Giovanni Puzzo, a resident of Bay Street North, wishes to delegate to the next City Council Public Works Committee meeting on November 27, 2017 in opposition to the Bay Street Bike Lanes.
Puzzo writes that he is opposed to the bike lanes as it removes on-street parking, he will no longer be able to have contractors parked on the street in front of his house, his visitors will have more difficulty, and the bike lanes are for “a few people that do not even live in the area”.
RE: Bike Lanes on Bay Street North
I own and rent out a house on Bay Street North. The house only has one parking spot which my tenants use. In order for the city to put bikes lanes in they have removed the on street parking north of Barton Street on Bay Street.
They only communication was through The Spectator. None of the property owners were ever informed of any plans and or meetings regarding the bike lanes.
I use to park on Bay Street and now I will not even have any deliveries done and I am unable to stop or drop off anything and unload or load any groceries or tools, etc. Any maintenance to be done on the house such as roofers, furnace repairs, duct cleaning and etc will require them to go find a parking spot somewhere else and carry the material back and forth.
Barton and Murray Street have limited parking and it is almost impossible to find parking anywhere. So now relatives and or friends coming to visit will no longer be able to park on the street.
I cannot believe the City actually took the parking spaces away from the people that live in the area to accommodate a few people that do not even live in the area that will ride their bike for a couple of months a year.
Everyone in the neighborhood that I spoke to says they use the road lanes to ride their bikes and there is no need for bike lanes. They also said they are all opposed to the bike lanes and they ride bikes. Also, they would prefer to have parking over bike lanes.
Bay Street is already a busy and congested street and now to have bike lanes there makes no sense at all. So what happened to the City informing the residents and getting their input.
I am not sure why the bike lanes have to be in a strait [sic] path down Bay Street when they could route some of the path down MacNab Street or Queen Street. they travel North to South from downtown to the GO station. This would allow for the long time elderly residents that live on Bay Street to keep the on street parking they always had.
Garbage and recycling trucks have to do their weekly pickups and cars will be stopped behind them waiting and inconvenienced.
Sooner or later one of the will try to go around them and get hit head on. They do not realize the safety concerns they have created.
Also, what happens to all the elderly people being inconvenienced that need to be picked up or dropped off in front of their house.