to be measured in any report that includes intersection level of service for vehicles. Pedestrian Level of Service is then reported based on values in the 2000 edition of the Highway Capacity Manual. Cheers, Mark Cohoe Executive Director Bike Winnipeg t: 204-894-6540 e: mark(a)bikewinnipeg.ca

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Advancing Equity in Transportation Planning webinar
by Beth McKechnie 15 Jun '21

15 Jun '21

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Winters, Philip <winters(a)cutr.usf.edu> Date: Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 12:25 PM The next webinar in the 2021 Florida Public Transit Assn, FDOT and CUTR Professional Development Workshop series is “*The Journey Forward: Advancing Equity in Transportation Planning*.” It will be held on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 (10:00-11:30am ET). The webinar is free but pre-registration is required. The webinar will be recorded. *Registration:* https://cutr.adobeconnect.com/pdw-21-advancing-equity/event/registration.ht… *The Journey Forward: Advancing Equity in Transportation Planning* *Moderator:* Stephanie Lewis, CUTR *Presenters:* Tia Boyd, CUTR and Joshua Barber, Hillsborough MPO This session will describe innovative processes, strategies, and tools to integrate equity into transportation planning. We will begin by introducing the Transportation Equity Toolkit – a resource to advance equity in local and regional transportation planning. This toolkit provides agency staff and community members with tools, guidance, and resources to address the transportation needs of traditionally underserved communities and move equity to the forefront of transportation planning practice. The session will then explore how to apply tools such as the Transportation Equity Audit Tool and the Transportation Equity Scorecard Tool to identify the needs of underserved communities and prioritize projects for funding that advance equity. To provide an example of real-world applications of equity-driven practices, Hillsborough MPO staff will discuss their processes and findings from the Title VI and Nondiscrimination Plan update. To meet Title VI and Nondiscrimination Plan requirements, Hillsborough MPO staff have been developing a wide-ranging update that includes a framework for equity for the agency, documenting the history of racism in planning in Hillsborough County, a comprehensive public involvement process with the most underserved communities, and policy and process recommendations for the agency. We will discuss some of the findings from the historical analysis and the feedback from community outreach efforts. The discussion of community feedback will include challenges community members face accessing transportation, housing, planning meetings, and other community elements. Overall, the session will explore: 1. The impetus to investigate historical inequalities and the cumulative impacts of inequitable planning practices, 2. Strategies for more meaningful involvement from diverse communities, including outreach and survey design, and 3. Available tools and resources to identify and address the unique needs of traditionally underserved communities. Registration: https://cutr.adobeconnect.com/pdw-21-advancing-equity/event/registration.ht… A list of all sessions can be found at https://www.cutr.usf.edu/fpta/register.html *PHILIP L. WINTERS, TDM-CP *Director, TDM Program Center for Urban Transportation Research <https://www.cutr.usf.edu/> University of South Florida Tampa Campus 813.974.9811 winters(a)usf.edu [image: logo of Best Workplaces for Commuters] www.bestworkplaces.org Follow us on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/CUTRUSF/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/CUTRUSF> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/27012080/> | Newsletter <https://usf.us15.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c3b2561719f02cfb61009c74f&id=5…> *Due to Florida’s broad open records law, email to or from university employees is public record, available to the public and the media upon request.*

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Study: An economic analysis of the health-related benefits associated with bicycle infrastructure investment in three Canadian cities
by Beth McKechnie 15 Jun '21

15 Jun '21

Decision-makers are increasingly requesting economic analyses on transportation-related interventions, but health is often excluded as a determinant of value. We assess the health-related economic impact of bicycle infrastructure investments in three Canadian cities (Victoria, Kelowna and Halifax), comparing a baseline reference year (2016) with the future infrastructure build-out (2020). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246419

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WFP: City hall lobbied to lift restriction on Wellington Crescent (Jun12'21)
by Beth McKechnie 12 Jun '21

