Not enough maturity on city council

Here's a photo emailed to me from Saturday's bike parade,
taken an hour before the event began.  It was intended to be 
"evidence"that Red Deer does not have enough cyclists 
to warrant safe passage in the city. The photographer 
was also upset the start of the parade was 15 minutes late.

As of last Saturday's bike parade on the city's new lanes, less than two weeks had passed since the last of them had been painted. By then, changes-on-the-go were already being made. Timing of traffic lights were being altered to make one-lane streets flow more smoothly, some confusing line configurations were improved.

But before the project had even been fully installed, city staff were being inundated with hateful and abusive messages. One city employee let slip to me that people opposed to the bike lanes were using homophobic references -- on city answering machines -- to register their wrath. I understand that very few complaints referred to the substance of public safety and civic development. It was mostly just wrath.

Reacting like a lifelong newspaperman, I asked why nobody called the paper to make it public that city staff were being abused and bullied. "I want to keep my job," was the reply.

This is the level of discourse in Red Deer? These are the opinions that cause city city councillors to run like bullied children on  a playground?

I was surprised at how quickly city council folded in the face the long-expected blowback that always occurs when progressive decisions like this are made. Councillors Buck Buchanan, Chris Stephan, Dianne Wyntjes, Frank Wong and Tara Veer made the majority in a 5-4 vote to remove the sections of the pilot project that had no doubt caused the city the most grief.

They are also the sections that provide the most safety and connectivity for cyclists, but those concerns came second in these councillors' minds.

Stephan was at pains Monday to say that he is not "against cyclists" but the city has a $200 million debt, and since there are apparently so few active cyclists, well, safety and connectivity are less important.

That's politician weasel talk. The city's capital debt is a well-managed, well-planned mortgage on important projects that have very little to do with bikes. None of the money spent on bike lanes would have reduced that debt. 

In truth, infrastructure for cycling has been shown in North America and the world over to be a huge cost saving for cities who show the courage and vision to use them well. They cost a fraction of the money spent building and maintaining streets and sidewalks (which also get very little use). They reduce traffic congestion, and help make cities cleaner. 

Cycle commuters have been shown to be more productive, less-stressed workers. They take far fewer sick days, keeping a tighter lid on the cost of group health plans for employers in those cities. They slow the growth of need for parking space on very costly downtown land.

There really is no valid economic argument against encouraging more people to walk and bike. Driving is more expensive by far, for everybody -- including the city budget.

This morning, I needed to be at Eastside Auto Pro (40th Ave. and Ross St.) for a 7:45 a.m. appointment. In the space of roughly 45 minutes needed to complete my appointment, I saw 12 cyclists. Nine were on the soon-to-be-removed bike lane, two were on the sidewalk, and one was in the very centre of the driving lane.

A mature leader makes a decision and sticks with it until the decision can be fully judged. If the decision was wrong, changes are made with specific improvements to propose -- including built-in timelines. Council did not show much maturity Monday night. That's disappointing.

Greg Neiman is a former editor of the Red Deer Advocate. Email greg.neiman.blog.gmail.com