r/torontobiking • u/DaveShellnutt • 1d ago

Round 2: Save Our Bike Lanes

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Last night, we loudly but calmly said no to the removal of bike lanes. ATS Traffic was sent in to close lanes for removal crews and we firmly stood in their way to say, "not tonight". When they left we chanted, "get home safe"...because this is about safety!

We anticipate a more robust response tonight from authorities and colder temperatures. We are asking cyclists to show up at 6pm at Tom Riley Park Bloor Green P to amass and await organizer instructions.

Stay tuned for further updates. Dress warmly, bring food and lights, come with friends. Strength in numbers.

351 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

76

u/ald_loop 1d ago

we need a whatsapp/reddit chat/something to properly organize within. a million reddit threads/instagram stories/facebook threads are not a replacement for a dedicated line of contact/source of authority

14

u/SheerDumbLuck 1d ago

Or you know, a website or a mailing list. Something not locked behind a log-in wall or Meta/Reddit servers, accessible by anyone on the open internet.

7

u/rdmty 1d ago

Hard agree. WhatsApp has a decent community feature that allows only admins to post announcements.

9

u/BigBucket10 1d ago

I thought about this and I just want to put forth the idea that it might not be a good option.

If we do something like this, organizations against bike lanes will inevitably join and subscribe and know almost everything we're up to. It will give them notification on everything, and the ability to mislead and disrupt us.

Right now you get notifications on what's going on because the algorithms know you're interested in bike lane stuff. The people who aren't genuinely interested don't get this stuff showing up on their algorithm. Folks like Bradford and Sakaria's people don't see our stuff easily.

Right now there are small circles of people that know each other and trust each other organizing, and then a much larger circle of people exposed through their social media algorithm. Of course the disadvantage is that if reddit stops showing me bike lane content, I lose awareness of what's going on and this might impact the size of the protest.

Anyway, I'm not confident on what the right choice is here, but I do think we need to be careful. Handing our opposition an easy way to disrupt us is risky.

2

u/tequilafan15 1d ago

bro, /r/bikingtoronto is not a hard find

1

u/DaveShellnutt 1d ago

ya we def assume that list is compromised and will operate with that in mind

3

u/kueefe8 1d ago

Can someone actually do this? Whatsapp i believe is a good one, less likely to get bots infiltrating since it's associated to your number. Some of the community here who are more active

3

u/romeo_pentium 1d ago

Whatsapp is good for organizing, but as someone's in a few communities on Whatsapp, you are going to get bots. I regularly see bots try to get in and hijack channels to spam fraudulent stock scams.

2

u/kueefe8 1d ago

youre 100% right, im in a few with bots unfortunately

just saying the barrier to entry is a little more difficult

2

u/w4rloksk8 1d ago

Please this. I arrived later last night and had no clue what was going on.

36

u/isorekt 1d ago

Apparently stuff is happening at 11 AM. We need to get out now!

20

u/abclife 1d ago

Any donation campaign for food and water and supplies for those of us who can't make it in person?

5

u/w4rloksk8 1d ago

Seconding this. I live in the east end and cannot get out there quickly enough.

2

u/Warm-Charge-8578 1d ago

Same here… I will donate

38

u/bunnypaintings 1d ago

Cycle Toronto just posted on Instagram to meet at 11 at Tom Riley this morning because apparently contractors are coming in the day.

14

u/CODSideCDL 1d ago

We do desperately need some sort of leadership and cohesive organization. The public mobilizing as much as they have is fantastic, however if we are going to keep fighting this, we need to be at least a bit as organized as our opposition. One big problem after the crews left originally was that no one was entirely sure where to go from there, and communication ended up being splintered, or a game of telephone. Is anyone kind of taking the spearhead on these protests?

4

u/DaveShellnutt 1d ago

we're doing our best in a very dynamic situation.

1

u/CODSideCDL 1d ago

100%, everyone involved is doing incredible as it is. Where is everyone currently situated? Tom Riley once again? Or Islington and Bloor?

5

u/LookAtYourEyes 1d ago

11 AM, not 6 pm

3

u/alwayschangingjobs 1d ago

you all rock all of this is so inspiring

3

u/Ok_Chip_7725 1d ago

I attended last night. It was a nice turn out.

2

u/elcanadiano 1d ago

I'm with you, Markus Dave.

1

u/DaveShellnutt 1d ago

lol who's markus?

2

u/elcanadiano 1d ago

It's a reference to a video game, "Detroit: Become Human."

The plotline(s) involves a world where humanoid Androids live alongside as humans. Eventually, many Androids go rogue and gain their own conscience and become "deviant." Eventually, the deviant Androids start a movement for freedom. Markus was their leader.

1

u/DaveShellnutt 1d ago

i love that

2

u/Livid_Technical_Pand 1d ago

get one of those shop floor magnet bars and mount it in front of your bike to pick up all the tacks they threw down yesterday.

1

u/revizada2005 1d ago

Do we know if the 6:00 is still happening, after this morning/today’s events?