12 Jun '21

City hall lobbied to lift restriction on Wellington Crescent ‘Open street’ drive residents crazy https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/open-streets-drive-wellington-cresc… CLOSING Wellington Crescent to vehicles has driven some residents of the city’s toniest street to distraction and forced the city to reconsider the designation. In a package of letters submitted to the public works committee, residents argued their mental health, safety, and human rights are being violated because motorists are restricted to one block of travel between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week. A 68-page package — compiled by resident Brenlee Carrington-Trepel and comprising more than three dozen letters from disgruntled residents — outlines their concerns. One letter, penned by Asper Foundation president Gail Asper decried the closure of the “historic” street to vehicles, arguing the “100-year-old trees, lilacs and cherry blossoms in full bloom, spectacular gardens of the homeowners and the stunning homes themselves” are an essential “mental health break.” Asper, like many residents, suggested the open street model also amounts to discrimination against the city’s older population who may not be able to access the street by bicycle. “I strongly believe in bike paths, but I do not believe in closing important and historic streets like Wellington Crescent in order to make space for bike paths seven days a week. This is discriminating against thousands of Winnipeggers and I submit there is simply no need for this, when cars, bikes and pedestrians have co-existed for decades,” she wrote. Another letter from one-time mayoral candidate and former councillor Paula Havixbeck argues the policy has caused an increase in property crime. Havixbeck wrote about the observations in the River Heights Community Watch Facebook group — where she is one of the administrators — suggesting open streets resulted in an increase of “crime that quite literally walks across the bridge at both ends” of Wellington Crescent. “The fact that Wellington Crescent is closed, however, poses an issue because fewer people are on site to see these individuals coming in with their empty shopping carts and to be there to be more of a deterrent. Individuals are coming over the bridge day and night. They target yards they can access quickly,” Havixbeck wrote. “I have asked that there be some support in terms of cadets monitoring those entry points.” The open streets summer program bans vehicles from travelling more than one block on select streets in an effort to encourage cycling. Wellington Crescent is also popular with pedestrians and dog-walkers. After an in-camera discussion, the public works committee agreed to request Wellington Crescent be removed from the open streets list and that the public works director be given the power to amend open street rules. The executive policy committee will consider the motion. Area councillor John Orlikow, who originally submitted a motion to public works requesting the director have the ability to alter open street rules, said his intention was never to see the open street shut down. He wanted flexibility to adjust the program based on health restrictions, street usage, traffic capacity on nearby Academy Road and community feedback. “A lot of people are very supportive of (open streets),” said Orlikow. “I feel comfortable that the goodness of the neighbourhood understands why it’s needed and the vast majority of people support that.” Orlikow, who said he is a member of the neighbourhood watch, noted he has not seen data that substantiates claims crime has increased as a result of open streets. “I have seen data that people are not feeling as safe as they used to, and that is very concerning. Are open streets the reason for that? I really can’t say it is,” he said. Another writer, Ian Restall, wrote the closure amounted to “inequity” with a “human rights element.” He argued residents are “disadvantaged and some might say discriminated against by these closures” should they be unable to bike or walk down the road. “I don’t think driving is a human right,” Orlikow countered. “If they do have a concern about human rights, I would suggest they take it to a human rights tribunal.” Several residents — including letter writer Naomi Devine — noted they pay “significant taxes” for the “luxury” of living on Wellington Crescent, arguing they expect to be able to drive more than one block on the road in return. “I don’t agree with that claim. Everybody pays taxes and everybody has the same rights as everybody else,” Orlikow said. While community feedback from those who live on the street is critical, he noted, “I don’t care how much taxes you pay… no one owns the streets, they are public assets.” Before the pandemic, Orlikow said, conversations were held about pedestrians, cyclists and motorists sharing the road. “At the end of the day, it will be my intent to keep open streets on Wellington Crescent. People really do enjoy it. And just try to find some way to get flexibility so we can adjust it based on variables out there,” he said. (To read the letters, visit wfp.to/7nL) julia-simone.rutgers(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jsrutgers

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Globe and Mail: Speed kills: Slowing cars is great for cities
by Charles F 12 Jun '21

12 Jun '21

Speed kills: Slowing cars is great for citiesThe Globe and Mail (Alberta Edition)Acentury ago, during the Roaring Twenties, the automobile established its dominance in our cities. As car proliferated, pedestrian death surged. To cut the carnage, walkers were shunted to sidewalks and could only cross streets at specific intervals. Los Angeles in 1923 was among the first to outlaw jaywalking – in the lingo of the day, a “jay” was a half-witted rube. “Don’t jay walk” blared one poster of the era, depicting a hapless walker hit by an angry driver, a nearby cop shouting at the pedestrian. According to the 2020 book Slow Cities, automakers helped launch “a massive shaming campaign [that] prompted a radical shift in public attitudes to the use of streets.”Everyone knows how the story turned out. Streets came to be understood as things whose purpose was to speed traffic. Streets belonged to cars; people were just interlopers, like hairs clogging a drain.The first cracks in the car’s dominance emerged a half-century ago when public opposition prevented proposed freeways from ripping through downtown Vancouver and the heart of Toronto. In the late 1990s, Sweden formulated a bolder idea: Vision Zero. Its goal was to design cities so that zero pedestrians would ever be killed by a car. It asserted that when cars killed pedestrians, it wasn’t because pedestrians were “jays.”Vision Zero has been spreading, including to unlikely places such as Calgary and Edmonton – cities with traditional, car-centric layouts.In Calgary, as of May 31, the speed limit on most neighbourhood streets was reduced to 40 kilometres an hour from 50 km/h. Edmonton is making the same change in August; big downtown streets such as Jasper Avenue are included.The rationale is simple: Speed kills. If a car moving at 50 km/h hits a pedestrian, the likely result is death. But if the car is going 30 km/h, the pedestrian probably survives. Research cited by the City of Calgary suggests a 1-per-cent reduction in average driving speed reduces fatal collisions by 4 per cent.The move to 40 km/h is only a half-step. The goal of Vision Zero in neighbourhoods is a limit of 30. And on arterial roads, where speeds are higher, and more deaths occur, a limit of 50 km/h is advised as much safer than the usual 60 or 70.In Canada, Toronto may have made the most progress so far. City council in 2019 approved a plan to cut civic speed limits. Known as “Vision Zero 2.0,” it’s a second go at a first attempt that came up short. The city, in take two, cut speeds on numerous arterial streets but still chose a cautious streetby-street approach, rather making citywide changes. Toronto has since kept making reliable progress. Among the next moves is a plan to cut neighbourhood speed limits in much of Scarborough to 30 km/h from 40.Pedestrian and cyclist deaths in Canada are stubbornly high. From 2000 through 2004, according to Transport Canada, cars killed an average of 364 pedestrians a year and 53 cyclists. From 2014 through 2018 – the most recent national numbers – cars killed 318 pedestrians annually, and 45 cyclists.The data from Toronto show encouraging trends – and gathering data is a signal of the importance of achieving a goal, rather than just tallying fatalities long after the fact, or treating pedestrians and cyclist deaths as just a fact of life. In 2020, road deaths in Toronto plunged – in part because of the pandemic and lighter traffic. This year’s figures are even lower. As of mid-May, there have been just five pedestrian traffic fatalities and zero cyclists. Serious injuries are also down sharply.Slowing cars – and saving lives – takes more than lower speed limits. The design of streets is important, such as narrower driving lanes, wider sidewalks, pop-out curbs at corners for pedestrians and cycling lanes. Other strategies include automated speed cameras, investment in transit and limiting cars in some areas, such as school zones in the morning and afternoon.This is not utopian fantasy. Vision Zero became reality in two Scandinavian capital cities in 2019, with Oslo and Helsinki recording zero pedestrian deaths. Back in the 1990s, Helsinki was suffering about 25 pedestrians deaths a year.A century ago, road safety was about making sure people knew their place, and stayed out of the way of cars – the real owners of the road. That paradigm is finally being reworked. The pace of change is measured in the dwindling number of lives lost.

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Fwd: Please join us June 24 at 7:30pm for the virtual launch of WriteToMove, a WITH ART anthology
by Anders Swanson 11 Jun '21

11 Jun '21

Welcome to join! ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: <tamara.rae(a)winnipegarts.ca> Date: Fri, Jun 11, 2021 at 1:33 PM Subject: Please join us June 24 at 7:30pm for the virtual launch of WriteToMove, a WITH ART anthology To: leigh anne parry <leighanneparry(a)gmail.com>, Anders Swanson < andersswanson(a)gmail.com> Please join us online on Thursday, June 24 at 7:30pm for the free virtual launch of *WriteToMove* <http://winnipegarts.ca/wac/artwork/write-to-move>. The anthology, edited by Sharon Chisvin, explores the broad topic of mobility rights and was created with the Winnipeg Trails Association through the Winnipeg Arts Council’s WITH ART community public art program. *“I am grateful to all of the anthology contributors who entrusted me with their writing. I have never climbed a mountain or cycled across Europe. Nor have I ever been followed by store security because of the way I look, or had to flee my homeland and seek refuge elsewhere because of who I am. But I have had the honour of learning about those experiences, imagining those experiences, and being moved and inspired by those experiences in the process of editing WriteToMove*.” – Sharon Chisvin, Editor *“What resulted from the WriteToMove call for submissions is an array of stories that transcend any single interpretation of movement. Movement—geographical, physical, emotional, mental—is a necessary and beautiful part of our everyday lives. Everyone's an expert in their own movement. Everyone has an opinion about transportation. But not everyone experiences the built environment through the same lens.” *– Anders Swanson, Winnipeg Trails The event is free to all and features readings by contributing writers Alex Merrill, Moneca Sinclaire, Yvonne Kyle, Byron Rempel-Burkholder, Brendan McKay, Bob Armstrong, Jim Ross, Binh Pham, Berhe Gebrihet and more. Please register to attend here: *https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/writetomove-a-with-art-anthology-virtual-launch-tickets-158175008709* <https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/writetomove-a-with-art-anthology-virtual-launch…> tamara rae biebrich Senior Project Manager, Public Art *Winnipeg Arts Council <http://winnipegarts.ca/>* 103 - 110 Princess Street Winnipeg MB R3B 1K7 Treaty 1 Territory tamara.rae(a)winnipegarts.ca 204.943.7668 winnipegarts.ca <info(a)winnipegarts.ca> <https://www.instagram.com/wac_public_art/> <http://winnipegarts.ca/wac/pubart-gal/>

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WFP; City looks at four streets to test slower 30 km/h speed limit (Jun5'21)
by Beth McKechnie 06 Jun '21

06 Jun '21

City looks at four streets to test slower 30 km/h speed limit https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-looks-at-four-streets-to-test-… A year-long pilot project to reduce the speed limit on four residential streets posed by the City of Winnipeg last year may soon take off. Winnipeg public service will recommend council move forward with the plan to slow traffic on the select streets to 30 km/h (from 50 km/h), and begin a study looking at how other cities are approaching relaxing travel on similar roads, during the standing policy committee meeting June 10. The original proposal, in July 2020, suggested five streets to use as trial spots, but removed one (Roch Street, from Poplar to Leighton avenues) after public feedback. The four planned for the trial run are: Eugenie Street (St. Mary’s Road to Youville Street), Warsaw Avenue (Thurso Street to Pembina Highway), Machray Avenue (Fife to Main streets), and Powers Street (Dufferin to Partridge avenues). The list proposed last year was similar, with the only difference being the switch from Flora Avenue to Powers Street, a decision the report said was made after consultation with the ward. They are considered four of Winnipeg’s 11 “greenway routes” — or a street that receives various treatments to make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians, including additional signage and pavement markings. “It’s looking at an opportunity to further define what our greenways look like in Winnipeg, which are pretty ill defined right now,” public works chairman Coun. Matt Allard said Friday. “So if it works well, it could be that 30 km/hr becomes part of what a greenway is in Winnipeg, further adding incentive to using the streets for cyclists as opposed to all the other streets in Winnipeg.” The original council direction was to look into having a street with a reduced speed in each ward. “This is part of that, I don’t know that it’s necessarily the end of the story, but certainly it accomplishes that objective in four wards,” Allard said. The standing policy committee is also asking the city reduce the amount of signage necessary to designate a lower speed zone. Currently, the requirement is signs be up on every street corner, which Allard said most Winnipeggers in residential areas don’t want and would cost millions of dollars. Rather, the report suggests signage be put up at the edge of a neighbourhood or city if the speed limit is reduced. Allard said there isn’t a decided date of implementation, but the date would have to be decided by the end of July. The conversation has divided Winnipeggers. Allard said public engagement on the idea has been high. A survey sent out by the city on the pilot project received 567 responses and, after its proposal last year, a petition against lowering the limit to 30 km/ hr received more than 6,000 signatures. “If you ask the question straight up it’s very polarizing, because people are envisioning all sorts of scenarios that would probably not happen,” Allard said. Machray Avenue resident Debrae Campbell said the conversation has been divisive even in her own home. While her husband is critical of the plan, Campbell said she’s seen people drag racing down her residential street and wants stricter rules. “This road here is crazy, especially in the evening, you’ll see families in the park and the cars will go whipping by with no regard for anything,” she said while walking her dog Friday. She hoped there would be more enforcement to dissuade people from driving unsafely, if the city does change the speed limit. “What’s it going to take? One kid smacked and then you’ll realize you need to slow down?” malak.abas(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: malakabas_

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WFP: Adaptive cycling rolling with bike boom (Jun6'21)
by Beth McKechnie 06 Jun '21

06 Jun '21

Adaptive cycling rolling with bike boom https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/adaptive-cycling-rolling-with-bike-… HER first ride on an electric tricycle made Jocelyne Pambrun feel like a kid again. “Talk about freedom!” the Winnipegger said. “It’s kind of a feeling like you’re floating, and what I mean by that is, because of the pain I have in my lower leg and the difficulty of walking, it’s like all of a sudden I realize I’m going somewhere and enjoying it without having to look at the sidewalk or slowing down or having pain.” After dealing with balance issues stemming from multiple sclerosis and foot pain from a car accident, Pambrun hesitated for years at the thought of riding a bike again. It’s now been a year since her first trike ride — it’s made her more independent, no longer reliant on Transit Plus, and healthier. She said she’s no longer letting mobility challenges hold her back from being more active. “The hardest part is, you don’t know what you’ve been missing till you have it, and you think, ‘why did I wait so long?’” she said. “It’s a new adventure for me at my age, because now all of a sudden, I can join in with my grandkids and go biking.” Pambrun is among the Winnipeggers with accessibility challenges who are rediscovering their city through cycling. Bicycle sales exploded in spring 2020 as Manitobans looked for ways to get outside during the pandemic, and adaptive cycling hasn’t been left out of the trend. Seeing a growing need to make cycling easier for people with disabilities, sports-focused groups are now branching out to offer more public recreational equipment like hand cycles, and plans for regular adaptive cycling group meets are in the works as soon as Manitoba’s public-health orders allow. A brick-and-mortar store specializing in adaptive cycling equipment is soon set to open in Wolseley, and a virtual event for Winnipeggers interested in accessible cycling is happening later this week. More than 60 people, about half of whom have disabilities, have signed up to take part in the June 10 event through Accessible Sport Connection Manitoba, a relatively new non-profit organization that received a Safe At Home provincial grant. “It was the community that clearly said, this is what we want. This was people with disabilities that want to know more, like what trails are accessible in Winnipeg,” said Kirby Cote, vice-president of Accessible Sport Connection Manitoba. Cote is visually impaired and has been a road cyclist for about eight years. “Persons with disabilities are still fairly inactive folks, and that is for a variety of reasons and the pandemic is just a new one. So for me, it’s just about creating community and... increasing opportunities to be physically active and opportunities to try new things.” It’s been more important lately for Wheelchair Sport Manitoba to shift its focus to everyday activities after team sports were shut down because of the pandemic, said Sam Unrau, the association’s executive director. “We’ve decided to branch out into the recreation leisure space by recently purchasing three hand bikes as well as purchasing some trainers that work with hand cycles to allow people to (stationary) cycle at home in the winter.” That equipment will soon be available for loan, along with wheelchair skis for gliding over snow. Business partners Brian Szklarczuk and Suzanne Druwe have found a market catering to getting people with mobility challenges on wheels. Since 2019, they have operated an online store with van service, and they’re working on opening their first retail Prairie Velo store on Wolseley Avenue in a few weeks. “We’ve seen a resurgence, and I think it’s more of an awakening, that there are ways to get everybody out and move,” Szklarczuk said. Retired neurologist Mallory Fast is one of Prairie Velo’s able-bodied customers trying to stay active in retirement. Unbeknownst to him during his 34-year career, some of his patients were using adaptive bicycles, and even though he’d often recommend physiotherapy, he never gave much thought to helping patients participate in recreational activities. “I’m embarrassed to say it never crossed my mind,” Fast said. That’s all changed since he started using his scooter and mountain bike. “I think it’s just opened my eyes a little bit to the idea that helping people with disease and disability is more than just treating the disease, it’s helping them adapt to life.” katie.may(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay

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